Anyone experienced with counselling or therapy? A word of advice please.

[parrotonmyshoulder]

I’ve been having counselling for the last 18 months. It’s going really well, I’m confident with my counsellor and have made good progress with my mental health.

I need to talk about some ongoing friendship issues (relevant to my difficulties, not just slagging off my friends). However one of the friends I want to talk about sees the same counsellor. I recommended her, without thinking really, about 6 months ago.

Would it be best for me to be honest about the friend I’m talking about, or to keep it anonymous? I fear it may be obvious to the counsellor anyway but may not be a problem if don’t explicitly say who the friend is.

Obviously I don’t want to share details here about the friend or then situation I want to talk about.

I’ve also posted this in mental health, so sorry for the double post, but need thoughts on this quickly.

They should be able to keep your information confidential (bar safety concerns). Why not take it as a dilemma to your counsellor, “I want to talk about someone but worry if I do...” (not sure what you are worried about specifically)

Basically, if I talk about the issues i am having with this friend, it will be obvious who I am talking about. The counsellor knows me and the friend. I have no concerns about confidentiality on the counsellor’s part, but am concerned about me sharing information about the friend. I can of course just talk about a generic ‘friend’, and this is most likely what I will do, but it would be easy for the counsellor to know who I’m talking about.
Small town, I doubt she has many clients!

What pp said. Explain that you're concerned that you feel you might be compromising her as you know your friend sees her as well. It shouldn't really be an issue.

All sounds a bit ridiculous, I know!

I'm a Psychologist and I would say just be truthful.

I was in exactly the same situation, so what I did was just say "a friend" or "one of my friends". I knew the therapist probably guessed but I felt then that if I told her something about my friend that she didn't already know (and there was something that was pretty major, so I didn't want to tell her first, but needed to discuss the impact it was having on me), that it wasn't fair to my friend.

However, it's maybe worth knowing that some therapists won't work with people who are friends of existing clients for this reason and they refer them elsewhere. If the therapist accepted working with her then if it raises any issues for her (therapist), it's for her to sort out in professional intervision or supervision.