1. The reason you picked your therapist in the first place will prove to be key to something fundamental to who you are. You won't suss this for a while.
2. The more you deny it, the more likely you are to realise it’s true in a couple of years’ time.
3. You’ll care less about your therapist’s other life as time goes on then you do in the first six months when you’ll want to know everything.
4. No matter how many sessions you have, it’ll never be possible to imagine your therapist with any other client.
5. Being one of two people sitting on chairs talking will give you the impression that it’s primarily a mental/intellectual exercise. This is the wrong impression.
6. Your therapist will, at some, several or all stages, become your mother, your father, your ex-partner, your current partner, your best friend, your boss and your worst enemy. Of course they will, because you’re the common ingredient.
7. If you have any friends in therapy, you will spend copious amounts of time comparing what your therapists say. You will always feel yours is way better or way worse.
8. When your therapist appears in your dreams, tell him/her. It’s a big stage.
9. Making your therapist laugh is one of life’s great pleasures. Enjoy it and accept that it won’t happen that often.
10. If you’re cross with your therapist, or want to say something rude, do so. It’s your money and your session and their job.
11. Your therapist is there to help you with whatever you need to change, but you’ll spend a lot of time assuming that what you need is what you already have.
12. For the first few months you’ll think your therapist is a mind reader. Later, you’ll realise that all they’re doing is saying back to you what you’ve said to them. And you’ll love them for hearing you clearly enough to be able to do that.