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Showing posts from December, 2017

David Foster Wallace (February 21, 1962 – September 12, 2008)

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2017 has been one of the most difficult years for me as a therapist, so difficult that I strongly considered giving up my practice and going into a different line of work altogether. It is the first time I had ever experienced burn out on the level of questioning why I am in this line of work at all, and whether or not I am effective at it. Why was this year so difficult? To start things off, one client I worked intensively with for almost a year became so frustrated in session that she yelled at me to go fuck myself, stormed out of my office, and was never heard from again. Two other clients tried to commit suicide and were thankfully discovered in time prior to completion. But the one incident which has impacted me more than anything in my 20-year career in social work was having my first client complete suicide. He had two other serious attempts in the 4 years that we worked together.          My client was a passionate book reader and was proud of the collection he had ama