HIPAA is safe. My reputation is not.

Every story I want to tell is risky. 

That’s what happens when you’re a therapist.

You know people’s deepest, darkest thoughts, and you carefully store them in a lockbox in your mind.

Therapists can’t tell you what’s said in their offices, and writers are bad guessers. If the events of Shrinking were accurate, those therapists would be locked up.

Therapy is just normal people, like you and me, who've experienced the dumpster fire that is life.

And don’t think that becoming a therapist magically dampens the fire.

Sure, we learn to react to the flames, to smother them instead of fan them… but the embers are still there. Constantly glowing, just waiting to rise again.

Like anyone, therapists have moments of mistaking the water for gasoline.

Fortunately, I've made enough questionable decisions to keep us busy.

Disclaimer: A few names have been swapped out. The embarrassing bits are all me.