Did my therapist abandoned me?

She said that she's going on leave, we had 2 weeks break and were supposed to meet yesterday (she also said that she would write to me with information about the meeting-whether it will be online or not) and she didn't. I wrote to her an email asking if our appointment is still on, but she didn't answer me and I don't know what to do. She always answered quickly and now I'm panicking because I feel abandoned and I think that maybe something happened to her and I will never know... What should I do?

Can you call her? It's possible she didn't see the email.

If something did happen to her professionally she should have something in place for you to be notified.
I hope you get answers soon!

I can understand your worry. Like the others said if possible they calling her. Even if she doesn't answer maybe she will have a message on her VM.

If you call her and she doesn't answer, don't worry too much. My T went on holiday once and I tried to call him when I knew he was back home...his phone wasn't on and I was convinced he abandoned me or had died. Turned out he just lost his phone when he was away and hadn't managed to replace it for some days. Could it be something like that? I hope she gets in touch with you soon.

I would try calling too. I hope you hear from her soon!

Give it a bit of time. It hasn't been that long since you emailed. You could follow up with a phone call. It's likely she got swamped coming back and unfortunately overlooked some things.

I don't think going on leave is abandoning you.

I don't think she abandoned you. It seems more like some sort of miscommunication

Can you text or call her / her office?

I wanted to thank you for all your replies. You made me feel calmer and I'm feeling much better, thank you all again!
Some of you suggested to call her, buuut I will not, I don't want to be intrusive. Maybe she just extended her leave or something, or as one of you said, her phone is broken. Either way, if she doesn't get in touch with me next week, I'll write to her again. As I said, I'm much calmer and I believe that I can live without therapy for some time. The thing I'm scared of is that something happened to her and I will never know, because she runs a private practice and I guess that no one will let me know what's going on.
I also don't have any abandonment issues for now. I never had them in therapy (even when she went on leave for a long time or when I went abroad for six months). They appeared, as I wrote earlier, when she didn't write anything to me this week (and she was supposed to do that, because that's what we settled she would do) and didn't reply on my mail (and she always does; I'm also not a type of person who often wants to get in touch with her, I very rarely write to her). That's why I am concerned because I don't know what's happening and I'm very confused.
I just hope that she will get in touch with me soon... I don't want to start therapy from scratch...

"That's why I am concerned because I don't know what's happening and I'm very confused."

This ^^^


It sounds like you're stressed about her odd absence. If she gave you her number, I don't see it as at all intrusive to call and simply state that you're concerned. If you're telling yourself that you're okay without her, you don't need her for a while anyway.....

I know I sound confusing, too. I suffer from C-PTSD and I have parts of my mind and each of them feels different about that situation. Sorry.. I know it's messed up

No...don't feel bad. It sounds to me like you're wondering where she is. I'd be concerned, too, just that it's strange, not to have heard from her. I think calling her would feel good for both of you

If calling feels too intrusive could you send her a text message?

If she doesn't get in touch with me, I'll try with a text message next week.

I hope you have heard from her.

I have worked with 4 T’s in private practice all of them had a plan for clients to be notified should anything happen to them. In one state I lived it was a professional requirement and may be in all states I’m not sure. My first T was the one listed in case anything happened to the other T she shared office space with. When that T died unexpectedly my T contacted all of her clients, offered them a grief session with her (seeing as she knew their T and made sure they all had referrals for another T. I know she contacted all of them within 24hrs of the other T’s passing because she didn’t want any clients to see the obituary without hearing it first from someone they could talk to. My T said it was one of the hardest weeks of her career but she was glad to be able to help all the clients of the other T.

I encourage you to call her or reach out again. The two of you had a commitment to communicate on a specific day and she didn’t. It’s reasonable to hold her accountable and expect an explanation