Posted by Rigby on September 4, 2003, at 11:15:31
In reply to Re: Fees and meaning, posted by Dinah on September 4, 2003, at 4:18:56
Hi Dinah,
I guess it's a lesson: you don't wanna say that you want to pay top of the new scale till you know what the top is. Ugh. The question though is his new top of the scale an objective or subjective one. I think it's *totally* legitimate for you to feel concerned about this. From both a financial standpoint (sounds like he's off the market) and from a therapeutic standpoint (if he's punishing you in a sense by charging more than that's not cool at all.) I think it's hard to remember with emotions running as high as they do in therapy that, in the end, this *is* a business for therapists. And some therapists aren't necessarily great business people--they might think they can ask for higher prices--as high as the market will bear not knowing that it could come back to bite them. Giving your therapist benefit of the doubt he simply may just charge more as he has higher expenses. You're right though--if he does this to all of his clients he's not apt to bring many new people on.
FYI, my therapist charged me $85/session. I negotiated *down* to $60. Are you comfortable saying what you're paying? It may help us here in terms of getting a perspective.
Also, what helped me was I truly was willing to walk--and you *have* to be to get the price you want. I was very clear about what I wanted--I didn't want to go less than once/week and I would not spend any more than $60. She agreed nearly instantly. Hey, $60/week is better than nothing, right?
Let us know what he says, okay? And again, you're *not* being neurotic about this--it's the real deal--don't shy away from trying to get clear about what you're paying vs. where the market is at--it's about taking care of yourself!!!
Rigby
poster:Rigby
thread:256618
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20030814/msgs/256908.html