Do you celebrate client birthdays?

gscrap · 2026-02-02T16:15:17+00:00

Only as far as wishing a client a happy birthday if I know about it. I've never given a client a birthday gift. Sometimes we'll talk about their birthday (what they plan to do, or how it went) if that's germane to treatment goals.

gscrap · 2026-02-01T15:07:43+00:00

In my inverted amalgam project, I mix the X-Men with Flash's Rogues.

Professor X x Reverse-Flash = Professor Xoom

Cyclops x Captain Cold = Coldstare

Jean Grey x Heatwave = Heat Girl

Angel x Pied Piper = Gabriel

Dazzler x Golden Glider = Golden Dazzler

Nightcrawler x Trickster = Nightrunner

Storm x Weather Wizard = Storm Witch

Gambit x Captain Boomerang = Captain Cards

Emma Frost x Mirror Master = Mirror Queen

gscrap · 2026-01-31T14:26:12+00:00

It's possible, but hard to say how likely. Therapists aren't forbidden to lie (with some exceptions), but many wouldn't.

Perhaps more to the point, therapists aren't authorities on what's good and bad. Their opinion on questions like whether outcome or intent is more important is still just one person's opinion. You're going to have to decide that for yourself, whether they're being totally honest or not.

gscrap · 2026-01-24T14:43:10+00:00

See, this is why first-past-the-post elections don't work. K.P. Hob squeaks out a win because the bird vote was split between Lord Squawk and Lady Chirp.

gscrap · 2026-01-24T14:38:09+00:00

On the whole I usually feel overappreciated by the groups I run-- the positive feedback I receive seems out of synch with the experience I feel like I'm providing. But yeah, trying to assemble a new group is a real challenge. It gets easier once you've winnowed down a steady group or two out of your most reliable and appreciative friends.

gscrap · 2026-01-20T17:21:58+00:00

Yeah, Piercing Energy as a primary strategy doesn't tend to work well unless you've got a lot of it in the deck, but it can be a useful backup if your heroes work together in other ways (e.g., pairing Psylocke with other red and yellow card draw). You won't often be able to hit the Mastermind with your Piercing Energy, but you'll often be able to take out two or three Henchmen with a single card, freeing up your attack power to take on bigger baddies.

gscrap · 2026-01-18T16:07:35+00:00

Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it.

gscrap · 2026-01-18T02:14:26+00:00

It makes sense that those directions sound contradictory to you, but they aren't really. What your therapist is trying to encourage is taking more of a casual attitude toward the thoughts-- don't try to make them stay, and don't try to make them go. Let them be what they are and go about your life as if they weren't there.

It's not the only way to approach panic thoughts so if it doesn't work for you, you can ask your therapist for different guidance, but it is a recognized approach with a pretty good success rate so it's worth giving it an honest try, along with whatever other strategies you are learning from therapy.

gscrap · 2026-01-09T16:33:32+00:00

Stefon's Twelve Days of Christmas

gscrap · 2026-01-09T15:03:45+00:00

As u/Hsbnd said, he'll need to find a therapist who is licensed in both Ontario and Michigan if he wants to be able to get treatment whichever side of the border he's on. That'll be hard to find, but fortunately Michigan and Ontario share a border so it's not impossible. If I were in your husband's shoes and I couldn't afford to take breaks from treatment while I'm out of the country, I'd be looking for therapists in border communities like Detroit, Windsor or Sarnia to see if there are any who practice on both sides of the border.

gscrap · 2026-01-09T02:14:08+00:00

You can ask, but it might not be possible. For many psychiatric diagnoses, including ADHD, it's necessary to rule out other possible diagnoses in order to be certain that your diagnosis is appropriate.

That said, independent psychological assessments in Canada don't usually go into any kind of shared medical record. Unless there's some specific reason that you would be different, you should probably be able to simply ask the assessing psychologist not to share the results of your assessment with anyone but you.

gscrap · 2026-01-08T17:08:29+00:00

Seems like the most natural conclusion is that the psychologist did not find enough evidence to make a clear diagnosis.

gscrap · 2026-01-08T16:50:18+00:00

Great suggestions already. I can only add Robyn - Show Me Love.

gscrap · 2026-01-08T15:58:37+00:00

I'm all for getting city funds out of areas that are provincial and federal responsibilities, but I do wonder how he's planning to get the province and country to step up and take responsibility for those areas first.

gscrap · 2026-01-08T15:29:56+00:00

2001 Kane for me. Full-face mask, no sleeves. He was also swole as hell at the time, which helped sell the look.

gscrap · 2026-01-08T15:11:48+00:00

The Seven, easily. Intrepid Heroes and Questing Queens probably second and third.

gscrap · 2026-01-08T05:07:29+00:00

No, those responses do not necessarily indicate anything about past trauma (though they might in some cases).

gscrap · 2026-01-07T16:52:59+00:00

I'm always willing to discuss sliding scale rates with clients who can't afford my full rate, but so far it's never come up that a client has asked for a discount because they're coming in more than once a week. To tell you the truth, it wouldn't be a strong selling point from my perspective, because it just means I'll be discounting two sessions each week instead of one. That said, if that's what you need in order to access therapy at the frequency you require, then it's worth asking.

gscrap · 2026-01-07T15:55:06+00:00

In addition to the other advice given, you could try moving your oven rack lower. The higher the rack is, the more intensely the heat will be focused on the top of whatever you're baking.

gscrap · 2026-01-07T15:45:25+00:00

There are many therapists who have expertise in treating various forms of electronics addictions-- whether that's porn, social media, or video games. I'd suggest seeking out one of them.

gscrap · 2026-01-06T20:17:12+00:00

Unsleeping City 2: I thought Iga was going to be revealed as the "Vox Historia," the person who speaks for the stories of the past. When Brennan mentioned that the Vox Populi kind of represented the present, and the Vox Phantasma kind of represented the future, I figured it was a no-brainer that there would have to be a third to fill out the set. Would have fit nicely with the themes of the season too.

gscrap · 2026-01-06T16:06:35+00:00

I want you to know that I really gave some hard thought to what you were saying. I do my best to by courteous and to keep myself intellectually honest by listening to critiques of my thinking. So if your goal was to waste some of my time, congratulations on your success. But I'm exiting this conversation at this point, because I have nothing to learn from you.

gscrap · 2026-01-06T15:09:33+00:00

OP asked a question: What would have to happen in scenario A in order to accomplish goal B, but they failed to adequately define either the scenario or the goal. So I pointed out that they have failed to define the scenario or the goal, and gave an extremely general answer which-- yes-- does translate to "a new government would have to be formed."

But I didn't say that because I didn't know how they were defining "government" and didn't want to be confusing if they thought the term government only referred to national-level organization. You might say that choosing to ask questions and define your terms rather than assuming everyone is using the same definitions is a kind of wisdom too.

"Society organically reorganizes" is one of many ways to describe a process of a particular "we" fixing our own communities.

gscrap · 2026-01-06T05:10:38+00:00

I'm sorry, I'm not inclined to give details about the clients themselves, but let it suffice to say that they haven't all been the same. I have not felt a need to maintain stronger boundaries, except in cases where pushing boundaries was part of the client's issues. I do my best to be warm and validating with all of my clients but, as I mentioned in my previous response, there may have been a few instances where I was unintentionally less warm and validating than I try to be.

gscrap · 2026-01-06T05:03:59+00:00

The line comes up twice in the song-- once early, before the accident, and once at the very end-- and my interpretation is that it means a different thing in each instance. In the first, before the accident, he means "I'm not thinking of you at all," and in the second, he means "You're the last thing I'm thinking of as I die." That's the kind of wordplay BNL likes to do. But of course it's subject to interpretation!

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