Their Children

I noticed an interesting thing yesterday: of the eight people I saw, two were children of people I had seen years ago.  These were not their young children who live with them, but adults who are grown up, but when they got anxious, lost, or upset about something, they came to see me.  I had not seen them when they were children, although I had heard about them.  There have been several other children of former patients who I have seen, and others who I am now seeing.

Now, in part, I take it to mean that the work I did with their parents was helpful, and that the children heard about it somehow, and felt it would be helpful to see me -- also because I know their parents and what they had to deal with.

But I guess there is also a negative here, in that the kids felt that part of their upbringing was chaotic and unstable enough that it caused problems. I didn't cure their parents

But I overlook the second one, because I can see that the world is difficult for everyone, and the idea of coming to talk to someone like me is so widely accepted that it doesn't mean that people are crazy, or can't cope.  They just feel that coming could be really helpful during a bad time.

This is so true that insurance companies want to pay us a lot less --- because so many people use our services.  This is the opposite of supply and demand.  It is the Republican version of a "free market." That is, regulated for the good of profit and corporations, not for the people who provide or receive the service.

However, the fact that I am beginning to see children of several of my former patients means, really, is that I'm getting old.