"What would you like to talk about today?"
A long pause.
"I don't know. It feels like I have nothing to talk about."
"Good. We have a lot of work to do."
Oh come on. That's too neat. Did this Therapy Dan bloke just make it up?
No.
It happened twenty years ago, when I said it, in my own therapy. We'd worked together for over a year. Most weeks I came in and talked through whatever had built up since we'd last met. This time everything that had queued up had already been aired. Nothing left waiting to claim its fifteen minutes.
There was nothing to talk about.
It's worth pausing for a moment. If you're reading this looking for an answer about what to say in your session this week, I can't help you.
But I can say this.
You're turning up. You're being honest that you have nothing to say.
You know your therapeutic relationship well enough for this not to be an ending, when it might just be a beginning.
One last thing.
Some of you might be thinking he's breaking confidentiality here, talking about a session. That's not something I would ever do, it's not ethical.
Which takes us back to the top of the page.
Too neat, he made it up.
No, it happened to him.