She said you’d “impacted catastrophically” on my life. It’s like calling a teacher by her first name, quite wrong somehow-has told me I should be journaling my emotions.ĭid you know that was a verb now? “To journal”? It’s one of those funny made-up verbs that really ought to remain nouns, like “to impact.” Helen used that one too, funnily enough. Helen Bunion-she wants me to call her Helen, and you can quite understand why, but I find it so difficult.

But I’m sure you understand, having experienced the benefits of therapy yourself, that one has to be totally honest (no, what’s that word they use instead these days? “Transparent.” Totally transparent) no matter how painful. I have only your best interests at heart. Now, I’m aware you will worry about the risk of other people reading this and it all becoming public, and believe me if I can get this out there without risking exposure and all the problems that will bring, of course I will do it. That’s exactly how she said it: “a vital part of your recovery process.” So what can I do? I don’t want to impede my recovery process, and Helen Bunion really is so very concerned about my welfare, so out there it shall get! I think it’s supposed to let me know I have her complete undivided attention-she told me that getting it all “out there” would be a vital part of my recovery process. Anyway, she told me-incidentally her name is Helen Bunion, can you believe that? And she tilts her head to the side when I talk, like a little sparrow. I’m seeing the benefits already, I really am.

“I know you think it’s mumbo jumbo, so did I, but believe me you’ll see the benefits,” you urged me in your most concerned voice right after York Way Friday when you were still in full guilt mode. The fact is I’ve been to see a therapist, just as you advised me. But believe me, nothing is further from the truth. I know you might see this as incendiary, malicious, even creepy.

The Mistress's Revenge by Tamar Cohen