I'm a newer therapist, and spent my practicum working with a population that's notoriously "resistant" in an outpatient setting. When my clients back then completed their treatment and/or when I left my site, I honestly never found myself actively missing them, even though I cared about them, had a rapport with them, and genuinely wished them the best. But I started working inpatient fairly recently, and am finding myself genuinely surprised by how much I miss my clients when we stop working together. When they discharge, I regularly find myself feeling a tiny bit heartbroken, knowing it's likely I'll never see or even talk to them again, which feels truly strange after working with them so closely and getting to know them on such a personal, deep level. The overall bond is a lot stronger than my previous setting and it definitely makes saying goodbye tougher, and it seems mutual (my clients will often actually cry when we say goodbye).

The last time I remember feeling like this is when I worked in ABA I worked for one particular family for nearly 3 years. My then-client and I were quite close and there was a point of his life I spent more waking hours a week with him than his own mother (I came with him to school all day, every day). The family had to stop services because they were moving. It was definitely tough to see him go from such a big part of my life and vice versa to just not seeing him. I even cried once to my own therapist about how much I'd miss his adorably funny observations and watching him grow. But I had thought that was more of an exceptional case. It's always in the back of my mind that my role is designed to be relatively impermanent in my clients' lives. But I'm also human and do find myself getting fairly attached to my clients, especially the ones I work more closely with.

To be clear, I'm still perfectly functional at work and in general - it's not a debilitating brand of grief or attachment, but I still feel a little nostalgic pang thinking of past clients in certain moments, every so often when my mind wanders: How is so and so doing? I wonder if they ever told their mom the truth about what they told me? Are they happier? Are they happy? I sure hope they're doing okay out there.

Just thoughts like that.

Do other therapists feel similarly? Is this relatively normal? I'd love to hear from my fellow therapists on this one. This line of work is so rewarding, but also strangely sad at times and in ways I wouldn't have previously expected.