Because when you know too much about a therapist, it can hinder therapy.

Oh I hadn't thought about it like that.

Or if she posts about something difficult that has happened in her life - suddenly I may be thinking that she can’t handle seeing me that week because she has her own shit going on.

This makes therapy more relatable for me, though. Because they have similar mental health things (they have a personality disorder just like I do, for instance) and it makes things easier to talk about, knowing they're going through similar things. It makes me feel like I'm not being judged. Since if I'm talking to someone who seems like they have their life in order, it makes me feel like they're secretly judging me (even if they aren't) which makes it incredibly difficult to open up at all. And my T also understands on a personal level what I'm going through, so I leave the session feeling more understood. Since I finally have someone in my life who just gets what I'm feeling. Knowing about my T also gave me a lot of hope. I used to be really hopeless about things like going to college and other things like that, but seeing my T still be able to do those things makes me try really hard because if they can do it, I can probably do it too.

I think it is good to know a bit about a therapist, but only if it’s necessary and won’t affect the client negatively.

In my case -- I don't think it will. I have schizoid personality disorder and it makes me not be as affected by other people or their opinions as easily. For example, I spend time with my mom a lot. And she's transphobic. And I'm actually trans, I just don't care what she thinks about me. I love her a lot and enjoy her company. I don't think my opinion could change on my T either... I really don't think they could ever say anything that could change how I view them. There are things we disagree with, sure, but it's not the end of the world and I don't filter myself. I can't control what other people think, and it also doesn't matter to me that I can't. Others can think whatever they want.

It just makes me a lot more comfortable being able to talk to my T differently, since I'd probably go as far as quitting therapy if we didn't have this kind of dynamic.