u/PlayfulAd1543

I cried in session with a client today.

I’ve been a psychologist for six years.

I have previously welled up when hearing significant trauma, usually from a place of care and empathy. Unfortunately, today felt different.

It is very important to me that my client remains the focus of the session, and that any self-disclosure is carefully considered in terms of whether it supports their therapeutic goals. Because of this, I naturally keep my personal and professional identities quite separate.

I also value having clear boundaries while still being authentic with clients, and I am always holding ethical considerations in mind.

For context, last year I experienced a significant health scare. I thought I had processed it.

Today, something a client shared unexpectedly resonated with that experience.

I felt myself getting upset. I am usually quite confident in my ability to regulate and cope, but in that moment everything flooded in too quickly. I began to tear up.

This is the part I am struggling with.

I was not tearing up purely from empathy. I was not regulated, and honestly, I was triggered. I was re-experiencing the fear I felt back then, which has never happened to me in relation to this illness. I have spoken about it before and have never been triggered like that. I genuinely thought I was not carrying any leftover pain from that time.

I started to cry the kind of crying where I was trying very hard not to properly cry and took maybe 20 seconds to gather myself. From there, I was able to redirect the focus back to them.

Afterwards, I was mortified. I went into my room and cried more. It really shocked me, because I have never had this experience before.

I am seeing my supervisor and I am also thinking of seeking counselling to process any pain that may still be left over from that time.

In the meantime, I am not entirely sure what I am looking for from this post. I feel guilty and, strangely, as though I have done something very unethical because there was such significant countertransference.

I checked in with the client about the impact, and they did not report feeling uncomfortable.

Thoughts?

We’re planning part of our Italy trip for June 2026 and I’m trying to work out whether Venice is worth doing as a day trip, or whether that’s just too rushed.

Current plan is:
- Milan: 8–11 June
- Florence: 11–16 June

From Florence, we’re already pretty set on doing a Pisa day trip on the Monday, because it seems easy and low effort.

For Florence itself, our main priorities are:
- Brunelleschi’s Dome
- Uffizi
- Accademia
- Oltrarno / Santo Spirito / slower wandering

Our travel style is very much slow travel, like one main attraction per day. we don’t like cramming 10 things into one day

So I’m trying to decide:

- Is Venice as a day trip from Florence actually worth it?
- Or does it end up being a long train day that feels too rushed?
- Since we’re already doing Pisa as a Florence day trip, would adding Venice as well be overkill?
- Would you do Bologna from Milan, Pisa from Florence, and then Venice separately after Florence instead?

Basically I’m trying to work out whether Venice deserves its own stop, or whether a day trip is still satisfying enough.

Would love honest opinions from people who’ve actually done it.