Therapy Termination Protocol

[GraceAlone]

I just finished 30 visits of physical therapy. At the start of the week, the office manager told me that it was my last week. On my last day, my therapist never acknowledged that it was my last visit and I am feeling very unsettled, like things were left unfinished. I am also feeling hurt and disappointed. It feels like my therapist abandoned me in the end by not “closing the case.” When I left the office, I asked the office manager if she was sure I was “finished” as my therapist never mentioned the end. She assured me that I was done. Later, I called the office manager and asked if ending without acknowledgment was the norm and she said no. She tried making excuses for him but none of them were valid. She finally apologized and said she would mention my concern to my therapist and assured me that he would not hesitate to call me if there was anything to add. Well, he did not call.


I should add that I left a thank you card for him on his chair so there is no possibility that he did not know that it was my last day by the time he got back to his office.


My conclusion is that his failure was either intentional or unintentional. If it was unintentional, it seems to me that as soon as he realized what happened, he would have wanted to “fix things” right away and that he would have called and apologized and said a few closing words. If it was intentional, I have no good explanation.


I’m wondering if anyone else has had something like this happen and/or how to explain this odd behavior. It seems to me that a therapist has a professional duty to the patient to end treatment with some type of “direct” acknowledgment. Should I contact him or let it go?