If He Had Been with Me, #2
If Only I Had Told Her
by Laura Nowlin
Contents
Autumn — Three
Overview
Autumn meets Dr. Singh, who notes her physical improvement and presses the urgency of consistent therapy during pregnancy. After rejecting prior therapists, Autumn accepts Dr. Singh’s offer to see her biweekly and attend a PTSD group. Dr. Singh reframes her suicidality as distorted thinking, reinforcing hope and commitment to treatment.
Summary
Autumn visits Dr. Singh, observing the unchanged office that contrasts with her altered life. Dr. Singh is pleased by her weight gain and easing nausea, then stresses the need for ongoing therapy alongside pregnancy-safe medication.
Autumn explains why previous therapists failed her: Dr. Kleiger felt clinical and invasive, and Dr. Remus felt impersonal. When asked how she experiences their conversations, Autumn likens Dr. Singh to a paramedic treating a wound, prompting him to offer biweekly therapy with him if she attends his group sessions on alternate weeks.
Autumn hesitates about group therapy, recalling troubling inpatient experiences. Dr. Singh challenges her comparison by weighing her suicidality against another patient’s hallucinations, arguing both reflect distorted perceptions caused by chemical imbalances. He emphasizes that, despite Finn’s death being real, the belief she is better off dead is not.
Dr. Singh asserts that Autumn is capable of a happy life with or without the baby, reframing her despair and encouraging hope. He specifies the group is for PTSD on Tuesdays and schedules their alternating appointments. Autumn agrees to the plan, accepting a structured path forward.
Who Appears
- AutumnPregnant and grieving; physically improving, rejects prior therapists, accepts Dr. Singh’s biweekly sessions and PTSD group.
- Dr. SinghPsychiatrist; notes Autumn’s progress, reframes her suicidality, offers therapy and enrolls her in a PTSD group.