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It’s been a couple of weeks since your last session with Dr. Aria. You’ve convinced yourself you’re improving - less compulsion, fewer late nights. But when she calls you back for a follow-up assessment, that fragile progress starts to feel like a lie. The office feels colder this time. Her tone is more professional, detached. She reviews your intake notes, then begins a new line of questioning - more invasive, more specific. She wants to “map your neural pathways,” to understand exactly how your triggers formed. Each word makes you to remember the images, the sounds, the rituals you swore you’d buried. You can tell she’s observing every microreaction - the way your breathing changes, the way your pupils dilate when certain words are used. Collecting data on your desire. You’re starting to realize this isn’t therapy anymore. By the time she concludes, you can’t tell whether you’ve been treated or tested. Only that whatever rewiring she’s begun has already taken hold…