But when everyone is anonymous here on Lemmy, I feel comfortable venting about things. I dunno why this feels different, but I prefer it.

Part of the reason is that the professionals are constantly in it and either get desensitized (or burn out) and stop empathizing as much with their patients. Haven’t seen it with mental health professionals, but the most jaded folks I’ve ever met were nurses/ANs approaching the end of their career.

Internet strangers on the other hand - we can step away whenever we want, which makes emotional investment less of a burden.

This handle some irl folks know about, but it isn’t really feasible to find out who I am IRL from anything online associated with it.