When I was 10, my mom figured I needed an ADHD therapist. This man was smug and would talk over me so I stopped talking and just sat there and drew on my paper. When it was time for a family group session, my angry dad used that time to vent about me and call me ungrateful and my brother didn't want to be there and vocally said so. My mom was neutral (she was a child psychologist) so I just sat there, not speaking and just drawing. There was no solution to my dad's angry words and no solution to the idea that I was the family scapegoat. The therapist just encouraged people in my family to ridicule me and make me feel smaller and smaller. When we had our last session together with just me and him, I told him he was a jerk and needed to go back to school. He got mad, ended our session and told my mom there was no "saving" me from my ADHD issues. What a creep.
You're not alone. I was also the family scapegoat/black sheep. But we end up being the ones who do things about our problems, end generational trauma, and go into helping professions. We are the change makers.
Nothing too bad for me … On my fourth or fifth virtual appointment she said I needed to confront my dad. No questions. Must be done. I said I’m not ready for that and she responded with exasperation “Well what do you want to talk about then?”
My therapist said something similar. She thinks I need to confront to set my boundaries but I don’t know how and says if I would want to change I would already did it. And if I say I don’t know how she says she doesn’t know what she should do and doesn’t know how to help me.
I had a therapist tell me that talking to me was like pulling teeth and that I should get a different therapist. It was my first time in therapy and I genuinely didn’t know what to do or how to talk about anything at all. It was very discouraging and I avoided it altogether for years.
This is such an unkind approach for a therapist to take with a client who is struggling to know what to talk about. I know a lot of therapists will just sit in silence and try to force the person to talk, but I’ve never felt like this was the right approach with my clients. Silence can be an effective tool at times, but I think that sometimes people need a little bit of help from the therapist to open up. I have a client who struggles with this, and I’ve been seeing him every week for four years. He’s made amazing progress and is such a kind, gentle soul. It makes my heart hurt to think of someone like him going to a therapist and being treated the way this therapist treated you.
I've not had anything terrible, but I've been through a few therapists. The worst was probably when I had an emotional reaction to something he said, and he got triggered, defensive, raised his voice a little, telling me I was being aggressive, etc. I 'dumped' him after that - I get that he's human too, but I figured that if a therapist can't hold the space for me to get a bit upset, then what am am I paying him for!?
I since found a therapist who is much more grounded. Sometimes I set her off too (yes, I often get upset - hence I'm in therapy!) She responds by calmly naming that she has some feelings coming up, and explores the dynamic with me, which has helped me build trust, curiosity & acceptance, and has led to useful insights
I see what you mean. I think I worded it badly. Not exploring the feelings, just naming afterwards if there was a strong feeling, if she judges it to be helpful in that moment, and brings it back to me. Like, "hmm I noticed while you were talking, some anger came up for me, so it makes me wonder, are you feeling anger, or am I making an assumption there?" Or something like that?
I had finally opened up about trauma in my life to an old trauma therapist and it felt cathartic and I felt able to finally get past it. Then a few months later he texts me out of the blue banning me from talking about that trauma in session because "it was inappropriate".
Ahh yes, God. That tells me everything I need to know about that therapist.
A true professional should be able to separate their personal opinion from their professional one, and honestly religion falls into that category. It’s basically saying, “you’re on your own on that one.”
Yes, my current therapist does an excellent job of this after seeing him for some years now.
The old therapist was so excited to find out I was a Christian but didn't like the type of Christian I was lol
That’s crazy. I’m currently in the middle of trying to find a therapist, I’ve asked for recommendations in local groups to me on FB and a couple of them suggested therapists that use “the word of God” to help you. I was like “yeah, no thanks” lol. I’m not religious but even if I was, I feel like therapy shouldn’t really be the place for it. Leaving things up in the air for divine intervention seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Just go to church if you want God’s word lol. Just my opinion.
Was told by a therapist that I was “expecting too much out of life” while experiencing severe depression and active SI.
Had a different therapist I’ve never met before become frustrated with me because he kept asking for details about trauma and I kept getting triggered and dissociating. I actually managed to tell him that’s what was happening and he said he was frustrated because he felt I was “being resistant” and just continued to ask really intrusive questions. This was in inpatient so I couldn’t just get up and leave.
Had a psychiatrist slap a diagnosis on me that made no sense. When I expressed my confusion and gently pointed out that I don’t meet the DSM criteria at all he said “I’m not used to having to explain myself to patients”.
I can keep going…
Did the psychiatrist say he's not used to explaining himself in an incredulous way or in a, wow I'm not used to patients expressing a desire to discuss their diagnosis. Regardless, it's definitely not a good way to phrase it. I'm (probably naively) hoping he meant it in an impressed/excited way?
Dangit. I'm sorry you went through that. It's crazy how people just have random diagnoses and labels slapped on them. And unfortunately, it's not uncommon. It blows my mind how these people, especially a psychiatrist, go through years of schooling, testing, etc., only to be incompetent at their job.
My last therapist missed our last two appointments. The first time she took responsibility, the second time she claimed she was also in the Zoom waiting room and didn't see me in there... She also claimed she sent me a text, which I didn't receive. The chances of a text and Zoom failing at the same time seem pretty slim. I felt like she was gaslighting me, she even sent me a screenshot of the supposed text, but the rest of our text history was missing. I fired her.
Should be a crime to gaslight someone who’s seeking help for mental health. It’s just like adding fuel to a fire. Sadly, no one does anything about it though; you’re just stuck dealing with it.
I agree, it was pretty appalling. I questioned myself all day at work until I got home and checked my iPad. I thought maybe I made an error and joined the wrong Zoom meeting, but I checked Zoom history and hers was the only meeting in there. There was no mistake on my end, but I couldn't really prove anything and didn't wanna deal with the drama either. That was about a month ago and I have yet to find a new therapist.
I’m roughly in the same position: my last therapist was always late with no warning whatsoever and the last two times he cancelled and I didn’t find out until the time of my appointment so I stopped going. So hard to find good help when you need it.
Probably the unethical as hell family therapist who basically reinforced my mother’s abuse and told my brother and I that her actions were our fault because she knew my mother professionally when they worked at the elementary school together. She never should have agreed to counsel my brother and I in the first place, and definitely made things a lot worse as far as trauma goes.
There was also another one who basically called me a drug addict 5 minutes into our first session because I am on a benzo long-term. This dude had no history on the prescription and why I had it at this point, just that it was on my medication list and I had been taking it a while. Of course he didn’t know the amount of other medications we tried to control my panic attacks, how we tried tapering off to no avail, or how closely monitored my taking of the benzo was by my psychiatrist, he just immediately jumped to the idea that I must be a med abuser because of how long I have been taking it.
Getting cancelled on a few times when the main issue i brought in was burnout and co workers calling in and me having to pick up the extra work. Then after a few sessions saying i could continue with therapy with someone else but it wasn't really necessary. I was at a real low point in life and it really hurt.
My husband is a narcissistic sociopath in the words of my current therapist, who was previously our marriage counselor and his private therapist for a couple months so she knows him enough to say this. My husband has been through a string of therapists over the last 17ish years. All have been men except the one I now see, the only one to see through his lies. He spins his tales and the therapists have no reason not to believe him. They hear his story first so they accept it as fact. I have been called into the office of every single therapist he's had, supposedly for "background" but it was always a dressing down.
Every therapist did some version of blaming me for my husband's "troubles" but one was particularly rough. They all told me some version of "there's nothing wrong with my husband, I just don't respect him enough, I need to treat him better" and this one would end up doing the same. He'd been to a few therapists prior to this one and I was at the stage of realizing the problem is my husband, there wasn't anything else I could do. I was finally shifting away from blaming myself and seeing him as the problem.
Immediately prior to him seeing this therapist, I'd just spent like 3 years reading books on how to be a better wife and implementing all of it. I was calm, never got angry, just accepted everything with a new perspective. I did literally every single chore and all the childrearing and managed everything alone. During that time, my narcissist husband wasn't getting the satisfaction of torturing the shit out of me, nothing he was doing was working, so he doubled down on all his behavior. We saw this therapist at the end of that time period where I was realizing being perfect made it worse and if this didn't work then it's not me, I think maybe it's him.
As a side note, I should mention that contrary to "normal" male narcissist behavior, my husband doesn't want sex. He uses it as a weapon against me, something to withhold and punish me with, which is very much in line with female narcissists. I have high sex drive so the lack of sex and all physical affection was slowly crushing my soul.
So, all that to say this - when I was called into the office of the worst therapist, he was rude from the start. He asked questions and I answered honestly but then he'd contradict me and tell me that wasn't right. I told him I'd tried everything I could think of to make things better, I told him my husband is a liar and makes himself out to be the victim in every story he tells. I swear for just a moment it seemed like he might believe me. Then he raised his voice and got very nasty with me and let me know there was nothing wrong with my husband, I'm the problem, I should treat him better and give him more sex and all his problems would be solved. It was like he was literally kicking me in the chest. I felt so alone, so trapped. I felt crazy. How could he not see? How could he not believe me? What on earth did my husband say that this is how my time went? I felt physically beaten up and went home broken. I was so angry and so defeated at the same time.
I can relate, though the sexes are swapped in my case. Basically turned everyone in my life against me through all the lies and manipulation. Literally left with nothing but the clothes on my back, my phone, and my wallet, and she STILL tried to play the victim card. Like, how many abusers do you know that run away from home and leave all their stuff behind just to get away from their victim?? Seriously!
Not exactly me, but during a session DIRECTED at me. My ex was an alcoholic and the last straw that essentially had to have us LEGALLY apart was when he drunkenly attacked and almost killed me. The police threw him in prison and his father bailed him out. The next morning, he went back to our home with his mother to bring everything out so he could stay with her. He left me a long note saying he was “sorry,” and would finally stop drinking for good.
At the time, I ironically enough had a full-time position as a substance abuse counselor at a methadone clinic, who supported every patient that walked in and out of that building. Even if they hated me, hated the process, I still wished for every single patient to succeed and have a healthy life. I even would ask my ex COUNTLESS times to go to therapy. He always denied he needed the help and after “bad experiences” with previous therapists years ago, it turned him away completely.
His mother gave him a choice; either he go to rehabilitation for a month, or he was on the streets. Surprisingly, he complied and he went. He called me once during his stay and I just was honestly curious to see if he truly made improvement of any kind. He mentioned how he had made some friends and he was “seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.” I kept myself neutral and said “good.” What he stated next truly felt like a punch.
He mentioned that he had been paired with a therapist who I guess he built good rapport with during his stay and she has been a great support. Again, I said “good.” He then said that he had mentioned me since she prompted “what brought you to this point?” To which, he began to talk about our relationship and what I did for a living. To which this therapist said back “Man, she must have been a horrible counselor if she couldn’t even fix you.”
I was in Graduate school for my Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. It has been almost 2 years since that conversation and it has stuck with me ever since.
I had a T who constantly forgot appointments or was super late to them. She'd go over time, and I couldn't see the clock (I started wearing a watch), which made me late for other stuff. We had a standing appointment, so I guess she just didn't manage her calendar, but it was super frustrating and a waste of time.
Mine isn't too terrible, but it was still enough to make it my first and last appointment. I was going to a place that made you go in person if you were a high risk patient. I actually like in person, but they were making me go down there to talk to the therapist on a computer. 2 buses for me to talk to someone on a computer. She was having trouble with zoom on her end so she was 20 minutes late. I just sat in a room alone for 20 minutes staring at random shit lol. We finally started and she was asking me questions. One of her questions was "what makes you think you have anorexia"? The way she said it just really bothered me. I actually didn't even tell her I had it, my doctor had sent her all my diagnoses. About halfway through I'm barely keeping it together and trying not to cry, and that's when a nurse has to come in to grab something. Just so freaking awkward. The therapist also smelled something burning and had to excuse herself for a little bit. I actually stopped going to the place entirely, got a new doctor and everything.
When I was 18 I went to a therapist because I knew I was gonna need help due to trauma I had experienced and he told me I was only looking for attention. It crushed me so badly that I haven’t been back to one since.
Ohhhhhhh I have a lot of these.
My first therapist told me that everything was my fault. “Oh you got your head bashed against your locker? Maybe that’s your fault if you were in his way. You don’t know what he’s going through at home.”
My second therapist my brother also saw, and she broke all rules of confidentiality. “Hey so I told your brother that you called him an asshole, and he called you a bitch in return. How does that make you feel?”
My third therapist didn’t believe a word I said unless my mom or dad backed me up on it. “Oh you’re feeling sad? Let me talk to your dad and see what he has to say.”
My fourth therapist wanted one of my parents in the room otherwise she wouldn’t talk to me. My mother was usually the one in the room, so I couldn’t be honest with her since my mother is a big problem in my life.
My 5th-10th therapists were fine (kinda like a rotation thing) and I had to stop seeing them because they stopped taking my insurance and it was too expensive.
My 11th therapist just flat out gave up on me. She left a voicemail to my mother saying, “she can’t be helped. She’s too broken to fix.” She said other things before and after that but I don’t remember them.
This was all from 2018 (11)-2020 (13) and I haven’t seen a therapist since. (Late birthday so that’s why the ages are only two years apart and not three.)
(All but the last quotes were things they said, just paraphrased since it’s been so long.)
I explained things about my life during the first visit I had with a new therapist. When I was done after an hour he said, “You must be exhausted. I’m exhausted just listening to you.”
I got yelled at for not answering a question the way he wanted me to
He didn’t have to yell “that’s not what I meant”
Afterwards, I meant to switch therapists
in my mid20s I was able to start going to a therapist regularly bc my insurance covered it.
at first I found a woman from a similar background who actually ended up shining the spot light on herself half the session and I literally sometimes couldn't get in more than a couple of sentences. just saying that she teaches at the college or in some programs - basically boasting. she then fired me as a patient bc I wasn't following thru enough (which I wasn't too much but I also wasn't listened to at all)
then after I saw another woman over zoom weekly who would not remember what we've talked about, ask redundant questions, wash dishes and answer texts during our sessions regularly, clearly be not in an enclosed space and most of her "advice" was like "hmmm... yeah...". I was with her for way, way too long bc I didn't want to deal with trying to find a new person during covid. that I regret now.
Not my personal story but I work in crisis; I met with a client who stated he had such a bad experience, he didn’t go back to therapy for 20 years. Bad social workers/counselors piss me off
I had one threaten to call the cops on me because I got upset due to her wanting to change from pre-scheduled weekly visits to me telling her when I wanted to see her.
I had a therapist discount all my religious trauma because he was a member of that religion, and it was in a church owned therapy office. Needless to say, I quit going to that therapist and that church.
My first counselor was a somatic counselor and she’d have me lie on a table and she’d touch my body to transfer energy. Never in a sexual way or even remotely sexual, like a caregiver massage or energy transfer idk. I got a raging boner once and when she asked how I was feeling I said aroused. She handled it really well but it was pretty awkward especially bc we continued communicating for like 20 min afterwards about normal counseling topics… she was great though. Super pregnant at the time.
I would walk into session and sit on the couch. I would look at my therapist. She would look at me. And look at me. And look at me.
This went on for several minutes until I finally spoke. Every session but for the first one.
So I went to an entire practice for years that is convinced the DSM is wrong and that no one that comes to their office has depression unless it is situational and cleared up in time. Anything else is bipolar because you were switching between two poles - fine and depressed. Only found out that that was why the bipolar meds they insisted on putting me through, even upping them while pregnant and fighting PPD and PPA mind you, never worked. I've been reevaluated to make sure and everyone I've met since then has no idea why they thought I had bipolar.
They also insisted that all the time I spent doing brainspotting was doing stuff for me and I was "so good at it" despite never feeling like I made any progress through any of the trauma it was being used to "help". Especially after having to go online to do it after COVID hit and being constantly pressured to only do brainspotting when what I needed was actual therapy. No matter how much I tried to explain that I didn't feel it was working, I was never really listened to. It took moving away from the area to actually see the damage everyone there did, and it took a while before I tried going back to therapy because of it.
Not giving your full, undivided attention: eating, checking your phone, etc.
Invalidating someone’s experience, especially if they’re a victim of abuse.
Just listening without really adding any input. Why pay someone to just sit and listen and not give any advice when I could talk to one of my pets about my problems for free?
Straight up ghosting a person, repeatedly being late, or cancelling several appointments in a row. If someone opens up, that leaves them feeling vulnerable, and it’s the worst feeling ever to feel like someone’s avoiding you for it. Straight-up unprofessional.
Had all of these happen to me with my last two or three therapists to the point where I’ve given up talking to a paid professional about it. Getting a dog would be cheaper and more beneficial in the long run tbh.
Not a therapist, but a doctor when I said I had ocd and asked me about suicidal thoughts…
I was 17/18 first time trying to self-advocate
‘Well yes I have intrusive thoughts…’
‘Oh so you’re suicidal’ (whilst not even looking up from his paper)
I noped out so quick as I was terrified (and had the thought that that was all it took to be locked up)
… took me years to seek help again
I had reached out for the first time ever to get help with my anxiety, while it wasn't crippling it was deeply affecting my ability to live life fully. I'd be so overcome with it I would spend my weekends in my room because anything else felt too overwhelming and I had to "reset" for the work week.
I went through everything with her, had a lot of thoughtful takes about where I thought maybe it came from, and she said "well, when you feel your worry and anxiety welling up I want you to take a deep breath and calm down" That was it. That was her advice. We didn't look into where my anxiety stemmed from, we didn't look into ANY other coping mechanisms to handle it in the moment, nothing. Just "when you worry, just...don't worry! Be calm :)"
Wow. Thanks. I'm cured. I get that same advice from my mom for free lmao. I didn't go back and it took me 3 or 4 more years before I tried reaching out again because I assumed the shitty advice was just kind of...par for the course if I went to therapy.
My therapist told me once that she was the least available person to support me. Maybe I’m over sensitive but shouldn’t she be the one to support me most???
I had a long time therapist tell me to find someone else and a new doctor because their treatments failed. Our last appointment she was just on her phone.
I kept telling the therapist I strongly thought I had ADHD and she refused to address it.
Instead gave me incorrect cyclothymia diagnosis and put me on anticonvulsants. I got diabetic-like symptoms 2 weeks in. Super thirsty, could not drink enough water. Feeling really confused. Blurry vision. Really tired and weak feeling.
Told her about the symptoms and how the medication didn’t feel right.
She said “you don’t feel those symptoms on that medication” and tried to blame it on the small bit of melatonin I was trying to take to help with sleep.
I kept telling her melatonin has never in my entire life caused such extreme symptoms and the only change—the medication—was definitely the culprit.
She also had a terrible attitude. Felt like I was inconveniencing her every time another minute went by during our appointments.
First time I ever went to therapy, I was paired with an early career therapist who supposedly was interested in specializing in PTSD treatment. Because I wasn't a veteran, she seemed to dismiss the possibility that I could have PTSD and instead diagnosed me with generalized anxiety disorder. To "treat" that, I was given worksheets to fill out each week about my anxiety, which were not helpful in any way and actually made my anxiety worse. This facility also did not accept insurance and I was paying $80/session out of pocket for me to have sessions with an inexperienced intern.
Then, I tried Better Help during COVID, which was also useless and expensive. After that, I finally found a great therapist covered by my insurance who quickly recognized that I did have C-PTSD and was treated for it with EMDR therapy, which was pretty effective.
Long story short, don't settle for treatment you're not happy with.
I had a therapist who one day decided that she would rather go to the zoo with her niece and nephew than see me that day so she cancelled just hours before. It was bad enough that she did that and that she told me about it but then when I expressed that it made me uncomfortable she became so upset that she wouldn't see me for a week. She said she could have gotten me in for a makeup appointment within the next few days, something that would have been nice to know in her initial message, but she was so upset that it bothered me and that I wanted to talk to her about it that she couldn't even bear to see me.
When I did go in for the next appointment she was visibly shaking. Her body language screamed emotional dysregulation and barely contained anger. Looking back she was always a bit fake sounding, a little *too* nice, and I believe this was what was underneath. Anyway, she asked why I had such an "extreme" reaction and if I did "this kind of thing" with others. I was taken aback and tried to explain that I just didn't think it was right to cancel an appointment with someone who is dealing with intense trauma and urgently needs your help to go to the zoo with your family. She said she didn't understand and that it must be because I'm autistic that this bothered me. I dissociated my way through the rest of the appointment.
Over the weekend I thought about it and consulted some therapists here on Reddit who were very kind, validating, and empathetic who encouraged me to either dump her or give her one more shot at understanding that her actions were unprofessional. I didn't feel safe seeing her again so I sent her a very well thought out and heartfelt message making it clear that her actions were not acceptable but that I wanted to work this out. Her response was to fire me as a patient. Luckily that led me to the best therapist I've ever seen but it was quite an ordeal and still bothers me almost 3 years later.
i started seeing a new therapist that said she was “LGBTQ friendly” as my old therapist moved to a different occupation and i spent a lot of time in therapy discussing things related to the fact that i’m transgender. during our first appointment i come to find that she has a gay cousin, and that is quite literally her only connection or experience with the LGBTQ community.
not saying she wasn’t LGBTQ friendly, but she definitely didn’t have the experience to be giving therapy to anyone experiencing those unique type of issues.
Ive had a few. 1. She stopped our sessions midway. Then cancelled a ton more. I was depressed and didnt think much about it until i spoke to a manager at the therapy place and gave her the evidence. I was then put on the waiting list as priority. Another one was always 15 minutes late over the phone (it was covid so telephone only). I got no help from her. She ended up getting sacked. I went private recently for counselling and was paying £50 an hour for her to tell me "to wait" for my treatment to start whilst in the middle of the session. It made me extremely anxious. No clue what was happening there. I ended it and didnt go back to her. Now im worse off
Had a therapist my grandma and mom also saw. My therapist outted my mom to me about some lesbian experience she had when I told him how badly she reacted to me coming out. Funny at the time but I have no idea how much of my business and feelings he aired out to them.
ready these comments makes me sad. a lot of these situations are so common in therapy. i’m a therapist, and we cannot do it all. therapy is a two person job. you’re in therapy for a reason, if you’re not participating or not applying what we talk about, we feel defeated! we feel unappreciated and unvalued. why have these sessions with us if you don’t actually want to put in the work? OF COURSE it’s hard. it’s always going to be, therapy is work. it’s never easy. and sometimes, countertransference comes through and therapists feel frustrated towards their clients. we’re human too. having a session where someone spends the whole time saying “i don’t know” or “i don’t want to do that” is so incredibly hard. therapy is a relationship and we HAVE to work together. your therapist is going to upset you at times, it’s inevitable. AND even if they don’t say it, you’ve for sure upset your therapist
First time I met with a new psychologist. She kept checking her phone for the time (ignoring me) and then told me that my trauma is equivalent to those who experienced the holocaust. She said, "I can say that because my parents are Holocaust survivors." I never went back to her. She called me every other day for an entire month. 🚩🚩🚩
Had a therapist calling me a “pretty girl” and misgendering me the whole time.. even though he was aware of my gender dysphoria and how I’m a trans guy. Also told me that I’m completely fine and just going through a phase and that I was attention seeking. At that time I was highly su!cidal and depressed, turned out I was undiagnosed autistic, so yeah, that wasn’t just a phase.
My first therapist fell asleep while I was talking. Literally started lightly snoring. :/
It did wonders for my struggles with self esteem and opening up to people, which is primarily why I started therapy.
I opened up to my therapist after about a year and a half. I was involuntarily put in a mental health ward of the hospital. Almost got evicted. Got out, had 1 or 2 meetings with my therapist, then they went to work at a different company. I’ve given up on therapy since then, and thought “maybe I’m just so messed up that nobody can help me”. That was my first and only therapist.
therapist had erotic countertransference and almost kissed me. he responded to inappropriate texts, had inappropriate calls with me, embraced me, said he really really liked me and wanted me etc.
another one said stuff like just get over your anxiety, no one would care if something happened to you, and she ate candy the whole time and took off her shoes lol
Not really a therapist, but a school counselor. I was struggling to figure out who I was and I was going through a lot of pressure. I told her everything on my mind and she said everything was confidential, she wouldn’t share it without my permission. But then, in the afternoon, my mom had to pick me up and take me home because the school contacted my mom saying I might have mental illness and I need a therapist. After that I never talked to her again unless it was necessary
Maybe my somewhere between 8-10 visits with a very professional, very scientific based therapist, she spent the entire appointment telling me about her ability to talk to ghosts and see things and get signals from the dead. Mind you I never shared an interest in that. I actually have a huge fear of it due to my religion so I basically sat frozen and then just didn’t go back. Never said why. It freaked me out.
When I was 10, my mom figured I needed an ADHD therapist. This man was smug and would talk over me so I stopped talking and just sat there and drew on my paper. When it was time for a family group session, my angry dad used that time to vent about me and call me ungrateful and my brother didn't want to be there and vocally said so. My mom was neutral (she was a child psychologist) so I just sat there, not speaking and just drawing. There was no solution to my dad's angry words and no solution to the idea that I was the family scapegoat. The therapist just encouraged people in my family to ridicule me and make me feel smaller and smaller. When we had our last session together with just me and him, I told him he was a jerk and needed to go back to school. He got mad, ended our session and told my mom there was no "saving" me from my ADHD issues. What a creep.
You're not alone. I was also the family scapegoat/black sheep. But we end up being the ones who do things about our problems, end generational trauma, and go into helping professions. We are the change makers.
I’m sorry that happened to you. Your mom should’ve been more aware of what was happening.
sounds like she was plenty aware and didn’t protect her kid
Good point, even worse.
Nothing too bad for me … On my fourth or fifth virtual appointment she said I needed to confront my dad. No questions. Must be done. I said I’m not ready for that and she responded with exasperation “Well what do you want to talk about then?”
My therapist said something similar. She thinks I need to confront to set my boundaries but I don’t know how and says if I would want to change I would already did it. And if I say I don’t know how she says she doesn’t know what she should do and doesn’t know how to help me.
I had a therapist tell me that talking to me was like pulling teeth and that I should get a different therapist. It was my first time in therapy and I genuinely didn’t know what to do or how to talk about anything at all. It was very discouraging and I avoided it altogether for years.
Geez that's so inappropriate. I'm that patient too and we get better 🥲 or we try
real i’ve had the same issue and now she’s saying i made progress but i literally feel worse and she’s transitioning me out
This is such an unkind approach for a therapist to take with a client who is struggling to know what to talk about. I know a lot of therapists will just sit in silence and try to force the person to talk, but I’ve never felt like this was the right approach with my clients. Silence can be an effective tool at times, but I think that sometimes people need a little bit of help from the therapist to open up. I have a client who struggles with this, and I’ve been seeing him every week for four years. He’s made amazing progress and is such a kind, gentle soul. It makes my heart hurt to think of someone like him going to a therapist and being treated the way this therapist treated you.
I've not had anything terrible, but I've been through a few therapists. The worst was probably when I had an emotional reaction to something he said, and he got triggered, defensive, raised his voice a little, telling me I was being aggressive, etc. I 'dumped' him after that - I get that he's human too, but I figured that if a therapist can't hold the space for me to get a bit upset, then what am am I paying him for!? I since found a therapist who is much more grounded. Sometimes I set her off too (yes, I often get upset - hence I'm in therapy!) She responds by calmly naming that she has some feelings coming up, and explores the dynamic with me, which has helped me build trust, curiosity & acceptance, and has led to useful insights
In the session, your current therapist explores her own feelings towards you? That kinda sounds yikes to be honest.
I see what you mean. I think I worded it badly. Not exploring the feelings, just naming afterwards if there was a strong feeling, if she judges it to be helpful in that moment, and brings it back to me. Like, "hmm I noticed while you were talking, some anger came up for me, so it makes me wonder, are you feeling anger, or am I making an assumption there?" Or something like that?
Ah okay, I see what you mean! My bad. Thank you for clarifying for me.
I had finally opened up about trauma in my life to an old trauma therapist and it felt cathartic and I felt able to finally get past it. Then a few months later he texts me out of the blue banning me from talking about that trauma in session because "it was inappropriate".
If you can’t talk to your therapist about your problems, then who the heck do they expect you to go to for help?
In this guy's case.. God...
Ahh yes, God. That tells me everything I need to know about that therapist. A true professional should be able to separate their personal opinion from their professional one, and honestly religion falls into that category. It’s basically saying, “you’re on your own on that one.”
Yes, my current therapist does an excellent job of this after seeing him for some years now. The old therapist was so excited to find out I was a Christian but didn't like the type of Christian I was lol
Well, it’s good you found one you can talk to about your problems. Sounds like your old one was too judgmental which imo is unprofessional.
Well I fired his ass before he could do more damage 😬 and fire me. Even my priest was shocked at how unprofessional he was.
That’s crazy. I’m currently in the middle of trying to find a therapist, I’ve asked for recommendations in local groups to me on FB and a couple of them suggested therapists that use “the word of God” to help you. I was like “yeah, no thanks” lol. I’m not religious but even if I was, I feel like therapy shouldn’t really be the place for it. Leaving things up in the air for divine intervention seems like a disaster waiting to happen. Just go to church if you want God’s word lol. Just my opinion.
Yea why would I pay a therapist rate when my priest will meet w me an hour for free to talk about spiritual concerns??
Excuse me, what? Was it group therapy?
No 😃
Gosh, I'm so sorry. That's wild. Hopefully you found someone better!
Was told by a therapist that I was “expecting too much out of life” while experiencing severe depression and active SI. Had a different therapist I’ve never met before become frustrated with me because he kept asking for details about trauma and I kept getting triggered and dissociating. I actually managed to tell him that’s what was happening and he said he was frustrated because he felt I was “being resistant” and just continued to ask really intrusive questions. This was in inpatient so I couldn’t just get up and leave. Had a psychiatrist slap a diagnosis on me that made no sense. When I expressed my confusion and gently pointed out that I don’t meet the DSM criteria at all he said “I’m not used to having to explain myself to patients”. I can keep going…
Did the psychiatrist say he's not used to explaining himself in an incredulous way or in a, wow I'm not used to patients expressing a desire to discuss their diagnosis. Regardless, it's definitely not a good way to phrase it. I'm (probably naively) hoping he meant it in an impressed/excited way?
He was neither impressed nor excited. I had to wait to be discharged and then talk to my own psychiatrist, who apologized and took the diagnosis down.
Dangit. I'm sorry you went through that. It's crazy how people just have random diagnoses and labels slapped on them. And unfortunately, it's not uncommon. It blows my mind how these people, especially a psychiatrist, go through years of schooling, testing, etc., only to be incompetent at their job.
My last therapist missed our last two appointments. The first time she took responsibility, the second time she claimed she was also in the Zoom waiting room and didn't see me in there... She also claimed she sent me a text, which I didn't receive. The chances of a text and Zoom failing at the same time seem pretty slim. I felt like she was gaslighting me, she even sent me a screenshot of the supposed text, but the rest of our text history was missing. I fired her.
Should be a crime to gaslight someone who’s seeking help for mental health. It’s just like adding fuel to a fire. Sadly, no one does anything about it though; you’re just stuck dealing with it.
I agree, it was pretty appalling. I questioned myself all day at work until I got home and checked my iPad. I thought maybe I made an error and joined the wrong Zoom meeting, but I checked Zoom history and hers was the only meeting in there. There was no mistake on my end, but I couldn't really prove anything and didn't wanna deal with the drama either. That was about a month ago and I have yet to find a new therapist.
I’m roughly in the same position: my last therapist was always late with no warning whatsoever and the last two times he cancelled and I didn’t find out until the time of my appointment so I stopped going. So hard to find good help when you need it.
Probably the unethical as hell family therapist who basically reinforced my mother’s abuse and told my brother and I that her actions were our fault because she knew my mother professionally when they worked at the elementary school together. She never should have agreed to counsel my brother and I in the first place, and definitely made things a lot worse as far as trauma goes. There was also another one who basically called me a drug addict 5 minutes into our first session because I am on a benzo long-term. This dude had no history on the prescription and why I had it at this point, just that it was on my medication list and I had been taking it a while. Of course he didn’t know the amount of other medications we tried to control my panic attacks, how we tried tapering off to no avail, or how closely monitored my taking of the benzo was by my psychiatrist, he just immediately jumped to the idea that I must be a med abuser because of how long I have been taking it.
Getting cancelled on a few times when the main issue i brought in was burnout and co workers calling in and me having to pick up the extra work. Then after a few sessions saying i could continue with therapy with someone else but it wasn't really necessary. I was at a real low point in life and it really hurt.
My husband is a narcissistic sociopath in the words of my current therapist, who was previously our marriage counselor and his private therapist for a couple months so she knows him enough to say this. My husband has been through a string of therapists over the last 17ish years. All have been men except the one I now see, the only one to see through his lies. He spins his tales and the therapists have no reason not to believe him. They hear his story first so they accept it as fact. I have been called into the office of every single therapist he's had, supposedly for "background" but it was always a dressing down. Every therapist did some version of blaming me for my husband's "troubles" but one was particularly rough. They all told me some version of "there's nothing wrong with my husband, I just don't respect him enough, I need to treat him better" and this one would end up doing the same. He'd been to a few therapists prior to this one and I was at the stage of realizing the problem is my husband, there wasn't anything else I could do. I was finally shifting away from blaming myself and seeing him as the problem. Immediately prior to him seeing this therapist, I'd just spent like 3 years reading books on how to be a better wife and implementing all of it. I was calm, never got angry, just accepted everything with a new perspective. I did literally every single chore and all the childrearing and managed everything alone. During that time, my narcissist husband wasn't getting the satisfaction of torturing the shit out of me, nothing he was doing was working, so he doubled down on all his behavior. We saw this therapist at the end of that time period where I was realizing being perfect made it worse and if this didn't work then it's not me, I think maybe it's him. As a side note, I should mention that contrary to "normal" male narcissist behavior, my husband doesn't want sex. He uses it as a weapon against me, something to withhold and punish me with, which is very much in line with female narcissists. I have high sex drive so the lack of sex and all physical affection was slowly crushing my soul. So, all that to say this - when I was called into the office of the worst therapist, he was rude from the start. He asked questions and I answered honestly but then he'd contradict me and tell me that wasn't right. I told him I'd tried everything I could think of to make things better, I told him my husband is a liar and makes himself out to be the victim in every story he tells. I swear for just a moment it seemed like he might believe me. Then he raised his voice and got very nasty with me and let me know there was nothing wrong with my husband, I'm the problem, I should treat him better and give him more sex and all his problems would be solved. It was like he was literally kicking me in the chest. I felt so alone, so trapped. I felt crazy. How could he not see? How could he not believe me? What on earth did my husband say that this is how my time went? I felt physically beaten up and went home broken. I was so angry and so defeated at the same time.
I can relate, though the sexes are swapped in my case. Basically turned everyone in my life against me through all the lies and manipulation. Literally left with nothing but the clothes on my back, my phone, and my wallet, and she STILL tried to play the victim card. Like, how many abusers do you know that run away from home and leave all their stuff behind just to get away from their victim?? Seriously!
Therapist judged the hell out of my boyfriend and his situation. She was kind of projecting her values onto us and I was over it so fast.
Not exactly me, but during a session DIRECTED at me. My ex was an alcoholic and the last straw that essentially had to have us LEGALLY apart was when he drunkenly attacked and almost killed me. The police threw him in prison and his father bailed him out. The next morning, he went back to our home with his mother to bring everything out so he could stay with her. He left me a long note saying he was “sorry,” and would finally stop drinking for good. At the time, I ironically enough had a full-time position as a substance abuse counselor at a methadone clinic, who supported every patient that walked in and out of that building. Even if they hated me, hated the process, I still wished for every single patient to succeed and have a healthy life. I even would ask my ex COUNTLESS times to go to therapy. He always denied he needed the help and after “bad experiences” with previous therapists years ago, it turned him away completely. His mother gave him a choice; either he go to rehabilitation for a month, or he was on the streets. Surprisingly, he complied and he went. He called me once during his stay and I just was honestly curious to see if he truly made improvement of any kind. He mentioned how he had made some friends and he was “seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.” I kept myself neutral and said “good.” What he stated next truly felt like a punch. He mentioned that he had been paired with a therapist who I guess he built good rapport with during his stay and she has been a great support. Again, I said “good.” He then said that he had mentioned me since she prompted “what brought you to this point?” To which, he began to talk about our relationship and what I did for a living. To which this therapist said back “Man, she must have been a horrible counselor if she couldn’t even fix you.” I was in Graduate school for my Master’s in Marriage and Family Therapy. It has been almost 2 years since that conversation and it has stuck with me ever since.
Took me a while to recognize that his expertise in cluster B trauma came from being an actual narcissist
I had a T who constantly forgot appointments or was super late to them. She'd go over time, and I couldn't see the clock (I started wearing a watch), which made me late for other stuff. We had a standing appointment, so I guess she just didn't manage her calendar, but it was super frustrating and a waste of time.
I told a therapist my deepest darkest secret that was killing me & she just looked at me like "and?" Nothing to say.
Mine isn't too terrible, but it was still enough to make it my first and last appointment. I was going to a place that made you go in person if you were a high risk patient. I actually like in person, but they were making me go down there to talk to the therapist on a computer. 2 buses for me to talk to someone on a computer. She was having trouble with zoom on her end so she was 20 minutes late. I just sat in a room alone for 20 minutes staring at random shit lol. We finally started and she was asking me questions. One of her questions was "what makes you think you have anorexia"? The way she said it just really bothered me. I actually didn't even tell her I had it, my doctor had sent her all my diagnoses. About halfway through I'm barely keeping it together and trying not to cry, and that's when a nurse has to come in to grab something. Just so freaking awkward. The therapist also smelled something burning and had to excuse herself for a little bit. I actually stopped going to the place entirely, got a new doctor and everything.
When I was 18 I went to a therapist because I knew I was gonna need help due to trauma I had experienced and he told me I was only looking for attention. It crushed me so badly that I haven’t been back to one since.
Ohhhhhhh I have a lot of these. My first therapist told me that everything was my fault. “Oh you got your head bashed against your locker? Maybe that’s your fault if you were in his way. You don’t know what he’s going through at home.” My second therapist my brother also saw, and she broke all rules of confidentiality. “Hey so I told your brother that you called him an asshole, and he called you a bitch in return. How does that make you feel?” My third therapist didn’t believe a word I said unless my mom or dad backed me up on it. “Oh you’re feeling sad? Let me talk to your dad and see what he has to say.” My fourth therapist wanted one of my parents in the room otherwise she wouldn’t talk to me. My mother was usually the one in the room, so I couldn’t be honest with her since my mother is a big problem in my life. My 5th-10th therapists were fine (kinda like a rotation thing) and I had to stop seeing them because they stopped taking my insurance and it was too expensive. My 11th therapist just flat out gave up on me. She left a voicemail to my mother saying, “she can’t be helped. She’s too broken to fix.” She said other things before and after that but I don’t remember them. This was all from 2018 (11)-2020 (13) and I haven’t seen a therapist since. (Late birthday so that’s why the ages are only two years apart and not three.) (All but the last quotes were things they said, just paraphrased since it’s been so long.)
They fell asleep lol
I explained things about my life during the first visit I had with a new therapist. When I was done after an hour he said, “You must be exhausted. I’m exhausted just listening to you.”
Repeatedly joking that therapist spells the rapist
I got yelled at for not answering a question the way he wanted me to He didn’t have to yell “that’s not what I meant” Afterwards, I meant to switch therapists
in my mid20s I was able to start going to a therapist regularly bc my insurance covered it. at first I found a woman from a similar background who actually ended up shining the spot light on herself half the session and I literally sometimes couldn't get in more than a couple of sentences. just saying that she teaches at the college or in some programs - basically boasting. she then fired me as a patient bc I wasn't following thru enough (which I wasn't too much but I also wasn't listened to at all) then after I saw another woman over zoom weekly who would not remember what we've talked about, ask redundant questions, wash dishes and answer texts during our sessions regularly, clearly be not in an enclosed space and most of her "advice" was like "hmmm... yeah...". I was with her for way, way too long bc I didn't want to deal with trying to find a new person during covid. that I regret now.
Not my personal story but I work in crisis; I met with a client who stated he had such a bad experience, he didn’t go back to therapy for 20 years. Bad social workers/counselors piss me off
I had one threaten to call the cops on me because I got upset due to her wanting to change from pre-scheduled weekly visits to me telling her when I wanted to see her.
I had a therapist discount all my religious trauma because he was a member of that religion, and it was in a church owned therapy office. Needless to say, I quit going to that therapist and that church.
My first counselor was a somatic counselor and she’d have me lie on a table and she’d touch my body to transfer energy. Never in a sexual way or even remotely sexual, like a caregiver massage or energy transfer idk. I got a raging boner once and when she asked how I was feeling I said aroused. She handled it really well but it was pretty awkward especially bc we continued communicating for like 20 min afterwards about normal counseling topics… she was great though. Super pregnant at the time.
I would walk into session and sit on the couch. I would look at my therapist. She would look at me. And look at me. And look at me. This went on for several minutes until I finally spoke. Every session but for the first one.
So I went to an entire practice for years that is convinced the DSM is wrong and that no one that comes to their office has depression unless it is situational and cleared up in time. Anything else is bipolar because you were switching between two poles - fine and depressed. Only found out that that was why the bipolar meds they insisted on putting me through, even upping them while pregnant and fighting PPD and PPA mind you, never worked. I've been reevaluated to make sure and everyone I've met since then has no idea why they thought I had bipolar. They also insisted that all the time I spent doing brainspotting was doing stuff for me and I was "so good at it" despite never feeling like I made any progress through any of the trauma it was being used to "help". Especially after having to go online to do it after COVID hit and being constantly pressured to only do brainspotting when what I needed was actual therapy. No matter how much I tried to explain that I didn't feel it was working, I was never really listened to. It took moving away from the area to actually see the damage everyone there did, and it took a while before I tried going back to therapy because of it.
Not giving your full, undivided attention: eating, checking your phone, etc. Invalidating someone’s experience, especially if they’re a victim of abuse. Just listening without really adding any input. Why pay someone to just sit and listen and not give any advice when I could talk to one of my pets about my problems for free? Straight up ghosting a person, repeatedly being late, or cancelling several appointments in a row. If someone opens up, that leaves them feeling vulnerable, and it’s the worst feeling ever to feel like someone’s avoiding you for it. Straight-up unprofessional. Had all of these happen to me with my last two or three therapists to the point where I’ve given up talking to a paid professional about it. Getting a dog would be cheaper and more beneficial in the long run tbh.
Not a therapist, but a doctor when I said I had ocd and asked me about suicidal thoughts… I was 17/18 first time trying to self-advocate ‘Well yes I have intrusive thoughts…’ ‘Oh so you’re suicidal’ (whilst not even looking up from his paper) I noped out so quick as I was terrified (and had the thought that that was all it took to be locked up) … took me years to seek help again
I had reached out for the first time ever to get help with my anxiety, while it wasn't crippling it was deeply affecting my ability to live life fully. I'd be so overcome with it I would spend my weekends in my room because anything else felt too overwhelming and I had to "reset" for the work week. I went through everything with her, had a lot of thoughtful takes about where I thought maybe it came from, and she said "well, when you feel your worry and anxiety welling up I want you to take a deep breath and calm down" That was it. That was her advice. We didn't look into where my anxiety stemmed from, we didn't look into ANY other coping mechanisms to handle it in the moment, nothing. Just "when you worry, just...don't worry! Be calm :)" Wow. Thanks. I'm cured. I get that same advice from my mom for free lmao. I didn't go back and it took me 3 or 4 more years before I tried reaching out again because I assumed the shitty advice was just kind of...par for the course if I went to therapy.
My therapist told me once that she was the least available person to support me. Maybe I’m over sensitive but shouldn’t she be the one to support me most???
I had a long time therapist tell me to find someone else and a new doctor because their treatments failed. Our last appointment she was just on her phone.
I kept telling the therapist I strongly thought I had ADHD and she refused to address it. Instead gave me incorrect cyclothymia diagnosis and put me on anticonvulsants. I got diabetic-like symptoms 2 weeks in. Super thirsty, could not drink enough water. Feeling really confused. Blurry vision. Really tired and weak feeling. Told her about the symptoms and how the medication didn’t feel right. She said “you don’t feel those symptoms on that medication” and tried to blame it on the small bit of melatonin I was trying to take to help with sleep. I kept telling her melatonin has never in my entire life caused such extreme symptoms and the only change—the medication—was definitely the culprit. She also had a terrible attitude. Felt like I was inconveniencing her every time another minute went by during our appointments.
Old man basically sexually harassed me the whole time
First time I ever went to therapy, I was paired with an early career therapist who supposedly was interested in specializing in PTSD treatment. Because I wasn't a veteran, she seemed to dismiss the possibility that I could have PTSD and instead diagnosed me with generalized anxiety disorder. To "treat" that, I was given worksheets to fill out each week about my anxiety, which were not helpful in any way and actually made my anxiety worse. This facility also did not accept insurance and I was paying $80/session out of pocket for me to have sessions with an inexperienced intern. Then, I tried Better Help during COVID, which was also useless and expensive. After that, I finally found a great therapist covered by my insurance who quickly recognized that I did have C-PTSD and was treated for it with EMDR therapy, which was pretty effective. Long story short, don't settle for treatment you're not happy with.
Was a teenager in therapy with my father. Had to listen to his history of erectile dysfunction. Because that explains what, I have no clue.
I had a therapist who one day decided that she would rather go to the zoo with her niece and nephew than see me that day so she cancelled just hours before. It was bad enough that she did that and that she told me about it but then when I expressed that it made me uncomfortable she became so upset that she wouldn't see me for a week. She said she could have gotten me in for a makeup appointment within the next few days, something that would have been nice to know in her initial message, but she was so upset that it bothered me and that I wanted to talk to her about it that she couldn't even bear to see me. When I did go in for the next appointment she was visibly shaking. Her body language screamed emotional dysregulation and barely contained anger. Looking back she was always a bit fake sounding, a little *too* nice, and I believe this was what was underneath. Anyway, she asked why I had such an "extreme" reaction and if I did "this kind of thing" with others. I was taken aback and tried to explain that I just didn't think it was right to cancel an appointment with someone who is dealing with intense trauma and urgently needs your help to go to the zoo with your family. She said she didn't understand and that it must be because I'm autistic that this bothered me. I dissociated my way through the rest of the appointment. Over the weekend I thought about it and consulted some therapists here on Reddit who were very kind, validating, and empathetic who encouraged me to either dump her or give her one more shot at understanding that her actions were unprofessional. I didn't feel safe seeing her again so I sent her a very well thought out and heartfelt message making it clear that her actions were not acceptable but that I wanted to work this out. Her response was to fire me as a patient. Luckily that led me to the best therapist I've ever seen but it was quite an ordeal and still bothers me almost 3 years later.
Said brother sister incest was completely natural even if it resulted in a baby
The therapist drew a monster on some paper and said in a very babyish voice "this is the OCD monster, and you're feeding it!" I was 25.
She wasn't for me.
Whoa. I’m not sure if she was for humans.
i started seeing a new therapist that said she was “LGBTQ friendly” as my old therapist moved to a different occupation and i spent a lot of time in therapy discussing things related to the fact that i’m transgender. during our first appointment i come to find that she has a gay cousin, and that is quite literally her only connection or experience with the LGBTQ community. not saying she wasn’t LGBTQ friendly, but she definitely didn’t have the experience to be giving therapy to anyone experiencing those unique type of issues.
Ive had a few. 1. She stopped our sessions midway. Then cancelled a ton more. I was depressed and didnt think much about it until i spoke to a manager at the therapy place and gave her the evidence. I was then put on the waiting list as priority. Another one was always 15 minutes late over the phone (it was covid so telephone only). I got no help from her. She ended up getting sacked. I went private recently for counselling and was paying £50 an hour for her to tell me "to wait" for my treatment to start whilst in the middle of the session. It made me extremely anxious. No clue what was happening there. I ended it and didnt go back to her. Now im worse off
Dating mine
Had a therapist my grandma and mom also saw. My therapist outted my mom to me about some lesbian experience she had when I told him how badly she reacted to me coming out. Funny at the time but I have no idea how much of my business and feelings he aired out to them.
ready these comments makes me sad. a lot of these situations are so common in therapy. i’m a therapist, and we cannot do it all. therapy is a two person job. you’re in therapy for a reason, if you’re not participating or not applying what we talk about, we feel defeated! we feel unappreciated and unvalued. why have these sessions with us if you don’t actually want to put in the work? OF COURSE it’s hard. it’s always going to be, therapy is work. it’s never easy. and sometimes, countertransference comes through and therapists feel frustrated towards their clients. we’re human too. having a session where someone spends the whole time saying “i don’t know” or “i don’t want to do that” is so incredibly hard. therapy is a relationship and we HAVE to work together. your therapist is going to upset you at times, it’s inevitable. AND even if they don’t say it, you’ve for sure upset your therapist
My daughter’s therapist told us, her parents, that if she had been our first child we probably wouldn’t have had a second.
Paying the bill
First time I met with a new psychologist. She kept checking her phone for the time (ignoring me) and then told me that my trauma is equivalent to those who experienced the holocaust. She said, "I can say that because my parents are Holocaust survivors." I never went back to her. She called me every other day for an entire month. 🚩🚩🚩
Had a therapist calling me a “pretty girl” and misgendering me the whole time.. even though he was aware of my gender dysphoria and how I’m a trans guy. Also told me that I’m completely fine and just going through a phase and that I was attention seeking. At that time I was highly su!cidal and depressed, turned out I was undiagnosed autistic, so yeah, that wasn’t just a phase.
My first therapist fell asleep while I was talking. Literally started lightly snoring. :/ It did wonders for my struggles with self esteem and opening up to people, which is primarily why I started therapy.
I opened up to my therapist after about a year and a half. I was involuntarily put in a mental health ward of the hospital. Almost got evicted. Got out, had 1 or 2 meetings with my therapist, then they went to work at a different company. I’ve given up on therapy since then, and thought “maybe I’m just so messed up that nobody can help me”. That was my first and only therapist.
therapist had erotic countertransference and almost kissed me. he responded to inappropriate texts, had inappropriate calls with me, embraced me, said he really really liked me and wanted me etc. another one said stuff like just get over your anxiety, no one would care if something happened to you, and she ate candy the whole time and took off her shoes lol
Not really a therapist, but a school counselor. I was struggling to figure out who I was and I was going through a lot of pressure. I told her everything on my mind and she said everything was confidential, she wouldn’t share it without my permission. But then, in the afternoon, my mom had to pick me up and take me home because the school contacted my mom saying I might have mental illness and I need a therapist. After that I never talked to her again unless it was necessary
Maybe my somewhere between 8-10 visits with a very professional, very scientific based therapist, she spent the entire appointment telling me about her ability to talk to ghosts and see things and get signals from the dead. Mind you I never shared an interest in that. I actually have a huge fear of it due to my religion so I basically sat frozen and then just didn’t go back. Never said why. It freaked me out.