Had a Bad Therapy Experience?

I had a bad experience, but even my "ethical" therapy was inevitably regressive and paternalistic. We've had an ongoing discussion here. <url removed>/

My 'bad therapy' lasted a year. I had warning signs early on that all was not well but persisted as I doubted my own gut feelings. To cut a long story short I wish I had listened to myself. I went in with one set of problems and came out with another. The therapist 'led me on' both romantically and sexually then one day just stopped after I was totally hooked on him. My dependency was then joked about confidential details of abuse I had suffered was twisted and was made to feel it was all my fault. As time passed the worse the humiliation got. I also want to say that the time the 'affection/ love boming' stopped was the time I told him of a one night stand that ended up in me confessing to my partner who then contacted the guy who I had the fling's with partner. I was then told I had 'form'. Whatever that means, basically a no go area for him although up to that point I was fair game. Eventually I got the courage to quit and now have a really supportive therapist who has proper boundaries, is ethical and has given me more insite into myself in a month than the ex therapist (or jerk) did in a year. I hope the people who read this and may be getting warning signals that alls not right in their sessions to listen to their instinct and quit and find someone who is professional, take it from me its worth it.

I had a bad experience similar to the first poster in this thread. I had become way to close with a female therapist I had. There wasn't any inappropriate behavior, but she allowed me to call her at anytime. One day I confronted her about the nature of the therapy she was using and she immediately terminated the session after I had only been in her office for 5 minutes. She told me that she did not do the kind of therapy (addiction therapy) that I needed and that I could leave now and find another therapist on the internet. I was devastated and literally went to my car and broke down crying. I put so much trust in that therapist and it was very misplaced.

Sorry hypnosis that should be. I tried to sue my therapist but I got zero help from solicitors who didnt know what I was talking about. I still suffer from complex PTSD over this event. I later found, from this relative of his I spoke to that this bogus doctor had a conviction for living on immoral earnings. I feel that a lot of bad therapists are pathological narcissists and my type of experience isnt unusual.

My therapist advertised bypnosis on posters. After eight years of Freudian analysis I was very involved but he broke off treatment without explanation just a few months before my college finals. I couldnt work and couldnt get over it. Later I found his qualifications were fakes bought from a US bible college. Years later, after meeting a relative of his, I learnt he wouldnt have wanted me to get a college degree because he didnt have one. At th time there were not controls of therapists in the UK

Hi everyone, I'd like to share my story especially knowing that there is very little information on the Internet about abuse in therapy and what forms it could take. Usually, the first thing people think of when they come across this subject is therapists' sexual involvement with patients. While sex with patients is an ethical violation that causes long-term damage, there are other types of abuse in therapy that could be just as damaging if not more. My former therapist engaged in a close personal relationship with me while I was a patient. I don't want to go into details because it'd make the story too long. I can only say in general that there was a lot of mutual sharing during sessions that certainly did not coincide with the purpose of therapy. He was getting his own needs met in our relationship. There was some physical contact that obviously was not a part of therapy work. Overall, even though the relationship was not overtly sexual, it was very much sexualized. I felt at some point that I was being exploited because I continued to pay him and it felt like I was paying for friendship or whatever else that had transpired between us. No real work was being done. My own problems grew bigger and my life circumstances were becoming more challenging and complicated. I felt lost and didn't know how to deal with all that. When I tried to discuss it with him, the only thing he could say to me was how much he loved me and how strongly he felt my pain. He expressed his love for me and his admiration of my talents continuously. It felt very good and was seductive because it felt good. I can't really describe the whole dynamic of what was happening because it is too much. I am going to write a book about it and also articles about abuse in therapy. It is important, however, to say that he and I took our relationship outside of therapy setting. I decided to terminate therapy but we continued seeing each other as "colleagues" (supposedly) as I am a therapist myself. Contrary to what I hoped for, the exploitation did not stop with my stopping paying him. The whole experience still felt good on some level but on another level I was suffering as I was utterly confused about what was happening. There was a complete role reverse. He was telling me his personal story and I felt like I became his therapist. He formed a strong attachment to me which he repeatedly denied for a long time but confessed it later. On top of that, he violated me on a professional level. He plagiarized me, used a lot of my ideas for his presentations at the professional organization that he belonged to without crediting me. I could go on and on. As I said, this is a long and complicated story but I believe many people should know it in order to protect themselves from being exploited in therapy. Whoever wants to contact me privately about this, feel free to do so. marina@tonkonogy.com <url removed> I also want to add that the damage that my therapist caused me is very similar to the damage that comes from sexual abuse from a therapist. For anyone who is interested in the subject, there is a couple of good websites that have a lot of information about it <url removed> <url removed>

Hello there, I have been working as a Psychotherapist for past 24 years. I do it differently. People do not need to talk on and on about their problems with the therapist. Therapist should be asking these questions only; 1. What has brought you here. 2, What would you like to see change with your current situation. 3. Help them find and change their Subconscious beliefs, to match their goal. 4. Create an action plan to support their new goals That's what i do to help my clients with a process called PSYCH-K. My clients stay in therapy with me for 6-8 times, once a week. Sometime they are done in only 2-3 sessions. This process works equally well in person as well as at a distance via Phone?Skype. I have clients Worldwide. process online. I feel very blessed to know this process. People don't waste their valuable time and ton of money with me. Thanks! <url removed>

I saw my former therapist for 3 years. I am still heart broken by what happened. I was laid off and lost my health insurance and was no longer able to afford my anti-depressant meds. At first my therapist seemed to not be concerned at all. 6 months later she suggested looking into meds again, but when I told her I still did have health insurance and couldn't afford it she dropped the subject. My therapist informed me that she would be closing her practice and moving 2 1/2 hours away to another state within 3 months. I really didn't want to have to find a new therapist, I had grown attached and believed she was trustworthy. I suggested that we have our weekly sessions via telephone/skype and that I would travel to her new office once a month. She agreed and even offered this option to several of her other clients. So we spent the next few months continuing on with therapy as usual even increasing to 2 sessions a week by the end. 3 weeks before her practice was to close both she and I made phone calls to gp & psycharists trying to find someone who would prescribe meds for me. We were unsucessful in finding a low cost option. At our last session she told me that she would not be able to see any clients for 3-4 months while she was setting up her new practice. I believe my therapist started to feel the pressure of her leaving and started to get creative...she told me to go to the local mental hospital, she told me I would be evaluated and given low cost meds. She did mention that there was a chance that because in recent weeks I had thought about suicide they may deceide to keep me in paitent. Shocker after being screened they deceide I should be kept inside....she agreed (after telling me the night before that NO she didn't think I should be in paitent...she had seen me in a MUCH darker place)I was furious at being held against my will. I felt betrayed by her. I was @ the height of my illness having not had any medication for about a year I told her I was done with her. What was suppose to be a 5-7 day stay ended up being a 25 day stay at a total of 3 different hospitals. So as I mentioned my therapist said she wasn't going to be able to see any clients for 3-4 months but that she would check in. I waited for her to check in. She never did. She took my saying I was done with her as termination. She claims that she sent me a snail mail letter with a portion for me to sign and return and when she didn't get anything back she assumed I didn't want any further contact. She never followed up via text, email or voice mail to confirm I even got the letter. I ultimately contacted her, we talked a few times but the wounds are just so deep. I feel so betrayed. I truly wish our paths had never crossed. I was not a trusting person to begin now I'm even worse. Then to pour salt in the wound months later I discover through a social networking site that she doesn't have a license and I was one of her 1st clients. She clearly didn't have the experience required to handle my difficult case and should have referred me to someone else. I filed a formal complaint with the state board against her and the person who referred her to me and I'm waiting to hear their final decision.

My son was in his last year of college when he became very tired and unable to concentrate. He went from being an A student at a prestigious university to having to drop out of school. Thyroid problems run in my husbands family so we finally convinced him to go to the student health center. They tested his blood and sure enough the TSH level was flagged as high 5.75. The Dr recommended that he drop out and go home to get this straightened out. We brought him home and took him to his general practitioner who retested his blood. This time it came back 2.75. The Dr said this was a normal reading and that just happens some time. He said my son was probably just depressed and gave him 20 mg a day of Citalopram. My son took this for only a few days and then started acting very bizzare. He drove off in a car at high speed and totaled it (fortunately no one was hurt). He told the police officer that he felt invincible. The then spent a great deal of money on get rich quick scams. Both of these actions were totally out of character for him. He was having tremors also. We then took him to the emergency room and they said he was just having a panic attack and sent him home. We then took him to a psychiatrist who wanted him to go on a different med. My son told him he was very afraid of the medications since the last one gave him such a horrible experience. The psychiatrist said "well, if you change your mind and want some meds come back and see me" he just showed us to the door! We then tried a psychologist. She was also no help. After about 6 sessions she only told my son to make a list of things he wants to accomplish and then work on it. Now my son is still very tired still has trouble concentrating. He is not going to school or working although we are trying our best to encourage him to as least get a part time job. From what I have read the ideal TSH is now considered to be 2 or less which means his levels were him on both tests. Now he has become so anti-Dr since no one helped him last year I can not even get him to agree to see an endocrinologist to have his blood tested. He is 25 now. Any suggestion as to how to convince someone that had several bad experiences to try a Doctor one more time?

A few years ago, when I was going through a very difficult time in my life, I had a very bad therapy experience. Unfortunately, because I was so down, I didn't stop seeing this therapist for many months. She talked extensively about her own life, and encouraged me to adopt her values to make my life better. Once, when I mentioned going to see a movie that she thought was bad because it expressed different political views than hers she talked for over half an hour about how I should not have seen the movie and why it was wrong. I didn't understand why that should be an issue in therapy. I didn't stop going to see her because she insisted at the time that I could have a nervous breakdown or lose my husband if I didn't take her advice. She seemed very serious and sure of herself. After I talked about the issues I had with my husband and being overwhelmed with doing all the work with our children and home, she told me I couldn't ask my husband to help me with house work or the children because that was my job and if I needed help I should just hire help. I told her I couldn't afford that and she told me we needed to manage our money better and that I shouldn't concern myself with money issues, I should just let my husband worry about how to come up with the money. My husband worked hard, but we are not wealthy people so I was so confused that she could seem to think we could just come up with money out of no where. I also felt ashamed that I didn't have the money. I thought it was unfair that I should have no help from my husband, so she told me I felt this way because I was very immature. The main action plan that she encouraged me to take with my marital problems was to try to not talk to my husband very much because it was too upsetting for him to hear "my mouth". She would talk for my husband as if she could read his mind. She insisted I was a very controlling person, which my husband and I didn't agree with at all, so she said he wasn't very "sophisticated". She also made other damaging comments such as telling me not to have any more children and then not explaining her reasoning behind this comment because my husband and I are not abusive parents. The worst thing was that I trusted her too much because she was a doctor and I was so confused by the seemingly negative things she was saying that I thought I just wasn't understanding and I needed to keep with the therapy so I would lose my mind or my husband. I still haven't been able to get over this horrible experience!