Had a Bad Therapy Experience? Comments

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!

I found therapy harmful in general. A group therapist was particularly brutal, belittling me in attempt to keep me in treatment. (I lost my grievance when he depicted me as unable to distinguish reality from, ahem, "transference.") But in general I found therapy encouraged my dependence, over-idealization and self-pity rather than helping me become a better functioning, problem-solving adult.

the therapist my ex and I were seeing for marriage counseling (he was counseling my ex first btw) allowed my ex to conceal his ongoing extramarital affair. When I discovered the affair it was a double betrayal and now I am struggling with my extreme mistrust of therapy at a time when i know I could use it most. almost 2 years later I am now thinking of filing a complaint against him for unethical behavior. He really harmed me at a time when I was desperate and depending on him to help me save my marriage.

My ex-therapist had a great level of anxiety. Couldn't watch the news as it was too disturbing for her. Thought I should have an easy time finding a boyfriend since I'm a minority and exotic women are "in" right now. She also fell asleep during a session and was low on energy at other sessions. Spent time telling me about her male friends during my session. I can't believe I wasted my time and money

I'm in the process of going thru a nasty custody battle with my ex. We were court ordered to go thru counseling. We even had a child-family investigator. She specifically stated that my ex and I had to find/interview a therapist then start the sessions with our children. Well, my ex found a therapist, interviewed him then started taking my children there. This was behind my back. I advised the CFI of this and the sessions were immediately stopped. We found another therapist, interviewed her and my ex started taking the kids to the sessions. All of a sudden I received a letter from that therapist stating my ex terminated her services. I was very irritated. So back to the interviewing process AGAIN. My ex found another therapist, sent me an email and stated I had 7 days to meet with her because the kids were starting their sessions. Well, I couldn't meet with her. My work schedule got crazy and I didn't get around to interviewing her. That was my fault. Well, 3 months had gone by and my ex sent me a bill. I didn't know the kids had been seeing her for 3 months. I called the therapist and set up an appointment to meet with her. It was the worst experience of my life. Basically she sent a letter to the courts stating I refused to participate in my kids sessions. I was very upset. She told me that the kids don't want to be with me and various other things. I could not believe a professional would only take one side of the story. This is a very ugly case and my kids are being brainwashed by their dad. She ended up writing a letter to the courts stating that I should have restricted visits with my children. This was based on the conversations she had with my kids. She never called me. Never met with me. I was appalled that she could write such a letter without even hearing my side of the story. So basically she said that she will start seeing me than after the sessions she will retrack that letter if necessary. I felt that she already had a idea of what kind of parent I am. I felt like I had to provide as much documentation I could to plead my case. She said my ex told her I cancelled the sessions with the previous therapist. Well, I provided a letter stating it was him. I even provided my journal stating that the kids are not miserable when they are with me. Well, I went thru 3 sessions...basically the mental health evaluations. I asked when we were going to start having these sessions with the kids? She said after the evaluations and a session with my ex. That was strange. None of the other therapists made us go thru all this. So, today, I had a meeting with the therapist and my ex. Obviously it didn't go well. My ex and I are very ugly to eachother. The therapist wouldn't even let me ask my ex questions. I said, "I've been accused of lots of things from him, why can't we clear the air." She said I was attacking my ex therefore, she will no longer work with me. Isn't this unfair?? As a professional, she's only willing to hear his side of the story. She allowed my ex and kids trash talk me for months and I couldn't defend myself. I thought that's why we were meeting, to clear the air. I feel this therapist is only concerned with the paycheck and not the best interest of my kids. Meanwhile she's willing to see my ex and kids but not me. I don't believe that's ethical to not allow me to participate in the sessions. Afterall it's me the kids hate right now. How can I report her? Is there a website I can file a formal complaint?

I did tell my psychiatrist about this so-called therapist's unprofessional behavior and the psychiatrist's response was "well, it is he said, she said". I was distraught and crying and I have a history of bi-polar disorder and this psychiatrist did nothing but tell me I needed therapy to process my experience with the therapist. I went to another therapist and only got worse. I continued to get worse and called the psychiatrist and asked him to adjust my meds and he wouldn't do it. I continued to get increasingly worse as a result of the crisis I was put in do to the therapist's unprofessional behavior toward me and my psychiatrist did nothing, until 3 weeks later when I called him and told him I was is so much emotional pain I could not stand it any longer and that my moods were all over the place. He then just told me to go to the Psychiatric ER and let them medicate me. This psychiatrist let me suffer terrible and I wish I had never told him about my negative experiences with the therapist. I did end up taking myself to the Psych. ER where I spent 6 days getting stablized on medication for a bi-polar episode which ensued as a result of the therapist's unethical, unprofessional behavior and the resulting negligence and lack of support from the psychiatrist. I wish I never had to see another another mental health professional, ever, however, since I am bi-polar I am stuck in a system where the patients are victimized over and over again. I am finding it very hard to trust any mental health professional and to believe that they have my well being as their priority. Any insights, info into my situation is appreciated.

I can't even imagine this type of behavior and I'm sorry you experienced this. There are so many red flags in what you described and this goes to show that just because someone has a license doesn't mean they will be ethical, responsible people. I hope that you reported this person to the state licensing board. And - I hope that you told the psychiatrist who referred you to this person as well.

I was seeing a therapist for complex PTSD when approx. 6 months into the sessions he was going on a long vacation (3 weeks). He thought I needed someone to talk to in my life while he was gone as I am so isolated and he gave out my phone number to another of his patients for her to call me while he was away. This other patient proceeded to call me 6-7 days per day and was driving me crazy. When he returned I told him about this and he apologized and apologized and I decided to give him a second chance as he seemed so sincere in his apologies and I didn't want the stress of starting over with someone new. I write poetry and when I would bring in my poetry he would proceed at times to rewrite it or tell me how it should be written differently and I overlooked it. One time I was discussing what music I loved and he proceeded to tell me that he knew good music and it wasn't the type I listened to - I overlooked that also. Then a week ago he made a derogatory comment about my looks. When I told him that I felt that the comment was not professional and that his comment brought up alot of verbal abuse that I had experienced as a child about my looks he just laughed and tried to say it was because I was so word concious from being a poet that he needed to be more careful with the words that used around me. I told him that no one likes their appearance or person to be negatively commented on and that by doing so he aggravated my PTSD. He said he forgot that I had been verbally abused repeatedly as a child for my looks. The next time I saw him I told him I would refresh his memory and began repeating the verbal use that I suffered as a child when I started to cry and he blurted out "don't you remember what happened to you when you were 19 yrs" and he repeated that statement over again. I immemdiately went into shock as this incident that he brought up was the second most traumatic event in my life and when I left his office I felt like a ton of bricks hit me and I began to feel real bad about myself. Then I started to get angry that he brought that incident up in my session when I was already upset and crying. I called him right away and told him that I didn't appreciate him bringing that incident up that it would have been different if I had brought it up in MY session but not for him to bring it up when I was already upset and crying. He said he wanted to prove to me that he could remember alot about my past since I accused him of not remembering that I had been verbally abused over and over as a child. He was the one that said he didn't remember my verbal abuse and used that as an excuse for negatively commenting on my looks not me. I had told him I would refresh his memory even though it was painful for me and I started crying which was when he brought up the other traumatic event from my past. He also told me that I needed to "fill my mind with good things in my life, but that I didn't have any good things to fill it with". I am an only child and both parents are deceased. After he said that to me I began feeling really bad about myself and was having nightmares. I called him and told him that I was stopping the sessions that I needed a break and he wouldn't take no for an answer and insisted that I keep my next week's appointment. I called him again and left a message and told him that my sessions were more about how he thinks and feels than about how I think and feel and I told him that was terminating the sessions until further notice and I just walked away. I am beating myself up because I didn't terminate the relationship with him after he gave my phone number out to another patient and that I gave him a second chance. I am at the point since this therapy encounter of being terribly afraid of any and all therapists. This therapist was highly referred to me by my psychiatrist and I am at the point that I have lost all trust in the mental health profession.