Therapists I Could Live Without

[Manic11]

After chatting to Lobo, SpringRain and Ursa about the bad advice we have gotten from past therapists, we all decided it should be a thread. So this is a place for you to talk about the bad therapists you've had. Some bad advice they've given you or things they've done themselves. Feel free to share it here!

I'll start it off!
I had a therapist who told me that whenever I have anxiety to give it a name....as in give my anxiety a name like Stacey or Bob. And whenever my anxiety acts up to say.. "Oh "______" is here!" then pretend I'm a superhero and zap away my anxiety with my superpowers! If this just happened not to work, I was told not to panic because I would grow out of my anxiety. It's just something that children deal with apparently. Here's the kicker... I was 17 at the same... Not exactly 12 as she believed I was.
In conclusion...she was more a nut than I am! :clap:

Anyway, feel free to share! How to avoid these therapists? What are your stories?

 

[reallydown]

LOL Manic...and how much did those pearls of wisdom cost? Seriously...some of thos people should not be allowed anywhere near people with trauma issues...if anyone at all.

 

[Ursa]

One of my therapists was doing therapy with me... more than half of the time she was speaking about herself instead of we talking about me.

 

[Freddy_hiding_less]

I started once with a therapist that first of all didn't at all do any kind of connecting, he just pointed at the chair were I was to sit, sat down himself and waited for me to talk. First session he held a little speach about his approach to therapy which didn't explain his behavior.

I went along for three or four sessions but all his interventions was cutting me off when I shared about illogical urges I had when meeting people. Like: -"You can't do that"! So I asked him if he felt that the therapy was on its way and he said yes, then I told him, - "This is not for me" and quit.

Then I tried another one and that wasn't so bad but still no connection, after that it took me about 15 years to try again after gradually losing motivation to do anything, with health problems and economic collapse happening.

/Freddy

 

[Julia_]

I seem to have had a slew of terrible therapists. Most of them simply gave *no* input - I could spend the full 60 minutes talking and by the end all they'd said was "Hi" and "That's it for today, you can pay on your way out". Call me stingy but if I'm paying $150 an hour... I expect some input.

Most recently though, I went to a total crackpot. I don't think she was nuts, per se... I think she was just genuinely *stupid*.

Our first session she was trying to put me at ease by telling me one of her little therapy anecdotes. I'm paraphrasing, but it went something like this -

"So I was treating this woman a few years ago.. She was a Bosnian refugee and I was seeing her for an anxiety disorder she'd developed after living through the war. Loud noises gave her panic attacks.. it was really terrible. Anyway... silly me saw her walking down a street in my neighbourhood once and, not thinking, when I got close to her I honked my horn. Hahahahaha"

Needless to say I gave her a blank stare for a full minute before I left. Not only did she come astonishingly close to breaking patient doctor-confidentiality.. but this woman was supposedly the president of Anxiety Australia. Like... SERIOUSLY???? :wall:

 

[kers]

I tried counseling for one session in college, and the therapist told me to imagine putting my anxieties on a leaf and watching them just float away. Needless to say, I didn't return.

 

[Marlene]

I had a therapist who told me, since my symptoms were getting worse with treatment and not better, that she was referring me to a psychiatrist for a diagnosis. When I came back with a diagnosis of PTSD she proceeded to tell me that what had happened in my life wasn't bad enough for that diagnosis. OK...why send me then? When I started asking her questions about PTSD, she again told me in no uncertain terms that my life history wasn't 'bad enough' for it. She never dug, never asked me any questions, never even looked. The fact that I had numberous sexual traumas and CSA just under the surface...well, that would have taken some of her precious time and I guess it wasn't worth getting her hands dirty.

As I left her office that day, she told me 'If you think you want to talk again, just call and make an appointment' and then she turned away. I never went back. About two years later I did write her a letter telling her exactly what kind of therapist I thought she was...BAD!...and thanks for nothing.

Lisa

 

[liv now]

Fruitloop Shrink

I was once sent to a psychiatrist as i had been assualted by a client at work and had pts as a result. When I walked into the waiting room the receptionist said "thank you for coming". I told her I didn't really have a choice work were sending me. She replied "most people don't turn up". This wasn't very encouraging! After filling out a mile of paper work about my sex life and nutrition i finally met the psychiatrist. He opened his door and called my name. I walked over to him and as I said hello he shoved a tape recorder under my nose. He continued moving the tape recorder between me and himself (depending who was tallking)for the whole 40 minute session. When he finished asking all his questions he stood up and walked to the window and started talking into his recorder as he paced up and down. He started saying " The subject in front of me is a 28 yr old female who I believe is suffering from pts......" At this point I switched off. I just sat there waiting for him to finish so I could leave. As I was walking out the door he said "make sure you lock your car doors. There are a lot of strange people out there".:dontknow:

 

[Lobo]

In recent times I had a T in group that told me I was not hard enough on myself. Not hard enough on myself...hehehe...like I dont have enough problems. LOL.

Lobo

 

[macpayne]

Well my therapist was great at first. A good listener until " She" got comfortable. While I was talking she would put on lipstick, type on her computer and take phone calls during our session. The last straw was when she got me mixed up with another patient and didn't believe me when I said " You are referring to someone else because I never had that happen to me". She insisted I was wrong and I left... Brutal!

 

[Luthien]

I had one tell me to imagine that my trauma was a big piece of poop that was being flushed down an emotional toilet, and that it was going out to sea.

Okay, this doesn't sound like the worst advice in the world, but he seriously expected me to be able to vizualize it in my head, and then be cured of all my PTSD symptoms.

I'd gone to this guy because I was so depressed, and my PTSD symptoms so pronounced that I literally had no quality of life and I was going to commit suicide...

Every time I talked to this guy (which was only 3 or 4 times due to his uselessness) I'd be talking about an issue or something that had happened to me and he'd interrupt me to say "just flush it down the emotional toilet", or another of his stupid lines was "you're 21, I'd give anything to be 21 again, just be happy and forget all of this". GRRRR...WTF does age have to do with it??

At the time, I was angry and astounded by how useless the guy was...now I see the humour in it, and am able to laugh whenever I think of him. Just to complete a pic for you guys he was a 6'4ish string bean East Indian guy about 50 yrs old who dressed in 3 piece suits with a Fedora on. It was pretty hilarious, and I am glad I can see that now.

 

[Keenbean]

I see a psychiatrist who really winds me up with his pointless and irritating comments.... whenever the subject of flashbacks/trauma comes up he tells me that I 'really need to move on' and 'get on with life'. Needless to say, this doesn't really inspire any great confidence in him, so I just don't share my experiences with him any more. I just humour him for the length of the appointment, pick up my prescription, and thank my lucky stars that the psychotherapist I see is so much better at her job than he is....

Not ideal, but there we go.