Hi guys, I had a stint of psychotherapy last year for about 6 months which I terminated because I began to intuit she wasn't on my side. As it turns out she was the standard psychoanalytic type of therapist, so she would say very little and scribble lots of notes, all in the name of "letting the transference develop". Well, I know now that classical psychoanalytic constructs are not very useful for treating trauma, but I didn't know this at the time, nor did she. Now I know for sure my symptoms fall under the cptsd umbrella, and during therapy I had some inkling of this since I began reading the scholarly literature on the subject, but she insisted I was "just depressed, maybe with anxiety, too". This kind of statement bothered me a lot at the time - it still still kinda does - and it just goes to show how therapists can indeed be overconfident about what they really know nothing about. Anyways, the therapy began to stagnate, so I told her this, and she said it was because I wasn't being vulnerable enough or that I had a "complex" about getting too close to her. In reality, I began to realize she was incompetent and usually wrong with her interpretations of my symptoms, and therefore I was paying $100 a session out of pocket for useless meetings.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I was reading the APA guidelines regarding patient information, and I realized I have a right to view certain information therapists keep on patients. I emailed her requesting this information, but she initially denied the request and said, "the information is in the form of psychotherapy notes, and notes are a protected category, so they don't have to be shared with patients". I researched this and found it to be partially true, notes are protected, except for certain categories of information including diagnosis, a synopsis of each session, etc. I told her this, and she initially wanted me to come in so she could summarize the notes for me in person, but I declined and told her to send me the information I have a right to in the mail. She didn't want to rewrite anything (for which she would have to "charge me $100 an hour for going above and beyond what is required"), so, reluctantly, she sent me all the notes from our sessions after I signed a release form. When I read them, I promised myself I wouldn't be surprised with what I found, but I broke my promise. In fact, all along she thought I was concocting a facade, a story; in her words, "the sexual abuse from his sister is probably lacking in authenticity". I don't know about you, but I already feel crazy - what with hyperarousal, nightmares, difficulty sleeping, trust issues, problems with dissociation etc etc - and then on top of that a trained professional says my experience is not real? Also, this woman teaches doctors how to perform psychotherapy at a big name state university teaching hospital. God only knows. I don't know, this just throws me for a loop. Has anyone else had incompetent therapists such as this? I just want to scream because I feel betrayed...:confused:
/end rant
[In better news though, I switched to an excellent therapist who I have been seeing for about 3 months for dream therapy and general counseling. The relationship I have with him is so good I can't believe I stayed with the other woman for so long!]
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, I was reading the APA guidelines regarding patient information, and I realized I have a right to view certain information therapists keep on patients. I emailed her requesting this information, but she initially denied the request and said, "the information is in the form of psychotherapy notes, and notes are a protected category, so they don't have to be shared with patients". I researched this and found it to be partially true, notes are protected, except for certain categories of information including diagnosis, a synopsis of each session, etc. I told her this, and she initially wanted me to come in so she could summarize the notes for me in person, but I declined and told her to send me the information I have a right to in the mail. She didn't want to rewrite anything (for which she would have to "charge me $100 an hour for going above and beyond what is required"), so, reluctantly, she sent me all the notes from our sessions after I signed a release form. When I read them, I promised myself I wouldn't be surprised with what I found, but I broke my promise. In fact, all along she thought I was concocting a facade, a story; in her words, "the sexual abuse from his sister is probably lacking in authenticity". I don't know about you, but I already feel crazy - what with hyperarousal, nightmares, difficulty sleeping, trust issues, problems with dissociation etc etc - and then on top of that a trained professional says my experience is not real? Also, this woman teaches doctors how to perform psychotherapy at a big name state university teaching hospital. God only knows. I don't know, this just throws me for a loop. Has anyone else had incompetent therapists such as this? I just want to scream because I feel betrayed...:confused:
/end rant
[In better news though, I switched to an excellent therapist who I have been seeing for about 3 months for dream therapy and general counseling. The relationship I have with him is so good I can't believe I stayed with the other woman for so long!]
