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Retraumatization Overreaction - Cannot Forget It Though

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Girlgirlgirl

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So, a few weeks ago a trauma "therapist" told me a lot of really deranged things about a rape that I experienced. We didn't have the best therapeutic relationship, but I was trying to communicate so maybe he could make the therapy better for me. He was a little bit of a quack and liked to tell me things wrong with my personality without offering solutions (for example saying I had a small amount of a personality disorder although admitting I don't qualify for the personality disorder at all), so that just made me feel bad about myself, when everyone has aspects of personality disorders in their personality without qualifying for a diagnosis. I probably should have stopped seeing him because I picked up weird vibes from him-almost like hate & judgment. However, I have a dissociative disorder so I am not in touch with my feelings & some people said I should try to communicate with him. So anyways, he told me a lot of really violent & deranged things in our last session. He was basically implying that the rape could have been prevented better, which is the opposite of what you are supposed to say to rape victims. I have spent a year doing EMDR with this guy and before my Ptsd was about avoidance but now, I am sort of obsessive & I wouldn't say I feel much better. I told him I was now obsessed & he said maybe I didn't fear rape enough before so my ptsd brought me to a normal level of fear that other women experience, as if I'm some freak woman who doesn't experience enough fear.he also spent a lot of time teaching me to "fear" more in previous sessions, which is unforunate since I suffer from severe anxiety due to my ptsd and ddnos. I told him I thought it was inappropriate & not why I was in therapy during the last session and I was crying about victim blaming & he kept saying horrible things to me (I wanted to go to therapy specifically for symptom reduction of ptsd). Then he said he was not victim blaming but that I was a "gutsy girl" and needed to fear more; he connected the "gutsy girl" thing to a previous child abuse experience where I stood up against an adult for abusing me, which is another traumatic subject that I have a lot of emotion around. Then he said the rape was "a haaaaard way to learn" for me to learn that rape actually happens, but I needed to learn some way. Since then, I have been incredibly destabilized & retraumiatzed. I was crying for a long time after the sessions & still have been and it's been about a month now. I am not sure what to do; I want to forget what he said to me. I feel so incredibly retraumatized & betrayed. Like, why would he continue saying these things to me after I start crying? I just don't know what to do, since I had the "therapy" with him I am now OBSESSED with the traumas more than I was before, like literally everything reminds me of them now & he attacked me really bad in the last session, I feel like I will have actual ptsd from it & I am worried I might be developing ptsd from having him as a therapist. I just don't know what to do to get what he said to me out of my mind, because it won't leave. I acknowledge intellectually he's a quack, but unforunately ptsd is not that logical... I have a new therapist I see in 2 weeks, so maybe I'll talk to her about it then. It just bothers me that he was so unethical, condescending, traumatizing, deranged, lacked empathy and also lacked the ability to accept responsibility for his mistakes. He also would act like if I didn't agree with something he said it was me being evil, when some of the things he was saying were incredibly problematic. He had told me I was evil at one point, which was why he thought I should be a lawyer. I just can't get it out of my head, due to the nature of PTSD & the fact that traumatic incidents are very sensitive subjects, so when someone attacks those, it can stick! if anyone knows something that can help please let me know :''''( i just want to forget & move on, hopefully never come across another therapist like him again! (or person, lol)
 
I couldn't read your whole post properly as it brought up too much past for me, sorry.

it seems like you have a crap T and you need to ditch them. It took me a while to find my T but she is sooooo much better than the others, very supporting and validating. My first T did a lot of damage to me that took my current T a long time to undo.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. It's just wrong.
 
Please talk to your new therapist about reporting this guy.

He's actually done you damage. He could lead a less together person into self-destruction. The guy's a sadist.

I'm really glad you got free of him.
 
Normal level of fear like other women??? FFS. Had to learn some way??? A child defending themselves against an abuser is a bad thing??? You're both "evil" and contain a "little bit" of a personality disorder??? (Agreed. Duh. We all do :facepalm: ) Just so, so, so many f*cked up things about this guy. And, yeah. Wholeheartedly concur with your conclusion that he's an unethical, condescending, quack, along with @Sticklers conclusion that he's both utterly failed in his duty of care to his patients, & dangerous, & needs reporting to his oversite boards (APA, AMA, etc... Wherever his qualifications come from AND reported to EMDR certification board). Strong second for your new therapist helping you report him.

The good news, anyway, is that you can't get PTSD twice. While any new trauma or stressor can bring out symptoms? It doesn't matter if you have 500 capT traumas. You won't "get" PTSD 500 times. Only get it the once.
 
I couldn't read your whole post properly as it brought up too much past for me, sorry.

it seems like yo...

@ghotiff: so would you say that the therapy you have now has been able to undo the damage? the thing is, I'm trying to have my symptoms reduced a lot with the EMDR, so I'm worried that with the way he's made it worse, that it can't be undone... I hope it can be:( since I went from avoidance to obsession, I don't know if that makes sense.
@Stickler & fridayjones: yeah I'll think about reporting him; honestly though, it'll probly be too much work and there won't really be any evidence other than my memories-I don't really like investigation stuff anyways & they usually don't turn out-I wouldn't want to do anything with a lot of effort unfortunately.
It's just that I'm worried that the way he's made me worse can't be undone... but I agree, with someone less stable, he could have made them a lot worse or even made them kill themselves, especially when they deny their feelings & continue seeing him.
 
@Girlgirlgirl, your memories ARE evidence and are valid evidence, though.

Understandable you have no spoons for the stress investigation is, really hoping your new T can help you through this sensitively & arrange for professional help in that regard without hurting you more.

'Undone', maybe not, but overcome, very much. You're out of that relationship and are well aware he's unprofessional abusive prick in a power place, a good start for dealing with it.
 
would you say that the therapy you have now has been able to undo the damage?
Yes!
The damage from my first T has been completely undone, except for maybe that I'm scared to push too much with my current T as I know i can go "bad".
I have threads here from that time, I don't want to go back and look at them, it was a horrible time.
 
It took me a while to get round to replying, because after I read your post, I had to go away and spend some quality time imagining myself opening a can of whoop-arse on this quack's head on your behalf.

Can you undo the damage this mysoginist sadist has done? Absolutely. One day this prick is going to be nothing more than a name on your list of "A-holes That I Have Overcome".

In the meantime, new T that actually lives in the real world and has due compassion for the trauma that you've managed to survive. The damage will be undone - more than that, you're going to get so much better than you were when you first walked into that w@nker's office.

For what it's worth, I kicked his @rse in my head on your behalf:)
 
The only "evidence" that most people have is their word when reporting a therapist. (True.) I mean what other evidence is there? A hidden recorder? (Illegal in many places.)

Chances are you won't have to do anything beyond the initial reporting. It will go into his file. If a number of people report, then action is more likely. And even then, you may not be contacted for further involvement.

I think a lot of people fail to blow the whistle on others because they think the investigation will be a long drawn out dramatic process like on tv, but much of the time it's really not like that at all.
 
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