Administrative Discharge For Not Enough Progress?

[theshadowoftheliving]

I'm devastated. My therapist is dropping me for not making enough progress. For continuing to dissociate and still being depressed, for not suddenly somehow being better in our six month run in therapy.

I'm so upset. I just feel so flawed and unloveable. She wants me to come back for a wrap up session, but I'm just not sure that I can do it. What in the world would we talk about?

 

[driftaway]

Wow. I don't have anything to say, except I'm so sorry. What a blatant violation of your trust and a disregard to ethics. My thoughts are with you.

 

[Crow]

Good god. Six months only?!? Took me six years to start making tiny improvements. I'm so sorry!

 

[Killashandra]

That's appauling. Regardless of how long you have seen your therapist for, they are supposed to be there for you. No matter what though you are loveable even if we don't really believe it.
Don't let this set back inhibit your progress no matter what is said you have progressed, even if it is one step forward and 2 back.. the steps forward have already been made..... ☺
My therapist did the same sort of thing at the beginning of my treatment, she gave me the tools and then pretty much left me to deal with it myself, yep I ended up back there 4 yrs later. After yet another major breakdown.
In my situation it was because I had no more funding and she was swamped with new patients.
I wasn't as important. But I'm used to that.
All the best for your future and just think... it may end up being a good thing obviously that therapist isn't the right one for you.

 

[Justmehere]

What?! Oh dear. I'm so sorry. Does she have a supervisor? Is she referring you to anyone else or any other clinics who can help more?

The thing is, sometimes things get worse before they get better. Plus, improvement sometimes is not going backwards. To say you are too symptomatic for her, ok yeah, she is clearly out of her depth of she doesn't know dissociation can often take years to resolve, so maybe it makes sense to find someone more qualified - but not to just dump your care entirely. Having any symptoms incubates a need for treatment, not no need for any treatment.

Grr. It took a long time before my dissociation improved. I'm so sorry this happened to you. :hug:

I would suggest going or at least contacting her in some format and asking for referrals. She is ethically, professionally (and in some states she is legally) required to provide them if she is stopping treatment for a reason other than no longer having symptoms.

Her quitting is not a sign of YOU failing, but her being outside of what she is skilled to do. For example, some therapists are great at OCD, some are not. some are good at single even trauma; some are not as good and are better at chronic trauma and dissociation.

There are times too where people need different forms of therapy through different seasons of recovery...

Please don't take this as you failing, but that you are graduating past where she can go with you.

And I know that doesn't make the shocking sense of loss and betrayal of trust in her being there for you any less painful. I'm so sorry. :hug:

 

[scout86]

She brought this up, without any warning, and the deal is you get the announcement and have one session left? WOW!

What in the world would we talk about?

How about "What do I do NOW?!"

If you were expected to make that much progress in 6 mo, it seems like your T might have been a little out of touch with reality. And, is she saying you "deliberately refused to make progress" so she's giving up on you? Or that she wasn't able to make progress with you and you might benefit more from working with someone else? (Like maybe someone who gets that this stuff takes time.)

 

[Chava]

She failed. You didn't. I'm so sorry though because that's so unfair to you.

I'm leaving this forum for personal reasons but checked back this afternoon and wanted to chime in. I hope you find a good trauma therapist. Take a break and time if needed and research someone who has good experience. And remember that she failed you. You did nothing wrong.

:hug:

 

[KwanYingirl]

Six months is in NO WAY long enough to treat PTSD. This is an egregious deviation for standard care for this disorder. If you have insurance, the first thing I'd do is call them to report this. Ask to speak to a case worker. My next call would be to the state insurance commission to file a complaint. Hopefully, the therapist will have her license revoked. Have her put into writing the reason she is dropping you. If you are on Meficare, file a complaint with them.

You are not flawed. You are making progress. You show up to your sessions. PTSD is long term therapy. She must be incompetent and you'll be better off without her. Ask your insurance company for the names of trauma specialists and make it very clear that you are depressed and devastated by her action.

Until you get settled with a real therapist, post here for support. You are exquisitely worthy of appropriate care. What a f*cking moron she is.

 

[void]

She failed. You didn't. I'm so sorry though because that's so unfair to you.

I'm leaving this forum for p...

pls read my message on your profile page
:hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug::hug:

 

[Deleted member 28740]

@theshadowoftheliving , could not do a PM to Chava, and post relevant is locked. Apologies for intrustion to ...

@Chava

Thanks Chava for your input. And having been threatened to be banned myself in the fracas, I am seeing aspects of this site that I was not aware of. The thread on your being banned and then it is locked is repugnant. I got slapped down too, and fascinating is that my input is overlooked but taken up by others. There is a dishonesty in that thread actively asked for unique ideas and input, then calls anything not just "noise" but spoiler and worthy of thread banning.

Rest of why I wanted to contact you is that my history is a combo of Crita A but also C-PTSD. I am so lost in trying to figure out if the C part of as for treatment. The childhood stuff, led to some adult trauma, others were being in the wrong place at the wrong time. As in middle of the day drive by shooting. How to untangle all the pieces?

Your voice and you are appreciated here.

The work you do is so admirable. And you gift of music and helping others.

Did not realize that this could be an ugly place. And no way to say that PM to you. Thank you for your posts that help me understand my early child hood and impact.

 

[ButterflyBean]

I'm so sorry; that is just simply unethical! Did she give you any reason other then "not enough progress"? What about referrals? If the answer to either of these questions is "no", you should definitely speak to her supervisor. You may even have grounds for a complaint. I am in the beginning stages of obtaining my masters in counseling, so I'm learning the American Counseling Association code of ethics like the back of my hand. I could give you specific statute if you'd like.

Try to use the situation as a learning experience and find someone who is more equipped to deal with your symptoms. Let the new therapist know what happened and address the trust/abandonment issues before dealing with anything else. Also, if I were in your situation, I would expect an increase in symptoms, but please know that her unprofessionalism has nothing to do with you. If you can allow yourself, you could look at the wrapup session as a chance for your T to explain herself because if she is not able to treat you effectively, she has an ethical responsibility to refer you to someone else. If you don't feel comfortable going to her office, can you talk on the phone?

The most important thing is to tackle the symptoms that are most distressing to you and impair your ability to function. Therapy has no time limit, but you have to be able to stay present before you can begin to work on any of your trauma. If she is a specialist, she should know that treatment is multi-phasic and *can* take a really long time. My point is that you did nothing wrong, and you deserve better treatment than you were/are getting anyway. Thinking of you!

 

[Deleted member 28740]

@theshadowoftheliving

I experienced a similar situation a year ago. First time with weekly sessions, 2 months. T wanted me to go into EMDR. I was not in a stable (external and internal) state to do that. Contact for no further sessions was a voice message.

It was devastating. I felt as you do. Know that it is not about you but the T, or their org or …. It is not about you as a person. I had to work hard on that