Help! Therapist Terminated Me For Dissociation/flashback In Session

[Hashi]

Hi Bloom,

I think I understand what you're saying about the other patients in a facility, inpatient or outpatient.

I just meant that I didn't see anything to say that this was a facility or that there are any other patients to take into consideration. I took this to be like my own therapy - a client going to see a therapist individually, either privately or covered by insurance.

I wasn't sure why you're seeing this as a setting with other patients around.

 

[Lucycat]

Last week, I dissociated badly and had a flashback. I was terrified of the therapist who I believed was going to hurt me. I was so scared and ran out of the office.

Surely running out of an office could not possibly violate the rules? Neither would I see this as particularly worrying for another client who might potentially have been waiting outside. Would somebody in the consulting office getting upset and crying loudly violate the rights of another client that might hear ? It might upset them.

I would expect any client to have the right to leave the office at any time they are uncomfortable, without their future therapy being curtailed.

I do understand that Therapists must have rules, but from what Riptide has shared I do not see how rules were broken.

On my own part, when I had an outpatient appointment with a psychiatrist, in a hospital, I was terrified when I realised that I was 'locked in' the consulting room, even though T was also there with me. Being told I could leave but having to wait for the door to be unlocked is something that sticks with me. I guess for me it reinforced the stigma that people with mental health problems must be dangerous. But I still can't make sense of it - if I was dangerous they had locked me in with them. So they were putting themselves at risk by not being able to readily escape.

 

[Deleted member 1860]

I can't help but wonder if your therapist is one of those people who was traumatized in the past and has PTSD herself, and then decided she needed to save the world and become a trauma therapist herself. Yeah, well this is nice in theory, but if the therapist gets triggered, the patient is suddenly cut off. I ask you, how is THAT ethical?!? I mean given that the event was something that wouldn't feel threatening to a non-PTSD person who doesn't have safety issues. And I say "safety issues" in the context that all of us with PTSD have them to some extent. And even if the event did feel threatening to a non-PTSD suffering therapist, the non-PTSD suffering therapist would be quick to assess the situation as an "episode" rather than as something truly threatening her safety. Whew. Sorry if that was confusing!

Edited to add

I say all of this in the context that a LOT of people who go into the field if psychology do so because there is something messed up with themselves and they want/need to figure it out.

 

[Abstract]

I hope Riptide doesn't mind me making a wild guess but it sounds to me as if she had a dissociated flashback where she was regressed , behaved accordingly and was terrified of the T, and therefore ran out of the office. I truly think her comment about the spectrum isn't appropriate if that is the case. Maybe she had never seen a client in a full flashback and being that child once again but I would imagine any trauma therapist would expect this to be a possibility at times for some clients.

If every one of us having trauma therapy had to worry about being discharged with no follow through or attempt to maintain safety if we went into a full flashback then that would be a pretty sorry state of things. Flashbacks like that are also not about emotion regulation in my opinion. Especially when the therapist has nit judged the situation well and is pushing the client too hard. What they are is about being triggered and that can happen suddenly.

I can see why a hospital environment would have rules in place but cannot see how a regressed frightened client in flashback in a therapy environment would be any problem at all other that to the therapist if she is not up to it or is triggered by it.

It was interesting to hear about the hospital procedures Bloom and I am sorry it is so hard to discuss those times.

I suspect it was mostly because Riptide was regressed that she could not cope but in my opinion that is not OK if she is specifically treating trauma. How on earth is a frightened client in flashback a cause for fear to any experienced trauma therapist. Other than a fear for their wellbeing which this obviously was not.

And regardless of all other things I cannot see what would stop her taking some care to make sure there is help with a referral or some other follow up, whether in person or via phone or email.

 

[Riptide]

Hi Everyone. Abstract is correct. Yes, I was in private therapy, regressed, fearing that the therapist was going to hurt me. The therapist was moving too fast with her agenda. When it happened, the therapist stood up making things worse as she is taller and was hence standing over me, hiding in my chair. I had not made any aggressive or threatening behaviors or responses in the 2 months of seeing this T.

With a previous therapist, I had flashbacks/dissociation and it was never an issue about "behaving" against rules or badly. They are part of the disorder. These are things I have no control over. I am not "acting-out" in a manner where I can control what is happening. It's not "acting-out" where I am yelling, throwing things, devaluing, etc. I have been told that mostly I am regressed and trying to hide or get away. For example, once I had a flashback so strong, I wound up on the floor under a desk. The past T helped me "come back" and knew how to respond, grounding, etc. I never "scared" her.

Solara: Someone else mentioned she might have PTSD. Or that she was too inexperienced to understand that the fear I was projecting into her was really MY fear and not hers. I don't quite understand that, given that I was not "scary" for months....

I wish I could file a complaint, but honestly, I feel bad for her.. I think she is messed up.

 

[Pietro]

I'm appalled at the way your therapist handled this. Unprofessional, uncaring, and had the potential to put a patient in great danger. As many here have indicated, there are a lot of unqualified practitioners. Many therapists simply sit there, let you talk, and expound common sense. There's no technique, no clinical expertise that would help you deal with issues and learn to manage them. And then there are those like your former T (which I emphasize, because, like someone else suggested, I think this is a good thing), who is totally unqualified to deal with what she claimed she could do. Psychology is a poorly structured, poorly standardized field, in some ways, which leaves it up to the patient to do a lot of work and research on psychology and therapy just to make sure we can properly vet the therapists we see.

I can't help but wonder if your therapist is one of those people who was traumatized in the past and has PTSD herself, and then decided she needed to save the world and become a trauma therapist herself. Yeah, well this is nice in theory, but if the therapist gets triggered, the patient is suddenly cut off.

I think this is a strong possibility. I've read stories about many therapists who are so messed-up themselves that they use therapy sessions as their coping strategy, through controlling behavior, even narcissism, and worse. This therapist certainly has some growing to do, herself.

My old t told me it would be illegal for her to treat me because I was done. She felt it would be wrong to continue seeing me because I did not need therapy and it would be stealing from the insurance company.

:hilarious: Sorry to laugh; this is just so awful and ridiculous. Proves my point about quack therapists. ;) I'm very glad you found a good therapist afterwards. :)

I wish I could file a complaint, but honestly, I feel bad for her.. I think she is messed up.

All the more reason to file a complaint. You don't have to do it out of revenge or bitterness, which will just make you feel worse, anyway. However, she is also treating others, and poses the same risk to them. What is she encounters someone who is DID, without realizing this initially, and doesn't handle that correctly? That patient could be placed in great danger. She poses a potential risk, I think, because of what she claims she can do, and can't.

It seems like you're really handling this well, though. You've placed responsibility for the incident exactly where it belongs -- with the therapist. I wish you better luck with the next one! :)