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My therapist destroyed me

Josh_0420

New Here
So I’ve been seeing a therapist since January at a clinic next to me she was so good all the time warm , caring, non judgmental etc she then told me in march she will be leaving at the end of the month so I told her I can book with her through her website so she’s like oh you know about my private practice and I said yes she’s like let me ask my lawyer get back to you so she did and told me if I’m the one who approach her book through the website that’s fine , so it ended at end of march I told her thank you for everything hugged and told her you were the only one that was good to me.

Keep in mind the day before I cut and told her she told me she has to contact my GP told her ok

So after I went home I booked an assessment on her website she only does online zoom call.

The assessment was horrible! I felt she was completely different person not the same as one at the clinic like it was all fake I felt betrayed it really feels now that she’s the one that hurt me the most

- She told me: “You dodged saying goodbye at the clinic and you came after me,” in a scolding, judgmental way

- She said things like: “People meet for a season and then they leave, that’s normal.

- She used a movie metaphor: “Movies have a beginning and an end, you don’t rewatch it straight away after it finishes,” to justify ending.

- The overall tone felt personal, like an angry ex, not like a psychologist talking to a high‑risk client.

I’ve been reading some psychology articles about how therapy should end, and they all basically say the same thing: that endings are supposed to be planned and collaborative, with enough notice, and usually only once the client is more stable. They say that for high‑risk clients who are suicidal, self‑harming or in a major life crisis, an abrupt ending or suddenly putting a strict time limit can actually increase distress and make symptoms worse. One guideline even says that ‘leaving abruptly can amplify the client’s distress, particularly anxiety and self‑harm risk.’ They also talk about ‘abandonment’ when a therapist ends in a way that feels rejecting or unprepared.

articles say endings with someone in crisis should be gentle, planned, and after some stability, and what she did was the opposite.

This is what I got prepared for her next week when I see her and planning to end it , you guys think I should just send it by email or better in person ? I hate confrontation and a stutter etc don’t know how to express myself , during the assessment I was hungover and couldn’t really fight back just taking all this and nodding

I need to tell you how last week felt. I left feeling like you were very distant and strict with me. The whole vibe was completely different from how you were with me at the clinic . It felt judgmental, and it really affected me.

When you told me about the 12 sessions and the countdown, it felt like a timer hanging over my head, not something helpful. Knowing you’d say every week ‘this is session 2 of 12, 3 of 12…’ just feels like too much pressure and stress. It doesn’t feel like support, it feels like a consequence for being honest about how much I depend on people like you.

I also felt like you put me in the ‘lost cause’ box, the same way my family do. When you brought in the 12‑session limit and changed your tone, it stopped feeling like a safe, steady therapy and started feeling like I was being managed until you could get rid of me. It made me feel judged, like maybe you secretly agreed with my family that I’m the problem and not worth long‑term work. That has really hurt me and made me feel more worthless, because if even my therapist who has seen everything gives up on me, it reinforces the belief that I’m beyond help.

I left the clinic feeling you were the only person who had really been good to me. After this assessment and the sudden time‑limit, I now experience you as the professional who has hurt me the most. The way this was handled has significantly damaged my trust . Now I’m scared to be fully honest with any therapist because I’m afraid they’ll react like you did and end things.”
 
Wow! That's alot to deal with, no wonder you feel the way you do. I like what you wrote out as a reply. I don't think the way she treated you was right or fair and your justified in the way you feel. So... what do you want to do? Go see her and tell her that and carry on/leave? Find someone new? I was in long term therapy/counselling, the short 12 sessions thing wouldn't have worked for me, however maybe that's because I wasn't having the right therapy.

What do you want to happen?
 
Wow! That's alot to deal with, no wonder you feel the way you do. I like what you wrote out as a reply. I don't think the way she treated you was right or fair and your justified in the way you feel. So... what do you want to do? Go see her and tell her that and carry on/leave? Find someone new? I was in long term therapy/counselling, the short 12 sessions thing wouldn't have worked for me, however maybe that's because I wasn't having the right therapy.

What do you want to happen?
I’m literally holding on by a thread but I really feel I’m strong person, I never let my suicidal thoughts win , yes I cut but never act upon really killing myself .

Plus I haven’t cut for 13 years and just did recently.

I got family problems like not just disagreement like real bullying from brother and mother , brother couple years back used to threaten to break my jaw used to get in a lot of physical fights .

Mom literally just called me a bitch and spoiled ungrateful brat names after names and when I said I’ll kill myself she was like go do it I don’t care

On top of that I got many health issues chronic illnesses getting multiple treatments, work is hard for me barley can get on with part time


Then this therapist literally a week after I cut have me this 12 sessions bullshit I was genuinely shocked like shocked to point that I was sitting there nodding and taking it that’s it she never spoken to me like that in clinic she’s was the sweetest person ever never judge me actually used to tell me you can say whatever no judgment here plus she used to hint at long term such as oh in future when you start dating you can come to tell me all about it help you with it things like that .

The final session at the clinic I admitted to her that I cut because the day before had huge fight with my mom on phone calling me names etc

So she took it seriously was worried about me also I shaking her hand holding it telling her thank you so much for everything you’ve been so good to me then I felt she was going in for hug so I asked her can I hug you she was like yes of course hugged told her you were the only one good to me

That assessment made me feel that it was all fake that I was lied to it was such a huge betrayal.

She knows my family are coming soon and this is my biggest trigger and yet she still was this harsh to me .

I live in Europe my family in another country so they come every couple months and vibe gets bad and hostile all time.

My plan now is to end it on Monday tell her all things that I mentioned in the post here.

I’m seeing a new psychologist also does EMDR 2 days after seeing her .

I’ll ask her for progress report and move on basically.

I’m dreading seeing her even if it’s just zoom call it’s still hard to say all that I’m pretty weak now I feel crushed also it feels like I’m breaking up with someone not ending therapy

I thought about complaint but I don’t think anything will happen at the end they will just brush it off

I believe changing/editing my Google review from 5 stars to 3 and editing to

While I appreciated the work we did at the clinic, my experience changed after a fixed 12-session limit was introduced early on, along with a noticeably more structured and less flexible approach. This shift felt difficult and, at times, destabilising, which impacted my overall sense of trust in the process.

Usually let professionals walk all over me and say I don’t want to hurt them in their job especially when she was so good to me for 3 months but I believe this time I got do it and stop letting others walk all over me she hurt me and I don’t think I should let her get away with it this easy

Psychologists tend to care about their reviews a lot because that’s what gets them clients
 
I like your plan to move forward, tell her how you feel then start seeing someone new. Be confident and happy with what your doing. Good self love.
Just kinda dreading seeing her , it’s a zoom call so it might be easier but I even thought about sending what I wrote for her by email instead but I think it’s better to say all that during the call I’m just in very bad place right now and feel like I won’t be confident enough or stutter maybe she might interrupt me scold me more becomes defensive when she hears all that but I’m planning to be completely raw with her no holding back no structure nothing
 
Planned, fixed amounts of therapy, like 10 sessions, are very normal where I am. A high proportion of people who go into therapy here do it via a fixed number of sessions.

It may feel like …, but it’s a legitimate way to offer therapy.

It’s okay if that doesn’t work for you - find a new T who has structure that will work for you:)
 
Planned, fixed amounts of therapy, like 10 sessions, are very normal where I am. A high proportion of people who go into therapy here do it via a fixed number of sessions.

It may feel like …, but it’s a legitimate way to offer therapy.

It’s okay if that doesn’t work for you - find a new T who has structure that will work for you:)
Yes I know that planned fixed sessions is normal but she mentioned long term therapy in clinic then suddenly changed when I went to her private practice was so cold. Wasn’t same person that I knew back in clinic

She was never judgmental or scolding when it was at the clinic

The words she used was so weird

dodged saying goodbye at the clinic and you came after me,

- She said things like: “People meet for a season and then they leave, that’s normal.”

- She used a movie metaphor: “Movies have a beginning and an end, you don’t rewatch it straight away after it finishes,” to justify ending.

- The overall tone felt personal, like an angry ex, not like a psychologist talking to a high‑risk suicidal client that just cut
 
she mentioned long term therapy in clinic then suddenly changed when I went to her private practice was so cold. Wasn’t same person that I knew back in clinic

She was never judgmental or scolding when it was at the clinic
Then this is the stuff you should raise with her, rather than problems with the fixed number of appointments. It’s often helpful to work through these issues.

But for me? It sounds like the transition to her new clinic simply hasn’t worked for you. If that’s the case? I’d personally probably just move on.
 
Then this is the stuff you should raise with her, rather than problems with the fixed number of appointments. It’s often helpful to work through these issues.

But for me? It sounds like the transition to her new clinic simply hasn’t worked for you. If that’s the case? I’d personally probably just move on.
Well ya I thought it would work she never was like this ever. I used to tell her about past therapists scolding me and she said that’s wrong that’s bad therapy then when I went to her private practice she did the same thing 😭 how would have I known that after transitioning that would happen

Ya I’ll move on , just meet her next session send her all the stuff want to tell her by email during our zoom call tell her this is what I want to talk about during our session

After that I’ll ask for progress report for my new therapist and that’s it
 
That sounds super strange. Were you informed at some point of it being temporary?

Yes, I think it makes sense for you to say something to her. Probably best to try to word it in terms that 'sound professional'. Not so much for your sake but because people who are in any professional circles (like in her case, being a counselor) tend to understand such terms better. I suposse you want her to understand that you came into the treatment expecting a professional approach, which means long-term stability. And instead she dropped you without any prior warning.

Therapists are not always that good. In my own personal life I saw about ten therapists, two out of ten were really good, the others were still in some kind of learning curve. The way I see it, hugging is also a no-no for a good counselor because it sets a tone. You don't want to set that sort of tone, counseling needs to be a kind of neutral space where you can rely on the counselor/therapist to be a professional because it is their job. A good counselor genuinely cares, but they will also protect that neutral space for themselves and for you.

It sounds to me like 'good riddance' and better to move on and find a better therapist. Since your GP is already informed, maybe you can book an appointment with them and tell them what happened from your perspective. Tell them that in your opinion, the therapist behaved unprofessionally. The GP can maybe then someone else to see (who does adhere to a more professional conduct).

I like your plan to move forward, tell her how you feel then start seeing someone new. Be confident and happy with what your doing. Good self love.

I agree.
 

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