Putting Warnings On Internet About Bad Therapists

[Deleted member 33880]

I have had three severely bad therapists. You know how you can read reviews about books or products? I wish there was a place where I could post a bad review about the last EMDR therapist I had. My own therapist said 'he has good reviews on his website' but of course the bad therapist himself chooses what reviews he has on his website. I posted on a blog of mine to avoid the man and named him. My therapist told me to be careful - that I could be sued for defamation. It seems unfair that you can review a book or event but there is no place to give warnings about a bad therapist. Anyone know of such a place?

 

[lostforgottensoul]

Anyone know of such a place?

My therapist has several professional pages found when i googled his name and all have review areas.

Now if its like the 4 bad free counselors i had, not registered or licenced, thats different. But liecence means they have a medical review board as well.

 

[lostforgottensoul]

http://www.itsgoodtotalk.org.uk

Thats just of the MANY sites i got when i googled "how to complain about a bad therapist UK"

But to just put out warnings, just google his name to get all the professional pages. Can also put in a complaint as it might come back to his patients.

 

[sedna]

I have had three severely bad therapists. You know how you can read reviews about books or products? I...

I'm not sure how the sites work for reviewing in the U.K.
Look at the link that @lostforgottensoul linked here

Slander and defamation lawsuits are limited and can be hard to pursue for the person claiming they're defamed.

The most important thing is avoiding giving someone an opportunity to claim defamation, everything you say has to be true, which is hard to prove
in something subjective like therapy.

Posting in a blog about a bad experience with any professional isn't slander, If you name the person you then should make a point of stating it was your personal experience. Such as " I had this experience with so and so " and not " He is like this and that ". It's stating an experience, not making generalized declarations of the person or their practice.

Another wording rule is to say " I dont recommend him for this type of therapy" instead of something like " dont go to Dr. Blah Blah.".

To file a defamation suit someone has to have reasonable and valid documentation that their business or personal life has been impacted by your actions.
If they dont have that, then they need to pay someone to argue why they anticipate significant damage for them to be able to take it to court

In reality, if this therapist saw your blog and was pissed off over it, they would likely have an attorney send you a cease and desist warning asking you to take it down.

I'd like to point out that a letter like that doesn't mean that you have to, or that there's any legal basis for the request to remove it. It's a scare tactic. It just means they were irritated enough pay their lawyer a couple hundred quid to write it up and send it.

In reviewing forums like yelp you really dont have to be as careful. I know that often doctors and lawyers that have bad reviews hire clean up crews to get them off reviewing sites in the States. That costs less than suing people and keeps the publicity of the problem away.

 

[Friday]

We have 'rate my physician' & 'healthgrade' sites over here (specific ratings of healthcare providers of all types, including therapists), along with the professional review boards for the even more professional complaint, and Yelp! which is pure consumer.

 

[joeylittle]

Slander and defamation lawsuits are limited and can be hard to pursue for the person claiming they're defamed.

I only want to point out that the OP is in the UK, and over there, these lawsuits are common, and (I believe) the burden falls to the defendant, to prove that they did not intend to slander the claimant.

I don't know anything else about it, just that the libel laws in the UK are very, very different than our own.

That saying, OP, I think you could start with the link @lostforgottensoul gave you, and go from there. It's pretty easy over here in the US, we have all sorts of review sites for nearly every purpose, including reviewing doctors. I guess one could say it's a positive aspect of not having fully socialized health care...we can go shopping for our doctors more easily than you can for yours.

My therapist told me to be careful - that I could be sued for defamation.

I do think you need to listen to your therapist on this, and they could probably give you a more clear response if you just showed them what you wrote. I expect they learn about what their protections are, legally, as far as libel, etc. goes. In other words, he would know what a disgruntled patient is and is not allowed to say.

With EMDR specifically, because there is a central licensing body, you could write them a confidential letter - it may result in nothing, or it may result in some kind of follow-up. This is the website: http://www.emdr.com - and you would need to go to the 'find a clinician' tab and make sure the therapist you are complaining about is even listed with them. If so, you can write to them about your experience.

 

[sedna]

I only want to point out that the OP is in the UK, and over there, these lawsuits are common, and (I...

@joeylittle All of your advice here is sound. I'm aware of U.K. laws.

When trying to control comments to the public that may damage your business, generally you have to be out of the category of personal opinion.

It's the difference between saying someone does bad work and saying you had a bad experience with their work. Essentially, the wording of the comments is the only difference, but its a big one.

The strict libel laws that put the burden on the respondent in those lawsuits is there to protect businesses from having the burden of proof in allegations like failure to perform work paid for, substandard work, or non payment of contractual debt.

The burden of proof is placed on the libelous party as a formality to allow them to be counter sued for legal fees, in the event they made false or intentionally damaging claims. That does not always mean that it unfolds that way, but it's a protection law for preventing unfair damage by people seeking retribution or to get out of paying fees for work done.

England has an exception called the 'Fair Comment ' clause to that. Which is to prevent businesses from suing individuals for commenting, even in writing, that they simply didn't like a business or professional. Thats why its so important to mind your wording in reviews and clearly state you are sharing your opinion of the experience.

It's always best to use review sites and not personal blogs or social media. The site will be notified if the person has a problem, warned about action and the comment will be taken down most of the time.

 

[Suzetig]

My therapist told me to be careful - that I could be sued for defamation.

that suggests to me that your therapist thinks what you've written is overly personal. The full expression of defamation is defamation of character - which goes far beyond "this service didn't suit me" to something much more personal, more subjective and less able to be evidenced.

If you really want to challenge what you think was poor practice, find out where your therapist is registered and complain to the registering body - they'll investigate and respond to you. i don't know of a UK site where you can rate your therapist, presumably to keep on the right side of deflation legislation.

If your therapist belongs to a practice or agency you could complain to them too and they'd deal with the therapist.

 

[Deleted member 33880]

thanks I complained to his governing body and his EMDR body. They have both responded and things are moving forward. That feels better. You are so incredibly helpful on here. I am overwhelmed! Thank you. Each of you. Your comments were exceptionally helpful.

 

[Deleted member 33880]

I actually looked at my blog entry and fortunately it just states what he did and why I am not happy with it. Fact. My own therapist didn't actually ask to see what I wrote

 

[Suzetig]

That's a very quick response from them both, assuming you complained in the last couple of days - I'm glad you feel things are moving forward.

 

[Goats]

I have had three severely bad therapists. You know how you can read reviews about books or products? I...

I don't know of any. Your therapist is probably right. I think it is very necessary that we get some kind of way of identifying who & what is working therapy-wise (+med-wise). Maybe the solution is to do like they do with apps, ie. Rate this app = Rate this therapist, Rate this medication. I have DESNOS, I do not believe therapists that are not sufferers can even begin to understand, (with the exception of van der kolk) I believe the solutions will come from us who have these disorders. If we remember back to the AIDS epidemic, notice how the docs were treating patients, a few different drugs were being tested, but with 1 med only per patient. It wasnt working.The gay community all got talking tho & they realized that some had being making cocktails of these & were surviving. NOTE I am NOT advocating taking cocktails, I don't believe drugs have helped me at all. But I am advocating talking, pooling information, collecting & analyzing data & seeing if that helps. If we could do it symptom by symptom, since we all seem to have different combinations & see who is helping & who isn't, what therapy is helping & what isn't & what meds help.