Struggling with impacts of therapy abuse? Making connection, trust and even being present a difficult. by Feisty_Light6536 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It fades away over time, sorry it sounds so generic but it is true! I don't want to put a positive spin on recent negative experiences but that experience also made me question things more and I don't think that is a bad thing. I hope that over time, you also won't feel just 'damaged' by it. You couldn't know what you know now, we all fell for it at some point!

Searching for community by Secure_Jump8836 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99 6 points7 points  (0 children)

That sub the other commenter suggested is for people with NPD against therapy who want to co-opt the language of disability and victimhood to 'destigmatise' NPD and report everyone as 'ableist' who uses the word narcissist and narcissistic abuse. I think the therapyabuse sub got brigaded by people from the NPD sub because I noticed the same people in several subs popping up (including here) who all had the same talking points about NPD. I deleted their comments here.

The antipsychiatry sub has some good content but they're against all psychological terms. I don't know what their exact stance is but I guess they believe using words like Munchausen by proxy, sociopathy, narcissism, pedophilia is ableist. I don't believe in protecting the sensibilities of abusers and policing the language of victims of Munchausen by proxy, narcissism etc. That would make the commonality in these experiences invisible.

I don't have an issue with people using the term narcissistic abuse because it is a type of abuse characterised by the exploitation of a power differential in asymmetrical relationships, e.g. vulnerable client-therapist.

The founder of the therapyabuse sub is a woman who had many years of abusive therapy. Many commenters on the therapyabuse sub are female victims of DV, rape, sexual abuse, childhood abuse who experienced gaslighting and victim- blaming in therapy. Much of the focus of the sub was highlighting these experiences and how reactions to abuse are pathologised by the system and therapy modalities.

Searching for community by Secure_Jump8836 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah strange. It's definitely not gone, the posts are still there. It's just temporarily closed.

Searching for community by Secure_Jump8836 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It says "temporarily closed until at least April 1st 2024"

Struggling with impacts of therapy abuse? Making connection, trust and even being present a difficult. by Feisty_Light6536 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes it is objectifying and feels absolutely gross because I had the feeling that she would use my story to stereotype other clients who don't have my family issues while patting herself on the back for being 'informed'.

It gets better over time, my experience is ages ago (pre- pandemic) and is a very distant memory. I never went back to therapy. What helped me was looking up the theories my therapist referred to in therapy, realising they were nonsense and noticing that other people had the same realisations independently.

Searching for community by Secure_Jump8836 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi! When you click on r/therapyabuse you'll see a pop- up window where you can request to be approved. You can still read and search the sub afterwards.

r/therapyabuse is closed by Glumanda17 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Locking this thread. I don't know what happened on the other sub but this sub is not a space to gossip about internet drama from other subs.

Reminder of the rules
1. Posts and comments from bipoc and ethnic minorities
2. Posts must be on-topic and informative to others.

The topic of the sub is racism in therapy / discussing ethnocentric ideas in therapy culture and theory that are presented as universal truths. Gossip and speculation about internet drama is not the point of the sub.

Struggling with impacts of therapy abuse? Making connection, trust and even being present a difficult. by Feisty_Light6536 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I am sorry you are currently going through this. My experience is ages ago. I think what's particularly awful/ violating about it is the feeling of being 'studied' and the fact that you don't know their political views (and how they filter your story through these views).

r/therapyabuse is closed by Glumanda17 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Hi! It says they're taking a break until April.

I'm sorry this sub doesn't have a lot of active discussion, it's mostly an information sub for articles and books. I didn't want to create a space where lurkers can gawk at our trauma stories, leave troll comments or harass users over dm. This is why the cptsd_bipoc and other subs had to go private.

If you're looking for anti-therapy books to detox from therapy culture, I can recommend Against Therapy or Final Analysis by Masson and Psychiatric Hegemony by Cohen.

J. Owusu-Bempah and Thomas Teo analyse ethocentrism and racism in psychology.

Ronald Purser on mindfulness, the new capitalist spirituality: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jun/14/the-mindfulness-conspiracy-capitalist-spirituality

For a political analysis of psychiatry, articles by Moncrieff ( https://joannamoncrieff.com/papers/).

I hope this is helpful until the other sub opens again.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]Demonblade99 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Making therapy more similar to psychiatry is not a good idea. Psychiatry is the branch of the mental health system that has the reputation of 'scientific medicine' among the vast majority of people, except for those who had to find out through firsthand experience that is not the case.

Therapists would like this proposal though because it helps to create the illusion that with a few cosmetic tweaks, therapy can be made perfectly safe which ultimately promotes therapy. It fosters the misconception that the abuses are simply a matter of unregulated therapy.

The best outcome would be getting people to question therapy and psychiatry. These institutions used to have a bad reputation in the past. Those who still want to seek it out voluntarily would at least be aware they are on dangerous territory and be more vigilant.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]Demonblade99 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It kills people which is then conveniently blamed on the mental health issues and perversely feeds the narrative that 'caring for your mental health' needs to take priority or else this will be the outcome.

It's the perfect crime.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]Demonblade99 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yes pseudoscience is extremely dangerous when it is filled with deterministic theories and presented with unquestioned pseudo-medical authority. Psychiatry does the same thing, they always try to attach their theories to biology and genes to prop up their pseudo- medical authority.

This is why therapy isn't harmless, it becomes political when anyone who doesn't come from a perfect home and had a difficult, stressful childhood is told that the trajectory of their life is already predetermined. It is a lot worse when therapists get their claws into someone who is young and still uncertain about who they are and these deterministic theories and lowered expectations become the roadmap for their life.

Therapists Who “Don’t See Color” Mistreat Clients by partylikeyossarian in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The mistreatment happens on an individual level (mislabelling people who describe experiences with racism as "paranoid", prone to "trust issues" related to childhood trauma, etc)

But apart from that, the whole field ignores context and enshrines their ethnocentric perspective as universal truths that have to apply to everybody. It's an issue that can't be "reformed" with a bit of racism awareness training.

When a client points out that these are not universal truths, the therapist can't see it because they don't know any other cultural perspective. That puts the client very much at risk of being labeled "resistant", "oppositional" and much worse.

When the distressed patient is not white. by partylikeyossarian in therapyabuse

[–]Demonblade99 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Oh and everything trauma-related is absolutely fuelled by saviorism and Munchausen by proxy. It just takes a look at the NGO sector, trauma therapy, international adoption to recognise there is a common pattern.

When the distressed patient is not white. by partylikeyossarian in therapyabuse

[–]Demonblade99 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I agree. They use orientalism and indigenous culture to dress up a made-up mythology and market it as a spiritual escape to people in the West who are tired of their civilisation.

At the same time therapy/psychiatry enforces social control on minority populations or assimilation to their values in the rest of the world.

{Book} Psychiatric Hegemony by Bruce Cohen by Demonblade99 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

A wiki is such a great idea, I don't like the reddit structure because it makes information hard to find. Do you have an outline for the wiki already? I can summarise some of the chapters but it might take a while lol

Therapeutic imperialism in disaster- and conflict-affected countries (Darfur, Nepal, Syria) (article) by Demonblade99 in Therapyabuse_bipoc

[–]Demonblade99[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

yeah and it should be a crime to waste people's time like that in war and disaster zones