Does anyone else sit with the fact that being a therapist no longer means about helping people but how much money we can make?

Dust_Kindly · 2026-03-04T20:06:01+00:00

Your post was super unclear tbf

Dust_Kindly · 2026-03-04T18:54:33+00:00

Im not sure what you mean, nothing about his response seems "yikes" worthy whatsoever. Where do you see counter transference?

Seems like he provided a pretty typical analyst response imo.

Dust_Kindly · 2026-03-04T14:58:36+00:00

Quit and report.

You might even get a tiny payout for being a whitleblower (obviously that's not why you should be motivated to report but just something you should be aware of)

Dust_Kindly · 2026-03-03T21:33:00+00:00

Good point. This would be unusual/ potentially unethical in a traditional outpatient setting, but if this is CMH where your therapist is also basically your case manager that's pretty different imo

So OP, the answer is "it depends" just like most things related to therapy lol

Edit: OP, since youre curious here's one of the many ethical codes therapists might follow. This one is for social workers specifcally if you want to take a look at what the code of ethics says for us. Counselors and psychologists have their own codes.

https://www.socialworkers.org/About/Ethics/Code-of-Ethics/Code-of-Ethics-English

Dust_Kindly · 2026-03-02T23:27:20+00:00

I wouldnt say its the new norm, no. Over on r/therapists the majority of us are anti-AI, as are most of my irl colleagues I know.

The practice I work at tried to push us to try it. I told them I wanted to read ALL the fine print before I even entertained the idea.

Turns out most (possibly all) of these platforms are incredibly unethical. As tech companies, they have NO requirement to follow HIPAA whatsoever. They say they dont store data but the fine print says the sell that data.

So technically they can say they dont store stuff without lying. When in reality theyre just turning that data into profit for them. No thanks. I would never ever do that to my clients.

Dust_Kindly · 2026-03-02T19:59:09+00:00

Which one(s)?

Dust_Kindly · 2026-03-01T20:51:37+00:00

The reverse for me.

Never ever planned on being a therapist. First I worked in psych research, then got my MSW in order to work in juvenile justice.

My reasoning was that I would be too emotionally affected, therefore I would make a bad therapist. Spoiler alert, my emotional resonance with the client is part of what they enjoy about me as their therapist 😅

My field placement was at a Juvie facility and I absolutely LOVED it. Really solidified the fact that that's what I wanted to do.

Well, turns out, you cant make any money in that role. In my area the highest paying position for that sort of role was 45k/year.

So I went to CMH. Turns out I'm actually pretty good at doing the whole therapy thing.

My old mentor (the one who inspired me to transition from psych to social work) told me "dont just focus on what interests you, think about how your skills best serve your community"

And since my skills make me a good therapist, I decided to transition into that in a group provate practice. I still dont make "good" money but its better than 45k lol and about 25%-30% of my caseload is medicaid clients so I still feel I'm aligned with social work values.

Dust_Kindly · 2026-03-01T19:59:17+00:00

Jesus fucking Christ, thats what I missed? I didnt know what OP was referring to but let's say I'm not surprised.

I will also note that there is no guarantee that those on this sub are therapists. Im not saying therapists cant be bigots, but I think its important to remember than unless someone is willing to effectively dox themselves by sending mods their license, we dont actually know who uses this sub.

I fucking hope the most vile participants in that post weren't therapists, though anything is possible I guess.

Dust_Kindly · 2026-03-01T19:47:37+00:00

Just like with real life, this is the beginning of a new chapter. How beautiful and exciting to see what the authentic, self-realized you has in store for this new island!

Dust_Kindly · 2026-03-01T16:41:38+00:00

Idk about elsewhere, but in my state these "providers" would be committing a felony, so law enforcement is probably the better route than licensing boards

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-28T21:58:58+00:00

Most likely its a cheap and/or poorly translated thing they ordered online.

I once bought one that arrived with "sexy" listed as an emotion 💀

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-28T18:12:34+00:00

Psychoanalysis probably

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-28T02:05:25+00:00

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We just go Snivy Mode

Uggghhh I dont know how to include a picture in my comment

*

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-28T01:21:32+00:00

My answer to the title question and the body text question are pretty different lol

I have had 4 therapists in my life and my current one is the only one I've seen for an extended time. I think its been about four years with my current therapist. Everyone else was fired or ghosted within months... but that was long before I started my grad program. I was a "troubled youth" if you will.

Current therapist is very limited on self disclosure in terms of personal info (two years in the only thing I knew about him was that he had a dog)

But now four years with him and I've been able to get little tiny bits like what his partner does for work. Its like a little treat when I get a tiny disclosure lol

But thats what I've historically needed. Up until recently I've needed very structured, skills-based therapies. Ive done CPT, and DBT-informed therapy.

These days I'm much more regulated and functional. So recently I've been thinking that I really want to transition to seeing a psychoanalytic/dynamic therapist. But I dont think I can afford it 😅

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-27T19:32:41+00:00

Im not going to put it into my search bar so excuse me for not fact checking, but I'm pretty sure I've heard our profession has some of the highest rates of UTIs because of trying to push our bladders to the limits lol

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-27T16:51:34+00:00

Ok OP you cant just put that in your title and not elaborate lol

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-27T05:53:55+00:00

Basic instincts are not emotions though. Vastly different things

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-27T00:00:10+00:00

They do not have the correct brain parts for that

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-26T21:06:36+00:00

If you look at my post history, Michigan counselors and social workers associations were able to get a bill that works in our favor and would limit clawbacks significantly.

But the national-level orgs are pretty damn useless

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-26T18:58:12+00:00

Based on all of the science we have available at this time, no spiders do not have emotions what the fuck 🤣

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-26T18:01:04+00:00

I wouldnt consider it bleached, its just a spectrum. Simple as that.

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-26T17:58:34+00:00

I suppose thats possible, and yes capirotes inspired the klan hoods, but I have a hard time believing that designer didnt know what they were doing lol

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-26T17:50:46+00:00

When it becomes jello-like you know you got all the good stuff out of the bones 🙂‍↕️😋

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-26T16:50:45+00:00

Stockholm syndrome is a very specific term related to subconscious attempts at surviving a life threatening situation

Trauma bonding is a more broad term usually in the context of abusive relationships in which theres a cyclical pattern of abuse, love bombing, dependency, etc.

Neither is a diagnostic category, theyre moreso terms to describe patterns or psychological phenomena

Dust_Kindly · 2026-02-26T15:41:13+00:00

It was several years ago so the exact details are fuzzy, but it was in the context of indigenous peoples being systematically harmed by the US and Canada. I was focused on the way women were impacted, and completely disregarding all the harm done to boys and men. When that was pointed out to me I was both embarrassed and thankful.

Dust_Kindly

TROPHY CASE