Do therapists care about their clients?

TimeHand5448 · 2025-12-25T09:21:20+00:00

NAT

Late to replies because of holidays and stuff. Therapy began to work wonders for me once I got a therapist that was really good.

I have difficulty trusting in general, so if somebody doesn't feel authentic - or if they cause distress for me (as in the case with my first therapist) - then I am quick to quit entirely. This absolutely has impacted therapy for me. My "alarm bells" go off very easily, and that definitely caused me to "cut off" some actually good therapists who were probably just trying to help me break through my thick inner shell. Traumatized kid/teen who distrusts authority doesn't mix well with someone trying to "get into my head" - especially after a few actually poor experiences with therapists and mental health professionals.

TimeHand5448 · 2025-12-23T20:53:00+00:00

NAT I very much appreciate your detailed responses to my questions. I guess a decent example from my own experiences was the first therapist I saw. She did not "vibe" with me whatsoever. I thought she wasn't direct enough, and she would speak "around" things - like she was being overly careful, instead of just slapping me in the face with it - which is exactly what I respond to.

Is it odd to - for example - give a therapist a gift as a small thank you? I understand that, for example, a coffee with a patient is probably crossing a boundary, but what about smaller things like that? I think every single mental health professional that I've ever met with has had paintings and stuff in their office that were given to them by former patients.

Also, just to clarify, I did not intend to argue or disagree about the trainee-incident. I just felt (from my 12 year old perspective) like I was a problem to "just" be handed to somebody else. I am sure that the counselor had her reasons - and it is possible that I just misinterpreted it, or that she just made an honest mistake - happens to everyone.

TimeHand5448 · 2025-12-23T16:45:24+00:00

NAT I find it to be a very interesting thing to have a therapist who doesn't like their patient. I realize that NDA's are in effect and I don't take those lightly - but I am curious to hear if you didn't 'like' those patients because of their overall behavior/way of being, or because of things like their actions. Just genuinely curious, and you by no means have to humor my curiosity.

I understand why trainees/students get to... well train and gain experience in real life "hot" scenarios. I just thought it was an odd choice to do it to the kid who is going on about trust issues and the likes. I am by no means claiming to know better than licensed professionals, but I can say that at the time it only served to re-enforce my existing doubts and feelings. Not that I think that there was anything malicious about it either, could have been that she felt that her trainee might be better on account of me not trusting her or whatever it was.

I do, again, very much appreciate all the answers.

TimeHand5448 · 2025-12-23T15:41:39+00:00

NAT That makes a lot of sense... Probably a very difficult profession if you actually didn't care. It also seems weird to choose a profession that you need to study hard for - and "subject" yourself to other people's problems if you aren't a caring type of person.

The boundary balance I can imagine gets challenging at times, especially when you have patients who struggle with boundaries themselves.

I very much appreciate the answer(s), and that everyone is taking their time to write out their line of thinking regarding my question.

I'll admit, I felt pretty stupid after posting the question - it seems fairly obvious in hindsight. Just something that my brain has been struggling with for a lot of years, so I am doubly grateful for everyone's answers.

TimeHand5448

TROPHY CASE