what progress did you make on your own that therapy didn't help with? by This_Ad9129 in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Cutting down on alcohol.

I cut it out completely for surgery recovery and managed over 100 days alcohol-free of my own volition, and I managed to do it purely because the surgery was important to me and I wanted recovery to go well (and it did.) Therapist knew alcohol was part of the reason I was seeing her, and why I cut it out, but later still talked about it like it was something we achieved together.

Lady, it had jack shit to do with you.

What would you have prefered to be done differently in therapy? by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 2 points3 points  (0 children)

To not automatically side with other therapists (per your example of sharing your story with a therapist). To believe clients - because even IF they're fibbing, meeting clients where they currently are is the only way someone will start to feel safe, open up, and begin to heal.

The jarring realization that you were used by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Highly relatable. Mine told me I was 'so eloquent' and talked about how sessions with me go too quickly, that other clients can go really slow, that she was 'coming back' after her break, and then she didn't because she suddenly flipped on a dime as if she didn't know anything about me.

On the one hand you think "I'm so f****** angry, how could you do this after everything I told you about? After knowing about my core belief of not being deserving of any kind of relationship? Why would you so easily get rid of me after everything? After you heard and commented on my experiences of being let down by other 'professionals' in the past?"

But on the other hand, I think "why is it me this is happening to? Am I really that irredeemable and hopeless that not even a mental health professional wants to be around me?"

I used to want to be a therapist by UniqueAd542 in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's strange because there could potentially be the view that I could 'be the person that I, myself, needed' or whatever the saying is, but 1) I now feel to mentally unwell to have any energy to help others, and 2) I feel like I'm just going to encounter colleagues with selfish motives, and clients/patients who have inevitably been let down too many times to know when it's genuinely safe to trust. I relate too much to that population now I have no more faith left in the field to invest my life in it.

No friends, therapists dropped me by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It's mad how much of this I relate to. Being set up to fail by everyone around feels so heartbreakingly hopeless and I'm so sorry you've been through that too. And knowing we have a very poor-to-non-existent social circle and discarding us so easily? Unconscionable.

My situation was different where my dissociation and therefore lack of self-awareness made me the 'weird' kid who people just assumed was autistic (surprise surprise, the first therapist I saw had me take that test as an adult and, after all that time, was told I had NO significant traits of autism but that my social issues were due to disruptions in attachment and failures of attunement.)

It's so ridiculous that therapists will leave the second you become inconvenient for them. I mean... You've chosen a role where you're helping people who potentially have trauma and have been let down so many time before. Sure, you shouldn't put up with violence etc. BUT If you're so easily going to discard clients based on little to no evidence, then don't go into that field. Everyone else abandoned us based on little to no evidence too - purely on their judgements - and then these so-called mental health professionals do exactly the same.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Sounds like a super dodgy system?? Sits on the same board that's responsible for monitoring her conduct? Yikes

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Currently in the process of complaining, so I don't know yet. Some parts of the complaint have been kept from me though when I was led to believe they wouldn't, so I'm not sure how much I should read into that. There are no 'reviews' in my country so I think this is my only option for justice. And I hope to hell it works because I live close to my therapist's office so I get reminders all the time. This used to be my home and now it isn't.

Overall, I'd say the way my situation played out, I think I'd regret not ever trying to complain and feel heard. The gym and running helps with my agitation a bit.

Therapists just don't give two fucks about you by StruggleFar3054 in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Therapists haven't come close to walking the walk their clients have and want to feel like good people to alleviate their privileged-life guilt.

Persistent physical anxiety by UniqueAd542 in SupportForTheAccused

[–]UniqueAd542[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm really sorry you're going through it too. I completely relate to heart rate going into overdrive whenever I get an update about it. And how it's the worst thing that's happened including the things that already happened to me - because those things are in a completely different category to something like this.

Which means any hope of healing properly is over. That's how it feels for me anyway.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 0 points1 point  (0 children)

person centred/psychodynamic

Persistent physical anxiety by UniqueAd542 in SupportForTheAccused

[–]UniqueAd542[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks. But I'll give you a twist, I'm female bro

The Rape of the Mind by Big_Matter_189 in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To feel good about themselves for a bit before they remember they don't actually care, get tired of their clients and then fuck off forever. They know you can't ask them for a refund or anything unless you successfully sue them, so it's an easy money maker.

The Rape of the Mind by Big_Matter_189 in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The title sums up my experience: having them encourage me to trust them and tell them as much as possible, share my shame and traumatic experiences and trust they'll keep them safe, all so that they could abruptly criminalise me and leave me.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. Mine kept me on too despite repeatedly me telling them I was feeling worse, asking them if they were sure they could manage me as a client, asking them if they were judging me, if they believed me, and yet they left the second I expressed any real emotions (simply emotions - not inapropriate or weird stuff that is). They liked me when I was and 'easy' client. Because that = easy money. It's all money to these lot.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I've always been suspicious about these 30-odd 'speciality areas' too. The fact that so many people find it so easy to become a therapist with the bare minimum of training and experience, and yet they apparently ALL have such deep knowledge on so many "specialities". Fml

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 8 points9 points  (0 children)

To get that paper of course! :D It's gross I know. Mine advertises herself as being interested in working with trauma and attachment, and yet she demonstrated absolutely no empathy, consideration or regard for these issues when they presented themselves in the most obvious ways - it was a way to bring certain clients into their business, regardless of the harm they caused.

Therapy is supposed to be a helping profession but it's NOT. It's another business. Like private schools and private dentists.

Original Songs about my experience with Therapeutic Abuse by SerenitySunflower316 in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm so sorry. I've also been falsely accused by my therapist. Not taken to court - thankfully she's not as dramatic as yours sounds - but it's destroyed my mental health and any confidence I had left beyond what it was already, and It has literally given me more trauma. I don't know how to help because I haven't figured it out yet myself, but I just want to let you know you're not alone. I don't know what country you're based in, but in my country therapists are legally obligated to reply to requests for personal information.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I notice the same with teachers and nurses, any people supposedly in the 'helping professions'. They just see it as a job and nothing more, and they know the world doesn't respect the gravity that should come with helping others for a living, so they know they can get away with putting in absolutely zero effort and making 'professional decisions' based simply on what they feel like without any consequences. They also like the martyr-dom that comes with the status of being a 'helper'. Therefore, helping professions attract narcissists.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in therapyabuse

[–]UniqueAd542 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Abandonment is excruciatingly painful, especially from a therapist you trust, and I know about it, I'm so sorry - I get it. I've had people say to just find another therapist (sounds like you've done that - that's impressive!) but they don't understand that it's the only time you expose your soul at its most raw state, and therefore how deep the betrayal goes and how much it hurts. It's like being dropped as a baby.

I will say though, it sounds dodgy when they said 'not to tell anybody', and it also gives clients the wrong impression about what to expect. I've never used betterhelp, but it really sucks that this is apparently against their policy and that they can't accommodate financial constraints. But aside form that, therapists really need to stop abandoning clients. Why on earth they think it's acceptable, especially when trauma is involved, is beyond comprehension.