r/therapyabuse

I was repeatedly sexually abused by my therapist when I was a minor. When I told someone I thought was my friend about it, the first thing she said was
“It was probably a counselor who lied about being a therapist, MY THERAPIST WOULD NEVER.”

When I told my psychiatrist who recommended me the therapists, he forced me not to report it because it would “make him look bad”

When I told a different therapist I was forced to go to, she changed the subject immediately and started talking about her dog.

If you were abused by a therapist, all of the “pro mental health victim advocates” wouldn't pour water on you if you were on fire on the slight chance a therapists in a 100 foot radius was a bit thirsty.

"When it comes to power, eclipsing the boss is a particularly dangerous mistake. People in power need to feel secure in their position, superior to others in intelligence and charisma, and deserving of their perks. When they feel insecure, they lash out.

Whenever you demonstrate your talents you provoke resentment and envy (manifestations of insecurity) in others, whether they’re bosses, subordinates or peers. Of course, you can’t spend your life worrying about everyone’s petty jealousies, but you need to pay special attention to your approach with superiors because of their greater ability to harm you. They can make heads roll, although not as literally as did kings of the past. This is why it’s important to never outshine the master, your superior."

Everyone is faking it to get out of a psych ward.

I think we’ve all seen how therapists have raced to labeled themselves as “trauma-informed” over the past several years. Moreover, the IFS-informed model of the frightened inner child has become a popular framework for understanding the struggles of adulthood. There’s something nefarious going on here that isn’t unique to therapy.

For the past several decades, the “youth market” has become an extremely profitable and politically useful commodity across industries. The premiere archetype created by the music, film, and fashion industries has been the “rebel without a cause.” Young people, who feel misaligned with the systems they born into, who are at the highest risk of attempting suicide, are framed as, at best, misdirected.

This goes hand in hand with the perspective the mental health industry has adopted on trauma, particular youth trauma. Our disordered behaviors may not be “immoral,” as perhaps they once were deemed, however they remain inncorrect responses to one’s present state of being - they are trauma responses.

Trauma is retrospective. I rarely see it considered as ongoing - it always happened in the past. It doesn’t take sides. It’s not anyone’s fault. And it’s the responsibility of the victim to figure out how to live with it rather than prevent it.

Trauma sharply differs from abuse. Abuse would require a perpetrator. Abuse is an injustice that might require action. And if we identified similar patterns of abuse across an entire society, an aggressive or radical response might not be a dysfunctional behavioral at all.

While traumatized people are useful to our institutions as relatable, yet static, images of frustration and suffering, an explicitly abused and wronged population justifies the kind of radical action that industries like the mental healthcare system have never endorsed.

Short: It implies that the client abandoned the therapist, hurting their feelings.

Here's some reasons:

Cultural baggage: "Ghosting" comes from dating apps and social media, where it's seen as emotionally immature, cowardly or even cruel.

Lack of professionalism: when a healthcare provider is using slang like "ghosting" it's like they are judging your "social morals" instead of staying clinical.

It doesn't explain the phenomenon well: stop going to sessions can be due so many reasons, or not trusting the therapist. Or they found another therapist.

Pathologizing the client: I've gotten a text message from unethical therapist saying "I'm sorry if I said something to trigger your avoidance" and other things showing they had their feelings hurt. Like what? No I'm avoiding you. Stop contacting me please, and control yourself.

I get they don't say ghosting in professional settings but doing it online is still weird. The sentence "client stopped coming to sessions" is more than enough, no need to throw in a pop culture slang rooted in dating culture.

I ran into one in a snark page and she was unhinged. Kept repeating that she was a licensed therapist and bla bla bla.

She created a false narrative about a private person to the point of defamation. Based on nothing.

She also said that people don't know how much trauma they go through, to be able to help people with trauma. I'm sorry, but wtf is she talking about? Yes it may feel traumatic to hear people's stories but it's not TrAuMa.

She also said only licensed therapists should be allowed to work with trauma, but in my experience, therapists have been the absolute WORST just because they seem to lack half a brain.

Literally, it's like they are so stuck in their logical framework, they have no clue how to be human, and attune to someone.

They'll get you to talk about your worst trauma, leaves you dissociatiated and retraumatised, then close the session. And you have to deal with the aftermath on your own.

Compared to a nurse with Somatic healing education, she was the most empathetic and understanding people ever. Very emotionally intelligent.

Not all, but many people with mental health issues (and evil issues) are attracted to this field.

Google Nicole Virzi. And Bryan Kohberger. Both PhD students. WTF. Is the industry not setting the bar high enough for PhD candidates? I know evil people can test well, but WTF? Isn't there a psychopath screening? Seriously.

Some days ago I responded to a comment that therapists are not incentivized to disagree with the system, so they won't teach their clients to stand up for themselves or see the world for how it truly is. It's not their job to acknowledge how fucked up the world is and how your abusers did you wrong. Their job is to make you more comfortable with a messed up world and to teach you to accept your place, whether your place is that of a victim or even of an abuser as long as it truly fits with where you are/can be in the hierarchy and how you continue to serve the status quo.

Therapists also don't benefit from no abusers. If a couples therapist tells an abuse victim to leave every single time they see it happening, then they won't have a job. If therapists "specializing" in trauma therapy actually truly helped you, then you would heal too fast and stop paying up. If a therapist is met with an abuser then there's no point in trying to teach them to stop abusing because how else will they have clients, victims of such abusers to handle and treat? They are taught to view our mental illnesses - our reactions to repeatedly having to deal with fucked up actions - as pathologies instead of what would happen to any mammal in constant distress.

I recall my last therapist telling me that she had corporal punishment in school too and that the brain can differentiate being hit by a teacher or being hit by a parent as discipline vs being hit by a figure of authority for no apparent reason other than abuse, the latter being a traumatic memory for the brain. I thought to myself "huh, she really thinks she's helping me with this advice?? This is supposed to soothe my mind? How about we teach people to not hit kids at all????".

Funny thing is I'm less traumatized by the beatings themselves and more upset at the world. Nobody that actually can do something stops evil people because our world is designed to be fueled by evil. THAT upsets me WAY MORE than actual memories of being beaten up. The fact that the therapist simply tried to justify it thinking it'd help me move on instead of acknowledging that our world is messed up was just insane to me. I could tell she really thought she was helping and that makes it even worse.

TW: sexual assault

For context, I was seeing this therapist last year for like 6 months. My biggest concern was navigating life in Japan as a Southeast Asian, and how I kinda regret moving here for uni. I told her about the racism I'm facing daily and she said it's just... the country's thing. Another time I told her I was perpetually scared that I could be sexually assaulted. She then asked me if I'd been assaulted here in Japan. I wanted to clarify if she meant only in Japan, and she said that's what she meant. I was confused about why she asked this, and why she meant in Japan only. Then she asked me if I have any evidence that it would happen to me. Like... it wasn't the point? I left therapy not long after that. Now I actually got assaulted twice in Japan, wow. But many times therapists just stay neutral on things that were never neutral in the first place. My concern was something every woman face everyday. I hate how apolitical they are.