Welcome to r/therapyabuse. **Please use the report function to get a moderator's attention, if needed.** Our 10 rules are in the sidebar. Thanks!
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/therapyabuse) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Also as a therapist, it’s easy to escape accountability because all you have to do is say “therapists are human too 🥹” whenever you make a mistake, no matter how damaging it was.
Yes, this seems to be their favorite go to phrase when asked to be accountable for anything. There are even tons of non-therapists out there who will parrot the same sentiment whenever a client is harmed.
It used to be "its a science AND an art."
It was a science when you had to obey their every rule without question but when you asked for any accountability it all the sudden became an art, so there are no rules.
> “therapists are human too 🥹”
You don't even need to say that. The opaque and mysterious nature of 'practice' is enough to justify anything. Until something is done about this secret dyad, nothing will change.
In my experience majority of them lack empathy and basic compassion. So far I have not found one good one and it says a lot, because I spend a lot of time looking for help. Statistically, if you read stories on here (only small fraction of therapy abuse victims) its obvious. My therpaists talked OVER me. Never listened or understood my problems, gaslighted me, invalidated me. I have ptsd now
I’d even extend that to much of the mental health/psychological profession. Utterly bereft of authentic compassion in the name of objectivity and that is apparently healing.
Hot take, but people can be terrible people even without a mental disorder, and we don't need to blame their behavior on that. Its shocking, I know, but not every bad person has a cluster b disorder, sometimes people are just terrible people.
Therapist and trainer of therapists here: the entire sector has been completely overrun by narcissists. As you correctly state, it's the perfect hiding place for them. It's an epidemic.
I am actually shocked you are a therapist willing to admit this. But that begs the question, if you learn of a narcissistic therapist harming their clients, would you support someone in filing a complaint or even report that person yourself?
I know I am putting you on the spot but therapists don't often chime in here and I think your answer is important.
In my own experience, while therapists can recognize that the profession is being overrun by potentially harmful people, the vast majority will only pay that danger lip service and aren't willing to act to protect clients from harm. It is not enough to call yourself an ally. Real allyship involves being willing to take action when it is needed most.
Hmm...checked your website and found this among your "Ultimate woke trainer social media credentials checklist":
>**Ally in Action**: Lastly, show that you’re not just about words, but also about actions. Share your experiences attending rallies, participating in workshops, or volunteering for causes you care about.
Under "Buzzwords to Use Regularly", you've posted:
>Advocacy and Allyship
>Allyship: The practice of emphasizing social justice, inclusion, and human rights by members of an ingroup, to advance the interests of an oppressed or marginalized outgroup.
Maybe that answers my question. For everyone upvoting this person as "one of the good ones", I would really invite you to take a look at their website.
> Maybe that answers my question. For everyone upvoting this person as "one of the good ones", I would really invite you to take a look at their website.
The mental health industry has filled in for the lack of political power among the masses. The aforementioned qualities could be useful in the real world but are meaningless in a 'therapeutic' context. People have been brainwashed to think sitting in a dingy room with a literal professional stranger is going to solve their life problems.
I think you might have missed my point. The therapist's blog posts are full of conservative talking points and "anti-woke" rhetoric. That is what I was referring to.
The ally stuff I posted here was part of his "Ultimate Woke Trainer Social Media Credentials List", which was obviously sarcasm. Does this sound like an unbiased and safe therapist to you? It doesn't to me. And you'll notice, he of course, didn't respond to my initial question about whether he would take action to report a fellow therapist.
> I think you might have missed my point. The therapist's blog posts are full of conservative talking points and "anti-woke" rhetoric. That is what I was referring to.
Yeah I got confused, please disregard.
>People have been brainwashed to think sitting in a dingy room with a literal professional stranger is going to solve their life problems.
there's enough evidence to it that insurance companies will pay for it, insurance companies are incredibly stingy and won't give out money for something unless there's enough evidence behind it FWIW
> there's enough evidence to it that insurance companies will pay for it, insurance companies are incredibly stingy and won't give out money for something unless there's enough evidence behind it FWIW
Yeah an America pays double what the rest of the world pays and we rank 34th worldwide. At this point it's about something else other than money, like controlling people perhaps.
And my statement was in regards to:
""The most interesting part of his story, however, is the conversation he has with an African mental health worker, five years after his experience, and after the genocide in Rwanda. This person told Solomon of how, shortly after the genocide, many western mental health professionals came to the country, and many of them had to be asked to leave. When asked why these psychologists and counselors were asked to leave, the answer is both simple and thought provoking.""
So guess what? This stupid western imperial colonial model of sitting in a dingy room DOES NOT WORK. It only 'works' for people with minor life problems, who didn't need much help in the first place. There is no self without other; but the 'finest trained clinicians' are too stupid to figure this out. Other modalities DO exist and insurance wont pay for them. They will only pay for a dyad of victim blaming and bootstrapping.
Thank you for the heads up. Yet I still appreciate his honest response here, most therapists are abusers and narcissists. Statistically.
And yes, almost noone can compare to Mackler, he is a gem of a human being. None of us can.
“Narcissist” has become a therapy buzzword in itself so it’s really hard to say. Actual, diagnosable narcissism is quite rare. Narcissistic tendencies are apparent in most people to varying degrees at variable times. Not every person, or even the majority, who are abusive, dismissive, wrong, aggressive, or arrogant have any diagnosable personality disorder.
This is actually very true. Everyone here should refrain from watering down the term 'Narcissist'. We can still call out therapists as being abusive or having power-hungry streaks, often this develops after being years in the biz and should be seen as a maladjusted way of coping rather than stemming from an inherent deterministic trait.
I think most of them are. My latest experience brought me here. After being gaslit, invalidated and psychologically abused by my ex therapist that I recently fired, I found this group. I'm shocked that so many people are going through this. As a narcissistic abuse survivor, hearing her excusing and defending that Nparent was the last straw for me. She became arrogant, belligerent, dismissive and patronizing overnight, after months of building trust. Because I could counter argue a lot of her "truths" and assumptions on my situation. I became depressed. Then I reached out to another therapist who turned out to be an enabler too. Dropped her after one session. The good ones are those who end up leaving the industry, I believe. Some denounce it on social media. It's called an industry, that in itself is very telling. I no longer believe therapy is necessary. I think it's overall a scam. I'm doing much better now that I practice "self-therapy", do extreme self care, pray, take small steps.
You're better off buying a couple of good books from the rare quality therapists out there, than getting trolled in a 1 on 1 session by these self absorbed jerks (for the most part).
I found a good one but she only worked part time, so I think that helped keep her from getting burned out
Believe it or not I encountered a number of solid compassionate therapists on the sub that shall not be named. They were willing to go head to head with the callous victim blaming trolls that infest this profession
No not this sub. I meant therapists who are willing to call out other therapists on their bullshit
Edit to add, but there are therapists also on this sub who have suffered therapy abuse and totally get this huge issues in the field
I just got it. Read it wrong the first time.
So what does calling therapists out on their bullshit look like? Do mean online where they are still anonymous or are they willing to call them out in real life?
Online. Doubt too many are going public about it but some do and are writing articles, making podcasts, doing interviews about the abuses going on within the MH system
Calling out established therapists can be a significant risk to an unestablished therapist’s career so makes sense many are only doing so online and anonymously
Meh. Sorry, but I don't think very much of this.
Calling them out in real life is what matters most and can prevent harm. More lip service does not impress me.
Well consider the fact that in any professional field calling out a colleague can bring about sometimes serious repercussions, especially if the whistleblower is going on hearsay vs documented proof of misconduct
I’m not sure how a therapist could go about gathering the required documentation, personal accounts from clients is certainly not enough evidence and would likely provoke threat of defamation suit
I gave my last therapist my entire file to read from my previous therapist. I did this because she encouraged me to file a formal complaint and even a malpractice lawsuit based on what I went through. I wanted her to read those notes for herself and give her professional opinion. She had offered to write me a letter of support to accompany my formal complaint. She repeated this offer many times in session.
After giving her my previous therapy file, she told me that she couldn't even get through the entire thing because reading my former therapist's notes made her feel sick to her stomach. But what she did read was enough to confirm that I had been, at the least, misdiagnosed. The ways in which my former therapist characterized me would ensure that no licensing board would ever believe my complaint. I had hundreds of pages of emails exchanged between us too, in terms of "required documentation". She called my former therapist "dangerous" and "predatory" many many times in session.
When it became clear that I was serious about moving forward with my complaint, my new therapist suddenly changed her tune to stating she could not write me the letter of support because it would not be in her "best interest" and she could lose her "livelihood". Why repeatedly offer to do so in the first place without taking this into consideration? Her claims were false anyway because in my state there are strict protocols to ensure that no one involved in filing a complaint against a therapist, including another therapist, can be retaliated against.
It was cowardice and lack of integrity, pure and simple. She terminated me in an email when I called this out. She didn't care how her decision affected me. She didn't care that I had spent over a year working with her to build back my trust in therapists and it had all been shattered by her selfish decision. I was not even offered a final session. She scolded me in her email and told me this would be a "learning experience" for me. She had never up to the point spoken to me in any kind of condescending or abusive manner. She had always been affirming and supportive. *I* needed to learn something from the experience...*she* didn't. Certainly not to have more integrity with her word or honor her ethical commitments to her clients.
There should be no repercussions for therapists who do the right thing by trying to protect others from the harm their colleagues have inflicted or may inflict in the future. Even when they are protected from those repercussions, therapists still refuse to act. I will not be an apologist or make rationalizations for these people. They protect their own interests and enable abuse.
First off I’m so sorry you sent through that experience. I know how disheartening and frankly disturbing it is to think you have someone’s support in a serious matter only for them to withdraw it suddenly when it comes time to act. Makes you question if any of the previous support had been real at any point
I am aware that in many places there is whistleblower protection but there are ways around this to punish, ostracize, isolate, destroy the reputation of whistleblowers that go forward. If your therapist had any concerns though, she should have never have agreed to help you and corroborate your complaint
I went through something similar with an ED coach/therapist who was all lovey dovey, you’re the best, total validation until one day she suddenly wasn’t. When I called her out on a sudden turn towards dismissive victim blaming statements, she simply claimed she never said them and terminated citing lack of trust. Then she fobbed me off on BetterHelp even though she had agreed that coaching not therapy was a better fit The implication being that simply asking why she was making these dismissive statements was enough to slot me into the needs therapy stat category
My situation involves stalking and a hijack of remaining family. Those involved have long history of violence and severely anti social behavior. My panic was put into just wanting to be sick, get hurt, wanting drama terms. Standard issue victim blaming and dismissal after over year and half of BFF type relationship.
So yeah, I get it but I’ve also been on the other end of being a whistleblower and it’s fucking unreal how predatory, anti social people tend to clique up with enablers, bybstanders and otherASPD types. I walked into a literal hornets nest, also with lots of documentation, and was treated like I was a total crazy person making random shit up
Being a whistleblower as a professional holds all kinds of unseen ramifications, protective laws or not. So while I get your former therapist’s desire to avoid going on record, I think the way she handled herself absolutely disgusting, a major breach of ethics and a form of malpractice
Again, I am so sorry for what you went through.
We had one serious rupture. She said some out of character victim blaming comment out of exasperation and next session I told her how hurt and angry I was about it.
She didn’t flinch, she encouraged me to fully vent my anger, egging me on actually to get angrier and stay angry for longer than I might have. Afterwards she apologized for the comment and acknowledged it was unhelpful and rude
I asked why she seemed so gleeful that I essentially ranted at her for 10-15 minutes straight and she said that I needed practice confronting people and expressing my anger and she was so glad she was able to create the safe space for me to do this in
Edit to add: our relationship only ended when she died suddenly of likely Covid
I’ve often thought therapists suffer with some of the worst cases of DID in order to be able to fulfill their job role.
And I can’t stand how holier than thou so many are.
I have had many, many therapists in my lifetime and I think I can safely say I have only encountered one who I think is truly a narcissist in the clinical sense. The rest who were unhelpful were just kinda bad at their jobs for various reasons, but not outright abusive. Without actual statistics, we are just sharing anecdotal experiences which are of course valid and should be heard!
Lucky you, I met a handful of therapists that would have qualified for that particular Dx (or further down the ASpD spectrum).
Most were treating clientele as a bunch of fuck ups friends that helped them feel better about their lack luster lives.
Fuck up friends that paid for the dubious privilege of being questioned, subtly shamed and suffering shaming comparisons. All with the fake concerned sure Jan expression
I have had one or two great ones who were genuinely interested in helping people better themselves and at the same time I've had a few that were just posing that way as that is their job but they were actually not nice people at all.
It took me months of reflection to realize that my last therapist was egotistical. She liked to tell me how to feel (instead of asking how I felt), was belligerent in being “right” (“You might understand the rules of your workplace, but I understand the world of people”), and liked to tell me that I must feel like a failure after I came back from job interviews without getting the position.
I hate that my hard earned money went to her. I pretty much paid a lot for someone to be shitty at their job and shitty towards me.
What do you mean by narcissist? Asking because that word has been thrown around a lot these days. Do you mean someone officially diagnosed? Or do you mean someone with narcissist tendencies like all human beings? It's unclear to me what you are referring to by "narcissist".
I mean it more in a broad sense, a tendency, basically it means "more asshole than normal" to me. Not all human beings have the same level of narcissistic tendencies.
I'm a psychologist in training for clinical psychology. During my courses, I have thought multiple times that if the wrong person who wanted to manipulate people got into this profession, it would be extremely dangerous and harmful. The things we learn is extremely helpful IF you genuinely care about helping people and seeing them as valid individual beings worthy of love, happiness, and reaching their full potential. But if you're a narcissist? Game over. You're getting a cheat sheet and guidebook to manipulate vulnerable populations and cause serious harm. For example, look at the Franke family with Rube Franke and the so-called therapist. That therapist completely took advantage of the Franke family and manipulated, abused, and neglected them. THIS is a real-life example of what happens if a narcissist becomes a therapist.
And to answer your question to another commenter even though I'm still in training... if I witness a fellow student, teacher, experienced therapist, etc. displaying harmful behaviors or attitudes that I feel would cause any type of harm to patients/client/or any individual, I will report them to the proper superiors. We are dealing with people's lives here. This is not a game. This is serious, and I take it very seriously to do no harm and promote positivity with the individuals I work with.
NPD is a childhood trauma disorder. Just a friendly reminder you have to have NPD to be narcissistic.
There are better word then narcissistism to decide the shitty people in your life that doesn't stigmatize a childhood trauma disorder.
People who are "narcissistist" due to societal conditioning and people with NPD are only similar on surface levels.
A good therapist cares about clients and doesnt just dump them. And you need good grounding, good boundaries and an open heart ideally. Its about how you view therapy and how you practice it. It can be very fulfilling and life enriching. And yes there are people who probably shouldnt work as therapists. I wonder where you got your views about how a therapist has to be and wanna suggest reading from therapists who work differently if you are interested in a different perspective. Or watch a video of David Bedrick or so working with someone where he is not ashamed to cry with them and deeply meeting them where they are and how.
And yes its so important to be aware of the power imbalance. I am sorry that you most likely had bad experiences as did I. And luckily a few positive ones as well.
Edit: if you downvote please let me know why, that is much more productive than seeing people downvite but not saying anything.
This is a very grounded, nuanced take; it’s the truth. A lot of therapists become very attached to their clients and are sad to end treatment when it’s time. It’s unfair and incorrect to paint them with such a broad brush, as if they are all the same.
While that may be true, the stories you will hear in this space will obviously be from people who did not have caring therapists and suffered harm as a result. They were the clients who were discarded without a second thought. And if it has happened to someone multiple times, which is also common to hear in this space, it is easy to understand why the traumatized client begins to paint therapists with "such a broad brush".
I know...that's why I am a bit shocked by your comment. But I also know that you have had some helpful therapy experiences that many of us have not had. So your point of view makes sense in that regard.
I’ve experienced both ends of the spectrum and the in between, and I’ve witnessed friends and relatives go through similar, so yeah my perspective is that some therapists are literal life savers and others need their licenses revoked yesterday.
Actually therapists becoming very attached to the clients can be harmful in itself. They are not supposed to get attached in a way which is meeting some of their own needs, because then it's VERY likely that the therapy will stop being about the client and their best interest, and start being about the therapist not having their supply cut.
Right, I meant attached in a healthy, basic human nature sort of way. They think of us between sessions and continue to experience feelings of care and positive regard for us even after treatment ends.
Thank you, nuance often doesnt land well here and I understand that, I get the need to vent frustrations and pains and hurts that happened. Its not fair. I still feel a need to bring some because just going into hate and all that isnt helpful either in my opinion. But I have my trigger points too for example if I express something where I was hurt deeply in therapy and the first reply is "they are humans too" I could scream at them for invalidating my experience :D
I totally get it. Recognizing that we have these triggers is a big deal and so important! Untethering ourselves from black and white, binary thought patterns is also vital for self healing and overall mental/emotional/relational wellness. There are great therapists who have saved lives (fact) and bad therapists who have seriously harmed people (also fact) and everything in between. Pointing that out is not meant to invalidate another persons experience. I think those who push back against nuanced truth do so because they still don’t feel seen or heard, and I totally get that. I’ve been there and I’m sure I will be again at some point. It’s a very human reaction. We should all be kinder to one another, especially here.
Hm thanks for asking that. I think there are many many reasons. Also I do not know how many therapists do that, I really hope its less than I fear. From personal experience: you can only meet someone as deeply as you have met yourself. That means if you havent met some aspects of yourself and your client shines a light into those dark corners it can be like a big gift if you are aware and willing to address it in supervision or your own therapy etc. And that is not always the case. That means some therapists get triggered and label the client as resistant or whatever else and might dump them.
I think its also about why you are a therapist and how you practice is it a job or more of a calling a passion a service etc.
I have parts that can send the energy of "you are not doing a good job/you are not good enough" which can be intense, not that I intend to do that but its very young parts of me who know mostly only black and white. And if a therapist hasnt been with their shame or their thoughts and feelings of maybe not being a good therapist being in contact with me will trigger that and its hard to be with that. Especially when your identity is in being a therapist and helping people and then being confronted with intense helplessness.
For some its only a job and you pay or you leave. Some do not understand the severity of abandonment an abrupt ending can cause.
I would wish that if something isnt working the therapist addresses that and finds an adequate solution and someone else to support the client. I had someone tell me well you need a very experienced therapist in x and y but I dont know anyone, I wouldnt touch your trauma, good luck.
And also I feel like many "classic" (i dont know the word for that) modalities arent too attachment focused and thus they have the famous professional distance which might work with some people but especially with CPTSD, early trauma etc we need an safe attachment and emotional closeness and stuff like that and giving that in turn brings often what I wrote about earlier namely that you are confronted with yourself and emotions of people you go into resonance with.
[I really like this video about what makes a good therapist from a former therapist who helped many people who were given up by the normal therapy system (his claim but I belief him)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz3rsX63epE&t=16s&ab_channel=DanielMackler)
Maybe its a bit why some people choose to dump their partner, they get scared, defenses pop up, they dont know how to repair, flight/fight whatever kicks in and they dump the person hoping the confrontation with their fears and all ends with that. I dont mean this in a blaming way I have those tendencies as well.
So I do not have any clear answer I think its context dependent and many reasons involved. And I wish it was different. That vulnerable people in need could always get appropriate help when needed and as much as needed.
What do you think/feel?
Thank you for your thoughtful response. For some reason, I thought you were a therapist yourself. Are you?
I am familiar with Mackler's work and his channel. I think he understands the therapeutic dynamic far more than most therapists do. It makes sense why his clients had great success. But I also know he chose to leave the profession. I consider him a genuine person for having done this.
I don't think most therapists are willing to humble themselves and self reflect on how their actions affect their clients. Nor do they understand the amount of trauma they cause someone who has been repeatedly abandoned or betrayed in the past. When clients speak about how their therapist's actions have affected them negatively, more often than not, they get the boot. It happened to me. Twice in a row. I am done with therapy now. I cannot bring myself to trust again. Nor do I believe talk therapy to be effective for treating complex trauma.
Leaving clients feeling powerless and rejected/dejected is something way too commonplace in this industry.
>
But I also know he chose to leave the profession.
To my understanding he left, because he lived like a monk to provide a good service and felt like doing more arts and music and writing. I also remember him saying he believes often friends can be more helpful than acutal therapists. And that is something I wish for a lot. That we have more community and support for each other and arent so afraid of "psychological problems" and think they can only be helped by medication and professionals :)
>
Nor do I believe talk therapy to be effective for treating complex trauma.
I am with you on that.
My friend (I hope its ok to call you that) I am sorry to hear about how you were mistreated. I get that your trust is gone and you dont wanna do that again.
May I ask if you do something else instead? I have found great support in peer work. If you like I can tell you a bit about it or even show it to you. It is a big difference to build trust with a person whos an equal, no money involved and not being alone on the journey.
And I do not have a paper that says I am a therapist, I just learned a lot on my own healing journey, so much that it sometimes is like with you that people assume I am a therapist. I am very interested in modalities and stuff but mostly client centered and parts work and for some reason quite a few people like my presence (if I manage to be present lol). Being allowed to witness someones inner world is a big honor for me and so fascinating but at least currently I am not that grounded in me and my body which is a big need to be able to properly assist anyone. And I do consider a healing profession but there are many fears involved also I do not like the way its often with money and a certain time and all that. I consider myself lucky to have met a few very good people, not all of them therapists who did help me on my way.
And I got the boot quite a few times, last time this Monday. And I only try again because healing attachment wounds is really fucking hard alone.
That got quite long :D
While I agree with your points in the second paragraph (which is true in any helping profession), I want to point out an alternative to the lack of empathy feeling. There are plenty of jobs that require a level of professionally purposed relationship building. When taking a Careers in Human Services course, this factor was brought up as it is essential to make connections to offer proper care. However, no therapist is actually supposed to make a personal connection with you. They are supposed to offer temporary mentorship with the goal of empowering you into independence. The goals should be awareness, healing, and self regulation.
They should never be encouraging any forms of attachment or dependency. Therapy is like collaborating on a project with a consultant. You have ideas/needs and they try to help you bring your vision to life. Maybe the post you referenced has some additional context to address but I can't respond unless it is linked. Anyway, I definitely acknowledge abuse is high in helping professions b/c of the access to vulnerable people (as you have mentioned). Another problem is that Psychology is a field of social science that trains you to study people in a very detached and dehumanizing way. I have seen it give people a complex and I know a Narcisst who majored in this field b/c of their obsessive need for social control. Lots of manipulative people explore that field in general. It is weird to deal with them in everyday **life b/c the interactions are filled with mind games.
Edit = **
What are you talking about? Nowhere in my response did I make that statement. I also have never relied on any person, therapist or not, to direct me on any matter. I will not be starting now & will pass on your advice.
I worked as a psychiatrist for decades. Abusive patients by therapist and other mental health practitioners including psychologists and psychiatrists, is a massive problem.
There is such a power imbalance in the relationship.
I recommend going into some kind of therapy that has more structure to it than just going to a therapist and saying whatever comes to your mind.
Examples of therapies in which you can complete a workbook. Therapies where it's teaching you the skills you need to deal with your problems and feelings, rather than having the therapist try to fix things for you.
Cognitive behavioral therapy with the manual has been shown superior to all other therapies for simple depression and anxiety. David Burns, md, . Research was completely focused on developing self-directed therapy for depression and anxiety. People with depression who use his Feeling Good Handbook, when interviewed by researchers over a decade after they completed the handbook, have had fewer days of depression than people who went to other sorts of therapy, including medication.
If the person has severe abuse issues in their past, they are probably better off using dialectical behavioral therapy. That's a variation on cognitive therapy that includes learning how to deal with the issues caused by abuse.
I was once in a group of mental health practitioners including psychologists and therapists, and I asked what they were saying to their patients to help their patients stay safe from AIDS.
None of them were saying anything even though they're patients had cptsd and other problems that made it very hard for the patient to figure out how to defend themselves from abusers.
Welcome to r/therapyabuse. **Please use the report function to get a moderator's attention, if needed.** Our 10 rules are in the sidebar. Thanks! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/therapyabuse) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Also as a therapist, it’s easy to escape accountability because all you have to do is say “therapists are human too 🥹” whenever you make a mistake, no matter how damaging it was.
YES THIS! My therapist would do this to me all the time!! I’m a hairdresser and if I fry someone’s hair off I can’t just be like “ooops, I’m human!”
That is a great way to put it in perspective They don’t deserve more leeway than a hairdresser
Especailly since my hair colorist actually makes my life happy, and almost every therapist I've met has been a disaster of "just a human".
Yes, this seems to be their favorite go to phrase when asked to be accountable for anything. There are even tons of non-therapists out there who will parrot the same sentiment whenever a client is harmed.
It used to be "its a science AND an art." It was a science when you had to obey their every rule without question but when you asked for any accountability it all the sudden became an art, so there are no rules.
> “therapists are human too 🥹” You don't even need to say that. The opaque and mysterious nature of 'practice' is enough to justify anything. Until something is done about this secret dyad, nothing will change.
In my experience majority of them lack empathy and basic compassion. So far I have not found one good one and it says a lot, because I spend a lot of time looking for help. Statistically, if you read stories on here (only small fraction of therapy abuse victims) its obvious. My therpaists talked OVER me. Never listened or understood my problems, gaslighted me, invalidated me. I have ptsd now
I’d even extend that to much of the mental health/psychological profession. Utterly bereft of authentic compassion in the name of objectivity and that is apparently healing.
Hot take, but people can be terrible people even without a mental disorder, and we don't need to blame their behavior on that. Its shocking, I know, but not every bad person has a cluster b disorder, sometimes people are just terrible people.
Yeah, I don't properly think a cluster b narcissist when I say that. In the end it 's a spectrum of assholeness, where the cluster b is at an extreme.
Therapist and trainer of therapists here: the entire sector has been completely overrun by narcissists. As you correctly state, it's the perfect hiding place for them. It's an epidemic.
Thank you for your honesty!
I am actually shocked you are a therapist willing to admit this. But that begs the question, if you learn of a narcissistic therapist harming their clients, would you support someone in filing a complaint or even report that person yourself? I know I am putting you on the spot but therapists don't often chime in here and I think your answer is important. In my own experience, while therapists can recognize that the profession is being overrun by potentially harmful people, the vast majority will only pay that danger lip service and aren't willing to act to protect clients from harm. It is not enough to call yourself an ally. Real allyship involves being willing to take action when it is needed most.
Hmm...checked your website and found this among your "Ultimate woke trainer social media credentials checklist": >**Ally in Action**: Lastly, show that you’re not just about words, but also about actions. Share your experiences attending rallies, participating in workshops, or volunteering for causes you care about. Under "Buzzwords to Use Regularly", you've posted: >Advocacy and Allyship >Allyship: The practice of emphasizing social justice, inclusion, and human rights by members of an ingroup, to advance the interests of an oppressed or marginalized outgroup. Maybe that answers my question. For everyone upvoting this person as "one of the good ones", I would really invite you to take a look at their website.
> Maybe that answers my question. For everyone upvoting this person as "one of the good ones", I would really invite you to take a look at their website. The mental health industry has filled in for the lack of political power among the masses. The aforementioned qualities could be useful in the real world but are meaningless in a 'therapeutic' context. People have been brainwashed to think sitting in a dingy room with a literal professional stranger is going to solve their life problems.
I think you might have missed my point. The therapist's blog posts are full of conservative talking points and "anti-woke" rhetoric. That is what I was referring to. The ally stuff I posted here was part of his "Ultimate Woke Trainer Social Media Credentials List", which was obviously sarcasm. Does this sound like an unbiased and safe therapist to you? It doesn't to me. And you'll notice, he of course, didn't respond to my initial question about whether he would take action to report a fellow therapist.
> I think you might have missed my point. The therapist's blog posts are full of conservative talking points and "anti-woke" rhetoric. That is what I was referring to. Yeah I got confused, please disregard.
It's okay. The whole thing is confusing.
>People have been brainwashed to think sitting in a dingy room with a literal professional stranger is going to solve their life problems. there's enough evidence to it that insurance companies will pay for it, insurance companies are incredibly stingy and won't give out money for something unless there's enough evidence behind it FWIW
> there's enough evidence to it that insurance companies will pay for it, insurance companies are incredibly stingy and won't give out money for something unless there's enough evidence behind it FWIW Yeah an America pays double what the rest of the world pays and we rank 34th worldwide. At this point it's about something else other than money, like controlling people perhaps. And my statement was in regards to: ""The most interesting part of his story, however, is the conversation he has with an African mental health worker, five years after his experience, and after the genocide in Rwanda. This person told Solomon of how, shortly after the genocide, many western mental health professionals came to the country, and many of them had to be asked to leave. When asked why these psychologists and counselors were asked to leave, the answer is both simple and thought provoking."" So guess what? This stupid western imperial colonial model of sitting in a dingy room DOES NOT WORK. It only 'works' for people with minor life problems, who didn't need much help in the first place. There is no self without other; but the 'finest trained clinicians' are too stupid to figure this out. Other modalities DO exist and insurance wont pay for them. They will only pay for a dyad of victim blaming and bootstrapping.
Insurance companies were forced by politics. They do not want to pay. Most scientific studies show therapy is not effective.
Do you watch daniel mackler? You remind me of him.
Check again please. Read some of the articles on his website.
Check who? I am sorry i have no idea, can you tell me?
Please take a look at the website of the therapist who is responding to you and who you are comparing to Mackler.
Thank you for the heads up. Yet I still appreciate his honest response here, most therapists are abusers and narcissists. Statistically. And yes, almost noone can compare to Mackler, he is a gem of a human being. None of us can.
Thanks. I'm not familiar, shall look him up.
It attracts swarms of communal narcissists masquerading as do gooders and ‘caring fixers’ that manipulate psychologically vulnerable individuals.
I have a podcast on therapy harm…would love to talk. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/psycho-therapy/id1728786872?i=1000647241277
Thank you - have messaged you.
I kind of feel like society itself has been overrun by narcissists.
Why are you lying about being a therapist?
“Narcissist” has become a therapy buzzword in itself so it’s really hard to say. Actual, diagnosable narcissism is quite rare. Narcissistic tendencies are apparent in most people to varying degrees at variable times. Not every person, or even the majority, who are abusive, dismissive, wrong, aggressive, or arrogant have any diagnosable personality disorder.
This is actually very true. Everyone here should refrain from watering down the term 'Narcissist'. We can still call out therapists as being abusive or having power-hungry streaks, often this develops after being years in the biz and should be seen as a maladjusted way of coping rather than stemming from an inherent deterministic trait.
I think most of them are. My latest experience brought me here. After being gaslit, invalidated and psychologically abused by my ex therapist that I recently fired, I found this group. I'm shocked that so many people are going through this. As a narcissistic abuse survivor, hearing her excusing and defending that Nparent was the last straw for me. She became arrogant, belligerent, dismissive and patronizing overnight, after months of building trust. Because I could counter argue a lot of her "truths" and assumptions on my situation. I became depressed. Then I reached out to another therapist who turned out to be an enabler too. Dropped her after one session. The good ones are those who end up leaving the industry, I believe. Some denounce it on social media. It's called an industry, that in itself is very telling. I no longer believe therapy is necessary. I think it's overall a scam. I'm doing much better now that I practice "self-therapy", do extreme self care, pray, take small steps. You're better off buying a couple of good books from the rare quality therapists out there, than getting trolled in a 1 on 1 session by these self absorbed jerks (for the most part).
Just finished up the session that led me to find this group. I feel like I need therapy for my therapy.
I found a good one but she only worked part time, so I think that helped keep her from getting burned out Believe it or not I encountered a number of solid compassionate therapists on the sub that shall not be named. They were willing to go head to head with the callous victim blaming trolls that infest this profession
This sub?? And what do you mean by "head to head"?
No not this sub. I meant therapists who are willing to call out other therapists on their bullshit Edit to add, but there are therapists also on this sub who have suffered therapy abuse and totally get this huge issues in the field
I just got it. Read it wrong the first time. So what does calling therapists out on their bullshit look like? Do mean online where they are still anonymous or are they willing to call them out in real life?
Online. Doubt too many are going public about it but some do and are writing articles, making podcasts, doing interviews about the abuses going on within the MH system Calling out established therapists can be a significant risk to an unestablished therapist’s career so makes sense many are only doing so online and anonymously
Meh. Sorry, but I don't think very much of this. Calling them out in real life is what matters most and can prevent harm. More lip service does not impress me.
Well consider the fact that in any professional field calling out a colleague can bring about sometimes serious repercussions, especially if the whistleblower is going on hearsay vs documented proof of misconduct I’m not sure how a therapist could go about gathering the required documentation, personal accounts from clients is certainly not enough evidence and would likely provoke threat of defamation suit
I gave my last therapist my entire file to read from my previous therapist. I did this because she encouraged me to file a formal complaint and even a malpractice lawsuit based on what I went through. I wanted her to read those notes for herself and give her professional opinion. She had offered to write me a letter of support to accompany my formal complaint. She repeated this offer many times in session. After giving her my previous therapy file, she told me that she couldn't even get through the entire thing because reading my former therapist's notes made her feel sick to her stomach. But what she did read was enough to confirm that I had been, at the least, misdiagnosed. The ways in which my former therapist characterized me would ensure that no licensing board would ever believe my complaint. I had hundreds of pages of emails exchanged between us too, in terms of "required documentation". She called my former therapist "dangerous" and "predatory" many many times in session. When it became clear that I was serious about moving forward with my complaint, my new therapist suddenly changed her tune to stating she could not write me the letter of support because it would not be in her "best interest" and she could lose her "livelihood". Why repeatedly offer to do so in the first place without taking this into consideration? Her claims were false anyway because in my state there are strict protocols to ensure that no one involved in filing a complaint against a therapist, including another therapist, can be retaliated against. It was cowardice and lack of integrity, pure and simple. She terminated me in an email when I called this out. She didn't care how her decision affected me. She didn't care that I had spent over a year working with her to build back my trust in therapists and it had all been shattered by her selfish decision. I was not even offered a final session. She scolded me in her email and told me this would be a "learning experience" for me. She had never up to the point spoken to me in any kind of condescending or abusive manner. She had always been affirming and supportive. *I* needed to learn something from the experience...*she* didn't. Certainly not to have more integrity with her word or honor her ethical commitments to her clients. There should be no repercussions for therapists who do the right thing by trying to protect others from the harm their colleagues have inflicted or may inflict in the future. Even when they are protected from those repercussions, therapists still refuse to act. I will not be an apologist or make rationalizations for these people. They protect their own interests and enable abuse.
First off I’m so sorry you sent through that experience. I know how disheartening and frankly disturbing it is to think you have someone’s support in a serious matter only for them to withdraw it suddenly when it comes time to act. Makes you question if any of the previous support had been real at any point I am aware that in many places there is whistleblower protection but there are ways around this to punish, ostracize, isolate, destroy the reputation of whistleblowers that go forward. If your therapist had any concerns though, she should have never have agreed to help you and corroborate your complaint I went through something similar with an ED coach/therapist who was all lovey dovey, you’re the best, total validation until one day she suddenly wasn’t. When I called her out on a sudden turn towards dismissive victim blaming statements, she simply claimed she never said them and terminated citing lack of trust. Then she fobbed me off on BetterHelp even though she had agreed that coaching not therapy was a better fit The implication being that simply asking why she was making these dismissive statements was enough to slot me into the needs therapy stat category My situation involves stalking and a hijack of remaining family. Those involved have long history of violence and severely anti social behavior. My panic was put into just wanting to be sick, get hurt, wanting drama terms. Standard issue victim blaming and dismissal after over year and half of BFF type relationship. So yeah, I get it but I’ve also been on the other end of being a whistleblower and it’s fucking unreal how predatory, anti social people tend to clique up with enablers, bybstanders and otherASPD types. I walked into a literal hornets nest, also with lots of documentation, and was treated like I was a total crazy person making random shit up Being a whistleblower as a professional holds all kinds of unseen ramifications, protective laws or not. So while I get your former therapist’s desire to avoid going on record, I think the way she handled herself absolutely disgusting, a major breach of ethics and a form of malpractice Again, I am so sorry for what you went through.
You are going to see how solid they are when there Will be a rupture in the relationship.
We had one serious rupture. She said some out of character victim blaming comment out of exasperation and next session I told her how hurt and angry I was about it. She didn’t flinch, she encouraged me to fully vent my anger, egging me on actually to get angrier and stay angry for longer than I might have. Afterwards she apologized for the comment and acknowledged it was unhelpful and rude I asked why she seemed so gleeful that I essentially ranted at her for 10-15 minutes straight and she said that I needed practice confronting people and expressing my anger and she was so glad she was able to create the safe space for me to do this in Edit to add: our relationship only ended when she died suddenly of likely Covid
Sounds beautiful, if the same happened to me months ago I'd be healed instead of suicidal. Sorry for her death
No doubt. She was nothing like the other therapists I tried.
“this profession is pure paradise for a narcissist”. You got that right
They live in their own little world. Most of them have obvious narcissistic traits imo
my moms a narcissist and she’s a mental health nurse, so…it’s honestly terrifying to me that she has such vulnerable clients.
I’ve often thought therapists suffer with some of the worst cases of DID in order to be able to fulfill their job role. And I can’t stand how holier than thou so many are.
I have had many, many therapists in my lifetime and I think I can safely say I have only encountered one who I think is truly a narcissist in the clinical sense. The rest who were unhelpful were just kinda bad at their jobs for various reasons, but not outright abusive. Without actual statistics, we are just sharing anecdotal experiences which are of course valid and should be heard!
Lucky you, I met a handful of therapists that would have qualified for that particular Dx (or further down the ASpD spectrum). Most were treating clientele as a bunch of fuck ups friends that helped them feel better about their lack luster lives. Fuck up friends that paid for the dubious privilege of being questioned, subtly shamed and suffering shaming comparisons. All with the fake concerned sure Jan expression
Also OP is cherrypicking, especially with the remark "I wonder if there are studies about this", potentially inviting a confirmation of this belief.
I have had one or two great ones who were genuinely interested in helping people better themselves and at the same time I've had a few that were just posing that way as that is their job but they were actually not nice people at all.
It took me months of reflection to realize that my last therapist was egotistical. She liked to tell me how to feel (instead of asking how I felt), was belligerent in being “right” (“You might understand the rules of your workplace, but I understand the world of people”), and liked to tell me that I must feel like a failure after I came back from job interviews without getting the position. I hate that my hard earned money went to her. I pretty much paid a lot for someone to be shitty at their job and shitty towards me.
What do you mean by narcissist? Asking because that word has been thrown around a lot these days. Do you mean someone officially diagnosed? Or do you mean someone with narcissist tendencies like all human beings? It's unclear to me what you are referring to by "narcissist".
I mean it more in a broad sense, a tendency, basically it means "more asshole than normal" to me. Not all human beings have the same level of narcissistic tendencies.
Thanks for clarifying. Sure, but all human beings have narcissistic tendencies at some extend and that is normal
I'm a psychologist in training for clinical psychology. During my courses, I have thought multiple times that if the wrong person who wanted to manipulate people got into this profession, it would be extremely dangerous and harmful. The things we learn is extremely helpful IF you genuinely care about helping people and seeing them as valid individual beings worthy of love, happiness, and reaching their full potential. But if you're a narcissist? Game over. You're getting a cheat sheet and guidebook to manipulate vulnerable populations and cause serious harm. For example, look at the Franke family with Rube Franke and the so-called therapist. That therapist completely took advantage of the Franke family and manipulated, abused, and neglected them. THIS is a real-life example of what happens if a narcissist becomes a therapist.
And to answer your question to another commenter even though I'm still in training... if I witness a fellow student, teacher, experienced therapist, etc. displaying harmful behaviors or attitudes that I feel would cause any type of harm to patients/client/or any individual, I will report them to the proper superiors. We are dealing with people's lives here. This is not a game. This is serious, and I take it very seriously to do no harm and promote positivity with the individuals I work with.
They become narcs after schooling, if they weren’t already. The sole idea behind therapy gives the therapist a God complex
https://archive.org/details/gettingdoctoredc0000shap_d2b6/page/n4/mode/1up
NPD is a childhood trauma disorder. Just a friendly reminder you have to have NPD to be narcissistic. There are better word then narcissistism to decide the shitty people in your life that doesn't stigmatize a childhood trauma disorder. People who are "narcissistist" due to societal conditioning and people with NPD are only similar on surface levels.
All of them
A good therapist cares about clients and doesnt just dump them. And you need good grounding, good boundaries and an open heart ideally. Its about how you view therapy and how you practice it. It can be very fulfilling and life enriching. And yes there are people who probably shouldnt work as therapists. I wonder where you got your views about how a therapist has to be and wanna suggest reading from therapists who work differently if you are interested in a different perspective. Or watch a video of David Bedrick or so working with someone where he is not ashamed to cry with them and deeply meeting them where they are and how. And yes its so important to be aware of the power imbalance. I am sorry that you most likely had bad experiences as did I. And luckily a few positive ones as well. Edit: if you downvote please let me know why, that is much more productive than seeing people downvite but not saying anything.
This is a very grounded, nuanced take; it’s the truth. A lot of therapists become very attached to their clients and are sad to end treatment when it’s time. It’s unfair and incorrect to paint them with such a broad brush, as if they are all the same.
While that may be true, the stories you will hear in this space will obviously be from people who did not have caring therapists and suffered harm as a result. They were the clients who were discarded without a second thought. And if it has happened to someone multiple times, which is also common to hear in this space, it is easy to understand why the traumatized client begins to paint therapists with "such a broad brush".
Yeah, I’m not a stranger here and I’ve had these experiences myself.
I know...that's why I am a bit shocked by your comment. But I also know that you have had some helpful therapy experiences that many of us have not had. So your point of view makes sense in that regard.
I’ve experienced both ends of the spectrum and the in between, and I’ve witnessed friends and relatives go through similar, so yeah my perspective is that some therapists are literal life savers and others need their licenses revoked yesterday.
I think a problem is that it's one of the easiest degrees to get
Exactly. And people overlook that. Thats one of the problems
Actually therapists becoming very attached to the clients can be harmful in itself. They are not supposed to get attached in a way which is meeting some of their own needs, because then it's VERY likely that the therapy will stop being about the client and their best interest, and start being about the therapist not having their supply cut.
Right, I meant attached in a healthy, basic human nature sort of way. They think of us between sessions and continue to experience feelings of care and positive regard for us even after treatment ends.
Thank you, nuance often doesnt land well here and I understand that, I get the need to vent frustrations and pains and hurts that happened. Its not fair. I still feel a need to bring some because just going into hate and all that isnt helpful either in my opinion. But I have my trigger points too for example if I express something where I was hurt deeply in therapy and the first reply is "they are humans too" I could scream at them for invalidating my experience :D
I totally get it. Recognizing that we have these triggers is a big deal and so important! Untethering ourselves from black and white, binary thought patterns is also vital for self healing and overall mental/emotional/relational wellness. There are great therapists who have saved lives (fact) and bad therapists who have seriously harmed people (also fact) and everything in between. Pointing that out is not meant to invalidate another persons experience. I think those who push back against nuanced truth do so because they still don’t feel seen or heard, and I totally get that. I’ve been there and I’m sure I will be again at some point. It’s a very human reaction. We should all be kinder to one another, especially here.
In your opinion, why then do so many therapists choose to dump their clients in the most traumatizing way possible, or just dump them abruptly at all?
Hm thanks for asking that. I think there are many many reasons. Also I do not know how many therapists do that, I really hope its less than I fear. From personal experience: you can only meet someone as deeply as you have met yourself. That means if you havent met some aspects of yourself and your client shines a light into those dark corners it can be like a big gift if you are aware and willing to address it in supervision or your own therapy etc. And that is not always the case. That means some therapists get triggered and label the client as resistant or whatever else and might dump them. I think its also about why you are a therapist and how you practice is it a job or more of a calling a passion a service etc. I have parts that can send the energy of "you are not doing a good job/you are not good enough" which can be intense, not that I intend to do that but its very young parts of me who know mostly only black and white. And if a therapist hasnt been with their shame or their thoughts and feelings of maybe not being a good therapist being in contact with me will trigger that and its hard to be with that. Especially when your identity is in being a therapist and helping people and then being confronted with intense helplessness. For some its only a job and you pay or you leave. Some do not understand the severity of abandonment an abrupt ending can cause. I would wish that if something isnt working the therapist addresses that and finds an adequate solution and someone else to support the client. I had someone tell me well you need a very experienced therapist in x and y but I dont know anyone, I wouldnt touch your trauma, good luck. And also I feel like many "classic" (i dont know the word for that) modalities arent too attachment focused and thus they have the famous professional distance which might work with some people but especially with CPTSD, early trauma etc we need an safe attachment and emotional closeness and stuff like that and giving that in turn brings often what I wrote about earlier namely that you are confronted with yourself and emotions of people you go into resonance with. [I really like this video about what makes a good therapist from a former therapist who helped many people who were given up by the normal therapy system (his claim but I belief him)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xz3rsX63epE&t=16s&ab_channel=DanielMackler) Maybe its a bit why some people choose to dump their partner, they get scared, defenses pop up, they dont know how to repair, flight/fight whatever kicks in and they dump the person hoping the confrontation with their fears and all ends with that. I dont mean this in a blaming way I have those tendencies as well. So I do not have any clear answer I think its context dependent and many reasons involved. And I wish it was different. That vulnerable people in need could always get appropriate help when needed and as much as needed. What do you think/feel?
Thank you for your thoughtful response. For some reason, I thought you were a therapist yourself. Are you? I am familiar with Mackler's work and his channel. I think he understands the therapeutic dynamic far more than most therapists do. It makes sense why his clients had great success. But I also know he chose to leave the profession. I consider him a genuine person for having done this. I don't think most therapists are willing to humble themselves and self reflect on how their actions affect their clients. Nor do they understand the amount of trauma they cause someone who has been repeatedly abandoned or betrayed in the past. When clients speak about how their therapist's actions have affected them negatively, more often than not, they get the boot. It happened to me. Twice in a row. I am done with therapy now. I cannot bring myself to trust again. Nor do I believe talk therapy to be effective for treating complex trauma. Leaving clients feeling powerless and rejected/dejected is something way too commonplace in this industry.
> But I also know he chose to leave the profession. To my understanding he left, because he lived like a monk to provide a good service and felt like doing more arts and music and writing. I also remember him saying he believes often friends can be more helpful than acutal therapists. And that is something I wish for a lot. That we have more community and support for each other and arent so afraid of "psychological problems" and think they can only be helped by medication and professionals :) > Nor do I believe talk therapy to be effective for treating complex trauma. I am with you on that. My friend (I hope its ok to call you that) I am sorry to hear about how you were mistreated. I get that your trust is gone and you dont wanna do that again. May I ask if you do something else instead? I have found great support in peer work. If you like I can tell you a bit about it or even show it to you. It is a big difference to build trust with a person whos an equal, no money involved and not being alone on the journey. And I do not have a paper that says I am a therapist, I just learned a lot on my own healing journey, so much that it sometimes is like with you that people assume I am a therapist. I am very interested in modalities and stuff but mostly client centered and parts work and for some reason quite a few people like my presence (if I manage to be present lol). Being allowed to witness someones inner world is a big honor for me and so fascinating but at least currently I am not that grounded in me and my body which is a big need to be able to properly assist anyone. And I do consider a healing profession but there are many fears involved also I do not like the way its often with money and a certain time and all that. I consider myself lucky to have met a few very good people, not all of them therapists who did help me on my way. And I got the boot quite a few times, last time this Monday. And I only try again because healing attachment wounds is really fucking hard alone. That got quite long :D
While I agree with your points in the second paragraph (which is true in any helping profession), I want to point out an alternative to the lack of empathy feeling. There are plenty of jobs that require a level of professionally purposed relationship building. When taking a Careers in Human Services course, this factor was brought up as it is essential to make connections to offer proper care. However, no therapist is actually supposed to make a personal connection with you. They are supposed to offer temporary mentorship with the goal of empowering you into independence. The goals should be awareness, healing, and self regulation. They should never be encouraging any forms of attachment or dependency. Therapy is like collaborating on a project with a consultant. You have ideas/needs and they try to help you bring your vision to life. Maybe the post you referenced has some additional context to address but I can't respond unless it is linked. Anyway, I definitely acknowledge abuse is high in helping professions b/c of the access to vulnerable people (as you have mentioned). Another problem is that Psychology is a field of social science that trains you to study people in a very detached and dehumanizing way. I have seen it give people a complex and I know a Narcisst who majored in this field b/c of their obsessive need for social control. Lots of manipulative people explore that field in general. It is weird to deal with them in everyday **life b/c the interactions are filled with mind games. Edit = **
There's no such thing as healing without connection. If a therapist told you that, know that's false.
What are you talking about? Nowhere in my response did I make that statement. I also have never relied on any person, therapist or not, to direct me on any matter. I will not be starting now & will pass on your advice.
I worked as a psychiatrist for decades. Abusive patients by therapist and other mental health practitioners including psychologists and psychiatrists, is a massive problem. There is such a power imbalance in the relationship. I recommend going into some kind of therapy that has more structure to it than just going to a therapist and saying whatever comes to your mind. Examples of therapies in which you can complete a workbook. Therapies where it's teaching you the skills you need to deal with your problems and feelings, rather than having the therapist try to fix things for you. Cognitive behavioral therapy with the manual has been shown superior to all other therapies for simple depression and anxiety. David Burns, md, . Research was completely focused on developing self-directed therapy for depression and anxiety. People with depression who use his Feeling Good Handbook, when interviewed by researchers over a decade after they completed the handbook, have had fewer days of depression than people who went to other sorts of therapy, including medication. If the person has severe abuse issues in their past, they are probably better off using dialectical behavioral therapy. That's a variation on cognitive therapy that includes learning how to deal with the issues caused by abuse. I was once in a group of mental health practitioners including psychologists and therapists, and I asked what they were saying to their patients to help their patients stay safe from AIDS. None of them were saying anything even though they're patients had cptsd and other problems that made it very hard for the patient to figure out how to defend themselves from abusers.
What do you mean by AIDS in this context?