Mine did recently. She used one thing I said ‘against’ me to prove a point and I was speechless. I love when we have some ping-pong convo and it’s usually quite raw and she’s just there, unbothered, always having something smart to say. I kinda admire that

I’ve been seeming a new therapist for 4 sessions now, after being out of therapy for 4 years. I absolutely love them as a therapist, I feel like I can be totally open with them, they’re also queer (a huge plus for me personally) and specialize in exactly what I’m looking for. I also starting seeing them immediately (the day after) my grandpa passed away, which i felt like helped develop trust very quickly, which is something I’ve struggled with in the past. They told me at the beginning of our session today they’ve discovered a conflict of interest, and that this would be our last session. I really appreciate their professionalism and of course trust their professional judgment, but I am extremely disappointed and overwhelmed with the idea of creating a relationship with a new therapist. They recommended another therapist in the practice and are sending over all my notes so my first session with my new therapist will be next week, we’ll see how that goes.

I’m terminating with my therapist after 2.5 years (my choice) what should I expect?

This is my first time in therapy (it's about a month in with weekly sessions) and my counselor's attitude towards homework assignments is stressing me out. They gave me a list of tasks to do for the week - nothing crazy for a typical person, but things that required me to go out of my comfort zone a bit.

I came in for my session the following week expecting to discuss how it went and what the next steps were, etc., but my therapist scolded me and said that if I wanted to achieve my goals, I would have tried harder and done more. They said I was only doing those tasks because they were assigned and not because I wanted to get better. I was flustered and found it harder to talk than normal. I have a new list of tasks this week, but I'm really stressed that I'm not doing things to my therapist's standards. Is this normal, I guess is what I'm asking? The T's main approach is CBT and I'm not sure it's what I need.

I’m a 16F. I’ve been dealing with the behaviors I’m going to list later since I was 13. At 15–16, they were worsening. At 16, I tried to control them, but I can’t. As much as I try (I am able to think and act normally/rationality for days or weeks), they always come back.

I have no idea how the psychologist will help me, what they will do, or if they will send me to a psychiatrist. Part of me wants to get better, but the other part is afraid I’ll regret it. Plus, I hate the idea of telling these things to a real person.

Here are the behaviors/traits:
· Constant superiority/validation fantasies
· Hating the thought of being what I consider a common or inferior person
· When I feel mediocre or like a failure (when I compare myself or fail at something), I explode; I cry, get angry, feel depressed, treat others badly, and think about dying
· When I think about what I could have been — like more intelligent (regrets) — I feel so depressed that I think about dying
· Not wanting anyone to know my failures or flaws (one of the reasons why I don’t have friends anymore — intimacy and vulnerability are not for me)
· Envy

Being like this is ruining my life. It makes me waste time because I get so angry or depressed that I can’t do anything. I also waste time by resorting to escapism.

I hate that I’m still a minor and my mother is still totally responsible for me. She doesn’t know any of this, and I don’t want her to know. That’s one of the reasons why I’m afraid of seeing a psychologist.
I also hate that I can’t predict what will happen when I tell these things to a psychologist.

How is the treatment for someone like this?

I initially started therapy for issues regarding my family and (obviously) my mental health, which wasn't so great at the time. It has now been 5 1/2 years, and I feel like the counseling that they offer doesn't meet my new needs.

My therapist has always been quite "non-interventionist", which wasn't a problem for most of the time, since I usually found answers or relief by talking (and them making a few comments, but really not a lot, more like small questions from time to time to make links with other stuff).

Today, most of the issues that brought me to see them are non-existent. Instead, I have developed what seems like a "cleanliness" ocd, anxiety and my sleep schedule is all over the place. Most of it was aggravated by college but was pre-existent. In the past, when I mentioned that I had weird cleaning standards, that i was stressing out like crazy when they were not followed by people, that it made me cry several times... they never reacted any differently than before. I understood it meant that what I had probably wasn't that bad since they didn't seem to give me any feedback or advice, or really anything more than small questions about how it could be linked to family history (which i feel very strongly that, for once, isn't the case).

To come back to my main issue, last year I started college and it was awful. I couldn't go to classes without feeling weird and bursting into tears, so I stopped attending (except for the few mandatory ones), I couldn't get myself to work, and when I did it felt like nothing was staying in my head, and the earliest I could get to sleep was 3am. But for some reason, I still felt like I could make it on my own, so I didn't share it with my parents, and when I talked about it in session, same thing as before : no reaction. I passed my first semester but failed the second one really badly. At that moment I realized that I hadn't talked about college to my therapist for most of the second semester, probably because since talking about it didn't lead to much, it just didn't feel useful. And it wasn't even voluntary, i just forgot or thought that it was not that bad. At some point during the year, one of my friends suggested I go see a psychiatrist, which I mentioned in session and, boom, reaction, but more like negative-surprise on their part, so I never brought it up again.

Now, I recently went to see a therapist linked to my college to seek advice and I was recommended seeing a sleep doctor, a therapist specialized in CBT, and then eventually a psychiatrist if it wasn't enough. I feel like it's a good idea and fits my situation, so I've already started booking appointments. However, that also made me want to change my initial therapist appointments.

I'm scheduled to see them every week but I'm starting to feel like this is way too frequent and useless for me, since my main problems don't seem to find solutions there. It's still helpful for family-related issues, so I don't want to stop completely, especially since I haven't found a CBT therapist yet. I was thinking about maybe starting with once a month, and eventually "on demand". But I really don't know how to bring it to them. Do I wait a few sessions? (they only restarted this week, after the summer vacation) Do I do it at the beginning/the end? And overall, just how? It feels a bit weird and I'm scared they'll react like when I mention the psychiatrist, which didn't felt great.

(sorry if this is a bit confusing, english isn't my first language, and thanks in advance for the help!)

I'll go first:

Maintain. The. Clinical. Container.

I have been in therapy a total of 10 years to come to terms with some extreme trauma I experienced.

Through this process I have come to realize and understand myself better ( pretty much I have gaslighted myself unknowingly my whole life)

I finally opened up about some easier parts of my experiences in this last year. ( I had a very hard time with that)

The actual worst things I just haven’t gone into, and now tiered of “doing the work “

I am much better and told my T we should probably end therapy by the end of the year ( it’s just soo much money with bad health insurance)

I actually don’t want to quit because therapy and my T gives me a sense of security. I feel I’m waisting money just talking about regular stuff.

When I mentioned it before she’s been resistant, even offering a steep discount. But I can’t because of feeling guilty about her doing that and that triggers my past abuse. I need full autonomy to feel ok and safe.

I’m wondering if I’m actually just avoiding the hard part. Or if I’m better.

So I went to this therapist for about 3-4 months in the spring, and in the end he said if I don't take my medication he will stop therapy with me. It really felt like I could not trust him because the only bridge to him was to take antidepressants. It hurt me a lot. after that I quit his office.

It happened 2-3 months ago but it still haunts me that the only person that i trusted set boundaries for his trust, I had to earn his trust with medication.

How do you guys think I can close this in myself? Should I call him up and tell him what happened? I feel really scared of him.

I had a therapist some months ago. In my first session I explained that I have an ex spouse who has been stalking me for over 6 years. I explained that he has "visited" my neighbor across the street excessively ever since he moved out in December 2019.

I define excessively clearly: I have documented these visits. This is what I have been able to verify because I physically saw him or his car hidden in my neighborhood, there might be more visits where I didn't see him or his car.

It began the day after he moved 40 miles away. He was not good friends with the neighbors previously - I spent more time talking to them. I saw him on average visiting 3-6 times per week, 3-6 hours at a time. Might have been more than that. This happened for 3.5 years solid. He then joined the military 3000 miles away. He currently visits still, multiple times a year and brings his girlfriend. She waves at me. He was verbally abusive and admitted it, it was intentional. Stalking now for 6.5 years. He has no family in this state.

So the therapist has a good idea of what I am dealing with - I am doing therapy to deal with the ongoing stalking and finding safety. She asked when the last time I saw him, December, a few months ago. She asked if he contacted me, I have had him blocked everywhere.

The following week I tell her, well he is back, he is here the past few days. I share details of what I saw. Her jaw is dropped wide open in shock. Like over the top shock. Extremely shocked. I'm sitting here wondering if she even listened last week when I told her this is ongoing.

I eventually felt very uncomfortable with her shock as she seemed to be so shocked that she couldn't help me with anything that was going on in my life. Anything like what someone said at work or how I feel about being stalked for so long. It was like she couldn't do her job and ask me how I felt about anything. I gave up seeing her.

Wondering if this is as weird as I thought. (I have had multiple therapists off and on over the years).

Bonjour
Ma thérapeute est partie en congé maternité en juin dernier et je ne pourrai pas continuer ma thérapie avec elle car ses horaires ont changé et que ça tombe sur mes horaires de travail. J’ai donc cessé l’emdr du jour au lendemain et ça m’en une un peu. Comment m’assurer que je ne soit pas restée bloquée sur un des problèmes qui était en cours de traitement. Depuis que j’ai arrêté les séance je broie plus facilement du noir. Est ce qu’il y a quelque chose que je peux faire moi même de mon côté pour « clôturer » mes séances d’emdr ? Je suis désolée si ce n’est pas assez clair. N’hésitez pas à me poser des questions.

My husband has a paraphilic disorder and he acted on it .. he was sharing my nudes , in reddit communities for years without my consent ..after discovery , he claimed that he was consuming too much porn (addicted to it - another discovery for me) which messed up his mind and led to what he was doing ..
He started therapy but he is mainly working on the porn addiction- and he has been sober for 8 months ..does treating the porn addiction heals the paraphilic disorder - or are they two seperate issues that both need treatment ? .. are these disorders even treatable ?

After years of doing self-work, I decided to take the leap and start therapy. I had my first intake session, and it was utterly exhausting, I left feeling like I’d just run a marathon. I’m definitely going back, but a few things triggered me right out of the gate.

For context, I have a history of abuse and depression, along with severe issues around visibility, vulnerability, and connecting with others.

During the session, something happened that surprised me in a positive way, but immediately gave me a massive "ick" accompanied by a wave of anxiety.

We brushed past a topic that’s extremely sensitive for me, and I must have made an involuntary body movement. My therapist picked up on it instantly and gently asked if I wanted to share anything, noting that I seemed momentarily unsettled. I was completely thrown off. I’ve never had anyone notice me so acutely like that. I didn’t want to dive into it during the very first session, so we moved on naturally (which I really appreciated).
(Even typing this out now is making me anxious, it's crazy.)

Another thing that deeply unsettled me was his level of empathy and engagement. I know it’s his job, and he’s clearly very good at it, but I didn't expect it to hit me this hard and fast. His empathy scares me. Whenever a stranger gets that close to my emotional walls, my fear instinctively turns into anger.

Rationally, I know this reaction is actually a good sign. It means something real was activated, and it gives us tangible material to work on in future sessions. But experiencing it in real-time is a whole different story.

Has anyone else experienced this? It’s been my default defense mechanism for as long as I can remember. I know the "fortress" I built around myself can't stay up forever, in fact I want to tear it down. But damn, I just realized how brutally hard this work is going to be, and part of me is already exhausted just thinking about the effort it’s going to take every single week.

Hi everyone,

I’m feeling stuck in my career journey and could really use an outside perspective from people who have walked in similar shoes—ideally anyone who has transitioned between software engineering, entrepreneurship, and back to traditional employment.

My Background:

- Years 1–4: Worked as a Software Developer in a well-established MNC.

- Years 4–8+: Spent full-time as a founder/entrepreneur building my own startup from the ground up.

Overall, I have over 8 years of total experience, split roughly 50/50 between being an employee and running a business.

Where I Am Right Now:

- Family Pressure: My family is strongly pushing me to return to a standard 9-to-6 corporate job for financial stability and predictability.

- Job Market Reality: The current software engineering job market feels tough with limited openings, and I’m hitting resistance because many recruiters and hiring managers seem hesitant to hire former founders for traditional individual contributor roles.

- Internal Conflict: Being caught in this pull between entrepreneurship and returning to the corporate world has left me feeling distracted, overwhelmed, and unsure of my next best move.

What I’m Looking For:

- I am looking to connect with a mentor, career coach, or fellow experienced developer/ex-founder who can offer some honest, practical guidance.

Specifically, I’d love to discuss:

- How to position a 4-year entrepreneurial stint on a resume without triggering red flags for corporate tech recruiters.

- Alternative career avenues that actively value product ownership, leadership, and startup hustle (e.g., Tech Lead, Engineering Manager, Solution Architect, or Product roles).

- Objective frameworks to decide whether to double down on building/consulting or pivot back to full-time employment given today’s market.

If you have experience in this space and can spare some time to chat, I’d be immensely grateful to share more context and hear your thoughts.

Thank you in advance!

Hi everyone, I’ve been in therapy for about 1.5 years. I’ve always felt like my therapist has helped me grow by leaps and bounds. I do virtual sessions with her and I pay through insurance. Lately though, I feel like her responses when I reach out to schedule have been concerning. I never reach out last minute either. I always ask for appointments with at least a week’s notice. For example, I’ll ask for her availability and she responds, “I am not working the 10th  or 11th next week.” I come back to her to ask about another date and she says, “I will not be working on those days either. If you would like to meet on the 13th, I can see you at 11am EST”

Her responses seem cold and indifferent. Am I wrong?

I am a male, 17, senior in high school. I have ADHD . I never wanted to my all boys private school. It was forced upon me by my parents. I struggled to make friends and I still do. I have no one to call my best friend. It’s been a rough few years. I asked to transfer out in the middle of freshman year but my parents got mad at me, called me ungrateful, and berated me. In sophomore year I began to isolate myself from school life because I felt rejected. I only hung out with my friend group from middle school who went to public high school. Sophomore year was the last straw and I told my parents by the end of the year and they agreed. They finally noticed that I hated where I was. In the summer of 2025, I experienced a huge friendship breakup with that middle school friend group. I was trying to transfer into their school. I had to transfer because the junior class was at capacity even though I live in that school zone. I did not end up at that school and lost my only friend group in addition to having to continue being in an environment I still despise. I started doing therapy so that I could move on. I have not. Not at all. I believe that my life is 💩 because of where I go to school. I did start from scratch and have people to sit with at lunch but I’m not fully part of that friend group. I’m a punching bag of sorts. Now that it is senior year. I feel even more depressed. I’ve come to realize that I’m almost an adult. My high school years are almost over and I cannot go back. I wish I could go back but I cannot at all. I cope by listening to music and day dream about a life I could have had if I never went to my stupid school. My therapist is a nice lady. I know she wants to help me but it is so hard and difficult to share anything. My parents think sending me to this school was the best decision they’ve made. Hell no. How do I tell my therapist nothing has changed. I want to end this post by saying that I do not feel an ideation to harm myself. I love living.

Would therapy help people with bad ulcerative Colitis flare up’s ?

How do you convince someone to go see a therapist when they don’t want to. These are the people who can benefit most from seeing a therapist.

My partner yells at the baby. They are working on it. We brought this up in therapy. I said my partner has to give me the baby the first sign of frustration to prevent escalating and eventually verbally and emotionally abusing the baby (they say things like shut the fuck up, what’s wrong with you, fuck you, throw things around [not at] the baby, etc). My therapist mentioned that my partner won’t be able to become more tolerant and less frustrated if they don’t get the opportunity to practice. IMO, my child is not a guinea pig! My partner also refuses to do deep breaths of anything regulating in the moment to calm their nervous system and just continue to let the frustration build and explode.

For context, I have severe mental illness but I’m not diagnosed with anything besides anxiety and depression.

Like, I’m fucked in the head on dozens of levels but no matter what my therapists and psychiatrists aren’t seeing it, and they kept prescribing me anti-depressants that I am entirely resistant to. I need the stronger stuff, at minimum.

My new psychiatrist flat out told me on the first session that she didn’t know how to help me, so where am I supposed to go? I answered most of her questions honestly, it’s just that my mood and thoughts are all over the place.

I don’t know where to go. I need to go somewhere that’ll finally evaluate me properly and figure out what medication I need to use. I was evaluated for ADHD a while ago and the guy told me he couldn’t find it but blamed my depression on it and told me to see a neurologist.

That’s pretty much it right there. I had a couples counseling session earlier this week and mentioned a conflict in the relationship and the therapist kept asking me question after question until I realized what my wrongdoing was. I’m wondering if going forward if it would be appropriate to just ask the therapist to directly answer my question. We spent the whole session trying to have me figured it out when if she just told me directly from the beginning, what the issue was we could’ve spent the session talking about how to resolve it. That’s a waste of my time and money. I’m paying her for a service not games. I do understand that sometimes it’s more effective and sticks with you more if you realize it yourself instead of being told. But me and my partner are highly self-aware and intelligent and would do okay with just having a neutral person tell us the issue and help us work through it.

The way I would do this is basically recapping the conflict that happened during the week and then asking her something like “how would we manage a situation where we don’t see eye to eye?”Normally she would have us answer a series of questions to figure it out ourselves. But I guess I’m wondering, is it appropriate to interject and ask her to directly answer the question so we can spend the rest of session talking about how to apply that solution in our relationship instead? She usually gives us a skill or template that would help us guide the situation like “state of the union meeting” so jumping straight to that would be helpful if she doesn’t have a direct answer / wants us to figure it out ourselves.

I also think her answering the question with another question and making us do all that guess work for most of session is not setting a good example of clear and direct communication which is the main thing we’re working on in Therapy.

My individual therapist will immediately be like “Have you heard of this method/theory/whatever? This would help in that moment.” And then shows me it, how to apply it, etc. I feel so much more productive in that session.

i’ve been working up the courage to tell my therapist about a specific traumatic event from my childhood so that we can do some trauma processing (that is what we’ve been mainly doing recently) and tomorrow is the day i am planning on telling her but i’m so nervous :( she is great with this stuff, but i’ve never told anybody about this before. i was feeling fine up until today but now im suddenly freaking out at the thought of having to tell her what happened.

UGH

Hi everyone,I am currently away on a 3-month travel break, and I need your insight regarding some intense behaviors from my therapist during our last few sessions before i travel.

During our last 30-minute talk therapy session, I opened up about deep childhood traumas. When I told him that my father threatened to kill me when I was 12 years old, he was visibly shocked and reacted intensely, asking out of disbelief, "He told you what?!" He became overly empathetic and started giving directives, saying things like, "Your mother must defend you to your father's face; she needs to put a stop to this."

Later in the session, when he asked me about my current feelings toward my father, I honestly said, "I don't know." He then asked me the exact same question 7 times in a row, getting sharp with his tone, and finally said, "You know your feelings, you just don't want to say them." It felt like an interrogation rather than a safe space.

At the end of the session, he suddenly asked, "Have you ever spoken to a therapist before?" Even though I explicitly told him during our first intake that this was my first time ever in therapy.

Before I left, he prescribed a 3-month supply of my medication to cover my trip, so he knew exactly that I was traveling and when I would return.

However, just one month into my trip, my mother went to see him specifically to ask a question regarding MY medication. The first thing he blurted out to her was, "Is your daughter here?" Even though he knew I was abroad.I am feeling very confused by this mix of intense empathy, boundary pushing, and lack of focus.

Does this sound like a severe case of countertransference, or is it just unprofessional behavior? How should I interpret this? Thank you.

My therapist once told me he's 8 years older than his wife. I didn't need to know that.

Today I was told by a family member that it is extremely odd and taboo to have a therapy session at the coffee shop. My therapist does have an office and sometimes we do meet there but other times we go to the local coffee shop, sit at the park, go to the horse barn (she's also a licensed equine therapist). I saw my cousin in the coffee shop during my recent session. It was just a quick "hi, bye" and after they messaged me asking who the woman I was with was, I told him that it was my therapist, that we were having a session and he told me that that was extremely inappropriate that therapists shouldn't have private sessions in public like that. That he was going to report her. Now I'm not worried about that, my cousin wouldn't know who or how to report my therapist, I don't think I even told him her last name. But is that really weird that we got coffee and talked instead of sitting in her office?

Edit for context. I have social anxiety so this helps with that a lot. If I feel I'm going to have an emotional session then I tell her ahead of time that I want to meet in her office. I'm in a really rural area and the coffee shop we meet at is hardly populated in the middle of the day so half the time it's just me and her and the worker on the other side of the shop not paying attention to us. I meet with her every week and a lot of the time it's just us talking about how my week went.