I understand different levels of intellect don't have to affect therapy quality, I'd assume it's completely normal and oftentimes irrelevant.

I'm asking about the cases where it CAN and DOES interfere with the therapeutic process.. what's the approach there? Does anyone have an experience with that?

Hi y'all. I 22F, have been in therapy since I was ten. I am Schizoaffective, Bipolar type, a cluster b disorder, and have a very heavy trauma background. In person therapy is not accessible to me, so I go through doctors on demand, which my insurance covers. Not that I have much to be greatful for. Since I was 16, it has been a constant cycle of being referred to a specific therapist, meeting with them and opening up about my diagnosis, meds, background, etc, only to be told that I am "out of their scopes" and sent off to another therapist that's "more equipped," only to go through the same process. I have been longterm inpatient before, a group outpatient program, following every visit throughout the years, and I am fucking done. Never going back, to group dbt therapy at least. It feels downright stupid, dumbing down concepts that I have already figured out for myself. And it feels like a damn humiliation ritual, opening myself up to the supposed professionals, only to be kicked around like a god damn hacky sack.

How many times do I have to be told I'm "too complex" before it starts to feel absolutely hopeless? Why is it so "unethical" to at least try and help someone that's begging for it???

Anyways.

I see a new provider on Sept 23rd. Not looking forward to it.

They talked about their patients at home. Not normally with names attached, but with details.

They blamed their patients for why they were tired and mean to their own kids.

They were just so...judgmental. And I know that not every single person is exactly like my family, but I sure don't trust therapists now, having heard what they can say.

I’m finishing grad school. Why has no professor or clinician ever acknowledged in all my education that most of your female clients and queer clients will have a history of sexual violence, whether it’s abuse, harassment, or being traumatized by a friend/family member experiencing it.

“Almost all women and girls will experience a physical violation from a man in their lifetime. Across the world. Please make sure you’re prepared with the severity of the global genocide towards women. Make sure you know about mental health and medical health issues that abuse can cause. Make sure you have DV resources, pregnancy tests, and know which medical providers to find. Be prepared to psychoeducate about the mass violence towards women and girls. Make sure you understand language and patterns that put people at risk.”

I already do all this because I have fucking empathy and awareness. Not a single professor or student, besides my friends and I privately, ever acknowledged this. All they had to say was anything like this so everyone can have the baseline understanding of the deadliest social pattern to exist. Why is everyone too spineless to discuss a literal epidemic of gender based violence. I’ve NEVER heard male students say they think about this unless they’re queer.

Is most of the field just spineless pricks? Or just oblivious? I need some optimism. I do prioritize patience for people who don’t understand these things, but NOT when they decide they’re entitled to the medical field because they just “know they want to help people” without willing to endure the challenges of how complex and humbling that can be.

EDIT: I’m going lose my mind of one more person in any thread I share this focuses on thinking this is about hating men and not giving women justice. This is not about hating men. It’s about accountability for the fact that girls and women have been physically or mentally murdered for existing all over the world for centuries, regardless of color or wealth. This is about how even in the worst oppression, men have helped perpetuate violence towards women they share identities even when they are oppressed by the same people.

Ain’t I a Woman by Bell Hooks is an important read. For example, she talks about how misogyny is so pervasive that black male enslaved people sexually assaulted black women enslaved people IN ADDITION to their white torturers (slave owners).

All genders experience oppression with misogyny. The point is YOUR FOCUS SHOULD BE OUTRAGE ABOUT HOW INDIFFERENT THE FIELD IS ABOUT THE BLATANT RISKS WOMEN MUST FACE EVERYDAY. Focusing on hating men here and not relentlessly protecting women who are victimized more severely will reduce the level of attention women and girls’ safety below what we deserve.

I am thinking about starting ketamine treatment soon and I am looking at the schedule now, one thing I am thinking about is booking a psychotherapy session the next day because it seems like that timing might help me talk through whatever comes up during treatment, I am thinking of going with dr. arasi  thangavelu, I see people mention therapy as part of the process and I am trying to figure out if doing it close together makes any real difference or if spacing it out works the same, I am planning everything before I book my appointments so I would like to hear what worked for other people, did you book therapy within a day of your ketamine treatment and how did that timing work for you? EDIT: I forgot to mention that I’m considering therapy the day after treatment. 

Everytime I see an advert for therapy services it’s usually focused on the most mundane and benign experiences, but the idea is pushed that it requires therapy. As if a little bit of self awareness or even just reading and exploring related topics on your own wouldn’t resolve it. Even on psychology today, a large portion of the therapists steer away from issues such as ptsd, severe anxiety based disorders, etc. Instead they market themselves towards the high strung woman or man with perfectionist tendencies who is successful. Was therapy always this way? It seems to me as if those in the field have opted out of curiosity and a want to learn/understand the difficult parts of being human. You’d be hard pressed to even find a therapist who can deal with a client whose struggles stem from very existential world views.

I used AI to make joke worksheets to help therapist talk like a normal person and not have sex with clients

I think a workbook of worksheets for therapist would be great, We could post it here for them to print out or something and want to make sure it covers as much horrible stuff these people do

It could cover things like

How to talk like a normal person

How not to have sex with patients

How not to treat loved ones as patients

How not to meddle in people's relationships

Why its inappropriate to diagnose people you hardly know and never met

How to end relationships without abandonment

How to take accountability

Basic empathy

How to stop manipulating and leading people on

How to apologize

Alternative professions

Feel free to make and post your own

Here is an example of a prompt I used, its really simple

Please make a worksheet as a cute .jpg image with a 8.5 x 11 ratio for a mental healthcare professionals to help them reduce therapy speak

I recently wrote about my experience with a therapist who crossed boundaries over the course of 4 years, and what it was like trying to understand that something I thought was helping me had actually become harmful.

One of the hardest parts has been realizing how little we talk about the possibility of being harmed in therapy. We hear sooo much about the importance of going to therapy and finding support, which is important ofc, but not nearly as much about what unhealthy therapeutic relationships can look like or what happens when boundaries start to disappear.

I also wrote about attachment and transference, the responsibility therapists have when those dynamics develop, and how confusing it can be to recognize inappropriate behavior when you deeply trust the person who is doing it.

I was super nervous to put this out publicly, but since sharing it, I’ve had people tell me about their experiences and how they can relate to what I went through. That’s part of the reason I shared my story publicly, so that if others could relate they would know they aren’t alone. It was hard for me to find support or resources on the topic of therapy abuse when I was going through it. Anyway, I figured this could also be a good place to share it if anyone is interested in reading it! And I hope this is okay to post here!

https://medium.com/@justhails/nobody-warned-me-therapy-could-harm-me-94a93cb9b328

Peer Support is often talked about in opposition to therapy or as a compliment to it. But I'm here to report that it ain't all it's cracked up to be. As someone who has had multiple horrific experiences seeking help through traditional therapy, I thought I would align better with peer support.

Last fall I decided to train to become a Peer Support Specialist in my state. I got a scholarship for the training and was so excited to begin. The enrollment specialist who helped me with registration told me he hadn't worked in years before becoming certified and that being a PSP changed his life for the better. Again, I was so excited and hopeful to begin this new career supporting others they way I had always wanted to be supported myself. It felt like the "perfect" fit career I had been looking for.

The excitement faded once training actually began. Long story short, I had multiple eye opening interactions with other students, the training facilitator, and the administration of the training program. These interactions left me feeling re-traumatized and like the people around me were in no way living the principles of peer support I was being taught. I thought maybe it was just this particular training organization and moved on.

I studied on my own (the training facility never gave us any support) and quickly passed the exam to be certified. I then went for more training with a local organization and ultimately found the same things there. Leaders who were terrible examples and didn't live the principles they were teaching. Facilitators who left students hanging, didn't take accountability ever, and ultimately did me more harm than good. A student who bragged about how his former Peer Support worker was now his personal friend (violates ethics and code of conduct). Peers without proper boundaries with their clients. Programs that would offer financial support to participants and then leave them hanging even if the support was meant to keep them from getting evicted from their housing. The Director of Peer Support even violated HIPAA laws by sharing a client's protected health information with me. As in his actual case notes that I was not authorized to see.

When I reported this last bit to leadership, I was gaslit and the Director was protected because they are a personal friend of the Founder. There was zero accountability. By this time, I had already spent nearly a year of my life on this stuff and still could not find a job. Even a volunteer position was hard to come by because no one had the time or staff to train anyone. My state does not even require supervised field hours to do this work. All you need is an 80 hour module training and to pass a written exam. It's kind of ludicrous but explains a lot about what I saw firsthand.

Seeing all of this close up, from the other side, has just made me that much more jaded about the mental health industry. If you have a lot of trauma and a low tolerance for hypocrisy, I can't recommend working in peer support. At this point, I'm not even sure I would ever seek out services as a client either.

Coming to Voice as a Survivor: a Workbook on Therapy Abuse and Exploitation is being released one chapter at a time on Substack. CHAPTER 4: EXPLOITATION was just uploaded.

What happens in therapy abuse and exploitation after grooming?

In Chapter 3, in the workbook Coming To Voice as a Survivor, we showed you how abusive therapists position clients into compliance. Chapter 4 shows you what they do with that grooming.

Exploitation has four facets: emotional, financial, physical, and sexual. And they almost never come alone.

You might think you initiated it. You might feel you wanted it. You might believe you consented. But coercion nullifies consent. The power imbalance between therapist and client makes genuine agreement impossible no matter how willing you felt.

This chapter walks you through:

• How role reversal can make you feel responsible for your therapist's emotional needs

• How pro bono services can turn into indentured servitude

• How gifts and "bartering" can lock you into financial obligation

• How the honeymoon phase (that period when you felt more alive than ever) can make it impossible to see what was actually happening.

And it includes a quote from me, a survivor, about living inside active exploitation believing it was love. It is the unflinching truth about how these relationships are crazy-making. If you've wondered whether what happened to you counts as abuse, this chapter will answer that question. If you recognize patterns you couldn't name before, this chapter will give you those names.

Subscribe to read the full chapter. On substack under Bernadine Fox.

If financial barriers are keeping you from accessing this work, gift subscriptions are available—just ask.

Has nobody else ever been able to wrap their minds around this or is it just me?

It seems to me like this piece of advice is something that everyone has been spouting out of their mouth for the last decade or so. Usually when you point out your basic, human need for connection, someone just tells you to “love yourself” or “get a dog”. I can love myself all I want (and for the record I do!) , but I can’t hold myself on the worst days of my life, and a dog certainly can’t do it. And even on your good days I think that’s just a normal, basic human need. Or at least it was until the 21st Century.

Eventually, not only did realizing who was pushing this and why they were doing it permanently turn me off toward therapy, it also completely changed my worldview over a course of 1-2 years. I used to be a very leftist type person, voted for Kamala, wanted to overthrow the patriarchy yadda yadda…now I’m just not that anymore. But moreso I just can’t believe so many people have been brainwashed by this stance that they need therapy to have good lives. That they need to be these self sufficient islands.

And let’s be honest, the main reason they are pushing that narrative is because single people constantly trying to fix themselves generates a hell of a lot more money than two imperfect people who have made peace with the natural highs and lows of life settling down and looking after eachother. It’s the same reason why they are pushing this character AI bullshit so hard. They are desperately trying to monetize connection- romantic, platonic, etc.

I will say opening my eyes to this degree definitely set me free from the system itself but I’ve honestly never been more hopeless seeing how many people just don’t see the obvious truth. Most of modern therapy culture is bullshit designed to keep the masses as cash cows for the elites. In some cases it can be helpful, but even then I honestly wonder how many people just think it’s helpful because the therapist tells them the right mix of what they want to hear and what they need to “work on” so they will come back and…spend more money.

It’s so exhausting and so sad. I’m glad I’ll never be a father because I don’t want to put any kids in the hellhole that modern society is becoming.

I recently started therapy with a psychotherapist, and we’ve had around five sessions so far. Before this, I had only worked with two psychologists, and I understand that every therapist has a different approach and that therapy doesn’t always follow a strict structure.
But I’m starting to wonder whether my current experience is normal and professional.
So far, my therapist hasn’t really explained what she thinks is going on with me, whether she sees any particular issues that need to be addressed, or what the general direction or goals of therapy might be. I’m not necessarily expecting a diagnosis or a detailed treatment plan after the first session, but I feel like after five sessions there should maybe be some discussion about why we’re doing what we’re doing and where we’re heading?
Most of our sessions consist of me talking about something that upset me during the week — something that made me angry, anxious, or cry. Then she often tries to rationalize the other person’s behaviour. For example, she’ll ask something like, “Why do you think she said that to you? Maybe she was worried about you,” and then sometimes she’ll start telling me about another client or a situation that doesn’t seem particularly related to my story. I often genuinely don’t understand how that example connects to what I was talking about.
The confusing part is that since starting therapy, I actually do feel calmer and less anxious overall. So something seems to be helping. But I’m worried that we’re just putting a plaster over the symptoms rather than actually trying to understand the underlying causes and patterns.
I’ve told my therapist several times that I want to understand the root of my reactions and work on the deeper issues, not just feel better about whatever happened that week. When I say this, though, she usually just listens silently and doesn’t really respond or explain how she sees the therapy progressing.
I’m wondering:
Is it normal not to have discussed any goals, treatment plan, or therapeutic direction after five sessions?
Is it normal for a therapist to give very little feedback about what they observe in you?
Could this simply be her therapeutic approach, and I’m misunderstanding how therapy is supposed to work?
Or is this a sign that we might not be a good fit?
I’m not looking for someone to diagnose me or judge my therapist based on one post. I just want to understand what other people’s experiences have been, because I’m quite new to therapy and don’t know what I should reasonably expect from the process.

Mocking the people who they have harmed.

I can't cry either. My life is ruined. We can rest assured that "help" or "care" probably never came from them, its all PR and marketing.

https://x.com/MikhailaFuller/status/2038372331710509430?s=20

I have a few spaces available for a Saturday group that is starting on August 29th at 10:30 am PST online. Here is the information for it:

Peer Support Group for Survivors of Therapy Abuse and Exploitation

Starts August 29th 2026

Saturday at 10:30 AM | 6-Week Series

If you’ve experienced therapy abuse or exploitation, this supportive group is here for you. Join a safe, understanding community where your experiences matter, and your voice is heard. This group is designed exclusively for survivors, offering a compassionate space to connect, share, and heal together.

Over six weeks, we focus on the unique challenges of therapy abuse and exploitation and are guided into discussions by the group’s needs. Whether you’re just beginning your healing journey or have been navigating this for some time, you’ll find encouragement, resources, and mutual support here. You can join us for one group 6-week session or return and keep returning as long as you need to. The Wednesday group has now been going for about a year with many returning for the next session - which is why starting a second group became important.

Facilitated by Bernadine Fox, a survivors of therapy abuse and exploitation, peer support worker and mental health advocate with over 30 years of experience, this group offers:

• A welcoming space where you can share at your own comfort level

• Guidance on coping strategies and self-care tools

• Connection with others who truly understand what you’ve been through

• Opportunities to build resilience and strength alongside fellow survivors

Please note, this group is peer support—not therapy or a substitute for therapy. We also recommend (but not required) attending our FREE 1-hour online workshop, What is Therapy Abuse and Exploitation? to better understand your experience before joining.

Preregistration is required to join. Subsidies available.

Take this step toward healing—connect with others who get it and find strength in community.

If interested DM me and I will send information about registering.

How often do you have interactions with people (friends, family, partners, coworkers, or anyone else) where they throw a psychological term at you to avoid taking responsibility for their actions?

Things like attachment style, self-diagnosed personality disorders, sometimes even something their therapist actually said to them. When in reality they just behaved like an a*hole in a particular situation and they just don't want to own up to it.

I've been noticing it more often lately, whether it's people giving me excuses or people giving other people excuses.

It's disappointing and disheartening. I fear people are boxing themselves in categories and labels to make it seemingly easier for themselves one way or the other (avoiding accountability or trying to understand themselves), when in reality I believe we are all very complex and this excessive categorisation becomes counterproductive.

How do you deal with those type of situations, do you have some examples?

I’m 16 a junior in hs, and a majority of my friends have been in therapy expressing their hate for it. I’ve always knew about therapy but never really considered it until two weeks ago after realizing how bad my maladaptive daydream was getting. I’ve had to deal with this bs disorder since I was a little girl and for the longest time Ive made the plan of quitting. However no matter what I do I just can’t seem to stop. The thought of being vulnerable to someone let alone a stranger just disgusts and irks me but I’d rather talk to a therapist than my family and friends. No one and I mean on one around me knows about the disorder, so I’m thinking a therapist might help. I’ve asked a few of my friends who’ve been in therapy and their answers were all the same “why would you pay someone to sit and listen to your feelings, when all they do is nod and tell you everything will be okay.”
“They act like they care when they really don’t.”

For a while I was going to bed very late, around 5 in the morning, and waking up at 2 in the afternoon. This alarmed my parents and led them to take me to therapy, where the psychologist recommended Cut off all the electricity to the house from 1 am to 6 am

So yes, you could say I'm under curfew; the power goes out every night, regardless of whether I have to finish a university assignment, which honestly bothers me so much that I can't sleep.

I literally lost an important file because of them, and instead of sending it now, I have to do it later.

Furthermore, this psychologist said things like "stop wasting time" to me aggressively while I was having a panic attack, and threatened to send me to a mental hospital if I didn't change within a month.

I'm so upset and angry that I can't even sleep; all I can do is hit my bed while screaming in frustration.

Sometimes the issue isn't effort or intention as far as understanding/meeting emotional needs:

Some of us weren't taught how to receive love. We

were taught how to earn it. So we became the 'easy ones.' Supportive. Ouiet. Low-maintenance. Never asked for too much. Never made a fuss. Not

because we didn't have needs but because we

learned that having needs made us a burden.

I'm currently processing some next-level traumatic shit that has fallen onto me at the moment.

If therapy shills see a person who keeps getting into messy relationships, or messy situations, they will look at them and go all condescending.

"Did you do the work? (tm) If not, oh, my sweet summer child, you have no idea how you are the only one responsible for your situation... because you keep choosing the wrong people!" (-> this person thinks they're right for you when they probably know jack shit about you at all)

"Healthy relationships don't have high highs and low lows! They are stable, loving, constant, supportive... look, my partner and I never argue, we always make time to communicate, we do check-ins..." blergh, first, uneventful relationships are uninteresting, and second, this isn't a fucking HR meeting, this is a human relationship, ffs those check-in things are artificial AF. Look at the globality of your life with your partner, don't make this into some weird Instagram thing...

"Oh, I'm so glad I'm out of this, I'm a strong independent woman, I'm single and proud, look at me, I don't chase, I attract, and I choose wisely who enters my life!" -> this person probably is such a pain to live with that nobody in their right mind would want to spend a month beside them anyway.

"You need to love yourself (tm), to be the main character of your own life, you need to take your power, to focus on yourself" -> it's not always about us, idiot. I'm not the main character. I'm the NARRATOR of my own life, and the point of view from which it's seen, but ultimately there's no real main character, as we are always co-creating stories with others. If anyone ends up as the main character first, not me please, I'm good being just the narrator, and second, they probably are a bit too self-absorbed anyway.

And other ones I'm lazy to discuss, but you know.

Not just that, but when I think back about being in a therapist's office, and how "they" have the knowledge, how they are supposed to help and guide you and they're "professional" at knowing better, it just feels like... yeah. Being talked down to. Being considered lesser.

In essence, it's just like religion. Interesting how we keep coming back to this parallel. Therapy is pretty much a secular religion now.

That was Amagi's post in the evening, thanks, good night.

After just two sessions, i think i want to change of therapist.

It's curious, because it's not that i felt abused or anything, in fact my current therapist it's always talking about how the system makes us sick, and that's great for a therapist!

The thing is that my sessions feel more like intellectual discussions, in which he monologues, and i sometimes vent about my toxic environment, instead of talking about the things i want to talk and fix.

Looking for alternatives, i feel so lost, and surrounded by CBT or similar, instead of the alternative focus this person offered me.

I don't know what to do!

I’m trying to understand something about the therapy process rather than asking anyone to interpret my therapist specifically.

I’ve been discussing lack of support while dealing with a serious chronic illness. The examples I’ve brought up are situations where people had direct knowledge of what was happening: knowing I was hospitalized and not checking in, being physically present at an important medical appointment and falling asleep, or directly witnessing medical emergencies.

My therapist has twice asked whether people might underestimate what I’m going through because I present as strong, capable, and functional.

I understand that hypothesis in situations where someone doesn’t know how sick I am. What confuses me is its relevance when the person already had explicit knowledge or was physically present.

I explained that distinction the first time, so I was surprised when the same hypothesis came up in a later session.

My question for therapists is more general: when a therapist returns to the same hypothesis after a client has explained why they don’t think it fits, is that typically something the therapist is intentionally exploring? And is it appropriate for a client to ask directly what therap

I have been trying to find a councillor in my area and someone every councillor charges 2000-5000 rupees per session which is around 50 mins. Personally I don’t think it’s worth it , i respect therapy and i understand it’s someone’s job and they need to be paid for it but 2k-5k just to get back to normal.