Sylvester McMonkey McBean

hi sapphire! welcome!

hi april! apologies for the delayed welcome, but glad you found this site. it was very helpful when i was trying to make some sense out of some of the harmful aspects of my own therapy and i hope you experience similar.

welcome PsychoLogical! just wanted to say hello and i hope you find this site and it's members as helpful as i have over the past few years.

hi zygomaticus, welcome to the group! that has been my observation and experince, and is exactly why it is nice having this forum. although, the further i have come from de-attaching myself from my ex-T and climbing out from the deep enmeshment trap of the therapeutic relationship, the thicker my skin has become and my fear of being vocal and speaking up about the truth of what happened to me has lessened. i am noticing that on some of the public forums i go to, there seems to be more and more clients who are willing to speak up and share or who are starting to really question and doubt the therapeutic process, especially when there are others, like us, who believe those clients and are willing to help support them.

i've had a few fleeting thoughts on perhaps contacting them and seeing if they would be interested in an aspect of one part of my story, but then i change my mind because i worry that they or any guest therapist they bring to the podcast would use it as a means to twist it into their own agenda to prop up the benefits of therapy instead of as a means to bring awareness that this is kind of shit is going on and throughout the profession, it actually is quite a taboo subject to even bring out into the light of day. through my wanderings on another forum, i recently have crossed paths with one of the guests from one of the podcasts. they were telling a bit of their story and i was thinking i had heard this story before, so i asked them if they were on that podcast and, if so, how was the overall experince for them. they said they thought the interview went well, they felt heard and not judged, but they were never able to bring themselves to listen to their actual interview that was played in the podcast. so, in the end, i don't really know if it was helpful or not for them to do, but i did give them credit for their courage to do it.

i actually liked this episode, #9,for the exact thing you mention above. this too was my ex-T. he thought he knew better than me what was really going on inside my head and what my motivations were. he was so far off the mark more times than i like to admit. plus, even in my detailed sessions notes that i requested from him his interpretations of me in my sessions were sometimes so insanely incorrect that all i could do is shake my head in disbelief and chuckle.

i see that there are two new episodes that have been added and i have not listened to them yet. i hope in later episodes they can find and interview more clients who are not professionals already in that industry, like in episode 5. i'm assuming they approached peers to help with topics until their podcast gains more popularity, but for some reason, i really don't have as much sympathy or empathy for the professionals who have been 'harmed'. it just doesn't have the same impact for me.

has anyone listened to this podcast? it's relatively new and at the time of making this post, only 6 episodes have been released. it's hosted by two 'young and new to the industry' therapists who want to share stories about clients having bad experiences in therapy and finding ways to learn from those experiences. so far, i have listened to all 6 podcasts, and for me, the jury is still out on my general opinion about it. Very Bad Therapy podcast

i'm thinking the same thing. it reminds me of a conversation that ex-T was sharing with hubby and me about his supervisor (now his ex-super, but was his super all the years i was seeing ex-T). ex-T's super was from that 80's psychoT generation and shared that back in those days no one even batted an eye that the Ts were sleeping with the clients...my interpretation from that entire conversation we had was, yes, ex-Ts super was sleeping with some of his clients back then... now off to listen to the forth episode...

welcome echo and thistle you will definilty find that this forum is absolutely more tolerant, understanding and accepting of those who are starting to question or have doubts about their therapy/therapist. i found it both supportive and helpful to read and share here when i was starting to contemplate leaving my therapist a few years ago.

welcome iggy! i have no desire to go back to therapy either...so you found the right place to share your story

welcome therapewpewpew! nice to have you join us

welcome starling this was my experince as well of therapy with my long term ex-T. yes, there were some beneficial moments over the years, but overall, the relationship with my ex-T felt more like an addiction , and a toxic one at that, that i eventually acknowledged that i had to end...overall it was causing more harm than good with no real progress or benefits (except for fulfilling the emotional and monetary needs of my ex-T). similar to you, it took me just over a year to finally build the courage to end and terminate therapy for good. i can't believe that it has been almost a year already since ending! definitly no regrets for doing so either

welcome NonServiam nice to meet you, but sorry for the circumstances that brought you here. hope you will find this forum helpful.

they sent me the second survey and i completed it. they also provided some demographic info about who completed the first survey. it was interesting to see that almost half of the respondents were clients and the other half were professionals.