[deeds14]

I think it would be sort of funny (in a sick kind of way) if we shared the ridiculous or just plain wrong things that therapists have said to us.

Disclaimer: I love therapy and know that there are mostly good ones out there. I just want to laugh at the bad ones



I went to a first session with a therapist. I was describing to her how hard it was to walk through my college campus because I felt like everyone was looking at me and that I was very self-conscious of how I was walking. She LAUGHED at me! I don't remember her exact words, but she pretty much said "That's weird!"
This same therapist also told me that my mom has anxiety. She had never met my mom, I didn't talk about my mom, and I'm pretty sure her code of ethics would tell her to not diagnose someone she's never met. Ha ha!

 

[Aleforge]

Laughing at you? Wow, that is pretty horrible. I have had fairly good ones over the years, some better then others. But I don't have anything funny to share.

 

[deeds14]

Yeah, luckily I wasn't really hurt by it because it was our first session and she obviously was just very bad at her job.

 

[socially inept]

ive seen my fair share of bad therapists. here is a couple of ridiculous things that have happend to me :

*the very first time i went to see any therapist what so ever , i didnt know what to do or say. i was really nervous and also felt a bit embarrassed about it all, i considered backing out.
when i got in there the therpaist sed ''right whats the problem '' and i just didnt know what to say . i didnt know i had social anxiety , i didnt even know it existed, all i knew was that i couldnt speak so i sed '' i dont know i just cant speak''

actaully saying that was really hard cos i was so nervous. as i sed it i was trembelling and stuttering and i sounded so stupid.

anyway in the next session the therapist actually made fun out of me because of it. she did an impression of me stuttering and trembeling and sed '' o the 1st time you came in here you were all like - ooo i cant sp sp sp speak ''

i couldnt beleive it

*another time i went to see a guy therpaist and old him that sometimes i snort cocaine to help give me confidece in social situaions . he looked at me in disgust and said '' what !!!! you actually use cocaine?'' i replied ''yes'' and he just sat there looking at me in disgust for about 10 seconds and not saying aything at all

god help the person who goes to see him for help with a drug addiction problem

 

[vak3]

I went to see someone and was clearly having issues with SA. I couldn't make sentences, I was fidgeting, couldn't look at him, and all he did was stare at me. He didn't ask questions to help me through it or help me explain, he just sat there and waited for me to explain myself. Which just made it all worse. I walked out of there crying I was so anxious.

 

[Melinda]

The first therapist I ever saw was really not a very good one, but being fifteen and extremely depressed/anxious, I didn't know that at the time. A few years later, when I told her that I had begun dating for the first time in my life, she immediately advised me (without even a 'congrats') that I ought not go farther than kissing with this person until married. :roll She was extremely religious, it turns out, and she let that aspect of her personality seep into her professional advice for me way too often. Nothing against her as a person, I just wanted somebody who could relate to me more.

The other therapists I have been to were all great, even the two who hadn't officially received their Ph.ds. I've been very lucky, I suppose.

 

[dunky]

I stopped seeing my therapist because of what happened. My mother was having trouble understanding what exactly my limits are with SA, so the therapist suggested I bring her in for a session. Things were okay at first, but eventually they got talking about a job and school for me. This went from just words about how I'm doing and what my limits are to my therapist telling my mom that I needed to stop being lazy and get a job. I was so upset that I actually lashed out at her, surprising both her and my mother, and then stormed out of the office.

 

[odd_one_out]

I have had more bad therapists than not. I don't wish to go into detail because it is distressing, but will mention one who was exceptionally bad. She had a professorship and many publications and would often describe me as having an eighth of a life, and say all sorts of awful things. It's frightening to think of the damage she might have left in her wake over the course of her 45-year-long career. She was a psychoanalyst and wrote about breastfeeding and childhood sexual and excretory functions in relation to the development of the psyche.

I don't wish to go into detail. I have already done so when trying to inform my doctor, a counsellor, and the psychiatrist she worked under (none of whom really wanted to know.)

 

[strawberryjulius]

One of mine basically said, "but you're thin and pretty, so why would you have a problem making friends?"

Uh.

 

[deeds14]

Isn't it scary that they have no idea how to treat SA?? I am in my Master's program right now, and you really don't learn (at least I haven't yet) about the actual issues themselves. You learn techniques and theories like Cognitive Behavioral.
There are so many other issues that therapists/doctors don't have the right information about, like domestic violence, too.

 

[odd_one_out]

^ True. There are so many knowledge gaps that I end up being the one teaching them. It's not only scary, but negligent of the profession to not maintain higher standards and requirements. After all, their field often overlaps with medicine. Treating someone with an eating disorder as though it is the fault of the relationship with their parents, even though the evidence in the literature supports strong genetic and neurological predisposing factors to eating disorders, is an example of this.

 

[zaitrancer]

I've only seen one therapist and I think she's great, but I have a funny story anyway.

I never really have had a panic attack and am not sure what they are, but while waiting in her office waiting room last week all of a sudden the walls started closing in, I felt like I was in a dream, my heart started racing and these thoughts came rushing through my head that I was going crazy. Then I started to think I couldn't breathe and just about shouted for help.

When I walked into her office, flopped into a chair and squeaked out, "I think I'm having a panic attack," her response was a cheery, "Good!"

We both had a great laugh about it as soon as the words came out, because what she meant to say was that she is skilled in treating anxiety disorders and enjoys guiding people down from states of high anxiety and panic. In other words, it couldn't have happened at a better time/place.

 

[Redefine]

Lol, these are some funny stories. I can't believe how some therapists get their degrees.

The only story I have is one day, my therapist was out sick so I instead saw some other therapist lady who was like the head honcho of the place. She brought me and my mother in her huge office. As I described my problem to her, she replied with "There's nothing wrong with you" like I was some stupid kid who just complains about everything and was just wasting her time. Me and my mom just looked at each other like WTF? When we left, my mom was like "wow, what a b*tch" and I just laughed.

 

[pita]

I don't have any stories per se, but I had one therapist who used to spend at least half an hour telling me about her own life/problems.

 

[Peekyboo]

^ me too! by the end of the session I knew she liked jalapenos and pineapple on her pizza, I swear on my life. Like are you kidding me!? then I had one that told me "stop being so cutesie" I don't even really know what that means, but I'm almost positive I'm not "cutesie". Then I had one that sat in front of me opening his mail for like 15 mins. Seriously, some of these people are jokes and should be fired permanently from their profession. For them to not take their job seriously with people who need positive reinforcement more than anything, they can actually make people worse off. It's hard to find a good therapist!

 

[TigerLilyie]

Wow. That's terrible!! I hate therapist like that.

It's funny that you say that because I think that about myself as well. I get really self-conscious walking around people. I think they are all looking at me and thinking that I walk funny. Sorry about your therapist though. Ditch her!

 

[Leigh20reed]

I had a therapist who on the one and only time i meet her inquired about my relationships and i told her i had a boyfriend of three years then she asked if we were sexually active and when i told her yes she gave me a lecture about pre-marital sex and how thats not what she chose for her life. Well thats great for you, could we maybe talk about MY SA and not your sex life. She then informed me i needed to develop a relationship with God and i would be fine. Awesome.

 

[Black_Widow]

Wow I feel really bad for some of the people in here. It sounds like you went through experiences worse than I've been through. But as there was an occasion back in early 2007 I did get someone who didn't know what they were doing will share. It's not really a funny story as such, but will mention it here anyway!

I actually didn't know at the time I had Social Anxiety disorder. (this was before I was lucky enough to see a therapist later in the year who explained that to me) But did know that I had some kind of severe panic problem, as well as possible signs of OCD, and wanted some kind of thought therapy to help overcome these problems. I ended up seeing a counsellor, who was supposedly trained in dealing with anxiety problems. But after explaining in plenty of detail what the nature of my problems were, I soon noticed that she didn't seem prepared to offer any kind of advice or suggestions in how to overcome my problems. She just kept telling me the sessions were for me to talk as much as I wanted and did briefly mention that perhaps it would help if I started keeping a daily diary to keep track of my emotions. I thought at the time that was all very well, but wanted to know what kind of plan she had for actually helping me to overcome my problems. When I pointed out to her that my panic attacks were affecting me on a severe level and at work, and asked what suggestions she had, all that happened is that she handed me a leaflet which happened to have a few tips in it - but not the type of information I needed to know how to properly tackle them. And she didn't seem to have any other suggestions. I really felt that the whole thing had been a big waste of my time. I'd managed to find out a bit about CBT by that point, and asked if she provided it. She said she didn't. I pointed out that if that was the case, I felt I'd be better off seeing someone who did as that was the type of treatment I was looking for. She suddenly seemed extra keen to try and persuade me to commit to the rest of the 20 sessions with her that we'd initially agreed (I'd only been to 3 by that point) and to dissuade me from contacting anyone else at the organisation at which she was to make the enquiries I was planning to - and that she'd speak to someone instead. I didn't like this attitude at all and it confirmed in my mind that I really didn't want to deal with her again. So after leaving that session, I wrote her a letter to tell her I wasn't coming back to see her again and later that year decided to get referred to a different clinic through my doctor - which worked out much better.

 

[Freedom2010]

Oh my gosh! I have had so many bad therapists. I am so glad I don't have to see any therapists any more.

I think the worst one was a speech therapist at school. I think the assignment she gave me was something like saying "hi" in the hallways to some people I ate lunch with at school.

It wasn't that the assignment was that tough, but I was really scared to do it for some reason. This therapist kept grilling me about why I was scared and why I didn't want to do the assignment- even though I kept saying that I didn't want to talk about it. She still kept grilling me, saying "Why don't you want to do this assignment?" over and over again.

It wouldn't matter if she said this with compassion or something, but the tone was so accusatory. At this point, I felt like I was incapable of doing anything and started crying right there in her office. She then starts grilling me about why I was crying. I was SO embarassed at this point and just ended up crying some more. Ugh. I really did not like that lady. I am so glad I don't have to see her anymore.

 

[shychick2]

Actually that reminds me of my psychotherapy assessment where I ended up crying. I thought he was not showing any empathy and he just said that the leaflet he had sent let me know what to expect of psychotherapy. I cried from fustration of spending 1-2 years being passed round the NHS with no treatment, then finally ending up being grilled in an uncaring way by this guy. His verdict was that I might have Asperger's as I couldn't explain why I was crying and read his behaviour as uncaring. I think we both decided psychotherapy was not for me - at least not with him!
Never resolved the Asperger's issue and still have a paranoia that he could have been right.

On the funny side:
I saw a relationship therapist. She was telling me how her sex therapist friends went to a conference and came back with loads of adult products genuinely to help clients they treated. They got stopped by customs and weren't allowed to take them through as they thought it was a bit dodgy have loads of this stuff! It makes me laugh imagining a group of middle aged women therapists trying to explain.