Lisa I am so so sorry you have had a bad experience. It is a very poor show when therapists let their clients down by not letting them self govern, this is bad practice which not only lets you down but the proffession as a whole .... If you decide to look for another counsellor please make sure they are BACP or UKCP registered if you are in the UK of course, the rules are changing, very soon hopefully every single counsellor or therapist will need to be qualified to BSc or Masters standard in order to practice here in the UK. I'm not so sure about other countries. Like you say though, I still feel maybe in order to practice to the best of our abilities it is necessary to have experienced 'life' and hardships in order to really feel each individual client and respect their autonomy. I'm not saying every therapist who has had a 'normal' (for want of a better word) life will be a bad practitioner, but to have lived through trauma, depression and everything that goes with it surely must help (this is only my own opinion.) My therapist is just an angel, she really understands, not just text book understands. Thank you so much for your rely, sounds to me like you would be a great counsellor too xx I'll keep popping back. I am just coming off anti depressants now and really struggling myself but positive all the same. Take care, Kerry xxxx