A time I was seriously traumatized by a therapist, this person had a solo practice. Since then I've become quite sensitive to seeing therapists who work with others in the same office. There are no guarantees either way, but my thinking is that if a therapist is being abusive or sadistic or sleeping with patients or doing whatever else that's unethical on a regular basis, it would be hard for other therapists not to notice that something is not quite right.

This is a terrible example for comparison but it just came to me, and I'm reminded me of a case of a severe and long abuse of a child I had read about long ago. The child lived in a home far away from other places and was home schooled. I had always wondered if the kid lived in a place where neighbors routinely came by, the abuse would have come to light faster. But obviously patients are not children, nor are neighbors therapists....

In an ideal world, none of this would matter. Because in this world, every therapist is ethical and every patient well aware of their rights and know very well when a therapist is abusing them and know when to end therapy. And when they don't, they're surrounded by loving family and friends who will remind them that therapy seems to be making them much worse or that it's odd that they're spending time with the therapist outside the session so often. Or whatever.

But I've seen people who go for therapy and part of their problem is that they do not have any good friends or that they're rejected by their family, and so it may be that only they and the therapist are the people who know she is going for therapy. And given her history of abuse, she may not know abuse in therapy even if it would appear clear to outsiders or other therapists, were they to find out. So I guess in a way I'm just trying to warn people to be careful and especially if they're in a real bad place in their life, take extra precautions because nothing worse than being traumatized by the person who is supposed to help you deal with past trauma and rebuild your trust in goodness of humanity.