Sure. I thought I was being helped because my therapists were able to convince me of that and they were successful in doing so for a long time because I believed they were experts who knew better. But as I stayed in that process, my mind was noticing things that didn't make sense to me and that contradicted the therapists' assertion that I was being helped. I chose to dismiss my own logic and my own common sense because, again, I believed that the "experts" knew better. But there came the moment when I decided not accept their "expertise" any more, when I decided that my common sense and my instincts were more important to me than someone's presumed expertise. That decision is a CHOICE. Each one of us makes that choice whether we aware of that or not.

Yep. I already addressed it in the above paragraph.

It is somewhat different but not fundamentally different. It is different in the sense that it's much more difficult in therapy and in any relationship where psychological power is unequal to exercise a good judgment when the other person is in a more influential position. But even in those situations no one can take away our critical thinking ability and our ability to make choices for ourselves. As long as no one keeps me in the relationship by force, by the means of threats of all kind, I am ultimately responsible for staying in there or leaving. Sure, many times therapists use crazy making tactics to make you feel ****** about yourself if you choose to leave them. But, again, it is up to you to give in to those tactics or to follow your own senses. It was up to me to believe all kinds of crazy stuff my Ts told me or not to believe it. I chose to believe it for a long time and all that time I stayed with them. Once I chose to believe my own common sense I left. We also choose what we want to believe and we are responsible for that choice too.

Me too. I thought the same thing because that's what my Ts made me believe. As I said, I have compassion for myself for being so vulnerable to their influence. That still doesn't change the fact that believing what they told me to believe was my choice. In any case, my thoughts, my feelings, my believes - all that, all my inner process belong to me, and since they belong to me I have to own them.

Sometimes it does. That too I know from experience. What I also know, again from experience, is that it shouldn't get worse to the point when one becomes completely non-functional, when they start obsessing about their T 24/7, when therapy becomes mostly about the "relationship" with T and all other issues concerning different aspects of client's life are no longer discussed or client no longer pays attention to them because they suffer from unrequited love for T and don't care about anything else. Healing never has to get THAT worse before it gets better.

They don't. And, yes, it is a HUGE problem that the public is utterly uninformed. I am trying to remedy that by putting as much info on my blog about therapy as I can. One does, however, have a critical thinking ability and the ability to choose to follow one's common sense or someone else's persuasion. One may not be able to make the right choice right away, but eventually they will have an opportunity to do so. Will they use that opportunity or not is again their choice.

I agree. They way it is done now it is mostly harmful IMO. But I believe the changes will come only when consumers start rejecting harmful service, but in order to do that they have to start taking responsibility for their choices. That's the only way to take your health into your own hands and to take control of your life.