Originally Posted by puzzle_bug1987 View Post
Maybe the therapist's incompetence drove her to want to commit suicide. Who knows?

JaneTennison1: This made me snort. Then it's definitely good for the T to get lost.

It is amusing with the sad exception that it is totally and very realistically possible and probable. Therapy can trigger suicidal feelings or it can intensify them; if the therapist who triggers them with his techniques, can easily find himself in over his head. Do people who condemn this therapist really think that if the client did follow through with her intentions to suicide feel that they would say, "Oh well, at least he stuck with her and didn't abandon her?" Personally, I think not. I think there would be an uproar of rage that he didn't provide a level of care that kept her safe and got her the therapeutic intervention that she needed considering the possible intense therapeutic needs she was presenting.

There are more than a few therapists out there who truly believe that all they need to do is "listen empathetically", offer some sage advice and walk over to the bank to deposit their session checks. They have no deep understanding or grasp about the power they weld in the therapeutic relationship, and therefore, they are annoyed or scared (but don't let it show because he/she is suppose to be the all knowing therapist) and put the blame for the shaky situation they find themselves stinking into on the client. Some will refer on quickly with no true termination or support and some will stick with the situation in their arrogance that they can "handle things". Personally, either course of action is scary for me and NOT someone I would want working with me.

Someone posted earlier that those who were posting about the referral as being a positive thing as being comparable to women dissing other women for wanting equal pay to males (I think it might have been you, SD, but I'm too lazy to go back to check). In any case, I strongly disagree. I'm sorry, but I do wholeheartedly believe that there are therapists out there who are so poorly equipped to deal with their clients issues that it is vastly less harmful to refer the client than to allow the poorly trained and stupid therapist to continue with his deplorable attempts to meet the needs of his challenging client. . . and I say challenging in the sense that the therapist is too poorly trained to know how to do ANYTHING positive or therapeutic for said client. It has nothing to do with the client and her needs, SHE'S A CLIENT for pity sakes, and she came to therapy to meet with someone who could help her with her needs/mental health issues. The fault does not lie with her! The fault lies with the ill-equipped, poorly trained therapist or with the therapist who does not specialize in the area of concern and therefore does not have the skill set to perform the necessary therapy.

Stopdog, you're a lawyer and from what you have said, I'm guessing that you specialize in medical/psychological malpractice (I apologize if I have that wrong but I'm not a lawyer). Would you not refer someone to another lawyer if they somehow came to you for an appointment and they needed someone who specialized in Contracts or Criminal Defense? Maybe someone referred the client to you and you accepted an appointment thinking he/she needed you special expertise, but when you realize that the person's needs didn't fit into your area of expertise and you referred the person on. That is the right thing to do, right? And please don't tell me it's the arrogance or the belief that they are God's that makes the therapist's refer so egregious. You and I both know that there a LOT of arrogant, God complex lawyers out there who think he/she walks on water.

Look, we all know that eight sessions is a really really brief period of time. I don't know about most of you, but I didn't really and truly see my current therapist as understanding and getting me on a therapeutic level until I was seeing her for six months or more. . . .and even after that, there have been touch and go times when I thought I was sitting across from a total stranger . . . and I'm sure at times, she was feeling the same thing. It wasn't until after I saw her for about three months before I began to think that she had the skill set needed to bring about some positive change with the two of us working together diligently.

I agree that there are a LOT of poorly trained, lame-brained therapists out there. I'd rather see clients focus on ways to bring about changes in the training and vetting of therapists than in trashing the entire profession. Some of us have benefitted from therapy, some have seen no benefit, and some have been hurt and traumatized. I'd like to see those who have been traumatized to get their "day in court" whatever that means for them--filing a grievance, writing a letter of condemnation, confronting the therapist in a termination session with the therapist not able to defend themselves with useless drivel, loss of the therapist's license etc. But I can not and will not agree that the entire profession is useless, arrogant, narcissistic, and should be done away with. I will agree that everyone has the right to speak of their displeasure and disillusionment, but I too have a right to see the value and speak of the value I see in the profession and the therapists I've worked with without feeling as though I am disillusioned or right around the corner from being shafted. Each of us on this board have the right to speak what we believe. I do not dishonor or think those who have been injured are exaggerating or being difficult for voicing their hatred for the profession, but I also know that I am not exaggerating or being unreasonable in my defense of the good, caring and well-trained professionals that I have met with and grown emotionally with over the year. Thanks for letting me vent.