Haven't had a chance to read all the responses yet (I'm about to make a mad dash to finish up Sunday night meal prep, but couldn't resist answering this one).

I can't believe that I'm one of only 3, so far, that said yes. Not sure how to take that.

But, yeah. Years ago... My first T. He didn't believe in dissociative disorders. I learned about them online, and thought, "huh, that sounds really familiar!". T managed to find an expert to do a consultation. I asked T, "If the expert diagnoses me with a dissociative disorder, are you going to kick me out?"

T's response: "Absolutely not! This is just so that we can better plan your treatment!"

Again, this was my first T. I believed him. Stupid me.

The expert diagnosed me with dissociative stuff. I had referrals from new T, but was going through a crazy, crazy time (I had been laid off, in a bad way, from my job, was starting grad school, luckily had just found out that I had a fellowship to cover school, and had this diagnosis tossed at me. I had also had one of my best friends at the time decide that he didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I was kind of a mess!)

I tried to go back to old T... we ended up doing one session, at my request, because I wanted to talk about the report from the consultation and what it meant.

It was really terrible. That T hadn't been great, but in this last session, it felt like he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. Like, instead of reaching out to talk to me and explain things to me, he was pulled in, not making any effort, and just seemed annoyed that I had come back.

When I pointed out that he said he wouldn't kick me out, he said that he shouldn't have said that. OMG. Then, he had the nerve to say something as I was leaving, I don't remember exactly what it was, but something like, "let me know how grad school goes" - something like that, that made it sound like he was open to me contacting him again.

Such a bad experience. Sorry, I didn't mean to go on so long, but really... sucked.

I've recently checked out his webpage, and it looks like he's changed the focus of his practice... instead of actual "therapy", it looks like he's focused on coaching people who are "successful at their primary career, and want to move in to another career".

Basically, it looks like he doesn't want to deal with anyone having actual mental health problems. It seems so crazy to me

Edit to Add:
It wasn't *just* that he kicked me out, but how he handled it. When I went back, it really felt like he just didn't want anything to do with me. If you've ever tried talking to someone that doesn't want to interact with you, doesn't offer up information, barely grunts out an answer... THAT'S what this felt like. Like, after sending me off for this consultation, he couldn't be any less interested in talking to me about the results. The consult-T had talked to me at the end of all of it, but that hadn't been helpful (ironically, b/c I was dissociating and/or anxious at the time and couldn't remember a thing that she said.) I was expecting *my* T, who I'd seen for a year at that point, to actually review the results with me and talk me through it.

I think that he could have kicked me out, but done it in a kinder, gentler way. So much of interpersonal stuff seems to come down to HOW you say/handle something, rather than what actually happens. If he had engaged with me, told me how much he had learned from working with me, talked to me about the report, talked about the fact that he hoped I'd find better help with someone who knew more about this stuff... I think it would have been better. Not great, but still... I wouldn't have left feeling like I was such a difficult burden that he couldn't wait to be rid of me.