Yes, it did make me worse. Things weren't hunky dory to begin with but I was functional. The "toxicity", so to speak, was compartmentalized. Once the compartment was "pricked", so to speak, the toxicity ran rampant over my whole psyche, and I thought that I was being "authentic". No warning about that, no help -- just shaming. Anxiety and depression, and confusion, became disabling.

So, OK, maybe those weren't such very good therapists -- but how was I to know? What basis did I have to tell about that? None.

Now, finally, nearly twenty years of therapy horror stories after my late husband was diagnosed with a terminal illness, and almost 2 years now with no therapy, I'm doing some better. My own "immune" system, so to speak, may be coming close to "healing" me. I've been lucky to have PC to vent on, and some IRL support groups, which have provided social support and "nourishment" that I don't think I could "heal" without. But I'm 70 years old -- not a whole lot of time left. Not at all sure that taking 20 years to get "better", with all the worse in between, was a gamble worth taking.

Therapy can make you worse. So can some medications and treatments for physical ailments. Sometimes the side effects of medications and other treatments can kill people. We are usually warned, somewhat, about those possibilities. Psychotherapy clients are not sufficiently warned about the possible bad effects of therapy.