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Originally Posted by here today
This sounds very good, like you are working with someone who knows what they are doing! Good for you, and for them.
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It's true--I'm incredibly lucky, and it's honestly a bit astonishing what a difference it makes to be seeing a therapist whose skill level seems to be quite a bit higher than many I've seen in the past.
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Originally Posted by here today
In my case, I seemed not to have a clue how to find someone who could really help, and kept ignoring (not seeing) the signs that I was being hurt, as I had learned to hide them from myself and others growing up. I was just a person, with a history, looking for "help" and no pretense of expertise. It's great that some within the profession know what they are doing, but a profession in general that does nothing about those within the profession who ignore or don't see the signs that they are hurting people, has serious flaws, in my view. It's too much to expect from consumers that are -- or maybe experienced as -- half-people that we will see the harm that is being done to us. An inability to see that is exactly part of the problem that I went into therapy with. And how many others, who aren't on PC? Who is asking them?
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Well said. There should be more protection for clients from therapists who are unskilled, who refuse accountability, who do harm (whether out of ignorance, incompetence, carelessness, or malice). No matter how well informed, people seeking therapy are at a huge disadvantage when it comes to figuring out if the therapist is actually capable of helping them, and people are fed way too many messages implying that all it takes for a therapist to be a "good fit" is basic goodwill and decent intentions, rather than recognising that it's a difficult and complex job to do well and that some therapists are just not capable enough to do good work with certain clients.
The defensive, client-blaming, self-serving way many of the therapists in the paper described their non-improving/deteriorating clients is really striking and infuriating.