Hi this is a good question.

Some therapists have their own methodology to treating trauma. Some believe that exposing clients to their trauma (in small and controlled amounts) will force them to relive the trauma in a safe environment and force them to process and learn to cope independently with the support of a therapist.

For some clients this works. It is called exposure therapy. The goal is to desensitize a client to their trauma so it no longer holds so much power over their lives.

However, there are therapists who operate under the guise of exposure therapy to intentionally harm; I have experienced this and so have many others. Some therapists enjoy it. Some therapists like feeling needed (which is when the therapist's needs become the core of a therapeutic relationship) bringing about a countertransference issue. Countertransference reactions is in part why therapists are so heavily engaged in consultations. Some therapists prey on clients for sexual or narcissistic reasons. Trauma bonding says a lot about an abuser; it says they know what it takes to keep you around despite the abuse they dish out. It says they are weak and that you have something they both need and desire. What that is depends on the individual therapist.

You can tell your therapist not to engage in exposure therapy. If they do not stop then find a new therapist or stay if you trust that they are not doijg it to be conceited. Unfortunately, a lot of trauma patients become retraumatized regardless of training and traums awareness; not everyone with trauma benefits from therapy. The environment is riddled with inherent power imbalances and boundaries that increasingly risk retraumatization the more dependent a client becomes on a therapist.

I know I cannot handle exposure therapy. A therapist would be foolish to expose a trauma survivor to exposure therapy who has been abused in therapy. I believe this partly why their industry fails so badly at treating clients with therapy trauma. Treating it the same as trauma that occurred outside of therapy is recipe for disaster. Until they acknowledge the overwhelming problem, research will cease to exist and treatment modalities will unfortunately remain unchanged and unaware of the hazardous impact it can have.

Simply said: those with trauma in therapy are not to be treated as typical ptsd sufferers. They need extra care and safety. They need to shown through example that not all therapists are bad - that people can be trusted and that the world is not as dark and scary as they have come to believe.

I don't have much faith that this exists outside of the golden gem therapist who takes years to find.

Thanks,
HD7970ghz