what would you do if you found this out?

Jexa,

I think you have to bring it up with your T....I don't see how you could continue to do therapy with that big of a cloud of doubt hanging over you.

Please keep us posted. Sorry you are dealing with this....it would be really upsetting to me too. Trust is so difficult, especially early in the T relationship.

I hope she can reassure you.

Jexa,

First, glad to see you back.

Second, I'm so sorry you are dealing with this. I think you need to bring it up, too. I would not want to, but I also would feel really uncomfortable continuing with therapy without doing so. Perhaps after you talk with her about it, you can then make a better informed decision about what to do. Even if she was a really stinky prof, that doesn't necessarily mean she is a really stinky T, you know? I think we all have strengths. I think the issue here is trust, obviously.

((Jexa)) So sorry you have to deal with this.

Rumors abound at universities an that student may have a gripe because of some issue with her grade in that class or whatever. Don't put too much stock in that discussion.

Go to the source. Ignore the gossip.

I don't know your whole history with your T or if you are in the U.S., but if you want more opinions on your T, you can go to ratemyprofessor.com and see if the University and reviews of her are there. It tends to shows trends in opinions and be pretty accurate...of course, I use it in relationship to a big University so there are many student reviews on each professor typically.

I would find it alarming if she was my T, but I tend to be an alarmist

Thank you all so much. I am dealing with a lot of stress right now in ALL realms of my life plus starting a new med (actually, just starting meds when I hadn't been taking any) so this coming up right now is a bit overwhelming. More than a bit. I already have trust issues but I am trying to look at this as pragmatically as possible.

It depends. I understand how in certain business environments, a person can get swept up in politics and begin to find themselves having to juggle the priorities of personal integrity/ethics, professional reputation, the demands of your superiors, and complying with social undercurrents among your colleagues. I understand that sometimes in certain environments people tend to act in ways that they would never endorse in other environments. I totally get it.

My T is not in that environment anymore. Maybe she left. Maybe she chose to leave. I hear that this university in general has problems with their ethics, etc. It's possible she got swept up and found herself in a very difficult situation with her job there (if these claims are even true) and once the lawsuit came about she decided to cut and run. Or who knows? There are SO many possibilities for how things transpired.

What I want to know is will she behave unethically in my therapy and is she a person I can trust and can she reassure me that she will never betray me? Will she have a good response for my concerns? Will she stay as honest as she legally can and admit her humanity (at least subtly, I understand legally she may not be able to be direct), if the claims of this lawsuit ARE true? Or is she (like me) afraid of her dark side? And if she is afraid of HER dark mirror, how can I trust her to help me look in my OWN mirror? I have liked her so far, and really would prefer to believe that I can trust her! I just want to know if she can provide satisfactory reassurance.

This is my plan. Gossip is a reference point but not the gospel truth. Disturbing nonetheless.

I printed out the above post and am just going to hand that to her at our session tomorrow. Think that's a good plan? It speaks to the whole thing but says what's important, primarily..

(((Jexa)))

i am sorry you are finding out about things like this -- i guess i have two things to add --- one, trust your gut....if you have had doubts about her this may be why and see how she responds when you ask her and two you can look up her license with the state to see if she has had disciplinary actions against it (in addition to this lawsuit)

i hope you get your fears/anxiety/questions answered -- but her problems in other areas may have no bearing on her ability to help you only on your ability to trust her to help you.

Yes, I think it's a good plan.

Yes!

Good luck!

Jexa - my opinion just let it go for now. doctors, therapists, psychiatrists are always having law suits brought against them. it doesn't always mean the treatment provider did anything wrong. around here its happened more than once where a law suit was brought against the treatment providers, hospital, crisis center and it boiled down to the client was not happy being referred somewhere else, the client wasnt happy with the diagnosis, the client got involluntarily committed, or a client committed suicide and the family wasnt ready to accept that they made that choice on their own.

it doesnt always turn out this way but a majority of the time it is nothing blown out of proportion.

I also wanted to tell you if your treatment provider doesnt say one way or the other on these allegations/charges it doesnt necessarily mean she did wrong and that your therapy sessions are wrong. most times when treatment providers are being brought before the ethics board or to court they have been instructed not to discuss the case with anyone, especially not their other clients. due to privacy laws treatment providers cant/ are not supposed to discuss what goes on with other clients even if something wrong happened or nothing wrong happened and they were cleared.

you can find out about your treatment providers through agencies that over see those treatment providers. all you need to do is pull out all those papers you have received that explain your rights and responsibilities during treatment. somewhere on those papers is the process for reporting a complaint to the boards and governing agencies. call that number and ask them if this therapist has any complaints lodged against her and if so what the judgement of the clinical board was on that charge.

if you dont have your paperwork you can pick up that paper from any mental health agency. to get it all you need to do is call and ask that the paper explaining the complaint procedures be sent to you. you can even claim you are in school and doing a term paper and need information for your paper. The call to get this paper can be at any mental health agency not just the one where you have therapy. if you live in the USA all treatment providers and agencies have to give out free copies of the complaint procedures paper.

if you decide to call the clinical board/ ethics board your treatment provider wont be told you checked her out with the state board and ethics committee.

Yes, I think so, too. I hope your session goes well!