Has anyone ever felt betrayed by their Therapist

I felt very betrayed by the practice as was going to today. My (now ex) Therapist brought her supervisor in and told me that I was overstepping my boundaries by things I said in the last few sessions which really caught me by surprise since I had said to her at the last session that if she thought that I was overstepping any boundaries and she said that she would definitely tell me. So needless to say I felt very betrayed, the supervisor had another person she was going to refer me to but I declined it telling her that I wanted to take an indefinite leave from the practice but in reality I will probably never be going back there and will look for other places to go. I felt very hurt and upset (in addition to betrayed) right now but I know that you people are here for me which makes me feel better. I think that the problem was that my Therapist struggled to see my point of view on things and always though the her points were right, I think that the whole peer issue that we had been talking about for the last few sessions put it over the top. However I also think that she overstepped some boundaries of her own by noting her supervisor because I believe that she is only able to do that when my or someone else's life is on the line (and I don't believe that was the case with this).

I was wondering if anyone else has ever felt betrayed by their Therapist and if so what steps they took afterwards.

I am sorry that this happened to you. I hope that it doesn't keep you from reaching out the next time that you need help. I felt very betrayed by my pdoc after he left the clinic I was going to. he kept cancelling appointments for six months and then abruptly quit. I felt very abandoned by him because I had put my life in his hands and totally trusted him. I see him lecturing at a conference once a year and go thru total withdrawals because I miss him so much. just saw him last week. think after four years I have finally gotten over it.

She brought her sup in? Why? That's unprofessional.
Sorry this happened to you- I too, would be considering terminating.

Was this at school? Ie college? The supervisors do protect the student ts a lot. And the clients - the student ts just dont have the experience to handle a lot of stuff yet. Im sorry this happened to you. Probably in asking for advice here, we should clarify with the OP what their situation is, what kind of t they have, etc, before we say, "go for it, I did and it was great."

I was. One T hit on me, told m flat out what he would do to me if he could. Another posted our whole session on his blog without my consent. And no, it wasn't mentioned in his informed consent form. He didn't have a blog when I started seeing him. My latest T terminated me after I finally admitted my strong attachment to her. She told me "she didn't want another of those clients". I'm disillusioned by therapists and therapy in general. The way it's practiced now a days, no matter the orientation. I wish there was a place here we could discuss these issues.

I felt very mad at my (likely now ex) Psychologist when we "met" yesterday, I was scheduled to meet for 15 minutes but in reality we "met" for less than 5 and all he did was give me another prescription for the medicine I was already taking and didn't perscribe anything else for me (even though I told him that I though I needed something else) and also didn't seem to care one bit when I told him about the problems I was having.

It wasn't at school however my last Therapist is an Intern currently going for her Master's so I think that she does have a Supervisor who looks over her. In fact when I first walked in the door and she said that she was her Supervisor I originally thought that she was just there to observe her (since she is only an Intern) to see how she is doing and to deterime on weather or not they want to hire her long term afterwards, until she told me the real reason why she was there.

I think that's surely a breach of confidentiality?

The only way it wouldn't be would be if she thought that her life was in danger (which I don't believe was the case but maybe she thought that way).

In some ways (and this is pure speculation) I think that my Therapist even lied to me in the last few days, first calling me up and asking that we meet an hour early due to a "scheduling conflict" when in reality I think it was because that was the time that her Supervisor could come in, then today when she came out a few minutes late she said that it was because she was finishing up with another client when in reality I think it was because she was talking to her Supervisor about how they should approach things when talking to me.

You are probably right about that. It sounds like that big blow up last time left her feeling threatened.

The blow up was not with her but rather with the Family Therapist that I met only once with, interestingly though I don't think she (the Family Therapist) knew anything about the meeting since she just called me in the last few minutes (returning the messages that I left last week) asking about the next meeting but I had to tell her that I was taking an indefinite leave from the practice (and not to put much stock in my returning at all).

Yes, very much so. He told me he wouldn't see me anymore unless I brought my husband in so he could share confidential information with him. I'd been seeing him for seven years and he was the perfect therapist, kind, caring, compassionate, good listener, never got mad at me, was there for me. Now I have nothing and no one. I will never trust another therapist again or anyone for that matter.

It's been one of the most devastating things I've ever gone through.

That definitely violates confidentiality boundaries and I think that he should have had his Therapy License revoked for that.

If your T has a supervisor pretty much anything you say is game for discussion between them. Generally you'll have signed something at the beginning that acknowledges/consents to this. This is especially true if your T is an intern.

Often young women have difficulty saying when they feel their boundaries have been violated. This might be why she didn't tell you initially. Alternatively, maybe your T felt okay about your interactions but her supervisor felt there was a boundary issue.

It would have been much better for your T and for you if your T had been able to tell you herself. Having the supervisor come in sounds like bad therapy for you and bad teaching for your T. I can see why you feel so terrible and I'm sorry. That sucks.

It could be but at the same time I think that I feel most comfortable seeing someone who is 1. Female and 2. close to my age (and I will also say that given my fairly low "standards" that it would be hard to find someone who fits both of those qualifications who I wouldn't find to be at least semi-attractive but that is neither here nor there).

What solidified the decision not to pursue the new Therapist they had in line to see me was when they told me it was Male, however I had virtually decided that I wasn't going to meet with them before that.

Maybe it would be better for you to have a male t. Maybe it would eliminate some of these feelings that may get in the way of the core work you need to do. Just a thought.

I don't think so since I don't think that Males in general understand me as much, in looking for a new Therapist I am definitely going to ask for someone who is Female (and fairly close to my age).

At the same time even if I met with a Male Therapist that doesn't mean that I won't develop feelings which would be worse because then I would be questioning my sexuality. I know that even on these forms I have seen posts from Females thinking they are Heterosexual but starting to have feelings with a fellow Female Therapist and are now questioning their own sexuality, I really want to stay away from that.

If your T is an intern, she has a supervisor and pretty much everything is up to supervision. Not really a breach of confidentiality under those circumstances. That's the problem with dealing with interns.

True and maybe next time I will ask for someone who isn't an Intern.

Another problem with me is that I have medical assistance and there are only certain places that take that and are often not the places that have the top-grade (or at least mid-grade since most top-grade Therapists have their own private practice) Therapists. When I mentioned that to them today they thought that I was insulting them when in reality I wasn't and in reality I know going into the practice the first time that I wasn't going to get as high-grade of Therapy as I would have gotten somewhere else but I was OK with that given my financial situation.

I really am sorry you've had this experience. That said, your thinking here is likely to replicate your experience. You expressed again and again on threads opinions that others thought reflected a pattern of pushing and twisting boundaries, and you pretty steadfastly chose to negate those views. Your T acted properly here: she determined, probably erring on the side of caution given her inexperience (and following agency policy for her position), that you were not hearing her articulation of boundaries. Her supervisor clearly felt that the situation was not going to improve and that she should intervene before it escalated. A more experienced T may or may not be able to hold you to boundaries and deal with the issue. But by refusing to see anyone who isn't young and female, you narrow the odds of that happening successfully. You can blame them and find fault with their actions and feel betrayed (understandably) that they wouldn't allow you to undermine boundaries, but that's not what therapy is.

RT I'm kind of remembering from the peer thread that you seemed fairly rigid about your ideas of what's appropriate and seemed to sort of have trouble seeing things from another person's point of view. Finding a person attractive and treating her in a way that makes her feel that her boundaries are being violated don't necessarily go arm in arm. I think your T handled this very poorly, but I also wonder to what extent you are receptive to feedback about appropriateness and boundaries.

I think exploring your issues with a male T could be very helpful. I haven't heard too many accounts of straight men developing romantic feelings for their male therapists. Male sexuality isn't usually quite as flexible that way. So I wouldn't worry so much about that. It might be helpful to work with someone whose boundaries you understand more intuitively and feel less inclined to push.

Finally, I haven't noticed any relationship between a therapist's skill and whether the take various types of insurance or are amenable to a sliding scale fee. (But I have noticed a difference between interns and independently practicing T's.)

I do think that the whole wanting to see boundaries a certain way definitely played a major part here but at the same time I think that she could have tried to talk things over with me before going over to her Supervisor. Another thing is they said that this was getting in the way of achieving my goals, but personally I like Therapy to be a 50 minute free forum where you can talk about whatever you want.

I can tell you that most (but not all) of the most experienced Therapists have their own private practice and would almost never take medical assistance.

I do still want a young Female (withing 10 years of me) to be my next Therapist and will even say that is a requirement for me (along with a few other "preferences" that aren't necessarily mandatory).

I think your T, as an intern, left your last session before today feeling uncertain about how things went, if she handled it correctly, if there was something she should be doing that she didn't know how to deal with correctly, so she went to her supervisor which is exactly what she is supposed to do. She wasn't feeling comfortable talking it over with you and felt she needed input from her supervisor.