Being abused in therapy

Some therapist are horrible! I have a nephew who therapist want to commit my nephew in a institute because he didn't agree with the way my sister had discipline my nephew over games because of how the therapist discipline his own kids.

Have you thought about recording the evidence and then file a complaint against the therapist?

I read about horror stories about therapist abusing their patience most match with what happen to me!

I have come to same conclusion. Many typical therapist behaviors and traits would be considered abusive by therapists if present in a real world relationship. Such hypocrisy and irony.

They toy with needs and feelings for their own purposes, then send the client away on the therapist's terms and refuse or severely limit contact until the next appointed time, regardless of whether this damages the client's psychological and emotional stability. If the client finds this upsetting, the client (victim) is blamed.

When the client tries to find out more about the therapist or the nature of the relationship, the therapist is usually evasive, ambiguous, and withholding... while expecting trust and loyalty, as you alluded to.

They sit in judgement and apply stigmatizing labels once you have exposed yourself, while their own weaknesses remain largely hidden. This is an aggressive and demeaning stance and paves the way for larger abuses.

It's only when this crosses a line and becomes overt that people notice it, as with what OP describes.

Obviously some therapists make an effort to mitigate these problems, but this is the template I have observed.

As I mentioned in my other posts, I recently fell under the illusion that I needed a therapist. I don't really know why I was interested in going back after years of writing them off after a series of bad experiences. I was starting to doubt myself I think. In any case I told myself this time around I was going to do a better job of sussing them out before signing on. I could tell right away that they are not used to being interviewed. And this has happened to me before. A few years ago I remember distinctly meeting with one therapist for a full session, paid her her full fee to just meet her and ask her a few questions and she had a bad attitude about it. She was irate and complained about me wasting so much time asking questions and running the clock! Ha! The truth is she evaded all my questions and monologued at me and wasted MY time.

A few weeks back I met with a couple (separately of course) from the same practice group and asked them both a basic question "have you done your own therapy and worked through your own family of origin issues?" One refused to answer. She evaded the question and gave a generic answer about how important it is for therapists to do self-care. The other one gave me a curt "yes" and then quickly changed the subject in a very obvious way to bring it back to me. Why? Why can't they answer a simple question. I believe a lot of clients do not ask them simple questions like this because of the fear of authority figures. AND because of their aggressive and demeaning stance!! If you had a certain upbringing that discouraged self-expression you will definitely be prone to implicit trust and fearful of questioning/being skeptical. And they use that to their advantage. And if you are one of the few bold ones who ask questions, they do not answer! I asked several other questions about their approach and self-disclosure etc and I walked away from them not having a clue about any of these things.

I sent a bunch of emails to others and several did not offer a free consultation of 15-20 mins. Even by phone. Why not? I'm trying to hire you for a job and you want me to pay you to interview you to see if you'd be fit for the job? How is this not a scam? And I refuse to pay anything this time around just to ask a few questions and get a feel for the therapist. I refuse! And they had an attitude about my request. Again, we're back to the aggressive and demeaning stance.

Anyway, I've come to my senses now and I'm not looking anymore. But it was an eye-opener and confirmed for me what I've known all along.