Therapists are supposed to be there to support you and help you gain the tools you need to live a healthier and more fulfilling life. They're certainly not there to belittle or criticize you. And they're definitely not there to make you feel unsafe.
After Redditor ellaayaatess asked the online community, "What is the worst thing a therapist has ever said to you?" people shared their stories. You'd be surprised to learn of the ways therapists can and have violated their obligations to their patients, but we assure you these people are the exception and the norm.
"It wasn't all that terrible..."
It wasn't all that terrible, but she knew my mom professionally (mom is a mental health provider) and she spent the ENTIRE session talking about how amazingly wonderfully awesome my mom is. I mean, I think my mom's great too, but that's not why I was seeing a therapist. When I told my mom about it afterward, she was like "Yeah, so-and-so's not that great of a therapist." Um, you couldn't have told me that beforehand? We still laugh about it, though.
"When I canceled..."
"I was just resting my eyes."
He fell asleep on me in two sessions. Sorry if my life and issues aren't exciting enough to keep you on the edge of your seat.
When I canceled the third session, he had the gall to phone and ask me why.
"I then had to endure..."
I was going to an eating disorder therapist. On my second appointment, she made us buy dinner and come in with my entire family. I then had to endure an hour of her trying to convince me to eat my dinner - which basically consisted of her guilt-tripping me with zingers like 'you don't want to disappoint your parents do you?' Or 'you don't ACTUALLY think you'll gain weight from that, right?'. Meanwhile, my siblings (the youngest being 6 at the time) watched me and cried a little bit. As you can imagine, never went back.
"Gave up..."
Everytime I shared some of the abuse I was going through she'd shake her head, take a sip of her iced coffee and say, "That didn't happen." Gave up on therapy for a couple of years after that.
"So I couldn't discuss..."
"Since you're a minor, I can't stop your mom from being in these sessions."
So, I couldn't discuss any issues I had that involved my mom, because if I said anything critical about her, boy would it come back on me later. Thus, after ~4 sessions, my mom decided that I was perfectly adjusted to her divorcing my dad. (Which, I suppose I was, but nothing else ever got discussed.)
"During the first appointment..."
During the first appointment, she asked me what my future life plans were, and I told her. When she commented that I didn't mention having children, I told her that children were not in my life plan. She then told me my boyfriend (now husband) will leave me because "no man wants a woman who won't give him children."
"Asked me..."
Asked me if I could promise to stop making my abusive partner angry.
This is not the reason couples counseling is unhelpful in cases of abuse, but it is a reason.
"What do you think happened..."
Therapist: "What do you think happened in your life to turn you bisexual?"
Me: "What do you mean?"
Therapist: "Sexuality is a learned behaviour, often when people turn out gay, trans or in your case, bisexual, it is because of a certain event in their past".
Me: ...
I made the logical choice of not going back to that quack.
"I ended up..."
Not a specific thing she said, but she went on and on about her relationship with her mom. I ended up counseling her that session. That was the last time I went to see her.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
@bella_forever68/Instagram
@neurodexter/Instagram
@gaebbi1906/Instagram
@bennettecortez/Instagram
@ricosanchez1/Instagram
@suemullen4/Instagram
@USAmbassadorGR/X
@USAmbassadorGR/X
@USAmbassadorGR/X
@USAmbassadorGR/X
@stratmanq/Bluesky
@FozonCapital/X