We thankfully live in a world where there's no longer a stigma surrounding therapy.
Some people simply need professional help to deal with ongoing problems or even to get through the day.
However, how effective therapy can be truly depends on your therapist.
It's easy to tell shortly into a first session whether a therapist will be a good fit.
Sometimes, however, we might discover that someone we thought was a good therapist was actually steering us down the wrong path.
Resulting in our need to end our professional relationship.
Redditor Normal_Enthusiasm194 was curious to hear about cases where people felt compelled to fire their therapists, leading them to ask:
"What is something your therapist did that made you fire them?"
No One Is That Good A Listener...
"Sat there and stared at me while I talked without ever offering feedback, reflections, or insights."- LowKeyGlitch
Didn't Offer Their Full Attention
"Not mine, but my sister was doing a session over Zoom when the TikTok her therapist was watching off screen started playing on full volume."- sillykathleen
"But Enough About Me... What Do You Think About Me?"
"She talked way too much about herself and experiences and talked over me when I tried to take back the conversation."-LickAD*ckASaurus
Thats Me I Know GIF by Jackie James Giphy
Not The Advice They Were Looking For...
"I live in a very nice neighborhood, which is well known for being an affluent area."
"After finding out where I lived, my therapist went on for about 15 minutes about how awful the east side of Indianapolis is and how he wouldn't live here in my neighborhood because it's too close to the 'bad part of town'."
"He was saying stuff like, 'Aren't you afraid living there?'"
"'That can't be good for your anxiety, I'd be a mess all the time'."
"I corrected him and told him I live in Geist, which is actually quite safe and quiet."
"He brought it up in our next session, too, and mentioned that I should move to help with my anxiety levels, that living in a small town or a nicer suburb would make me feel safer."
"Dude was projecting his bullsh*t insecurities about bad neighborhoods like a motherf*cker."- will_write_for_tacos
So Much For Doctor/Patient Confidentiality
"She told my mom Everything I told her."
"I was 15 at the time."- I_want_pancakes_123
The Job They Signed Up For...
"After a few months of us working together, every time I shared anything with her, she said, 'OK, so, you just trauma dumped on me again' always with a tone of exhaustion."
"But she never gave me alternative options for sharing techniques, and I wasn’t really sure why I was in therapy if I wasn’t allowed to share things without getting weird pushback."
"Honestly, she really did help me a lot at first, but then maybe she got tired of me."- petrakat
Once Is A Mistake, Twice Though...
"Missed an appointment ... twice ..."
"It was like an hour and fifteen-minute bus ride to their office, and it was just... locked."
"Then I called them, and they said they forgot we rescheduled ... I have never been back to therapy since."- Anxious_Bluejay
Hurry Up Countdown GIF by Escape Hunt UK Giphy
Not Her Specialty
"I had an eating disorder, told her peanut butter was a safe food, and she said she packed on the pounds when she started eating peanut butter."
"Messed me up a bit. "- Lasagnaoflife
Progressive? Or Just Plain Creepy?
"Not me but my partner."
"They asked them if they ever had a chance to sleep around in their early twenties."
"My partner said no and was happily monogamous."
"Well, the therapist said that essentially, they should break up with me to explore more sexual partners."
"They were floored."
"The therapist would not drop the subject, and essentially, my partner had to leave because the therapist would not let go of my partner needing to sleep around."
"They went to therapy because they wanted help managing job stress..."
"Personally, I've never had a bad experience, thank god."- Bitter_Detective_952
You Think You Know Someone...
"He showed up in one of those ‘Are We Dating the Same Guy’ Facebook groups and he didn’t treat women well."
"I switched after that."- drulaps
Non-Refundable...
"Scheduled an appointment for me on a holiday when the office wasn't even open then tried to penalize me for no call/no showing."- MistressLiliana
Whose Side Was She Even On?!?
"Sympathized with my coercive ex-husband and emotionally abusive ex-husband."
"The relationship got to a point where I couldn’t have sex with him due to things that had happened; she told me to just give in and have sex and that by doing it, I’d get over it."
"She didn’t bother trying to understand the disconnect and discomfort. Just simply, 'put out."- mykneescrack
I Have No Idea Whatever GIF by MOODMAN Giphy
Sore Subject...
"I went through a pretty rough patch a few years back. I got pretty depressed and gained a bunch of weight."
"To get out of it, I started seeing this therapist. I started pulling myself out of the depression."
"I was doing better, and I'd dropped a fair amount of my excess weight. I mentioned it to the therapist."
"I guess I should mention that this therapist was a bigger person."
"Maybe bordering on obese."
"I didn't care, but she was."
"So when I mentioned that I'd lost weight, her response was to go on and on for about 15 minutes about unrealistic body expectations, then ask me if I'd ever watched My 600 Pound Life."
"I said no, and she told me all about how the people on there were super-heavy and none of them had ever had a heart attack."
"I realized I was firmly in Her Problem territory, not mine."
"I tried to change the subject, but she kept talking about it."
"Covid shut us down a week or two later, and I wasn't sorry to be done with her."- edgarpickle
A Little Sympathy Goes A Long Way.
"Took the side of the employer that I won a claim against when they were assigned to help me with the issues the employer caused after I had already won."- ChaoticMaplesyrup
If you think you need therapy, there is no shame to be had.
But after starting therapy, it doesn't take too long to realize that no therapy at all is more effective than having a bad therapist...
@realDonaldTrump/Truth Social
