When I was in my first year of college, my friends recommended to me that I see a therapist. There were therapists on call who were covered by our tuition. I saw someone amazing who really helped me.
The following year, the specific therapist I had seen had moved to another school. She had even sent me a letter over the summer to let me know.
It was a pretty tame way to "break up" with a therapist. Not all of us are as lucky. Redditors know that sometimes, the reason for a breakup with a therapist can be dramatic or even depressing, and they are ready to share the reasons they stopped seeing their therapist.
It all started when a Redditor asked:
"What made you breakup with your therapist?"
Gone, Gone, Gone
"She ghosted me lol."
– skaggaroni
"I had one call me on a Sunday night to say she was immediately shutting down her practice. Found out a month or two later she never closed the practice and was still seeing clients. She just lied to get rid of me."
– AijahEmerald
"This happened to me too! How f**ked up are we that we can’t be helped 🥲"
– cowboyshouse
Vitamin D, Man
"She was not helping, like at all. I would talk about my traumas, and her response would be: "You should try getting 15 mins of sunlight each day." I'm not saying that won't help, but that certainly won't cure my trauma, and I'm also not going to give you $200 a week to tell me sh*t I can find on webMD."
– Plastic_Top5413
"Yikes. Sunlight is great but it’s definitely not a cure."
– Deleted User
"Oof! I had a similar issues. My old therapist would send me lists by internet gurus like “100 reasons to be happy! 💕” they’d contain tidbits like “cats exist! People care about you! There’s chocolate ice cream !”"
– loritree
...What?
"She told me my son's brain tumour was caused by wifi."
– menonitska
"Okay what the f**k, are they insane?"
– ADudeWithoutPurpose
"Yup. Tried to sell me essential oils in the next breath."
– menonitska
Infantilizing
"She baby talked me."
"I would tell her things that were upsetting me she’d go awwwwwwwww now “pronounces my name wrong” etc etc uses the royal “we” etc."
– SnorkelLord
"You're a better person than me. I am also 30 and I would have sent that therapist to physical therapy."
– Nuttonbutton
"Oh gosh that reminds me of my first therapist, at a large health group with dozens of providers. Their intake process was appealing as a first-time patient. You fill out a long survey, have a phone interview, then get placed with a provider who’s the best fit."
"They matched me with a children’s behaviorist. She also worked with adults but her primary specialty was kids. Her office had toys. The worksheets she gave me were clearly meant for children or adolescents. I was 30."
"I let it ride for a few sessions but knew right away it wasn’t gonna work."
– jeckles
Oh, Of Course
"She told me my hallucinations were actually the result of beings from the other side trying to contact me. She said she could help protect me from these beings for an additional fee."
– Astralnaptime
"Did she also mention a hell portal in the Paris catacombs?"
– Skinless_Corpse
"How do you know she wasn’t also a hallucination?"
– Curtled
Creepiness Exemplified
"The first words out of her mouth were constantly "I need your payment". She'd then end sessions over 15 minutes early."
"Brought her personal drama (husband abusing her, and a cancer scare) into my therapy to the point sessions were spent entirely talking about her problems."
"Would forget to schedule future sessions then claim she'd asked I said not to."
"Told me CSA couldn't have happened like I remembered it. Cautioned me later that "some things" should only be talked about with her and never anyone else."
"Started behaving flirtatious and wearing inappropriately revealing outfits during the times she had kicked her husband out."
"Final straw was her starting to change my appt times on a whim. Multiple times she'd text me 3-4 hrs before my scheduled time saying "If you want a session this week you have to be here in 20 minutes.""
– AijahEmerald
Super Unhelpful
"I said that I have a problem with amphetamine use. He told me that I should switch to cocaine because the comedown is easier."
– mongolskimongol
"After I had finally come up with the courage to speak about one of my traumas, she responded emphatically with, "You're lying?!""
– Nonchalant_Storm
God Is Not My Therapist
"She couldn't keep her religion out of my therapy sessions."
– thenightsiders
"Mine too. I'm in my 20s dealing with a stage 4 cancer diagnosis. I'm past the point of trusting God."
– Mousewaterdrinker
"Totally not okay. I can’t imagine a therapist using religion in practice. Especially if it’s not the clients religion."
– Deleted User
Feel Your Feelings
"After venting a bit I was stressed to the point of crying and she said, “I don’t even know what you’re crying about”. I immediately stopped crying, got up, and walked out. Never saw her again. I’ve been seeing a new therapist the last few years and he’s waaayyy better."
– RavingSquirrel11
My Time Is Also Valuable
"My 3:00 appointments would start at 6:30."
– PirateJohn75
"Man... at 3:15 I would've been out the door. I dnt pay a therapist an insane amount of cash, just for them to waste my time. I have enough abandonment issues as it is... I dnt pay for extra😑"
– Belthezare
"My old psychiatrist was always late to appointments. It was almost always an hour and even more. One time I was in the bathroom and my psychiatrist called for me, and when I went back to the waiting room, my mom told me that he took another patient because I was in the bathroom. Like, I’ve waited this long and you won’t wait for me? But I do see their point of view."
– esor_rose
Please See Me
"Never acknowledged that I was begging to meet in person and the video session were not working at all."
"I’m far worse now than before."
– Pop_Culture_Phan_Guy
Yikes!
"We ended up taking a lot about their interests, specifically Llamas. I kid you not. I watched a pretty normal human become obsessed with Llamas to the point where I felt I was witnessing a person unravel because of it. Therapy became unhelpful and bizarre. They had been so helpful for so long and then in a short amount of time it all crumbled. It was so upsetting."
– Pacific-Coasting
"Llamas. Not even once. Sorry that happened."
– Calibus53
Tell Me Something You Don't Know
"Two sessions in, before we'd even really scratched the surface of all the things I wanted to address he looked me dead in the eye and said "You don't really want to change" in the same tone as someone saying, "Oh come on, you're pulling my leg.""
"I was floored, like... wtf do you think I'm doing in therapy if that was the case, my dude!?"
– sleepingfox307
"Then I guess he doesn't really want to be a therapist. Yikes."
– Pterodactyloid
Completely Idiotic
"Told me people who died on 9/11 did so because they weren’t putting good energy out into the world that day."
– MFLBsublime
"Cause of death: Not vibing."
– Ozok123
The Silence Is Deafening
"I hate it when they just look at you expecting you to say something instead of asking questions."
"I've had one that just stared at me for 30min, I let it keep going just to see if he would do anything."
"Like, my guy, I'm going to therapy for social anxiety, if I knew how to talk to people or initiate and keep conversations going, with, yourself included, I wouldn't be here."
– pepper-blu
It's almost enough to make you lose faith in therapy!
Thanks to my old therapist, and the ones my friends see, I know there are some amazing therapists out there. You may just have to hunt a little.