I don't know if my therapist is the best person for me. I me

xXBeautifully-CorrodedXx's picture
(8535)

I don't know if my therapist is the best person for me. I met him at the end of 2019 for relationship problems with my ex.

Long story short, I was trying to fix the issues that I had with my ex and i. And my ex didn't want to work with us. We had split up in 2020 at the end of December. 2 years later we got back in contact. And then I noticed that we still have issues. He has made progress in the way that he talks to me significantly. I just get easily triggered by his behavior and my emotions and my assumptions.

Anyways I digress.

So my main issue with my therapist is that I have been feeling like I'm the therapist now for the past 2 years. I feel like I have had to be the one that looks up activities for me to do in order to help me. Because for a long time my therapist wanted me to try voice recorder journaling and I tried it but it would re-trigger me when I would hear myself crying on the recorder and I couldn't successfully be an unbiased third person like he wanted me to. So I tried to share this with him and he kept urging me to try it. So I did but it still wasn't working for me. and even though I said I didn't want to do it he'd still keep pushing me to do it. And he would say that he wanted me to do it because it worked for him. And I told him I'm not you and it doesn't work for me.

Which I think every therapist should understand and not push on someone just cuz it work for them. But again I've had to look for all of my materials. And then when I forward him materials that I'm using he'll use it on other clients and thank me because he said it actually work for his other clients. But it makes me irritated hearing that because I feel like it shouldn't be that way.

I'm guessing this is a therapist red flag. I'm actually not paying my therapist either. I'm more like a pro bono case and sometimes I wonder if that means that I should just accept the fact that he's there to talk to me since I don't have money at the moment to pay for therapy.

And I don't want to be his friend. I'm not saying that he is my friend but there have been times where I felt like our working relationship was like a friendship because he was telling me everything going on in his life and sometimes it would take over my therapy sessions. Which I know is not professional. But sometimes I feel bad telling him to refocus. He's gotten better though in the past year about doing that.

I'm not working at the moment so I don't really know what to do and I don't know what to look for. I don't really even know what kind of therapy I'm looking for. All I know is I want a therapist who listens to me and is proactive and trying to help me find exercises to work on and coping skills when my coping skills aren't working or when activities I've tried aren't working.

show more
Comment
 3
(36465)
Mar 19

In my opinion you need to dump him immediately. Maybe try calling 211 and ask them if there are any free therapist in your area. I know if you had a medical card then you would have insurance for therapy.

Reply
xXBeautifully-CorrodedXx's picture
(8535)
Mar 23

@Fohb460 Hi, and thanks for commenting. I have been feeling more and more like "dumping" him would be the better option, especially after today's session. I was expressing to him how I have been feeling since I was told by my ex that he had been catfishing me the entire 5 years that I was with him (which I'm very embarrassed about among other feelings), and I felt like I kept getting misunderstood and that he was jumping to conclusions. It really felt like he was taking what I was saying about my situation personally because I didn't feel like he was listening to what the main point of me bringing up those things were.

Then, I was trying trying to tell him that my anxiety is horrible and that I'm having major imposter syndrome. So, when a job calls, I'm too afraid to answer/return the call because I feel like I'm not good enough due to the fact that lately, anytime I make a small mistake I feel like a major failure and I question why I am here on this Earth. I know that's extreme, but those are the feelings that have been coming up for me.
And instead of letting me finish, he cut me off attributing what I was feeling to my ex, which at this point, when I brought up the anxiety, I was on a different topic.

I wanted to ask him if he even takes notes during my session or after, because I had to explain to him what a catfish was again, and I also had to point out that just because someone is Bisexual doesn't meant that they will cheat on you whilst being with you in a relationship. So, that was really frustrating.

I'm a little afraid to "breakup" with my therapist to be honest for fear of hurting his feelings or getting into a conflict with him, even though I know that he has never yelled at me.

show more
Reply
(36465)
Mar 23

@xXBeautifully-CorrodedXx Well you articulate yourself very well, at least while you type it so he must be a moron...for real. Ok, I understand you feel apprehensive about dumping him so you don't need to tell him anything, you simply cancel your next appt if you have one scheduled and if you have to talk to him and not a receptionist then just tell him you need to cancel and if he ask if you want to reschedule then you just say not right now thank you.
I wonder about a lot of therapist, they act like we should just be able to handle things, like they wonder what's wrong with you, we'll, duuuuh, hello! I came to you because I have real mental health issues that I thought you could help me with but I guess not.
As far as your feelings, that's how you feel and a therapist needs to take the client seriously and if they don't then they are not qualified. I believe what you say. Challenge yourself on some of those thoughts write down each negative thought then under that negative thought write down a positive one that you can replace it with then practice saying the positive thoughts everyday. Write down I don't answer the phone because I feel like I'm not good enough because anytime I make a small mistake I feel like a major failure. So replace that negative thought with a rational thought like, I feel nervous to answer the phone but I'm going to answer and see how it goes. Then the emotions you will have will be nervous but optimistic. So since your thoughts improved then your emotions improve therfore the behavior will improve so that when you are talking you will feel more confident and get through the call better.

show more
Reply

Where do calls go?

Calls to numbers on a specific treatment center listing will be routed to that treatment center. Additional calls will also be forwarded and returned by one of our treatment partners below.

Calls to any general helpline (non-facility specific 1-8XX numbers) for your visit will be answered by one of our treatment partners, a paid advertiser on supportgroups.com.

  • ARK Behavioral Health

All calls are private and confidential.

Login or Register

You are visiting Support Groups as an anonymous user.

Please consider joining our community and gain access to additional features by

registering or logging into your account