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***Sorry, TRIGGER WARNING *** Rough Termination***


First, I am so sorry to be absent here and not supportive enough for you all. I hate that I withdraw so much when I'm stressed and down.

And partly I've been staying in the background because my T said that I should limit time here and focus on telling her things I would say here but not tell her. She said she was my therapist and support

Yeah well, SHE decided that WE are terminating our therapy because SHE doesn't have the "patience" to deal with me.

The whole thing was hurtful and horrible. I worried about this constantly and saw it coming because I remember the signs from when evil ex-T terminated me. So I asked for a gradual termination that we could mutually agree on. But she is just doing what she feels comfortable with, not me.

I was extremely sad. I wailed at her and sobbed, until she told me to stop and then threaten to call the police on me if I didn't stop. She told me to "get myself together" cause I had only 20 minutes left.

She couldn't give any good explanations as why she is so frustrated with me and why she has no patience in "dealing" with me.

I'm hurt but also struggling with my anger because she, of course as they always do, said she would not terminate me. Well here we are.

She was mean to me during our time and I know I did not deserve to have her take out her frustrations on me then lie about it and say I was "perceiving" her wrong. My instincts were straight on and she insisted I was wrong because SHE did not want to admit that she was doing a SHI**Y job of regulating her own emotions.

SO the important detail that set this whole drama in motion is that I decided to also see a 2nd T for my eating disorder. Didn't tell little Miss Vanity that I was until a few weeks in when she "accidentally" found out about the other T.

So, my impression is that she's jealous and insecure and has a lot of counter-transference issues she's not handling correctly.

So she decided that I should continue with the eating disorder work and stop seeing her but also because she can't help me as I am not in "a place" to be in therapy right now. Well F*CK, I know I'm not in a "place" it's why I was in therapy. WTF, I'm so jacked up that I have to get to a better place before I can even go to therapy to get to a better place?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

So I'm bitter. I see her at least one more time. I still love her and for that I feel like an idiot.

She was so cruel and doesn't even seem capable of pretending for one stinking hour that she is a professional.

I'm not sure if I'm handling things well or not. I'm so busy otherwise, I really haven't had time to process much. I did decide to get a makeover, new clothes, new hairstyle, girlie shoes, pedicure. I am going to start exercising during our appointment times, and I'm taking a trip next month.

That's all I can think to do right now.

I am so burned out on therapy after this 2nd cruel termination. Now I have this ED Therapist who may or may not want to take all my baggage and honestly, I'm not sure any type of therapy is good for me right now considering how bitter I am toward therapists and how I always get tricked in by their pleasant demeanor. Then it's the old Jekyll & Hyde switch when they are done with me.

WTF
Last edited {1}
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Hi Forlorn, I don't believe we've met before.

Reading your post made me feel so angry at your T as she is so very obviously at fault and as you say it is her that is having trouble regulating her own emotions. If you're not in a place where you can work at therapy then it's her job to help you to get to that place where work can be done - not send you out the door. This is not your fault a good T should be able to handle this. I'm so very sorry that you're going through this.

Daisy.
(((((Forlorn)))))) I'm so sorry. This therapist makes me very angry. Isolating you from other forms of support, because she is supposed to be your support, but she can't even bring herself to take on the task. I'm seriously fuming here. And to threaten you with the cops for being upset with something that is obviously very painful? WTF? The normal reaction to being hurt by someone is to get upset and angry. What was she expecting. "Thank you so much for wasting my time and hurting me so badly? I'm sure I will learn a good lesson from this eventually!" And that stuff about not being in a place...um, duh. Isn't that why anyone is in therapy. It sounds more like she is not in a place to be a therapist if she cannot avoid her own stuff intruding on her client's therapy experience. I'm glad you took care of yourself, doing nice things for yourself, because you deserve it. ((((Forlorn)))) I'm so angry for you right now. Sometimes, I think these people must forget they are treating human beings...
She reminds me so much of my ex C who damaged me terribly. It is amazing how many useless therapists there are out there. We really need to start naming and shaming them!

I am sorry you have been on the receiving end of this one, it sounds cruel and awful. When you read about the good ones, like AG's T and TN's new T and my new P = it is like "Wow, THIS is what a T is meant to be like? Heck, why didn't someone tell me!!"

I don't know how you are coping at all to be honest, - though you are probably in the shock/coping mode. The pain is horrendous - when something like this happens. I wish it wasn't happening to you/ My only hope is that you end up with a truly professional T after going through two bad ones. That, I hope, is what happened to me, I think and hope I now have a good one and am 'glad' that I came to him, but still would not wish the pain I went through on anyone.
Oh - and don't worry about not being here,much. We all go through periods where we can't cope with much and so need to do what we can and leave out what we can't. It is understood.

My P thinks it is great that I post here, because it is such a fruitful forum - I learn so much and deepen my own work with him because of what I discuss and learn here.
((((Forlorn))))) I’m sorry. I could so much to your post… I almost felt like I was flashing back to the past and reading what I was feeling. At the beginning of the year my T wanted to terminate in one session (or did terminate- since he made it sound like I would never see him again). I was devastated and didn’t want to terminate. We were able to work things out since, but even 4 months after i'm still hurt by some of the things he did. I do have a different perspective now since hearing my T apologize, hearing how hard that day was for him too, and that wasn’t trying to be cruel, but was worried that he was harming me and didn’t know what else to do in that situation. I’m just trying to understand- did your T give you an actual reason why she was terminating you? Did she say that she doesn’t have the patience or have you gathered that? It sounds like you don’t have an interest in continuing with her- but did she think that you didn’t want to continue with her because you have your ED T? Sorry, I’m just trying to understand better. I really hope your next session(s) go okay. I definitely understand being bitter towards therapists also. You don’t have to make a commitment to ED T yet, maybe just use her for support and make a decision later?

(((((((((Forlorn)))))))))
Hi Daisy, Nice to meet you. I haven't been to the site for a while, but I hope you're finding support with the wonderful people here.

Yakusoku, I feel so awful for listening to her and being stuck in her cloud of lies and torture. I think she didn't want me to talk to others, especially about her, because she didn't want people to tell me how crappy she was treating me.

Sadly, I don't know how I'm coping either. Actually, I thought I was doing pretty well and then I started realizing some of the little things that will never happen and how big a part of my life she was. When I dwell on those it's hard to cope so I'm trying to not think about it all. I am peeved that if I do resume a full therapy again, I'll have to regurgitate yet another full year's worth of details and try to hope that the new T can handle me.

Right back at ya ((((Room2Grow)))) I don't think we've, but from what I read on my other post, you're being through quite a train wreak of bad therapists too.

quote:
but was worried that he was harming me and didn’t know what else to do in that situation. I’m just trying to understand- did your T give you an actual reason why she was terminating you? Did she say that she doesn’t have the patience or have you gathered that? It sounds like you don’t have an interest in continuing with her- but did she think that you didn’t want to continue with her because you have your ED T?


Hi Mac, I do not think I she is worried about harming me given the past term I've had and she knows how I feel about that. She actually blamed me for that and said she understands the ex-T now. She was obviously and clearly over her limit with me on several occasions and now decided to take the easy way out since she figures I'll turn to my ED T. Her reason was that I "made a choice and that was to see an ED T" and she thought I should do that instead of therapy with her. She did say to me "I don't have the patience to deal with you Forlorn, like you need". I was crying and she said "You've got to pull yourself together!" and I said, "why are you always so frustrated with me" She responded, "See that's why I can't work with you, because I can't help you"

She did not apologize. She did not show compassion. She did not offer comfort. She just wanted to be done with this. I do not want to continue with her because she would only hurt me. But I didn't have a choice. She did not ask if I wanted to see her or the ED or them both. She made the decision and then informed me of her choice.

STRM, Thanks. I live you quote, it is how I feel in these troubled moments. It's no surprise that I am wary of the ED T. Sure she seems nice, but don't they all. Maybe I just need to learn my lesson and not get so involved with therapists anymore.
Wow she definitely handed this all very poorly.
quote:
She did not apologize. She did not show compassion. She did not offer comfort. She just wanted to be done with this. I do not want to continue with her because she would only hurt me. But I didn't have a choice. She did not ask if I wanted to see her or the ED or them both. She made the decision and then informed me of her choice.

This is what I experienced from my T too. It’s strange how those who have experienced a forced termination all get the same response from their T’s- cold, detached, no apology, no choice. Anything that I said about him apologizing or learning how hard that day was for him came out weeks after we were able to reconcile. Even in the first couple weeks after we decided to keep working together I was still getting the cold detatched Robo-T.
((((((Forlorn))))))

I am so sorry that your T has let you down like this. I wish I could say something to make it better. I am just astonished that she feels she doesn't have enough patience to work with you...what kind of T doesn't have patience!
I can totally understand your distrust of other therapists and I hope that the ED one can prove you wrong and that she can be steady and is able to support you through this. I am so glad you found her before this happened.

Hugs
Butterfly
quote:
Originally posted by Butterfly:
I am so glad you found her before this happened.



Thanks Butterfly

My soon ex-T actually blamed the fact that I was going to ED T as the catalyst that started all this. I keep thinking what if I hadn't told either one about each other, where would I be now, where would I be in a year, 5 years?

But I'm all out of fairy dust and cannot change the past so I guess I'll have to deal with where I am right now.

I saw pdoc today and she said she thinks it's better for me to not continue with soon ex-T because she can't control her emotions and blames me for them. pdoc said it wasn't my fault.

So I feel slightly better with that but still angry now that soon ex-T somehow got so offended and put off by things I've said and done and meanwhile I was opening up to her more and more, while she was getting disgusted and fed up with me day by day. it's like we were moving in opposite directions.

And it all just brings such memories back from my previous termination with evil ex-T where I don't think they are equipped to be therapists if they can't be rational and consistent and regulate their feelings.

What is with them both feeling like I am mean to them? I am not mean. Evil ex-T said I was manipulative and bullied her. what!? That seriously sounds like I went in there with sticks and forced her to do things I wanted lest I beat her or something.

Seriously how can I bully a professional experienced grown stable sane adjusted confident person with a rich established career and has all the things I lack? How can I force them into anything when I lack the self-confidence to even stand up for myself correctly and be assertive.

grumble Frowner
quote:
Seriously how can I bully a professional experienced grown stable sane adjusted confident person with a rich established career and has all the things I lack? How can I force them into anything when I lack the self-confidence to even stand up for myself correctly and be assertive.


That's a very good question. I must imagine there was some sort of counter-transference thing going on there, some experience from her own life intruding on you. And that's not fair. That's why Ts are supposed to do their own therapy. I think there are Ts out there who BEG their clients to get angry, to really lay it all out on the table. I think if you are in the business of helping people who have been very badly hurt, you need to go in expecting to come up against a lot of confusion, pain and anger. If our honest feelings can't surface, they can never be addressed. It sounds like with both of these Ts, you were always having to hold back for their sake. That just isn't right and it was emphatically wrong for them to try to make it your job to take care of them. I seriously don't know why people choose professions that they are obviously not meant for...
quote:
She did say to me "I don't have the patience to deal with you Forlorn, like you need". I was crying and she said "You've got to pull yourself together!" and I said, "why are you always so frustrated with me" She responded, "See that's why I can't work with you, because I can't help you"

She did not apologize. She did not show compassion. She did not offer comfort. She just wanted to be done with this.


You are well shot of her, and the sooner you get away the better. This is exactly what my ex C was like and I limped on, getting more and more damaged in the process.
quote:
I saw pdoc today and she said she thinks it's better for me to not continue with soon ex-T because she can't control her emotions and blames me for them. pdoc said it wasn't my fault.


This proves that you need to get your self protection strategy working and GET AWAY from this T. FAST.

The faster you drop her and find a good one, a true one, the sooner it will feel like you are being truly met and heard and it will be such a relief.

You can tell your T that we are all horrified by her behaviour on this forum and quote how many views your post has had - you know they have sites where you rate the holiday/hotel you just stayed at, well I think we can ligitimately start a site where we post what happened to us with therapists, naming them and people then can google a therapists name and get some of the latest reviews of them and their work. And yes, I know it could be abused, but it still seems a pretty good idea to me.

Sorry, maybe that is off topic but I am deeply upset you are being damaged like this, by her inadequacy and incompetence.
So I saw her again.

It went better than I expected and now I see her one final time.

We reviewed some of my past work and talked about light topics.

I really tried to not cry and keep upbeat.

At the end she then said we needed to talk the next time about how I'm doing and feeling.

Well I feel like why the hell bother talking about it. This will not resolve my pain or rejection. Yet, I'm determined to finish this somehow. I want this final session even though I can't know what I'll say or how bad I'll feel.

I've been very angry lately and that depresses me to feel this way. How can I tell her in a calm and rational way how terribly hurt and betrayed I feel? How can I look at her and remember how I felt she was awesome and kind once and now I just see a week insecure woman who doesn't care about me and is petty. How can I pretend to be ok with her calling me a liar and feeling so offended by me when she lied to me just as worse by saying she'd never terminate me.

She was surprisingly "nice" though. Leads me to a false sense of security for the final session.

I know I have a right to hate her. To walk away from her and her damaging therapy and never look back. To be grateful I will no longer suffer at her hands. To go forward with my life instead of swirling in this turmoil. I know I have this right, but I can't help thinking what will I do without her? Who will I talk to like I talk to her? Part of me thinks she is irreplaceable in the sense of everything that happened in those walls with her and I will never ever happen or be duplicated anywhere else.

I mourn for that. For the ending of "us".

I don't want to let go. I don't want to be thrown away AGAIN. I want to be loved.

Even though I will continue to see the ED T, it will be very different. We will meet only once a week instead of 3 with old T. We will only focus on ED and related issues and thought patterns instead of day-to-day life and career stuff.

The hardest part so far (aside from the aching rejection) has been that I sometimes forget she will no longer be a part of my life and I still think of things to tell her about my life. And then I realize, no I won't be able to tell or show her how things will work out for me in the future because she won't be there. That's hard, this feeling of unfinished business.
Hi Jo,

I don't know if we've met before. Thanks for commenting on my posts.

She is a licensed art therapist. Has been in practice for 12 years. In the beginning I did a lot of art "therapy" with her and thought it was neat.

As I'm going through this struggle I have learned that she wasn't even good at that. The art is Supposed to be examined in a way that explains why my subconscious thought of certain images. But all the while she seemed just as bewildered as I about some of the things I drew.

She did say, to some degree, that she was not strong enough to handle therapy with me. Which is pretty sucky to hear, but at least may be the first steps in her admitting to herself eventually, that she is in no position to be anyone's therapist.

I have tried to make light of the situation when I can. I was thinking this weekend of her being a pet therapist for goldfish. Imagine her sitting there "listening" to the goldfish swim around about its problems. Or maybe a newborn's therapist. That shouldn't be too bad. The baby would cry and then I imagine her saying "so it sounds like you want to have your needs met?"
Hey Forlorn,

I'm so sorry that you are having to deal with this termination, but I am glad that you won't have to suffer anymore from your T's incompetence.

quote:
I was thinking this weekend of her being a pet therapist for goldfish. Imagine her sitting there "listening" to the goldfish swim around about its problems.


LOL.

Anyway, take care and keep us updated on how you are doing. We're here for you. ((((((Forlorn))))))
lol I have some goldfish who are looking kind of down. If the water change doesn't help maybe some art therapy will do the trick.

I think that's a sure sign that you need to move on if she is saying she's not strong enough to work with you.

I don't know if this relates or not but I saw an art therapist once and she was really weird. I mean the first session I had with her she said basically nothing. She sat in her rocking chair and stared at me. At one point I said "I don't know what to say" and she said "I like silence" How convenient! Anyway long story short i got away from her as fast as I could after about 3 sessions. She turned out to be quite controlling when she actually did speak.

It is so hard to find the right therapist let alone a good therapist. My T confessed to me that most Ts are sort of nuts. She went to a conference with all kinds of Ts and she said there were a lot of very strange people in that crowd. I have gone through a lot of Ts myself. Usually I leave them but a couple have left me. Trust me you are better off in the long run. I know you love her and that you care about her but if she is shaky on dealing with you then your chances of being hurt by her are high.
I see her tomorrow for the last time ever. I am such a bundle of emotions and to make matters worse, I have pms. I keep thinking about the session tomorrow. I can't help. I literally have to work to pull my thoughts away from it. What am I going to say?!? What am I going to do?! What if I start crying and sobbing and she turns cold and tells me to leave before the time is up? What if I ask her to hold me and she doesn't? What if I want her to apologize for all this and she won't? What if I try too hard to put on a "brave face" and don't get to express my pain at all? What if I lose all form of dignity and start groveling and begging her to take me back?

So this really has me worked up.

I see her then immediately after, like 5 minutes later, I have my weekly appointment with my new ED T. So I will be a blubbering mess of incoherency by the time I get to ED T. What if she thinks that's too much for even her to handle?

It's all boiling down to the realization that I will never ever ever see soon ex-T again. I will never tell her about my life or share my secrets. We will never do activities together or discuss the things I wanted to talk about this year. There is so much I keep thinking that we will no longer have that, for me, are worth more than the harm she has done to me. I will miss her. I love her. I don't want to never see her again. I tried so hard to be a good patient and it still didn't work.

I'm dreading tomorrow and at the same time, I wish it was already over. I wish I were already adjusting to this mew life. I wish I already started forgetting her. I wish I was able to look at this as a good thing to free me from her torture.

I haven't even been able to plan anything soothing. I hate bubble baths. I have some chocolate, but since I'm seeing and ED T, I don't think that's a good idea to soothe myself with food. (although, the pms makes me crave chocolate even more)

I am totally having a woe is me day! Frowner
quote:
Originally posted by Sadly: Sorry, maybe that is off topic but I am deeply upset you are being damaged like this, by her inadequacy and incompetence.


Thank you Sadly. I was just going through and rereading some of the responses as I needed the extra boost of support today. I wanted to let you know how much your caring words mean to me.



quote:
Originally posted by Jo:
At one point I said "I don't know what to say" and she said "I like silence"


OMG Jo, my T said this to me too!!! Eeker In the very beginning. I said "I don't know what to talk about" and she said "sometimes silence is good" wtheck!


I'm totally over the bitter, trying to make light of the situation mode and am in the freak-out, crazy emotion, why is this happening to me mode
Forlorn I am so sorry to hear this. Is there someone, a friend or relative that could come with you to your session and wait outside for you? My sister came and waited for me. It really helped not to be alone. We then went out for lunch. If you don't have anyone to go with you then make a plan for afterwards... go for a manicure, or go shopping or get a massage. Being out with people will blunt the pain for awhile.

And of course, come here and share with us. Hopefully we can provide some comfort and support.

I'm so sorry you have to go through this again. I would never wish this pain on anyone.

Hugs
TN
(((Forlorn))) I know such bad timing can sometimes feel like the universe is out to get us. I hope you can, as TN suggested, find someone else to just be there for you afterward. Sometimes, when my anxiety is high, I plan lunch with people for right after my phone session. It helps reboot me a bit, so I can manage to get through my day of taking care of Boo.
(((((Forlorn)))) I am so sorry that your ED T canceled just when you needed someone the most. Like the others I hope you can come here or do something helpful for yourself after the session to get some support. I'm very glad that at least she admitted that she wasn't strong enough to do therapy with you, and that the p doc said it wasn't your fault but hers. Hang onto those thoughts, because they are true. this is not your fault, and there is nothing crazy or wrong about you- you just happened to get a couple of bad therapists who don't know how to help, one right after the other- I am so sorry. I hope your ED T will be able to help you put a plan together.

((((Forlorn))))

BB
Update

So it's over. Done.

I'm numb. I know I'm numb because I'm not crying or blubbering.

I did some light shopping and had an ice cream cone.

I'm home now just relaxing.

I went over some of the major things that had been intense topics. I shared some pictures and a photobook with her. we talked again about how it came to this ending but I don't agree with her.

She offered me her toss pillow that I used to hide behind and I took it with me.

I hugged her and cried and told her I'll miss her and that I still love her.

and that was it

numb
Thank you all for your support and kindness. I went off for a few days to deal with my numbness and try to get beyond it. But it hasn't worked.

I haven't been dealing at all with the termination. Just going. Going to work. Going to appointments. Going to class. Going home. Going to lessons. Going to more appointments - Foot doc, nutritionist, chiropractor, massage therapist, neurologist. Going, always going...

So I've decided to stop going for a while. To be still (as much as I can) I still plan to go to work. but that's pretty much it. I canceled all appointments with the new ED T and my pdoc. I canceled my appointment with my primary care doc too. I am stocking up on groceries, books, and puzzles and aside from work, I am not leaving my house for anything for the next 2 weeks.

I just think I need a break from all the emotional turmoil of my busy scattered life. I am always saying "I don't have time for this or that". I have so much on my mind and no time to even write the thoughts down. I have no time to garden. I don't do laundry because I'm overwhelmed. And I haven't cooked a decent meal for myself in many months.

I need to be still. At least for 2 weeks. And hopefully this time spent at home will settle my overwhelming feelings. I haven't been sleeping well and my food choices have been out of control. I constantly feel tired.

I don't doubt whether or not I'm making the right decision with this little siesta. I'll miss my new ED T, which is probably a good sign that I need to take a break before I get too enmeshed with "needing" to see her. But I just have no other feeling of what I can do to get control of my life and my emotions except just stop.
Forlorn... I am sorry you are having to experience this grief. I do understand how you are feeling. I, too, ran around after my termination. I HAD to go to work and take care of my son and then I kept running around trying to find a T that would replace the one I lost. I was lucky in that my dh took over cooking and I had the excuse of just being out of surgery when people questioned my haggard looks and my inability to seem normal, energetic and happy. I milked that surgery, especially around my family (except my sister who knew the real story). So I ate fairly well until I developed the complications from surgery and had to stop eating and went back to the hospital. I think that was sort of my "forced" slow down because I was SO sick.

I do think it's good that you realize you need to slow down and sort of gather your strength again and it's progress that you can recognize this. I would suggest that if you keep one thing on the schedule it's the ED T because I think you need to talk to someone who will understand and help get your eating routine back on track.

I will share that what helpled me the most in the awful grief of losing my T was to talk about it. I talked and talked with Ts with my sister and with a friend or two. I posted here and wrote in a journal when I could work up the focus to do so. It's almost a year later and I'm still talking about it here and with my current T. It's part of the grieving process and part of that goes beyond the mental and emotional stuff, it's also physiological. It's like your body had to recover as well as your heart and mind. It just takes time, being heard, having an outlet to express yourself and doing as best you can in taking care of yourself healthwise.

I wish I could make this better for you or had some magic, secret answser to healing from this hellish loss and grief but I don't. Keep posting to us, it will help.

Hugs
TN
Forlorn,

I am sorry you are dealing with this. I know how painful a termination can be.

I have read some of your older posts from last summer, and it seems as though you were feeling hurt by T all the way back then, about 9 months into your therapy. You talked about how she pressured you to talk, when really a T should be willing to sit in silence with you if that is what you need. You also mentioned that she told you that you weren't special to her, and there were other hurtful things.

When I read those things about how painful your therapy was with her, I cannot help but think your T has done you a favor by terminating your therapy. I know it hurts like hell, but I think she was not a good fit for you and in the long run, hurting like hell in the short term may be better than hurting a little bit every time you saw her for an indefinite amount of time.

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