What would have happened to these recordings ?

[privacyconcern27]

Ten years ago , had therapy for anxiety (later turned out to be ASD and OCD) at age 18 or 19. Therapist was in training at a uni and recorded all sessions on a dictaphone to be played back in seminars with his classmates and with his supervisors apparently . I remember signing forms and my GP signing some forms too . I think I remember being told the uni would get no info on me but would have access to all relevant records from that therapy including case notes , reports etc ... and those recordings .

I’m ten years older now and a bit horrified that I let myself allow that , I was very vulnerable at the time and don’t feel I should have said yes - certainly wouldn’t now , anonymous or not . I remember being told I was doing a good thing and if I didn’t agree I’d need to wait for another therapist to come free - ie go back on waiting list ...

There are other issues with the therapy that was provided - misdiagnosed with multiple personality disorders and an eating disorder and treated in a humiliating way - was told to lie down for every session after I told the therapist I find that hard following a sexual assault . Think that was just the lack of training though .

Friends daughter has recently had therapy with same nhs clinic and said similar which has got me thinking about my own experiences unfortunately .

I don’t want to complain now as I think I’d have no leg to stand on and there probably was some benefit to someone somewhere that my records were shared with his tutors and that , if it let him pass as a qualified therapist (I can’t remember what in) but it does bother me a bit now that about fifteen hour long recordings were made , plus a four page report once , and I’ve no real idea what happened to all that . I realise absolutely no one would be at all interested in what I was saying in therapy but it was very private personal stuff about abuse, self harm etc .

Am I right in thinking that legally , it was likely (hopefully) all destroyed as soon as possible ? I changed address shortly after the therapy but I’m guessing they would trace me somehow if they wanted to do anything else with it all ... just wondering tonight and feeling a bit unsure about it all silly as that seems .

If your GP had to sign the forms that means they should be on your GP medical record. I was working in a doctor's surgery 14 years ago and any documentation like this would have been scanned and attached to the patient's record.

This being the case, you should be able to get access to the form by asking your GP's secretary and it will hopefully put your mind at rest as it will say something along the lines of that you were allowing them to make recordings that would be used anonymously and then destroyed.

The form might also say which university and department were using the data. You could then contact that department and ask them to tell you what happened to the recordings. Anyone involved in research is entitled to a debrief following the study so any psychology/therapy lecturer should be understanding of why you want to know what has happened to your data.

I'm sorry all this happened to you. You've been through the mill and it sounds like the therapist you saw wasn't entirely professional.

I totally understand your discomfort at the idea of recordings of the sessions floating around now but hopefully you'll be able to establish that they're long gone.

From what I remember from counselling training, tapes are destroyed after a certain period of time, and they remain confidential the whole while. Can you call and find out?

Regardless of whether there was benefit to someone else in training, you should never have been persuaded to allow recording (eg being put back on the waiting list if you didn’t agree).

The recordings should have been destroyed immediately after they were no longer needed - you can contact the training organisation to check and they should tell you what happened (the training orgs details will be on the forms that you signed so check with your GP).

There’s a lot wrong with what you describe happening in your therapy - not least that your therapist diagnosed you, therapists aren’t trained and qualified as diagnosticians in the U.K. I’m sorry you had such a horrible experience.

I’ve found the course I think he was doing, I remember the university and have a vague idea of what he would have been training in .

Re diagnosis , I can’t remember what was ever done about that . I remember GP showing me a letter that said I had dependent personality disorder or something like that . Think GP said it was BS and not to worry about it . About six months ago they said I was actually more than likely autistic , not mentally ill other than a bit of anxiety and depression .