Do you think most psychologists and therapists are batshit crazy?

[NewYearFitQueen]

I know about 4 in real life and trust me, they do not lead lives you would want to lead, plus at least two of the seem batshit crazy themselves

I’ve had around 6 different therapists over the years and there’s only one I’d recommend.
The others just haven’t been very good with one dishing out quite dangerous advice.

Id also consider that most 'advice' is actually a reflection of what the client is bringing to the table and a lot of the time that is due to toxic relationships around them. And I'm sure those family members can't see the impact they have or why stepping back may be advised... plus sometimes people can mishear/misinterpret things to suit themselves or some get nervous in therapy and genuinely struggle to remember what was discussed accurately especially when working through traumatic events. Sometimes there will be bad agents but I don't think you can always blame the therapist/psychiatrist.

can I ask what advice they gave which was dangerous? Did you report them to their membership body?

I have to say almost everyone I know who has had marriage counselling has done it with the expectation their partner will be “told off” and put on the right path to compliance. You can see it in the (brilliant) tv show couples therapy too.

She had been badly let down by her psychologist, who suggested unethical practices and her co colleagues stepped in to prevent harm. Her psychiatrist offered to fill the space and they did talking therapy together for well over a year, might have been two. She saw her psychiatrist every other week. She had him on speed dial. She was suicidal and her psychiatrist didn't want her to feel unsupported.

the couples therapy show is a great example of excellent couples therapy. And shows beautifully that we’re not advising or telling people what to do, but helping people to help themselves. It’s much harder to do that. I have to be really careful not to lean into a coaching role, which would be far far easier. The real power is when people figure things out for themselves. That’s where the work is.

I am a therapist and I would say the profession is a mixed bag. Some amazing individuals (who yes are also human and flawed but have great self awareness) and some less self aware. Although I know a lot of therapists, I would not recommend all of them. Therapy can be completely life changing but it can be challenging to find the right therapist - I think that’s why a lot of people have bad experiences.

Counsellors aren't meant to give advice at all, with very little exception!

I am a counsellor. I also train counsellors levels 2-5.
I don't think I am 'batshit crazy' although I have been described as a little eccentric.

I will confirm that the profession attracts those who have been through trauma and had difficult lives, though. People want to 'give something back' or feel that they have empathy for those who've also had difficulties as a result.

I agree we’re not supposed to give out advice. I was responding to a pp @falalalalaaaahwho mentioned being given dangerous advice.

I agree with this post. Psychologists are not supposed to give advice based on their own life and experiences. They use evidence based models of psychological distress to understand a patient's difficulties and help to make changes. I know this because I am one. Plenty of psychologists have their own issues but most are also aware of what they are and how they might affect their practice. There is also a clear structure for supervision and reflection which can be used to reflect on how a psychologists own "stuff" may seep in to therapy and how to manage this.
This only applies to psychologists with protected titles however.
Dentists can have rotting teeth and still be great dentists. GPs can be obese with mutiple health issues and be amazing GPs.

On the course I did, a couple of people weren’t allowed to progress into level 4. It was felt that they had too much of their own unresolved stuff to process.
I think at least three people on my course were unsuited to the profession and I do wonder about them many years on. I know two of them didn’t pursue fulltime counselling roles, but one did.

I trained with one woman who I will never forget-she was AWFUL! I was so alarmed that she could end up being someone's therapist. She had an issue with everyone and was so acerbic in the way she spoke and so egotistical. This was qualifying level too.

Unfortunately on a lot of the courses I have taught for in the past, the organisers are about revenue and 'bums on seats' and will let more or less anyone through.

we had one like that. In our process group she would use the space to publically pile on to specific people and got away with it because it was this protected space. (bad management of the group by the tutors I think, although to be fair they did attempt to rein her in once or twice)

I've met some downright evil psychologists when my dd became ill (after she was groomed online) so I'd agree that, yes, most of them are batshit crazy.

It mostly attracts a certain type of person, with a few exceptions. The power hungry bullies who get off on the imbalance of power between patient and professional. After all, psychology is relatively low paid compared to professions at a similar level, you have to ask yourself what makes that job attractive to certain types of people?

There's no accountability within the NHS, feedback is blocked, complaints ignored. The worst ones get away with illegal behaviour that ruins the lives of patients. I've witnessed it hundreds of times to a LOT of different people. Harmed patients can contact one another but we're still a long way from changes being made to protect patients.

Personally my dd's life would have been a whole lot better if we'd avoided certain psychologists. Along with many others I used to speak with I wish I'd avoided them entirely or gone private (more accountability).

I could have written your post word for word. We are all human OP. Working as a clinical psychologist doesn't mean I'm immune to bad things happening etc. I think skilled therapists can hold their own experiences and not let this influence the space when working with someone else (but having said that we all have blind spots). Like any profession, you get good uns and bad uns.

Another thing I'd echo from the post I've quoted is the idea of our work Identity - I am definitely not as boundaried/ inhibited in my personal life as I am when I'm at work. Nor do I try and "therapise" everyone I'm around when not at work - that would be absolutely exhausting for me and I don't want to do it!

I don't having the concept of having a 'work you' and a 'personal life you' is unique to therapists/psychologists, but it's interesting that it seems to be less acceptable in this context? Reminds me a little of doctors/medics who then practice really unhealthy habits in their personal life, but it wouldn't make me question their skills as a doctor? (A clumsy analogy maybe but hopefully it makes sense!)

@bohemiancatsody I hope your dd is in a better place now. I sympathise, when my dd was unwell - a decade ago now - I was horrified at the level of dysfunctionality and incompetence in our local CAMHS team. It was truly toxic and heavily protected by mgt. GP’s have subsequently told me its poor rep was well known. It was disbanded after the last reorganisation.

Fortunately, we were able to get dd referred to an adolescent psychiatrist and she started a journey towards recovery.

My dad was a doctor and always said he’d never met a sane psychiatrist, lol.

I have become highly cynical about all talking therapies, having tried counselling, CBT and psychodynamic therapy after parental suicide and nearly 2 decades on AD's.

Counselling is just saying things out loud that you otherwise say to yourself or a friend - how is that helpful or therapeutic?

CBT - if I could just make myself not think in a particular way, I would have done it already.

Psychodynamic therapy - highly dubious, particularly because my therapist took the "blank slate" idea rather literally and sat there with a face like a smacked arse for the full hour, week after week. I was 7 minutes late for one session, because there were some temporary traffic lights a few streets away, which I explained. She became unusually talkative and decided that I was avoidant, citing the fact that I rang her colleague's buzzer instead of hers the previous week as further proof. (I may be scatty, but I 'm not going to "avoid" something for which I choose to pay hundreds of pounds a month FFS...)

Much of the whole psychology/counselling bandwagon seems to me to be absolute snake oil, and it's scary that so many people are making careers out of it and also that thousands are on NHS waiting lists for this tripe. So yes OP, I can easily believe that some of the people involved in its delivery are themselves of dubious mental health.

I'm glad you helped your dd and she's now on the road to recovery. It's not easy.

Ppl talk about CAMHS as if going there will help their children recover. We did. Instead it made things much worse. That and the specialist adolescent London eating disorder service. Half the staff there should be prosecuted and in jail IMO.

Until there's accountability within the NHS nothing will change. Management cover up abuse by power hungry egotistical mental health staff.

Agree with this 100%

I am a psychologist - an educational psychologist.

90 percent plus of ed psychs I know are perfectly normal people.

We do not "do therapy" in educational psychology. We assess and advise.

The ills of my profession are down to being stuck between SEND law and local authority pressures and being forced by the pressures of our ridiculous school system harming kids (post free schools, academy chains, Gove curriculum and COVID legacy on SEND and neurodivergent children) into one off assessments of children for EHCPs. Not because psychologists are "batshit crazy".

Gosh! Is that only offered at one institution?

No.

In other words, it's 'everyone else's fault'.

Are you sure you're not part of the problem?

Yes. Completely sure.

I do my absolute utmost for every family I work with but the SEND system is collapsing. Surely this is not news to you?