To think therapists are mostly charlatans?

[BlueJuniper94]

I've heard in real life of people who have made radical decisions/changes in their lives because of what a "therapist" has said to them. Things that have surprised me as it seems outside the scope of what I thought therapists are there to do (although it's perhaps not entirely clear what that is now).

Today I was listening to woman's hour where a woman being interviewed about her husband walking out on her and her kids tried to keep it from them for a month as per her therapists advice which she said looking back was the wrong thing to do. I am surely this therapist was handsomely paid nonetheless. Aibu?

My stepson has been seeing a therapist and honestly the change in him has been remarkable - so l don't know what this guy is saying but it's working!

I agree with the posters saying @Eyesopenwideawake you're doing a kind and very misguided thing. Funny how a thread calling out charlatans has whistled up the opposite- good intentioned but ill equipped.
Please tell me you have supervision and you'll talk this through.

Yes. They need an emergency evaluation by a psychiatrist.

I hope these weren't NHS ones. My experience of NHS MH therapists were that they were very highly trained in boundaries, remaining professional and very experienced.

Like any other job, teachers, decorators, doctors, hairdressers, there will be people who are good and less good.

I've just started therapy at the age of 47 and "people-pleasing, self-loathing depressive" is such an apt description of how I feel about myself I wanted to reply. I'm so glad this worked for you. This gives me hope that I can, in time, walk a similar path.

The main problem is that there are too many therapists out there and consequently there are a lot of shit ones (and good ones). Invariably it’s trial and error, unless you get lucky at first. I would recommend anyone interested in private therapy to look on the BACP and UKCP directories because the therapists on there have reached a high standard of training and are more likely to be ethical in their practice.

I think YABU, while I agree that was terrible advice. Reminds me of being a young social worker and I had young bereaved kids placed with foster carers who were late 60s/early 70s. I had trepidation about their age but tried to tell myself not to be ageist. The husband died suddenly over xmas while I was off work, and the social worker for the carers advised the female carer not to tell the kids, and I returned on the 5th of Jan with these poor kids believing that he was still away on some ballroom dancing competition.

That was a well qualified and experienced professional, not a charlatan, but just shit at his job!

It would help if the word “therapist” was a protected title that only accredited and regulated professionals could hold.

The 3 people I know who call themselves therapists are all bonkers and have already tried a few different careers that didn’t work out first.

I’m so pleased you’re making these steps to make your life better. I’m sure it will work out for you if you persist with it and you have a good therapist.

As an aside there’s a lot of stuff on YouTube from various therapists about things like people-pleasing which might help you.

Really good luck with everything.

My cpn was the worst therapist I've ever had to work with she was nothing but about ticker . Who just thought I could think my way out of anorexia nervosa

To those of you saying I should have referred them on, the first thing I did was give the number of the Samaritans, 111 and Cruse, to call in the morning. I can tell you from experience thar the police and social services do not answer calls from a Portuguese mobile phone number. So your position would have been to simply refused to engage?

Another thread bashing therapists.

@EyesopenwideawakeI’m afraid you’re the definition of someone who needs risk training and clearly have the boundary problems mentioned up thread by a psychologist.

As someone said, there are therapists and therapists. Some are well trained with post grad qualifications, accreditation, ongoing training and supervision, some have done a weekend course in some woo. Not every therapist is good but I’d rather chance it with someone who has proper training and accreditation in a properly evidenced approach.

Bit of a silly sweeping statement. There are many good therapists out there.

There are shit people in all industries, counselling included. To say that most are charlatans is massively reductive; there are so many different types of therapy and therapists, some great, some mediocre and some downright harmful.

I think talking about themselves and their problems at length appeals to a particular type of self-indulgent person, who may then find this interaction therapeutic. I don’t think that extrapolates to therapy being beneficial for every person with a psychological problem, however. The supposed benefits of therapy are difficult to measure and predominantly self-reported. I am extremely dubious about its merits beyond the above (as one of the idiots who has spent thousands accessing different therapists and types of therapy over many years, with no discernible benefits!)

OTOH you can prise my antidepressants from my cold, dead hands.

I don’t think charlatans, but I think as in any career, there are some people who are really in the wrong job and incompetent.

I was quite open to it and have tried a few, but have been pretty unimpressed. E.g. over the space of a few months, my baby had stopped breathing, my mum died suddenly and my grandma who was like a second mum was dying. I booked in to see a therapist whose takeaway from that was “interesting you refer to your partner as your boyfriend”.

The team of counsellors I managed in the NHS was full of some rather emotionally unstable individuals who were very difficult to manage, took everything as a personal slight often falling out with one another, having personal crises, coming to work when they weren't fit to practise. However, the structures, boundaries and oversight in the NHS are pretty tight and at least somewhat containing, so in general the mess wasn't spilling over into clinical work. The same safeguards aren't there with therapists in private practice, or in large orgs that use big freelancer networks.

Also, I should add that being registered with the BACP is a pretty fundamental prerequisite. I would never go to a therapist who wasn’t, and registration (and accreditation) does require a certain standard of training, placement hours, supervision and cpd. Still possible to be shit and unethical with all these things, for sure, but you get that in all walks of life, same as you get many talented and committed professionals.

Why would they not answer a Portuguese number?
Why leave everything for ‘in the morning’. Are they in the UK? If there’s serious concerns for this person, you should phone the emergency services and request a welfare check/medical team.

Important that therapists are registered with a professional body.
I have seen a couple of counsellors in the past (fortunately free through my employment) and I benefitted greatly from those sessions.
I have also worked with people who are trained counsellors who Imo should not be counselling at all. Had obvious emotional defects themselves and had extremely limited /nil experience of the challenges of life. Worrying that they are supposedly counselling emotionally vulnerable people.

Whereas for me, antidepressants just deadened all my emotions and sensations. It was like papering over a crack. Good therapy, with a challenging therapist, has been transformative.

This 100pc

Some are dangerous yes.

I think there are some who are charlatans but I have generally had very good experiences.

My friend goes to one who is somw kind of alternative healer. I think this healer is genuinely brilliant at listening but does some other pretty ridiculous things, like drawing a figure of 8 in tbe air with her finger and that is suppose to do something good.

I’ve had 5 sessions of talking therapy - one NHS and 4 private: The NHS therapist and one of the private ones have been absolutely excellent. The others were somewhere between ‘could be better but did help’ and ‘good’.