Thursday, April 2, 2015

Dangers Of Emotional Abuse By A Psychotherapist

By Aimee Schwartz


Recently, cases of counselors abusing their clients have been on the rise. In cases where the cases came to light, they were arrested and prosecuted. Meanwhile, another form of abuse has cropped up, and since it leaves no physical evidence, cases are not reported. Emotional abuse by a psychotherapist is as bad as sexual harassment. It leaves the victim confused and hurting, especially because it is from someone they trusted with their deepest secrets and vulnerabilities.

People seek therapy for many reasons. Therapeutic sessions are meant to help patients feel secure, safe and happy again. For this to happen, both the therapist and client should create a healthy and stable environment in order to develop trust. Its only in a trustworthy relationship that a client expresses their feelings or emotions about specific things disturbing their peace.

The client-psychotherapist relationship is complicated and is not as easy as it sounds. For starters, the therapist has the power to influence the client who is mostly weak and vulnerable. A non professional psychotherapist takes advantage of the imbalance of power with dire consequences. It is even worse for patients who have been victims of such heinous crimes in the past since violation and therapy may be one and the same thing.

The good thing is that it is easy to differentiate between acts of therapy and those of violation. However, to do so, patients must always be on the watch out. The best way to achieve this is to examine the boundaries of the relationship between the therapist and client. The line between professional and personal relationship between the counselor and therapist should not feel blurry at all.

Blurry relationships may also be signaled by the length of time a session lasts. Also, the two parties are not allowed to have the same social relationships or belong to same social circles. There should not be a personal relationship between the client and the therapist or the therapists family outside of the office since it could lead to conflicts of interest.

If you feel that the therapist is abusing you, he or she is probably doing so. The therapist probably says degrading, intimidating, humiliating things to shame or manipulate you. In other cases, he or she makes you feel like you need them. When you miss a session, you probably feel anxious since the therapist has insinuated that they are only one who can fix you. If this describes you, you need to go with your instinct and take appropriate measures to stop the therapy.

The first step is talk to a friend, spouse or parent in an attempt to seek out more information. Also, you might want to check the Internet for help. These sources of information will help you confirm whether your psychotherapist is abusing you. In addition, you may seek another therapist, probably one who does not your previous one. Lastly, you may contact legal counsel, launch a formal complaint with the board or go to the police.

It is traumatizing to be emotionally abused, especially, if done by someone you completely trusted. It is worse for patients who have been abused before. Some of them add to the emotional burdens they are carrying while others become suicidal.




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