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Massively hurt

User Profile: KittyKeats
KittyKeats August 24th, 2021

Hey all,

So half a year ago I ended a treatment with a therapist. During the therapy, though things started out quite well, at a certain point things started feeling more tense and awry. There were many signals and things that I found very confusing, such as comments the therapist made that I did not understand where they were coming from, but when I tried to adress these they got negated.

Now, 6 months after the treatment ended, I have since learned she had sent a letter to my GP to summarize the treatment. I on happenstance stumbled upon this letter when it was sent to my new therapist and I had the option to view it. The letter details many many indescrepancies with the therapy on how I experienced it. Literally, I was shocked just reading the things she wrote, to my GP but indirectly my new therapist already got sent this letter.

I am just completely baffled about this whole turn of events. During the therapy, things felt awful, repeatedly I remember writing in my diary about how I felt they were putting me down and how they thought of me as impaired or something in that direction. When I adressed it during treatment they never mentioned it, and indeed explicitly encouraged me for stating my view of things which go directly against what was written in the letter.

I am just completely befuddled. Has anyone ever experienced something like this? Even though the therapy was terrible and felt so bad, I at least held on to the notion that whatever she told me were things she stood behind. Now I find out it was some sort of double game all along and I feel just so very very hurt that the person I trusted and which I confided in how I felt about certain things and who encouraged me to believe in myself directly negated that by writing in the letter to my GP the exact opposite which she knew I found so very very hurtful.

Sorry for the wall of text, I am just at a loss. Worse still, this letter from the therapist got forwarded to a new therapist without my knowledge, and they in turn said I wasn't suited for therapy during the intake, and only now I understand because they read the same letter and must've thought I was crazy for telling the opposite that was in the letter (the letter also mentions I am in denial, which makes it even more difficult because when I say I disagree ppl can of course interpret that I am in denial).

It just hurts me very much. I don't understand why she would do this and the subsequent fallout has been such a mess that I am now only hoping to be able to pick up armed with this new info of having read this letter. Has anyone ever encountered something like this in therapy? I feel my trust is completely shattered and I feel so betrayed and hurt knowing that the person I thought encouraged me in actually never seemed to believe a word I said and was all the time just playing an act when she was in front of me.

(I was in treatment for EMDR for an event that happened so I thought this forum was suitable, as well as the fact that this whole thing seems to have borederling traumatized me in a new way).

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User Profile: Remina
Remina August 25th, 2021

@KittyKeats

I am sorry to hear what happened with your former therapist. That sounds like a complete violation of your rights as a patient. I can understand how you would feel betrayed in this situation. It sounds like the therapist never once tried to talk about her concerns with you and rather allowed you to continue to come in for six months and then wrote this letter. Did you ever consent to communication between this therapist and your other medical team?

2 replies
User Profile: KittyKeats
KittyKeats OP August 25th, 2021

@HopieRemi
Thank you for your reply. I am just mindboggled at everything that is written down and how much it's just totally different from what I thought talked about. I gave her permission to send a letter to my GP, she had written me a different letter with a summary of the treatment simultaneously which did not mention any of these things so I assumed she sent the same one to my GP. Had I known the letter she sent to my GP was so different I would have really really wanted to discuss it. I'm just so hurt by this whole thing, I developed trust issues during the therapy and I did not understand why at all and thought it was just me being paranoid. Now I feel like the whole therapy I did with her was based on nothing and there was never any intention of being upfront with me. I'm just so astounded by the whole thing.

1 reply
User Profile: Remina
Remina August 25th, 2021

@KittyKeats

That is very shocking to me. I am sorry to hear that this happened to you. It sounds like a total trick what she did. Therapists should always be open and honest with their patients. I hope you're able to have a good talk with whoever is treating you now and get the chance to explain yourself so they understand you.

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August 25th, 2021

@KittyKeats

Kitty, I completely understand your feelings of betrayal, disbelief, and shock at all of this. I am also very sorry this has happened.

I think it was wrong of your past therapist, in the first place, to not even address the things you brought up about how therapy was going, during therapy. That was a problem in and of itself and so wrongly handled by them. I know and have had bad experiences in my own ways with things like that, which I have brough up, in the past with different therapists. I am sorry that they chose to ignore you on this, as that is inappropriate and wrong.

I do not know the legalities of all of this for you, but, it is so very deceptive for you to be presented with a letter, allowed to read it, and have it assumed that the same contenct you were allowed to read would then be shared with other medical practitioners. I wish you could find out abou this legally for yourself, if you choose. But, I know that will not fix at all what has already occurred.

Kitty, is there any way that you would want to and could switch to a different primary care Dr., and include written signed documents, that would prohibit them from disclosing any mental health info to anyone else? I realize you many not wish to switch to a new primary care Dr. and it also may not be possible for you to do so. I totally understand that.

Also, is there a way to also go to your primary care Dr. and now sign legally binding papework that will prohibit them from sharing your mental health information with any other practioner in the future, no matter who they may be, unless you give written promission--which in this case you probably never would want to do this?

Is there a way you could see a differebt therapit, not associated with your insurance, possibly at an online site? Would that be an option for you, Kitty? I know EMDR would be almost impossible to continue if you choose this option and that is not good.

Kitty, again, I am so very sorry for all of this.

2 replies
User Profile: KittyKeats
KittyKeats OP September 2nd, 2021

@BlueBirdPIllow

Thank you for your words and reply. I thought about contacting the previous therapist but feel like I really don't want to get bogged down in this. Right now I'm still dealing with some issues and goign back & talking to the previous therapist I think would only further confound matters and bring up drama and I just really want to leave this behind me instead.

Regarding the info that is now in my patient file: I told my GP what happened and he agreed not to forward the letter to a new therapist. It's already been sent to a new therapist I'm meeting for the first time in a month (completely unrelated to the first) because I found out too late to stop that like I mentioned. I'm hoping to explain to her what happened but feel so terrible to have this be a new starting point for a new therapy. I'm hoping he/she'll understand and we can go from there but just hate how this whole thing played out.

1 reply
September 2nd, 2021

@KittyKeats

understand and hope things work out well for you

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User Profile: Perspectivesmiles1106
Perspectivesmiles1106 August 25th, 2021

Ty for posting and best of luck for ur future

@KittyKeats