I saw a therapist from 14 to my early 20s who enabled my mom’s abuse and encouraged her to put me under conservatorship against my will. I dissociated frequently and was traumatized for years by this therapist’s gaslighting, and have since been diagnosed with PTSD. One of the most cruel things this therapist said to me was, “Your mom didn’t do real abuse. Real abuse is when I worked with CPS and visited children whose parents hospitalized them.” She also frequently claimed my parents “couldn’t be abusive” and cited my parents being middle class and my having clothing appropriate for the weather.
This therapist made no acknowledgment that severe psychological abuse and intense emotional neglect were happening to me and traumatizing me. She added to my abuse and said countless cruel things when I showed vulnerability and tried to tell her about the abuse. Her willful ignorance and inappropriate responses in the face of my traumas contributed to me developing C-PTSD, which I struggle with to this day. Even trauma-informed therapists I’ve seen have been horrified when I told them all the inappropriate and cruel remarks this therapist made.
I will never forgive or forget this therapist’s cruel dismissal and callousness in the face of my abuse, and how she enabled it and contributed to it.
– J