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View Poll Results: Have you ever lied in therapy or to your therapist?
Yes, I've lied about how bad I really feel 20 45.45%
Yes, I've lied about how bad I really feel
20 45.45%
Yes, I've lied about my symptom severity 21 47.73%
Yes, I've lied about my symptom severity
21 47.73%
Yes, I've lied about my thoughts about suicide 21 47.73%
Yes, I've lied about my thoughts about suicide
21 47.73%
Yes, I've lied about my insecurities and doubts about myself 9 20.45%
Yes, I've lied about my insecurities and doubts about myself
9 20.45%
Yes, I've lied about pretending to like my therapist's comments 12 27.27%
Yes, I've lied about pretending to like my therapist's comments
12 27.27%
Yes, I've lied about my use of drugs or alcohol or self harm 15 34.09%
Yes, I've lied about my use of drugs or alcohol or self harm
15 34.09%
Yes, I've lied about why I missed appointments/was late 7 15.91%
Yes, I've lied about why I missed appointments/was late
7 15.91%
Yes, I've pretended to find therapy more effective than I do 8 18.18%
Yes, I've pretended to find therapy more effective than I do
8 18.18%
Yes, I've pretended to be more hopeful than I really am 9 20.45%
Yes, I've pretended to be more hopeful than I really am
9 20.45%
Yes, I've lied about things I have done that I regret 7 15.91%
Yes, I've lied about things I have done that I regret
7 15.91%
Yes, everything I discuss in therapy is a lie 1 2.27%
Yes, everything I discuss in therapy is a lie
1 2.27%
No, like Pinocchio...I cannot tell a lie 5 11.36%
No, like Pinocchio...I cannot tell a lie
5 11.36%
Other 11 25.00%
Other
11 25.00%
Multiple Choice Poll. Voters: 44. You may not vote on this poll

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LabRat27
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Default Jun 15, 2019 at 07:09 PM
  #21
I put "other." I've lied to all my therapists in the past, but when I started seeing current T I made a commitment to myself not to lie to him. I don't lie directly, but I will omit things sometimes.
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Anonymous46653
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Default Jun 17, 2019 at 12:36 PM
  #22
Quote:
Originally Posted by Xynesthesia2 View Post
Primarily about alcohol use. But with that, it also came:

Yes, I've lied about how bad I really feel (due to the physical effects, shame and anxiety)
Yes, I've lied about my symptom severity (obvious)
Yes, I've lied about my insecurities and doubts about myself (that I would never beat the addiction)
Yes, I've lied about why I missed appointments/was late (I cancelled some due to being hangover or drunk and made up a reason or just canceled and no explanation)
Yes, I've pretended to find therapy more effective than I do (obvious)

If I did not have the alcohol relapses, I probably would not have lied about anything as I never had a problem talking about anything else. Also, virtually no symptoms when I am stably sober, or pretty mild (some anxiety). I really get the doubts and debates among therapists that there is little use for therapy when a client is in active substance addiction, especially if they lie about it. It colored and distorted everything for me and no amount of other honest introspection was truly useful with that problem in the center of everything and actually causing most of my other issues. I am not much of a liar sober, but active addicts are definitely some of the worst liars and manipulators. This is why I always say therapy would have been more effective for me if the Ts called me out on that BS. They certainly knew about my addiction, that was the first things I told them when I contacted. They did not know about the relapses but the way I juggled and distracted the whole therapy must have been full of red flags - I recognize those in my peers. Anyhow, I just think traditional weekly psychotherapy is mostly useless for active addiction, for many reasons.

The bolded I do all the time. I exaggerate how helpful therapy is. Sometimes it is not near the truth.
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koru_kiwi
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Default Jun 21, 2019 at 07:18 PM
  #23
Quote:
Originally Posted by Going Ballistic View Post
The bolded I do all the time. I exaggerate how helpful therapy is. Sometimes it is not near the truth.
would you be willing to elaborate on why you think you do this?

i was guilty of this as well because of my fear of upsetting my T, hurting his feelings, for appearing ungrateful, and the biggest fear, that he would abandon me if he didn't think he was helping me. but when the interventions were actually not helping me and making my symptoms worse or when i was feeling greatly misunderstood, i could no longer continue stroking my Ts ego in spite of my mental well being and shrinking bank account. it was scary to start asserting my needs and advocating myself. sometimes T was welcoming of my honest feedback, but then other times he was not and reacted with defensiveness or would withdraw his care...but that is a story for another thread.

i actually think that this happens quite often in the therapeutic relationship, but what i'm not sure of, and what worries me, is how aware are Ts that this is happening??
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Default Jun 21, 2019 at 07:37 PM
  #24
Maybe it’s not exactly lying. But I don’t tell her anything about my past because I don’t want her to judge me on how I was 5-13 years ago. I want to focus on what’s going on right now. So she doesn’t know much of my history and I have refused to have my records from my last clinic sent over.

I also lied and told her I was female instead of gender non binary because I felt like she wouldn’t have taken me seriously and just have told me I was confused. And that would just crush me because I know I’m not confused. So it was easier to lie.

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Misery Business
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Default Jun 21, 2019 at 08:08 PM
  #25
I don't lie about much in therapy, but I do lie about how I feel a lot of the time saying I feel better than I really do and I also lie about the feeling of being hopeful a lot of times. I think if I would lie too much then why waste my time going to therapy at all because it would be effective at all.
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