What's wrong with my therapist?

So glad you've decided to get a better T, you deserve much better! I exactly thought of Cruella too
I hope you do see her for a second because I wonder about her look, too LOL. You have a gift of writing that I pictured her vividly!
I'm absolutely sure you've made a right decision! I wish you good luck and keep us updated.

Thank you for updating me. I am glad that you are being persistent about this. I hope Medicare comes through for you. I think this would be really good for you.

Tell them that you need a higher level of care or much more care than what is provided to you now. If worse comes to worse, you might consider letting them know about your situation with this so called psychologist.

OMG! When you describe her, I picture a witch! Her stretching her nails out like that and her pointed, pointed shoes would creep me out. I would want to look at her and shake my head in disappointment. I would probably say, "WEIRD."

By the way, I am glad that you like my Twilight Zone comment.

Everything about her is inappropriate. Getting pissed off because you accidentally turned the wrong way. What's up with that?! This is a shinning example of how the wrong person can slip through the cracks and become a therapist. I don't know how the practice manages to keep her. There must be a lot of complaints about her.

I hope that you can get a new therapist and attend a Day program.

As far as the rollator goes, I believe that according to the Americans with Disabilities Act, you should be able to bring it in to the provider's room. That is weird that they don't want it in the room. It doesn't take up that much space. People get on to the bus with them. But most importantly, people like yourself need it to maintain balance. Let them know about the law. If you should fall, do they want to face a lawsuit? That is ridiculous.

I am so sorry that you have to deal with such craziness and stupidity.

Hello Going ~ Yes, indeed !! The more I reflect back on the last sessions, I have come to believe her physical presentation is off-putting. I was, trying to find the correct word for this, felt her nails, for example were inappropriate and her body language was very telling. Why would she stretch out those red painted very pointed fingernails towards me the minute I sat down. Everything about her smacks of crazy making.


And that picture that she keeps on the floor facing me of a fractured person with bits and pieces disconnected on the print is very unsettling. I knew if I went back, I would turn that picture away from me.


Yes, at first my mind could not grasp her hissing at me for turning the wrong corner until much later on after I left and reached a place of safety. I needed to be safely away from her to reflect on all the oddities that went on and that hissing has been haunting me. Hissing at a client............ imagine that. She could do alot of damage/harm to a patient. This one thing had a reverberating effect on me and it is still going on inside of me, trying to work on getting that out of my head.


Yes, I agree, I think those therapy sessions would be a good story for Stephen King too. The Twilight Zone.... the patient enters the room of uncertainty, what would become of the patient after entering and being exposed to a mind altering experience............ would the room carry with the patient in it's mind forever to be stuck in those 4 walls, repeating the exposure forever, trying to undo the experience and searching for that door of safety. Would the patient take that picture of the fractured person and make it whole again? Let me stop here as I am getting carried away.

I keep reading that this practice has a revolving door of therapists and psych docs. Over the year I have wanted to go there, but my insurance would not permit it, but every time I visit their site online, they have different therapists there. This therapist I am seeing now is relatively new and already there is a slew of complaints about her on Yelp.


And that is another thing, my Rollator. I need that for stability so I am clueless why a person in the medical field would object to "the monster in the room", or "that thing". Such an inappropriate thing for a therapist to show judgments like this and share with a patient. It's one thing to think this, but not out loud. When my new psych doc's nurse objected to me walking the Rollator into his room, when I got home, I noticed that the bags attached to my walker were unsnapped and riffled thru. Needless to say, I won't be going back to these two so-called medical professionals.


Now, I feel I need to go into therapy to deal with the effects of what Cruella De Vill did to me. Fortunately for me, I am not going back to continue to expose myself to this type of shock therapy.


I will start a new psychologist next week with open eyes and will have lots of questions for her. Now, my anxiety is very high about sitting down in front of a new therapist. There are absolutely no reviews about her online, she has been practicing for 20 years. She was listed on Psychology Today and those are verified professionals, so hoping nothing goes south for me. I don't drive myself so I won't have a car to dive into to grasp a sense of safety should this next appt go south. I have never had this experience with anyone before.

Birdie

Going ~ Thank you very much for your concern about the issue with insurance coverage for Partial Hospitalization. The Administrator over that program said I am on the list to contact should the insurance go back into place. However, will keep checking back weekly.


Yes, good idea to talk to them about my recent experience with this therapist.


As I sit here now, with the long day ahead of me, I wish I was traveling now to Partial Hospitalization for a structured day. When I went in-patient, it was such a relief to know that I was in a safe place where I would be taken care of so that I didn't have to worry about myself.

Going, thank you for your active communication and following me and validating my experiences too


Birdie

Hi there Seeker ~ Thank you for following me. I will not be going back to Cruella, to let her know I am making a change. I may get a phone call from the office inquiring if I will be back to make another appt and then I will say that I will not be returning, but will not give a reason why. When I see this practice's new psych doc next week, I may let her know how I reacted to this experience.


Will keep you updated how my new appts go next week.

Birdie

RUN!! RUN!! RUN!! These people are insane. Be stubborn about your rollator (my husband uses one). "I have to use the rollator unless you want me to fall." Americans with Disabilities Act. I always tell my husband to utilize his disability strategically. LOL!

Will you consider writing a review for her? I think it's important to give feedback of some kind. If people are quiet, she might hurt someone more vulnerable.

I am sorry but when I read blue lipstick I knew she had to go. Blue lipstick? It’s distracting. Just sitting there typing and blue lipstick. Smh. I hope you find the best care possible. This lady isn’t it

Thank you Artley ~ Because I was beginning to think that I am not allowed to bring my Rollator into a therapy room or psych docs room, I started allowing them to tell me not to bring it in the room. I thought that was an odd request, but I didn't challenge it. Now I will, thank you !!


Birdie

Hello Divine ~ Indeed, between the harsh colored lipsticks and nail police and bizarre clothing, even the typing was very distracting and I found I was more focused on those things than what I really need to talk about.


She would suddenly swivel her chair around so her back was to me to type something in her computer. The constant swirling of her chair was causing me to feel un-grounded and dissociating, not to mention dizzy and disrupting my train of thought. The constant typing on the computer was one of the major complaints on yelp.com along with sitting and staring at patient with no responses.

Birdie

Hello Seeker ~ Good suggestion. Would you suggest a website that would get attention, yelp.com perhaps?

Birdie

We’ve gotten really stubborn about ADA rules. We get particularly pissy is stores that are so overcrowded with merchandise that he cannot even get through the aisles. Particularly an issue if he’s in his wheelchair. A doctor not being equipped to meet ADA is not okay.

I want to talk briefly about why I am transitioning away from my new psychiatrist.


1. His office is located in an Executive Suite Complex and what that means is that these offices are temporary. The company or person pays weekly for the office space and never signs a contract, so the nature of the Executive Suites are temporary rooms. Every time I meet with him, he's located in a different room with a completely different view out the window and a different set up to his office. So, I never know what to expect when I go there.

2. I do see his assistant in the same room each time as it's full of filing cabinets. But I found he double books his patients. Often times when I arrive, there are alot of patients crammed in one small room waiting to see him and when I come out his assistant wants to go over some things with me which I feel violated HIPPA, as there are many patients in the same room with me. She also leaves her computer unattended when she escorts me to his room or out of the building.


3. He mentioned to me that he recently opened his practice here and was in another state last year. Not sure why he shared this with me, but coupled with the temporary nature of his office space and he recently moved here, gave me a feeling of dis-ease about longevity with this doctor. He's been in practice for 40 years, yet when I looked up his license it only showed for my state, even though I did a general search in all states and only a recent record of his license.

4. He makes multiple mistakes with my prescriptions, he electronically writes in the prescription to my pharmacy and yet when I get there, I have to correct his mistakes. Last time he wrote 3 pills of a controlled substance, which I have been on for years and I had to text his assistant and wait for her to respond to correct that mistake. So, I now call ahead to go over the prescription before I get to the pharmacy.


5. He does present himself well, he is always dressed in a suit and tie, and he is smart about medication and offers helpful advice. In comparison, my former psych doc I saw for 30 years he always had the same office with the same furnishings and wall hangings.


6. My former insurance company required a large co-payment which I could not afford as he wanted to see me weekly until he "felt comfortable with me". Well, I am going on 4 months seeing him weekly and I'm still stuck on weekly with him. He offered not to charge me for the office co-pays at the time of visit, but would let me accumulate the bill and once he felt I was an established patient, he would start to back-bill me. I told him many times that I don't want to accumulate a bill. I keep asking for a bill so I could start paying but his assistant refuses to give me a bill. I'm not sure what is up with that.

Am I being too picky? I'm just used to my former psych doc of 30 years and adjusting to the new psych doc's ways and that weird therapist is overwhelming me.

Thanks again for listening.

Birdie

Artley ~ Aren't stores now supposed to comply with handicapped accessibility? I was in Walgreens last week and the isles were full of merchandise in those temporary cardboard displays that easily tip over and placed haphazardly. And when I use their restroom, it is not handicapped accessible either.

Birdied

I'm not from the USA, so I'm not familiar with your websites. Probably yelp and maybe her supervisor /owner of the office /even herself! I would definitely write feedback to her as well. Otherwise it's a little like gossip behind her back. You could write her personally first, and then share publicly.

Wow! That picture is ultra disturbing and just plain sick! She is really out of it!!!

You know I really don't mean to joke or get silly. But, I would want to wear Google glasses or do something to film her because she is really nuts!

You know you might consider writing a letter to the head practice manager about her. I agree with you that what she does is totally traumatizing.

I am so glad that you found another psychologist to work with. I bet you will have a better experience with this new person. Please update us on how things go with your new provider.

Thank you for updating me about the Day treatment program. I really hope you can go.

Also, it is good that you are leaving the psychiatrist too. Going through your stuff is very inappropriate. That practice has a bunch of providers with severe boundary issues.

I wonder who you can complain to about all of this. Even the issue with your rollator should not be an issue according to the disabilities act. And the therapist making nasty comments about it just shows you what a disgusting person and provider she is.

Yup boundary issues and Stephen King alright.

Thank you for sharing your situation with us. Please vent all that you need to. We are here for you.

I wouldn't like a therapist like that

You know what... thinking of this from outside the box (a 60's term), what if all these gory details were her way of her asking for help? The stretching out of fingernails towards me, the fractured picture that faces me, and all the other stuff that is very inappropriate. Just a thought. In any event, she is no longer in my life to do any further harm and I will find a way to take care of this with the company she works with. I will be seeing the psych doc later on next week and it may come up that I canceled my appt with my therapist, that might open the door for a discussion about her inappropriateness.


Now, I am scared to face another therapist or psych doc, all this unnecessary drama and fright. Why did I have to experience all this, is this what mental health is turning into now... a constant parade of nonsense and nonsensical behaviors? There appears to be no more gatekeepers for those of us who have a fragile sense of self. Why go out of her way to frighten a patient like this... wearing stark red lipstick or blue/black lipstick and sharp long red nails, crazy mixed up colors for clothing and hissing and making suggestive remarks and that picture she had facing me.... shivers.


I didn't realize just how bad all this was until I wrote about it here. In a few short visits, all this went on. I have to re-evaluate how I allowed someone to violate my boundaries in this manner. Sometimes it's best to just do pod-casts, YouTube and read all the skills I need instead of putting myself in harms way like this.


I want to thank all of you for reaching out to validate what I put out here. Your support and kind words really helped get me thru the worst of it so I could make a healthy decision to not go back. Thank you for helping to normalize and balance out what I needed to hear and think about.


Birdie

[QUOTE=Going Ballistic;6612718]Wow! That picture is ultra disturbing and just plain sick! She is really out of it!!!

Going ~ I wish I had snapped an iphone picture of that fractured woman in the framed photograph. I almost wished that I could go back there one more time, but alias, won't put myself thru that again. I wonder if the higher ups know that she keeps a picture like this there and what must they think seeing how she presents herself. Maybe, apparently they really don't care.

Birdie