Why Therapists Go Bad

🌪️ Why Some Therapists Are Bad (or Become That Way)

Unfortunatly therapists are not always helpful

1. Motivation Misfires: Why They Chose to Become a Therapist

Some people enter therapy for the wrong reasons. While many come with a genuine desire to help, others are drawn to the role for what it gives them emotionally:

To Feel Important: Some are seeking status, admiration, or even control. The title “therapist” can feel powerful in a world where empathy is scarce—and they use that power to feel special.
Because It’s Accessible: Unlike medicine or engineering, therapy training (especially coaching and short diplomas) can sometimes appear easier to access—allowing individuals who aren’t deeply committed to ethics or self-awareness to slip through the net.
To Fix Themselves: This isn’t always bad, but when someone hasn’t done their own healing and uses clients as a mirror or emotional crutch, the client can become secondary to the therapist’s unresolved pain.

2. Burnout and Emotional Erosion

Even good therapists can go bad—not through malice, but fatigue, disconnection, or lack of support:

Burnout: Long hours, vicarious trauma, and emotional depletion can cause once-empathic therapists to harden, detach, or shut down.
Loss of Curiosity: When a therapist stops learning or reflecting, they risk falling into patterns of arrogance or indifference.
Compassion Fatigue: Repeated exposure to suffering without renewal or supervision can lead to a numb, robotic presence instead of a warm human one.

3. Ego and Power in the Room

A therapist holds natural power in a session, but some misuse that position—often quietly, subtly, and harmfully:

Believing They Know Best: Rather than listening deeply, they may try to direct, prescribe, or even override the client’s instincts.
Acting as the “Healer”: The dynamic becomes unbalanced when a therapist starts believing they are the solution—not a companion in the client’s discovery.
Punitive or Cold Boundaries: Charging for missed appointments without context, shutting down emotion, or using professionalism as a mask for control—all signs of a therapist who values structure over personhood.

4. Neglect of the Therapeutic Alliance

A bad therapist may not even realise that therapy is more about the relationship than the technique.

Not Seeing the Client as Equal: Forgetting that every client is an expert in their own life story.
Transactional Rather than Transformational: Treating sessions like time slots or tasks, rather than sacred spaces of healing.
Failure to Repair Ruptures: When something goes wrong and the therapist doesn’t acknowledge it or apologise, trust is shattered.

5. Hidden Bias and Lack of Reflective Practice

Without reflection and personal development, prejudice and rigid thinking can quietly slip in.

Unquestioned Biases: About race, gender, class, or culture—these can leak into sessions if not actively explored.
Over-Confidence: Some therapists stop reflecting on feedback, stop learning, and start believing they have nothing left to improve.
Inadequate Supervision: Without an honest space to review their work, therapists can spiral into patterns that harm rather than help.

6. Ethical Drift or Subtle Abuse

This is the darkest part—but it happens. And it’s important to name.

Therapist-Centric Sessions: Talking too much about themselves, making the client feel responsible for their feelings.
Shaming or Gaslighting: Questioning a client’s reality, invalidating their emotions, or suggesting their concerns are “just resistance.”
Blurring Boundaries: Becoming too familiar, flirty, or overly involved—leading to confusion or harm.

✨ Final Thoughts: The Role of the Cognizant Therapist

The Cognizant Therapist recognises they are always just one step away from power misuse unless they stay humble, mindful, and client-centered. Therapy is not about control or fixing, but walking beside someone in their story—with care, equality, and respect.