bad therapy

Bad Therapy is counseling that becomes unhelpful or harmful, causing distress or blocking growth instead of supporting it. It may involve a bad therapist, a poor fit, or therapy gone wrong through unethical conduct or persistent misattunement.

Typical patterns include chronic invalidation, shaming or blaming, boundary violations, breaches of confidentiality, or rigid, one-size-fits-all methods that ignore culture and trauma. The working alliance is weak, rupture repair is avoided, and consent is sidelined, which can retraumatize clients and erode trust. This differs from the normal discomfort of honest exploration; the harm is ongoing, dismissive, or coercive. Naming it clarifies what went wrong and its impact on healing.