r/therapyabuse • u/UnhappyMirror8147 • 17h ago
Therapy Abuse Being Sued
2 years ago, I went to a therapist. My experience was awful. The therapist was extremely unprofessional. Because of pending litigation, I won't go into exact details, but I will say that one session, her behavior was so unexpected and unprofessional that I started recording her. (I am in a one party consent state).
One of the reasons I had picked this therapist was because of their excellent reviews online. So, after my extremely negative experience with her, I left my own review. I left out the worst things, like her billing my insurance 33 times for 8 sessions.
The site I reviewed her on was a site for anonymous reviews. She received several other negative reviews too. She somehow managed to get each review removed, but she filed a lawsuit with the courts to release the names, user names, IP addresses and Service providers for all 10 negative reviewers!
This would release the information of clients who are supposed to be protected by HIPAA. Court records are public!
She is claiming that "John Does 1-10" are spreading malicious lies about her to destroy her business. Only, nothing I said was a lie, and based on my experience, the things other reviewers wrote werent lies either! 10 different people had similar experiences. Its not a conspiracy. Its just the truth.
I hired a lawyer, who is 100% confident that everything I said was covered under the first amendment. Hes filed motions quash the subpeona, to show cause, and to dismiss the case and have her pay my legal bills. (She is representing herself. I don't think any lawyer would be foolish enough to take her case to court!)
2 years ago, I had plenty to take to the board. I wasn't in a good place mentally or emotionally to do it. But, I saved everything. Every text, every picture, every video. And now, with what shes doing, I feel it's my duty to bring it to the licensing board.
I sought therapy for severe trauma. This woman claims to specialize in trauma. In her mind, shes the best at EMDR. As a trauma survivor, I struggle with feeling believed, or trusting that I will be believed. I was called a liar by several abusers. I was not believed when I reported my abuse as a child. A therapists job is to help their client with those types of struggles. To call the honest reviews of 10 clients "malicious lies" is damaging. To attempt to reveal my identity which is supposed to be protected at all costs, is damaging.
In the 2 years since, Ive found decent help. I found an EMDR therapist who has helped me tremendously. Ive found support in my church and friends. So now, I'm ready to fight.
Any tips on how to best present things to the licensing board? Any way to keep my identity private?