I just had three horrible therapy sessions with an LDS therapist, and I believe that her being LDS is absolutely relevant. She never brought up religion, but she sometimes treated me with exactly the same smug, I-can-read-your-mind attitude that Mormons in general are liable to display. During the final session, she went so far as to imply that I might very well have never left Mormonism if my father's bizarre attitude toward it hadn't repulsed me so. When I corrected her by saying I'd left for entirely different reasons, she smiled slightly and lowered her eyelids and fluttered them the way people do when they're rolling their eyes but trying lazily to hide it, and said she was sure I had other reasons.

I kind of want to...I don't know, maybe commit seppuku or something to restore my honor. To think that I actually paid to be treated this way!

Any of you ever have a rotten experience with a Mormon shrink and come away feeling sure that the rottenness was attributable at least in part to the shrink's being Mormon?

To assume my share of the responsibility: I knew she was probably LDS before I started, knew I'd probably do better with a non-LDS therapist, and chose her anyway because I was being impatient.

Not personally – however, I've read of many instances where mormon therapists have essentially acted as church surrogates or substitute bishops. It's unprofessional and irresponsible, and frequently causes further damage. The overwhelming consensus is to seek out non-mormon or ex-mormon therapists.

Mixing religious advocacy with therapy may be a cause for professional discipline. You may want to consider reporting that therapist to the appropriate licensing board, which could potentially save someone else from experiencing that level of substandard treatment.

Yeah, but they can’t help it. Any LDS therapist is unqualified to practice, but legally they’re allowed to. That’s why there’s a free market. OP should dump the LDS therapist.

Would you hire a surgeon who only works blindfolded? I wouldn’t.

Therapists, mormon or not, are not all helpful.

Find the one you work best with. They are there to provide you insight into how you are viewing things so you can make a personal break through.

If you are trying to break free from mormonism, having someone with LDS driven prejudices may not be as helpful. It may just be oppressive receiving counseling by someone whose worldview approves of the source of your emotional and mental abuse or torment.

I won't go on and on about what the LDS therapist did to "us." My gay husband and I had decided that we would share the house and share raising the kids, share bills, etc. We were having the basement done and putting in a door for him down there so he had a private entrance. His lds therapist told him it wasn't fair to me. So my husband left. He still admits it was the biggest mistake he made in all this. I didn't care if he went out and found a partner. I had given him permission to do anything as long as he came home and helped raise the kids for years.

This same therapist told me that being gay is like someone who wants to have sex with cows. Just because he wants sex with cows, doesn't mean he should stop at the side of the road every time he sees a cow and has sex. That you have to have control. I didn't tell my husband this little example for years. I knew without a doubt I'd never go back to talk to that man.

My therapist is exmormon and I've been going to him for over 23 years. We've had a few disagreements. We just had one. I tell him and we discuss it. We haven't discussed this disagreement yet. I don't like phone or skype visits.

I'd tell the woman what I thought. Try to be clear and not lose your temper (like I tend to do), but she is NOT the therapist for you. I had to try several therapists before I found a good one. If you live close to Cache Valley, I can give you my therapist's name. He saved my life. I wouldn't be where I am without his help.

And since I'm sitting here waiting to go to the hospital for surgery, I'm reading exmormon and posting. I've about lost my mind. It is just a cataract, but my only other surgery was a C-section, so that wasn't the greatest of experiences. And I'm COVID negative by the way.

Best of luck, cl2.

having had both of my cataracts removed, I can say from my own experience that cataract surgery was definitely NO BIG DEAL. As surgeries go, two pieces of cake. Virtually no pain, and very little inconvenience.

Take care!!

Had some rotten experiences with Mormon "therapists." I was forced to go to family counseling at LDS Family Disservices as a kid. My parents were fighting all the time and it was obvious that my sperm donor was a shitbag to my sisters, me, and my codependent mother. All we got was the same "any good Mormons can make a marriage work," "We chose our families in the pre-existence," and "act like a good Mormon family even if it's not true" bullshit we heard from incompetent bishops.

Later, when I was sentenced to one year hard time at the BYU-I gulag, my shelf was cracking and I was having some issues with my cellmates-sorry-roommates. My parents assumed that I was autistic and I was stupid enough to tell my idiot bishop that. Bishop Dumbass told the therapist that I was autistic and the "therapist" used circular logic to justify that "diagnosis." I flipped through psychology textbooks in my free time (everybody has a weird hobby, okay?) and knew that I didn't meet the diagnosis for autism or Aspergers. I also knew that a proper psychologist/therapist would need more information for a proper diagnosis. The BYU-I "therapist" just took the word of a man as divinely inspired as my left boot, and about half as smart, just because the guy was a bishop. I only went once and never went back. Even back then I knew a brick wall would make a better therapist.

After getting through the Navy and attending a real college, I got some testing from the campus psych clinic. I don't meet the diagnosis for autism, but I do meet the diagnosis for Social Anxiety and Major Depressive Disorder. I know I should see a therapist for it, but, thanks to LDS therapists, I keep wondering if the therapist will try to help me or just try to force me into keeping the status quo. Thanks LDS Family Disservices, now I have trouble trusting therapists thanks to you.

LDS therapists are not there to help people, they are there to keep members in line. You won't get coping tools, you'll get the same bromides the Morg always uses. Diagnosis can never go against the shit-for-brains lay clergy. And if you don't believe anymore, LDS therapists can blame your problems on that and past visits to LDS Family Disservices will be used against you if you leave the morg.

It's good that the navy and a better university allowed you to crawl out of that muck. . .

On a different note, I suspect your left boot is a lot smarter than most humans.

+Eisbrecher:
"During the final session, she went so far as to imply that I might very well have never left Mormonism if my father's bizarre attitude toward it hadn't repulsed me so. When I corrected her by saying I'd left for entirely different reasons, she smiled slightly and lowered her eyelids and fluttered them the way people do when they're rolling their eyes but trying lazily to hide it, and said she was sure I had other reasons."

==I have heard that sort of thing before. When a christian or muslim leaves their religion, the theist says that he left the religion for personal reasons or perhaps he did not study the holy book enough. In fact, such people leave because they do study it. When you are about to join the religion, that is when they don't care if you read their holy book or not. They invite you with open arms.

The barrier for entry into a religion is very low.
The theist acts like the barrier to exist is infinitely high bc their religion is absolutely true.

~~~~iceman9090

Back in our ward in New Jersey, early 70s, the elders' quorum helped a lady therapist move from one office to another. I'm an introvert with learned extrovert talents and she and I got into a conversation about "Therapy", with the obvious roles of her a believer and me a non-believer.

She expressed the notion that 'patients' only get out of therapy what they're willing to put into it, and that it's the therapist's obligation to help the patient get to where they want to go, should he or she actually reveal that goal...

She also said that one person's 'negative' may be another person's 'positive' and that judging was for fearful people.


So... Sort of like a good friend?

She's trying to force-fit you into her world-view.
That's not psychotherapy. It's indoctrination.

Find someone who is intellectually curious and has an open, accepting, exploratory, playful world-view. Someone who likes to experience life - not shut it out.

(Hint: you won't find these types in Mormonism. In Mormonism you will find only "endure to the end.")

Best to you.

What Dr. No said.

You may have experienced religion-poisoned therapy, but you certainly experienced an ego-poisoned therapist!