‘Is This Unprofessional or Am I Exaggerating?’ Therapist Uses Sessions With Client to Gush About Her New Boyfriend

If you've ever been to a therapist, told them about a problem, and gotten replies like ‘That sounds a lot like what my husband went through’, or ‘My kids were in a similar situation’ and then proceed to tell you about their personal experiences, it might be time you looked for another therapist. Self-disclosure should be very limited, in our experience. If you're a therapist and you think it's okay to spend half of the session gushing about your new boyfriend, know that this is unethical and downright unprofessional behavior. As a client, your session is supposed to be about you, not your therapist. 

We all know they ain't cheap! In fact, therapy is quite expensive, and you shouldn't have to spend so much money on hearing another person's problems when you simply came to vent about your own. Sure, bad things happen to everyone — we're all human. Your therapist is just a person with their own issues — and that's totally legitimate. In fact, your therapist should probably get a therapist. Heaven knows we all need one.

So while scouring Reddit, we happened upon a post that confused the heck out of us. GrayDayCloud disclosed that her therapist was talking a lot about her new boyfriend, and proceeded to ask the internet if it was normal. Scroll down and read the baffling post for yourself.

That doesn't seem pretty normal, to be honest. Seems like something that two best friends might do, but not a therapist and her client… To be fair, even though most people use their past struggles to learn how to empathize with others, therapy is so much more than that. Therapists have to be able to help their clients on the path to recovery, not gush about their new boyfriends. Some clients may benefit from self-disclosure, but the truth is a lot of them won't. We're not saying your therapist should be a total enigma, but they certainly should be keeping the focus on you — the paying client. Continue scrolling for the comments. Some of the comments include therapists, who had a lot to say about it.

The general consensus seems to be that everyone agrees that it's unethical. If the therapist needs a gal pal, she should turn to her friends for support, not her client. And on that note, we're signing off for today. Hope you enjoyed the content, and keep your eyes open for more.