Therapy Abuse Lawsuits on the Rise Across America

What happens when boundaries are crossed while under the care of a licensed therapist?

Therapy has been a part of the human experience for thousands of years, and today is a widely used method of helping people cope with a multitude of problems and issues facing us on a daily basis. While most professional therapists never take advantage of their clients, there are some instances of abuse that can happen. Therapists who may be lonely, need emotional attention, have deep unresolved problems of their own, or who lack proper training in boundary issues are inclined to do marginal or poor treatment or worse.

Often times a therapist takes advantage of the patient’s condition when they are vulnerable. The abused may believe that the sexual contact is part of the therapy or that they actually have an ongoing relationship, it’s all very misleading and illegal.

Did your therapist take advantage of you?

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When did the unprofessional behavior begin?*

What was the nature of the behavior?*

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An abusive therapist can be characterized generally as a professional that doesn’t act with their client’s best interests in mind, and seeks to manipulate the person into doing something they really don’t want to do with the end result of emotional or psychological damage.

Therapists can help people with a wide range of issues including depression, anxiety, relationships, trauma, grief, and more.

Some of the most common professional therapists include psychologists (PhD / PsyD), marriage and family therapists (LMFT), clinical social workers (LCSW / LMSW), and board licensed professional counselors (LPC), but there are many other types of therapy workers.

Most have a Masters Degree or a Doctorate Degree in their field. Many are qualified and certified by their state’s professional board after successfully completing the necessary education, exams, training and practice.

Examples and signs of abuse sometimes manifests in the therapist’s business practice as:

– Has offered services for free or at a very low cost compared to other professionals.

– Has scheduled your appointment last in the day or even after clinic business hours.

– Fictitious billing of insurance for non-existence treatments or sessions.

– Therapy sessions that run over time.

– Practitioner seems aloof or not paying attention, maybe checks their phone in sessions.

– Therapists invite clients to outside events such as dining, attending a show or movie.

Other warning signs of therapy abuse happens in social contacts, such as:

– Attending social events such as parties where the practitioner was.

– Offering rides home after sessions.

– Being offered to sleep over at the practitioner’s home.

– Practitioner offers alcoholic drinks during or after sessions.

– Practitioner mentions we have friends in the same circles.

– Practitioner has offered to be friends when treatments are finished.

– Have attended meetings (professional or social) together outside of the treatment sessions.

Other signs that the therapist is abusive can be seen in mind control of the client, non-consensual sexual activity, the use of cult-themes such as ritualized group activities, or making the client feel “special”. Seeking to isolate or create a dependency is also a form of abuse.

There are hundreds of possible abuse scenarios in each of these categories.

What can a patient do if they feel they are being abused or violated by their therapist?

Abuse of any kind should not be tolerated by anyone. If you feel that you’ve been abused in any way by your trusted therapist, there are a number of steps to rectify the situation.

Step 1. Contact our law firm by calling and speaking with a legal representative at 1-800-631-5656 or use the 100% secure contact form on this page.

We understand the situation may be difficult to talk about, but rest assured by taking legal action against these abusive therapist, you very well be saving someone else extensive pain and suffering. We will take legal action and hold them accountable. We keep all information about your case 100% private. There is no shame on your part, you were mislead and taken advantage of, start the healing process by taking action today.

Step 2. You may feel the need to contact other therapists in order to heal, and we encourage you to seek a new therapist and create a new healthy relationship. Be sure to check references, do Google name checks and look at reviews for the practitioner.

Therapist State Resource Pages:

Therapist sexual abuse lawyer New York