Original post by PathwayWell, I guess that could be different for different people?
I mean, with my psychologist she started dismissing things and didn't acknowledge when things were getting bad/dangerous for me MH wise. It was a sign to me that she didn't care or was too busy or whatever. She also had a really blasé attitude to my issues with the MH system in the NHS. For context, we did start working together a few months after I lost one of my best friends due to neglect whilst she was in an inpatient psychiatric unit. So that was a pretty big deal for me, it still is, but she didn't seem to give a **** - she said that I couldn't change what had happened. Which is obvious!
She also would ask me what I wanted to work on (I wanted to work on specific CPTSD-related phobias as I knew that I had limited sessions with her, she was pregnant). She didn't do anything with it claiming it wasn't feasible. Instead she spent the sessions teaching me about neuropsychology and stuff which I already knew about and was studying at the time - trauma and its affects on the brain have interested me for years. I basically think she wasted the sessions because she didn't know what to do with me, her words were something along the lines of "too difficult" and my trauma history was "too complicated."
Anyway, I guess for me, it's important that I am heard and that what I say is taken seriously. I never really had that as a kid. And when I did try to speak out (e.g. to police or whatever) they didn't give a **** either. But what's important to you might be something different. As I said, it won't be easy, recovery from trauma won't be, but you shouldn't have to "deal with" your therapist as well, if you get what I mean? They should be aiding you as you work through it, not making things harder.
Essentially, you need to figure out what is important to you in this therapeutic relationship and make sure that it is met. It's not a want either, it's a need - it must be met.