When A Therapist Thrives On Client Drama
I dare say that my therapist was fooled by one narcissist that she took on as a client – not realizing that she had been suckered by this client until it became apparent I was on the verge of ending my own therapy with her. That, of course is another story, but while this volatile situation involving the therapist and The Identity Thief was happening, I believe the therapist tried to manage it to the best of her abilities. However, I did not always suspect this was the case when I thought about this therapist’s sympathy towards the narcissists I had discussed with her. I suppose, however, that I lacked understanding about of lot of the things that the therapist did in this circumstance even when I sought her for clarification.
For whatever reason, while in the therapist’s office during the end of my session, I began to have a panic attack. I was struck with an impending sense of doom and an overwhelming uneasiness that seemed to overtake me out of nowhere. Panic attacks for me do not occur often, but when they do, they happen without reasonable cause and are always terrifyingly ominous and fear-producing. I had no idea the surprise awaiting my appearance in the therapist’s waiting room. It was after I tried to compose myself that the therapist alerted me of new clients waiting for their next appointment slot. I do not know why I was so caught off guard and taken by surprise.
Interestingly, it was the time slot that the therapist always scheduled me for every other week for five years up until this particular point. I had only been notified two hours prior to my arrival that my appointment time needed to be rescheduled an hour ahead to accommodate a change in plans. Because I was desperate to keep my appointment day, I gave in to the change because I felt I had no choice. I had no idea that this change had been craftily orchestrated against me. After I found out about the reason for the change, I assumed and wanted to believe the therapist was clueless to what was really going within the sphere of her arena. Yet, looking back, this therapist had to have known because the receptionist schedules no one without the therapist’s consent.
Anyway, upon composing myself so that I could be calm enough to leave the therapist’s office, this is when I first discovered that her new clients were actually my so-called friend – The Identity Thief – a covert malignant narcissist and her flying monkey of a husband! When I heard the therapist tell me this news, I stared at her in disbelief. Imagine my horror! Imagine my emotions! Somewhere deep within my psyche, there was an internal knowing of imminent and present danger. My spirit man attempted to alert me of the danger ahead of time by setting off an alarm to prepare, but my body could only panic.
The unexpected presence of a narcissist that had actually been the focus of my therapy discussion during this appointment was actually sitting outside in the waiting room as the next client! In the moments that I stared into the therapist’s eyes, I searched for an explanation. I wanted to know how she could do this to me as her client. I watched as the therapist shifted her weight from foot-to-foot as if she were attempting to find the right words to say to me. I could see what I thought was embarrassment within her eyes for not telling me sooner.
I had so many questions. I needed so many answers that I could see were not going to be satisfied because of the way the therapist looked at me. Was this therapist even sorry that she had booked the narcissist and me back -to-back for appointments on the same day? Was there no other time that this narcissist could have been scheduled to see her? Why did my slot have to be changed to accommodate a narcissist that was the topic of my current discussions with this therapist? Is there not some ethical clause against this? I did not know, but I felt this therapist had some explaining to do. Unfortunately, there was not enough time. My session was over.
What happens next? Stay tuned for the next post to find out.
My Voice Unchained 