My Therapist Tried To Brain Wash Me

I knew something was wrong with the sessions. I mentioned on a previous post some red flags. I feel betrayed. I am worried I am still under some sort of "Brain Washing".

He did a lot of the things mentioned here: https://science.howstuffworks.com/life/ ... ashing.htm


Can I ask the people on the forum, is, "noticing" a form of brainwashing, like making me notice lots of things, such as colours, signs Tree's sounds etc when I am out and about. He would tell me to notice things and repat the thing I am noticing in my head, or even say it out loud. When I do this, I find myself getting anxious and can't think. I become hyper-vigilant like a solider on high alert when I "Notice" things.

He would do inaproprite things like lick his lips when I talked about some sexual things that happened to me in the past, constantly check the time, yawn when I talked about something I found interesting etc.

I'm not a professional but here are my thoughts.

There are some similarities between brain washing and behavioral health therapy, in my opinion. The idea a lot of the time is to get you, or whomever is in therapy, to change the way they think. For example, if you are like me and have harsh negative thoughts about yourself and want to change the way you treat yourself, if that makes sense. Also, noticing the things around you is a common way to ground yourself during an anxiety attack, taking you out of the attack and back into the world by way of taking note of your surroundings.

Licking the lips could be an unconscious response to your recounts of sexual experiences, as this, along with such things as biting the lip are consistent with body language present when thinking about sexual things. Granted I think your therapist should probably be aware of those behaviors and how they make you feel, but they are sometimes unconscious behaviors. And I do think it's rude of him to check the time constantly and yawn when you speak, but you never really know what is driving a person and their actions. Perhaps he is anxious about an upcoming event or didn't have time to grab his morning coffee. Does this happen often during your sessions?

I have anxiety as well and I know it is very easy to look into stuff like this. I am not in your shoes and will not tell you that you are wrong, but things are not always as they seem, especially with anxiety. If you feel that you are being brainwashed, perhaps look into seeing a different therapist.