Madeline Aimes — Contributor

I am a New England based freelance writer writing here under the pseudonym Madeline Aimes.  I've been been a public relations executive, newspaper writer and editor and a script writer. I have also experienced bad therapy.  As a part of my recovery from my own damaging experience in therapy, I hopes to facilitate a constructive conversation around this challenging topic between therapy consumers and professionals.

Though I read the cries of confused clients throughout the internet, I find relatively scarce professional or consumer literature about therapy that harms. I've found even fewer books or articles giving consumers a forum to talk back on the subject.

So I began this blog as a call, particularly for consumers, to discuss about what goes wrong and what they want to tell professionals about unsatisfactory, harmful or violating therapy.

Abuse in therapy has taken many forms. Sexual exploitation and dual relationships still persist despite clear ethics codes prohibiting them. And damage comes as more subtle abuses-- invalidation, shaming, and encouraging dependency, to name a few.

Any consideration of power relationships can carry large emotions. I hope this will be a constructive discussion encouraging both sides to reflect, listen and work with one another more effectively.