BadTherapist: What TikTok is Saying About Therapy Discontinuation

Therapy discontinuation, a term used to describe clients ending treatment prematurely, is a common problem faced by mental healthcare professionals. This study considers how negative experiences in therapy impact the client’s experience in therapy and how this contributes to premature discontinuation. Video posts that used the hashtag bad therapist (#badtherapist) were collected from the social media platform TikTok and analyzed using inductive qualitative content analysis procedures. Five themes emerged from our analysis including: invalidation, biases, boundary violations, including religious beliefs without client agreement, and denial of trauma. Oftentimes, clients who prematurely discontinue services or openly discuss negative therapy experiences in therapy are labeled as “resistant”; however, the data suggest that more careful consideration of therapist behavior and self-of-the-therapist issues is needed. Clinical implications and limitations to the study are discussed.