I had a conversation with someone from saneline last night who was helpful in pointing me to a support group (which turned out not to exist) but it ultimately ended with her saying 'you can't get better unless you are willing to try [counselling]'.

Bear in mind I had already told her I'd been seeing a counsellor for 8 months and didn't feel I was progressing anymore though it was useful at first. I told her I had seen a psychotherapist the day before but wasn't sure about her. I'd also mentioned I was looking for support groups for group therapy.

I felt a bit insulted as I felt she had not taken any of my steps into account. I felt like asking who had trained her and say she needed to work on her listening skills, but I just bit my tongue and said I needed to go.

Anyway, it triggered a few memories for me of bad therapists/support workers that I've interacted with in the past. One lady from the Samaritans gave me a homespun theory on genetics and told me depression was genetic and there's nothing you can do. I saw one therapist about an eating disorder. She was quite overweight and I felt that immediate prickly sensation as I walked into the room and felt like she had a problem with me being slim. She didn't seem to be polite to me or have any empathy and I ended up walking out. I also tried a CBT therapist but she didn't seem to get what I had been through/ know what she was doing and the sessions didn't help which made me very resentful as they were expensive and I felt used.

I had a good life coach once and a good psychotherapist at uni but only had two sessions with her until I had to move out of the area.

What are other people's experience of therapy/counselling?