Therapist made me cry

[Hunter]

Had my therapist appointment today. I asked him a question and he said Really I have told you several times, he said I'm not being critical but really you can't remember. I told him that several times I've told him about my brain injury, that I have no short term memory. That's why I record our sessions. So I was hurt and started to cry and got up to leave. He got up took my hand and said we need to talk then he hugged me and I left.
I am still hurt he was critical. I took a brick to my head was unconscious in hospital for 21 days with 150 staples tomy head. And he gets mad at me because I can't remember something he told me.

I feel like stopping therapy with him. I don't need to feel hurt or cry because a therapist criticized me.

Was he wrong to say that to me?

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I don’t know. I would think it would depend on how he said it. It does sound like something you might by a bit hypersensitive too.

Also he did try to get you to stay and talk about it, if I read what you posted correctly. That might suggest he did not intend to hurt your feelings.

 

[Hunter]

Yeah I may have been over sensitive. I can cry at a moments notice. I don't know why I'm so emotional. I hear a song on the radio or watch a movie and I start to cry. What's wrong with me, why am I doing this?

 

[Daniel E.]

I think we are naturally sensitive if we feel our own therapist does not understand something we feel is important about us. I have felt that way before, and it is a very lonely feeling.

So that may explain some of your reaction since you were not feeling validated -- even if your therapist only had the best of intentions and was trying to understand.

BTW:

Sometimes people who have intense emotions don’t see any of their emotional reactions as being normal. Everyone has emotions. No one is happy all the time. It’s normal to feel sad, angry, hurt, ashamed, or any other emotion...Check out whether what you are feeling is what most other people would experience, and validate those feelings as normal, even if you don't like experiencing them.
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/pieces-mind/201407/self-validation

 

[Daniel E.]

Genetic Factors Make Some of Us More Sensitive Than Others
June 4, 2020

New research on the genetic underpinnings of sensitivity suggests that about half of the differences between people on this characteristic could be attributable to genes...

"We are all affected by what we experience—sensitivity is something we all share as a basic human trait. But we also differ in how much of an impact our experiences have on us."

Notably, they found that genetic components of sensitivity were moderately correlated with higher neuroticism and lower extraversion...

"The majority of the heritability of sensitivity was explained by genetic factors that also influence neuroticism, and to a lesser extent extraversion."