Health & Wellness

Do You Have a Bad Therapist? It Might Be Time to Fire Them

July 18, 2025

While a lot of people are pro-therapy these days—it can be a helpful tool for personal growth and healing—the truth is, therapists can be insane too. A wise person once said, “My therapist needs a therapist,” and it turns out to be true. Everyone needs support, tools, and resources for their mental wellness. Madi Murphy, host of The Bad Broadcast, is breaking down a few therapy stories that are truly cringeworthy and identifying red flags to look out for.

It’s time to be more discerning about the therapists you choose. “If at any point a therapist makes you uncomfortable, you should fire them. If they are breaking ethical codes, you should be reporting them,” Murphy advises. “They work for you.”

Murphy shares listeners’ stories about the most unhelpful, unethical, and unhinged things their therapists have said to them. Here’s what makes or breaks a good therapist, according to Murphy, and how to find the best one for you.

The therapist who encouraged toxic behavior

One The Bad Broadcast listener is crying “bad therapist” after her therapist told her to make plans with her situationship—only to cancel on him when he was 10 minutes away. That’s not all—she then instructed the client to post on her Instagram story about hanging out with other people so he would know she had blown him off. Toxic, much?

Surprisingly, Murphy is not mad at this advice and feels that many women fall prey to people pleasing. “A lot of the time, we think if we voice our opinions, if we say no, or don’t respond right away, we think we are being mean, bad, or toxic,” she says.

Murphy believes many women need to establish clear boundaries earlier, making them firmer and enforcing them. “If you need to cancel on people more and reject people more, just to make sure you aren’t people pleasing, do it,” Murphy adds. “Exercise the muscle of disappointing people, especially if a guy makes you uncomfortable.”

The therapist who laughed at an eating disorder

One listener shared a story where she shared about her eating disorder. The listener tried explaining that, in her disordered mind, anytime she takes a bite of food, she imagines she automatically gains weight. In response, the therapist laughed and said, “Obviously that’s not true.”

Murphy thinks that laughing at a client’s vulnerabilities is completely out of line. “For a therapist to say your intrusive or delusional thoughts are not true, well, duh,” she scoffs. “People deal with intrusive thoughts a lot. Can you imagine if every therapist’s solution was ‘Well, that’s not true.’ Did those four years of grad school teach you that?”

The therapist who gaslit a client about her trauma

After sharing an experience of assault, one listener shares that her therapist asked if she had a hard time remembering the story because she made it up. In response, Murphy says people need to report therapists more. “If you are going to be doing this to people, you shouldn’t be a therapist,” Murphy claims.

The therapist who suggested “Dutch ovening”

One listener recalled her experience going to couples therapy with her husband for the first time. She shared with her therapist that her husband liked anal sex, and she didn’t. The “bad therapist” replied, “I have a friend who only likes it up the a**. Her and her husband don’t do it any other way.” She also asked the client if she had ever tried “Dutch ovening” her husband—when you fart in bed and pull the covers over your partner.

Murphy advises against sharing everything during the first therapy appointment. “Why are you telling your therapist about anal on the first appointment?” she laughs. “You don’t have to tell your therapist everything on the first go. If you are not sure if they’re your long-term therapist, maybe withhold a little bit.”

The therapist who needed to be comforted

One listener shares her experience with a therapist who started crying when she was sharing her childhood trauma. The client had to comfort the therapist and assure them that everything would be okay.

Murphy can relate, as she’s also had a therapist cry during one of her therapy sessions. “It was not for me—I don’t do well handling people’s big emotions, especially when it’s about me,” she says. “If a therapist cries to me, you’re fired.”

What to look for in a good therapist

Murphy believes that age can play a significant role in determining the effectiveness of therapy. Specifically, she recommends finding a therapist under 50. In her view, there should be an age limit on who can practice.

She argues that older therapists, particularly men, may struggle to fully understand the experiences of younger women. “I’m sorry, but a 70-year-old man is not going to understand the ins and outs of a 30-year-old woman’s sexuality,” she says.

The key is to find someone who listens, cares, and wants to assist you. Murphy thinks many therapists enter this line of work to feel superior to others, hence why there are so many ineffective therapists today. “There are so many therapists who go to school so that they can sit in a chair across from someone and feel like they are an authority on their life,” she says. “They don’t have a genuine desire to help people, and that’s a problem.”

Murphy also emphasizes that therapy should push you out of your comfort zone and challenge you, but no one should cross your boundaries. “Remember, they work for you; you can fire them,” she says.