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I can see why a teenager would clam up and not want to say anything at all during family therapy.
It’s intimidating, a bit scary, and who knows what’ll happen once you actually leave the therapist’s office…
This young woman wants to know if she acted like an a**hole because she refused to say a peep during her family’s therapy session.
Let’s see what happened.
AITA for refusing to say a single word during family therapy?
“I’m 16F and my family is pretty dysfunctional to say the least.
Arguments happen at least once a day (and I mean full-blown screaming arguments). All the arguments involve my parents.
In the house there’s me (16F), my half-brother (19M), my little sister (12F), my Dad and my Mum.
Mum and Dad decided we needed family therapy, and to be honest at first I was all on board with going. However, after the first session my Mum and Dad punished me and my half brother for what we said to the family counsellor during the session.
They took away my laptop (that I need for study) and they took away my half brothers gaming PC (which he also uses for study).
To put it simply, it became obvious to both of us that we couldn”t speak our minds during the therapy sessions without being punished for it later (especially if Mum and Dad felt offended or upset by what we said).
So the next session, I literally said nothing. Not a single word. My half brother did the same. When questions were directed at us, we sat there in complete silence and just stared at the counsellor.
Mum and Dad were angry with us for not contributing but we continued to not say a word. The therapist was trying to encourage us to speak but we continued to stay silent and ignore all questions and discussions.
But when we got home we were NOT punished. So that’s a significantly better outcome for us. In fact, I think my Mum enjoyed the extra time she got to talk when me and my half-brother were silent.
However, I did admittedly feel kind of bad for the therapist. She was trying really hard to get us to talk and I know she’s just trying to do her job.
I also felt quite rude when she asked me a question and I straight up ignored her like she didn’t exist. It’s not that my half-brother and I are deliberately trying to be rude, we just don’t want to be punished.
My Dad also thinks we’re trying to sabotage family therapy and that our situations won’t get better unless we actually talk during therapy.
However, how can we talk during therapy if we’re just going to be punished for it later ??? I do genuinely want things to get better in our family, because I love my Mum and Dad a lot, but I just can’t risk it.
I also admit the idea of staying silent during therapy was mine. My halfbrother agreed with me and went along with it, but the idea was ultimately mine.
AITA?
Take a look at how Reddit users reacted to this story.
This reader said that this girl needs to call the therapist separately and tell her why she acted the way she did.
Photo Credit: Reddit
Another person said that the therapist needs to know what exactly is going on inside the house.
Photo Credit: Reddit
This Reddit user who works as a family therapist offered up some advice for what might end up happening.
Photo Credit: Reddit
And this individual said that the girl should reach out to the therapist on her own and really lay out everything that is going on.
Photo Credit: Reddit
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