I feel kind of uncomfortable going to counseling

[Brian37]

I live in the bible belt of the USA... even here I'd be shocked to find a professional pushing religion during therapy without that person guiding it. I think you might be over analyzing this and should give the person a benefit of a doubt before you say no. Yes there are professionals who are religious but I've found that more often than not they have sided with science and this is why they are in this field. They see the way the brain works and are trying to fix it.

I mean what is the worst that can happen? They start in on religion being good. You tell them no thank you. They continue. You stop seeing them.

Still though I realllllllly think your chances of that happening are minimal.

I wouldn't say that.

There are unfortunately plenty of theists who try to pass themselves off as lagit therapists. "Gay conversion" bullshit is widely sold by religious frauds.

I would say it is certainly possible to find secular therapist, even if they have a personal religion, who is willing to leave it at the door.

But I agree, if they push religion, after you ask them not to, hit the door, don't look back, seek someone else.

[mlmooney89]

I wouldn't say that.

There are unfortunately plenty of theists who try to pass themselves off as lagit therapists. "Gay conversion" bullshit is widely sold by religious frauds.

I would say it is certainly possible to find secular therapist, even if they have a personal religion, who is willing to leave it at the door.

But I agree, if they push religion, after you ask them not to, hit the door, don't look back, seek someone else.

Eh maybe it is the army world I lived in or maybe they were all just too professional to speak about religion. I've never had a therapist say a word about religion when I was going. I've also never heard of anyone going to therapy say they were preached to. I HAVE heard of people that tell their therapists that they are using religion for healing and they will say that is good and encourage it.

[arewethereyet]

I went to a therapist in SC for a while regarding some family issues. Not one time did she bring up religion. She may well have been a theist but she wasn't in the business of conversion to anything other than being happier and better able to deal with life struggles.

When my first husband died I went to a grief counselor in AZ and religion was never brought up during those sessions.

I don't know how it works everywhere but if you go to a counselor/therapist and don't mesh, there are others out there.

Give it a try...the worst that can happen is you decide that person isn't right for you.

[bennyboy]

I'd imagine that if you go in for psychological counseling, and get proselytized at, licenses could be lost, unless the person has advertised religious counseling as part of their methodology.

"Oh, you're suicidal? Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and personal Savior? Cuz if not. . . suicide is the least of your worries." This should trigger almost instant loss of career IMO.

I think very real harm is done to minors-- because religious parents can selectively choose this kind of counseling, and do permanent psychological harm, and there's not really that much the government can do about it.

---

I wouldn't say that.

There are unfortunately plenty of theists who try to pass themselves off as lagit therapists. "Gay conversion" bullshit is widely sold by religious frauds.

I would say it is certainly possible to find secular therapist, even if they have a personal religion, who is willing to leave it at the door.

But I agree, if they push religion, after you ask them not to, hit the door, don't look back, seek someone else.

Yep, all they have to do is find a word that isn't specifically covered in licensing-- instead of "therapist," call it "life counseling" or whatever. (I don't know the exact terms, but that's the idea)

Then you can have some BS institution pumping out bullshit certificates for their flavor of counseling: "wholistic life counseling therapy consultant" or whatever.

[brewer]

I expressed my anger towards one of my parents mistakes multiple times. My anger has become serious, so I made an appointment for counseling. The problem is, I don't feel comfortable talking about this particular subject to my therapist. 
My parents' mistake has to do with religion, but I don't want counseling for my disagreement with religion. Yeah, religion makes me sometimes angry, but not to the point where I have problems controlling myself. I also don't fear being judged for my atheism on a regular basis. I don't know if my therapist is religious or not, and as much as I complained about religious in the past - including moderates - I won't mind my counselor being religious. All that I want from him is that he does his job right. I don't want to discuss with my therapist whenever religion is good or bad or how to live as an atheist, I just want to discuss with him about the fact that I was brainwashed by fundamentalists for almost a decade right under my parents noses, and when they found out they didn't understand how bad the situation was.
Here in Europe people are usually more indifferent towards other religions and atheism and most christians are moderates. But part of me still fears that my therapist might want to convince me to return to my religion. 
Also, I never talked directly to someone about my parents' mistake. The most I did was writing on this forum where nobody knows my real name. I know that the counselor will keep my secret and I met him before, I highly doubt that he'll judge me, but I still feel very uncomfortable talking to him about this.
What should I do?

Um,.......... that might not be how it goes. I know you think that's the only issue that needs to be addressed, but my intuition (based on your past posts) tells me that you have other issues that also need to be addressed. 

Convinced to return to religion?? Only if some part of you wants to be.

[Der/die AtheistIn]

I'd imagine that if you go in for psychological counseling, and get proselytized at, licenses could be lost, unless the person has advertised religious counseling as part of their methodology.

"Oh, you're suicidal?  Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and personal Savior?  Cuz if not. . . suicide is the least of your worries."  This should trigger almost instant loss of career IMO.

I think very real harm is done to minors-- because religious parents can selectively choose this kind of counseling, and do permanent psychological harm, and there's not really that much the government can do about it.

---

I wouldn't say that.

There are unfortunately plenty of theists who try to pass themselves off as lagit therapists. "Gay conversion" bullshit is widely sold by religious frauds.

I would say it is certainly possible to find secular therapist, even if they have a personal religion, who is willing to leave it at the door.

But I agree, if they push religion, after you ask them not to, hit the door, don't look back, seek someone else.

Yep, all they have to do is find a word that isn't specifically covered in licensing-- instead of "therapist," call it "life counseling" or whatever.  (I don't know the exact terms, but that's the idea)

Then you can have some BS institution pumping out bullshit certificates for their flavor of counseling: "wholistic life counseling therapy consultant" or whatever.

Don't worry, it's Counseling from my college.

---

I expressed my anger towards one of my parents mistakes multiple times. My anger has become serious, so I made an appointment for counseling. The problem is, I don't feel comfortable talking about this particular subject to my therapist. 
My parents' mistake has to do with religion, but I don't want counseling for my disagreement with religion. Yeah, religion makes me sometimes angry, but not to the point where I have problems controlling myself. I also don't fear being judged for my atheism on a regular basis. I don't know if my therapist is religious or not, and as much as I complained about religious in the past - including moderates - I won't mind my counselor being religious. All that I want from him is that he does his job right. I don't want to discuss with my therapist whenever religion is good or bad or how to live as an atheist, I just want to discuss with him about the fact that I was brainwashed by fundamentalists for almost a decade right under my parents noses, and when they found out they didn't understand how bad the situation was.
Here in Europe people are usually more indifferent towards other religions and atheism and most christians are moderates. But part of me still fears that my therapist might want to convince me to return to my religion. 
Also, I never talked directly to someone about my parents' mistake. The most I did was writing on this forum where nobody knows my real name. I know that the counselor will keep my secret and I met him before, I highly doubt that he'll judge me, but I still feel very uncomfortable talking to him about this.
What should I do?

Um,.......... that might not be how it goes. I know you think that's the only issue that needs to be addressed, but my intuition (based on your past posts) tells me that you have other issues that also need to be addressed. 

Convinced to return to religion?? Only if some part of you wants to be.

What are the other issues you're referring to?
And I was fearing that he might try convincing me, not because I want to return, which I won't, but because I feared he might end up being a bad counselor and I have to find another and let my mental issues aside for longer.

[brewer]

What are the other issues you're referring to?
And I was fearing that he might try convincing me, not because I want to return, which I won't, but because I feared he might end up being a bad counselor and I have to find another and let my mental issues aside for longer.

I don't know you well enough to speculate further. I just believe that there is something(s) going on that's more than religion/parents.

[Rev. Rye]

I expressed my anger towards one of my parents mistakes multiple times. My anger has become serious, so I made an appointment for counseling. The problem is, I don't feel comfortable talking about this particular subject to my therapist. 
My parents' mistake has to do with religion, but I don't want counseling for my disagreement with religion. Yeah, religion makes me sometimes angry, but not to the point where I have problems controlling myself. I also don't fear being judged for my atheism on a regular basis. I don't know if my therapist is religious or not, and as much as I complained about religious in the past - including moderates - I won't mind my counselor being religious. All that I want from him is that he does his job right. I don't want to discuss with my therapist whenever religion is good or bad or how to live as an atheist, I just want to discuss with him about the fact that I was brainwashed by fundamentalists for almost a decade right under my parents noses, and when they found out they didn't understand how bad the situation was.
Here in Europe people are usually more indifferent towards other religions and atheism and most christians are moderates. But part of me still fears that my therapist might want to convince me to return to my religion. 
Also, I never talked directly to someone about my parents' mistake. The most I did was writing on this forum where nobody knows my real name. I know that the counselor will keep my secret and I met him before, I highly doubt that he'll judge me, but I still feel very uncomfortable talking to him about this.
What should I do?

At least in America, doctor-patient confidentiality also applies to therapists and counselors. I'm fairly certain things should be the same in Germany Romania. And going from my own experience with my therapist, if a counselor is actually doing their job right, they'll do what they can to help you heal; hell, she not only helped me heal, she also helped some other woman heal from psychological wounds inflicted in the same Lutheran school I got mine in. They're probably not likely to be looking for debate like the theists on this board. We do discuss religion and its excesses from time to time, but they're like Lt. Scheisskopf's wife said in Catch-22. In her words: “I don’t [believe in God]... But the God I don’t believe in is a good God, a just God, a merciful God. He’s not the mean and stupid God you make Him out to be.” (The exchange happens in Chapter 18, by the way; I'm Yossarian in this conversation.)

And I was going to say something about how religion is even less likely to be an issue in Germany (Especially if you lived in the former East Germany), but then I actually looked at your profile and found out that you were actually in Romania, the one Warsaw Pact state that actually actively used the pre-existing religion to further its agenda. That might complicate things a bit. Still, if a therapist is doing their job right, they won't try to convert you.

[Succubus]

Don't worry, it's Counseling from my college.

<Much snipped for focus>

Now this is new. How did you come by this collage counsellor, did you walk in blind or do you have friends who helped you decide? You see until now you've always gave the impression you were totally alone in the world.

[Rev. Rye]

Don't worry, it's Counseling from my college.

Ah, well, that makes it even less likely that your counselor is going to be like this: