is it possible or easy to trick a therapist?

In a docuseries I watched some years ago on the Psychology of Lying, the series revealed the complex social and interpersonal dynamics that influence acts of lying, deceit, or trickery. Specially, the documentary proposed that lies  exist in a two party system where one person initiates the lie and one person receives it, and it is the second person who plays a pivotal role in consolidating the lie…without a receiving person, a lie can not exist.

If a therapist does not agree to accept the lie, they cannot be easily tricked.

In contrast, Margret Atwood’s work, Alias Grace, provides an explanation of people's tendency to lie when the story’s protagonist addresses personal bias in the recollection of events suggesting that not all deceit is intentional and one’s perception of the truth could be as firmly held as the truth itself.

As a therapist for over the last 10 years, very few clients have aimed to intentionally trick me, use manipulation, or actively participate in lying or deceit. More so, I’ve found when clients are triggered they may engage in a range of self-preservation behaviors that can come across as an attempt to trick a therapist including minimizing or denying, omitting or withholding information, providing false representations or misrepresentations, exaggerating or catastrophizing, and using blame, or poor accountability. Interestingly, when a client attempts to “trick” their therapist it can be seen as an attempt to communicate complex feelings or experiences rather than an act of malice.

​Interestingly in the cases where I have suspected some form of trickery, these clients quickly discontinued therapy.

It is important to remember that counseling and psychotherapy is an empirically supported intervention practiced within medical models to diagnose and treat mental health conditions; dishonesty can hinder the efficacy of the work and can be very detrimental to treatment by negatively influencing prognosis; keeping in mind that chronic use of exploitative and manipulative behaviors like “tricking” can be indicative of more serious condition or pervasive pathological issue.

While it is possible for you to trick your therapist, it may not be that easy.

Professional psychotherapy often follows therapeutic frameworks modeled after basic principles within the scientific method. The scientific method is a process of experimentation used to acquire knowledge through a logical, problem solving approach. The scientific method offers rational for a phenomena and can be used to validate the existence of an occurance while decreasing the influence of observer bias. 

Much like the scientific method, therapeutic analysis involves a structured process to investigate a client’s problem, and understand how it exists in their environment. Similarly, methods of psychotherapy include observations, formulating questions, developing hypotheses, conducting experiments, analyzing data, and drawing conclusions to render a result. As such, the scientific method helps inform psychotherapy in reaching conclusions or a providing explanations about a client’s behavior.  

Important to the scientific method is the development of a hypothesis as it serves as an empirically supported prediction about a phenomenon that can be tested through research and experimentation. A hypothesis in the therapeutic process relates phenomenas, interventions, and outcomes to scientifically validated theories of psychology that are supported by a large body of research. In psychotherapy a hypothesis is applied to inform assessment, diagnosis, and treatment (eg. where hypothesis are developed and tested through structured questioning).  In using evidence based practices in psychotherapy, a therapist must formulate a hypothesis that is used to test whether something is true and must also develop an alternative assumption (null-hypothesis) countering the truth of that particular thing.  Within the stage of developing a hypothesis, an examiner- or therapist in this case- must also develop an alternative assumption rejecting the hypothesis which considers the option that the hypothesis is untrue.
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In psychotherapy, a therapist may be looking for confirmations of truth or certainty but for the sake of therapeutic analysis they also have to assume that an event, statement, or experience is not true. This is where possible, it may be more difficult for a client to “trick” a therapist.

When it comes to concerns about being “tricked” by a client, I circumvent these thoughts by upholding my professional responsibility to act in due diligence including applying clinical skepticism to maintain objectivity by using strategies like the scientific method. 

For example, as a practicing therapist I may ask myself “If what this person is saying is true, what is the cause?” and “If it is untrue, what is the cause?” I would then go on to explore and test both of these hypothetical questions to arrive at a more definitive conclusion.  

In addition to this, therapists are clinically trained to identify thought and communication pattern (often with skilled intuition) that are abnormal, inconsistent, or disordered; and to be completely honest, most of us know when a client is attempting to trick us- for whatever reason- and respond to it therapeutically. I’ve often known when my clients were using lying, exaggerating, or misrepresenting their experience and promote honesty in session by creating a safe, non-judgmental environment that allows them to confront the truth.

Ultimately, I would not recommend using lying, deception, or attempting to trick your therapist as it contradicts the purpose of therapy, deceases effectiveness, and is counterproductive for treatment success.

Raquel Buchanan is a licensed marriage and family therapist offering counseling and psychotherapy to individuals, adults, families, and children. Raquel is a registered clinical supervisor and educator providing supervision and consultation services to licensed and pre-licensed professionals. For more information, please visit www.TherapywithRaquel.com