EMDR therapist opened my deepest trauma & then ghosted me (without closure)

Okay, buckle up because this is wild, and I need to know if this is as bad as it feels. I’ll try to give the full story without naming names because I’m not trying to get sued, I just want to know if this was normal or if it was actually harmful.

So, I started EMDR therapy in February 2024. My first therapist (let’s call her Kacey) was amazing. We worked chronologically, from my earliest memories forward, and honestly, I was making real progress. Like, she even told me she was proud of how much I’d grown and that the change was obvious. For the first time in years, I felt hope.

Then in spring 2025, Kacey had to step away for family reasons. Out of the blue, the office called and asked if I wanted to wait for her or see someone else in the meantime. I decided to keep going because I was in a good place and didn’t want to lose momentum.

Enter therapist #2 (let’s call her Amy). At first, she seemed fine. She was also Christian, so I thought maybe we’d connect. But things went downhill fast.

• She immediately changed my EMDR setup (I’d been using headsets and hand paddles, and she switched me to the light bar). She did ask me first, but I wasn’t the expert, she was. I trusted her.
• Instead of continuing the chronological order that was working for me, she suggested we jump to whatever was bothering me “in the moment.” Again, I trusted her judgment.

But here’s the kicker: she opened one of my absolute worst trauma targets, the memory of when I tried to end my life in November. Keep in mind, my chart literally marks me as high risk. This isn’t light stuff to just “experiment” with. And then… she ghosted me.

I showed up to my next appointment, waited for 20 minutes, and she never came out. Later she texted saying she didn’t see me in the lobby. (???) I had even told her I was running late but would be there. Then I find out she had taken me off her schedule completely, no phone call, no explanation, nothing. I had to chase the front desk to even get answers.

When I finally called the office, I asked if I could just switch back to Kacey when she returned. That’s when they casually dropped that Kacey wasn’t coming back at all. Like… why didn’t you tell me that months ago instead of stringing me along?

To make it worse, Amy reached out multiple times after I had already told the office I didn’t want to see her anymore. And the receptionist made me feel guilty, like I was the problem, saying, “Well, Amy has been trying to get in touch with you…” Bro, maybe I don’t want to go back to the woman who opened my deepest wound and then bailed??

It gets under my skin more because as a Christian, I felt like she was judging me. She never outright said it, but I got that vibe, like she thought my struggles meant I had demons or wasn’t a “good” Christian. And that really bothers me, because if you’re representing Jesus, you should lead with kindness and grace, not judgment. Even as someone who’s still working on my patience and forgiveness, I know how important that is.

Since all of this, I’ve felt like I spiraled worse than ever. I even wonder if I dipped into psychosis after being left in that raw, open state. Honestly, it feels like abuse, to open a wound like that and then abandon me.

So my questions are:

• Is this normal in therapy, or is this actually an ethical violation?
• Has anyone else gone through something similar?
• What would you do in my situation? Report it? Move on? Both?

Because right now, I just feel like my healing was sabotaged, and it makes me sick that this happened after I was finally making progress.