Too Smart For Therapy?

Hello all,

I'm wondering if you've ever encountered this in your practice. As an adolescent (13/14 years old) I struggled quite deeply and asked to see a therapist. According to my parents, the first practitioner that I saw told them that she could not treat me because I was "too smart" and would apparently simply lie to her. My mom's take on this was that if we ignored the problem it would go away and my dad's take was to hope I wouldn't be a sociopath (also apparently implied by the practitioner) and find someone else to treat me. The therapist evidently told my parents I needed to be treated by someone more intelligent than myself and that she had no colleagues to recommend.

I find this story explains some other things that happened around this time so while my parents' understanding may be suspect, their recollection is not likely to be in doubt. This would have taken place around 2003. I tested very highly in school and, while I find myself rather clever, I don't find I'm so far beyond the norm that I'm some kind of savant or freak of nature. More the "reading at a college level in primary school" or "very good at long division" kind of smart.

At any rate, do any professionals, especially those working at that time, remember any reasoning for a recommendation like this? Why would a therapist give parents feedback that their kid is untreatable because of their intelligence? I understand the modern treatment of "gifted" kids is very different but would this have been standard at the time?

Thanks for any insight.

Also, I did eventually get help and it turns out therapy is about willingness to participate not whether you're able to win a battle of wits against your therapist, who knew?