how badly could a therapist ruin somebody’s life

at the end of my last session my T briefly mentioned the power differential between a T and their client. we didn’t have time to get into it but the comment got me thinking: how bad (theoretically), could a T fuck up someone’s life?

i guess i understand power dynamics in terms of potential for retaliation. i understand how a supervisor has power over an employee (can get them fired, demoted, blacklisted, etc which fucks up the employee’s ability to pay rent/survive) or how a professor has power over a student (controls their grade, which affects scholarships/grad applications and if tenured they’re basically impossible to fire, etc), but it’s less clear to me how a T has power over a client. maybe i’m being dumb, but aside from the obvious risk of being 5150’d, theoretically, how could a T retaliate against a client?

EDIT: genuinely didn't expect this post to get more than two comments. y'all are right, thinking about power dynamics strictly in terms of retaliation doesn't fully capture the specific client/therapist dynamic. i'm so sorry some of y'all had terrible experiences with prior ts -- and now i have a few examples/shows to look into. all of this is making me feel even more appreciate of my current t and i'm happy it seems like most folks here do currently have therapists they can be vulnerable with.