“A burden and a privilege” – clinical psychologists look back on their life’s work

By Christian Jarrett Anyone who knows anyone who is a clinical psychologist or other kind of psychotherapist will know about the stories they carry in their minds and hearts. Stories of other people’s struggles, pain, trauma, hurt, love and sometimes, wonderfully, recovery. When the psychologist returns home, the stories stay with them, but now in a parallel world of partners, children, friends and mundanity. What is this life like for the psychologist and her loved ones? How do they cope? Some clues come from in-depth interviews with nine senior psychologists and three senior psychiatrists in Norway, published recently in Psychotherapy Research by Marit Råbu and her colleagues. The interviewees – 7 women and 5 men, aged 68 to 86 – had worked as psychotherapists for between 35 and 56 years and some were now retired. All had started out their careers with a psychoanalytic orientation, but several had since branched into other approaches, including cognitive therapy. Asked to reflect on their life’s work, a recurring theme in the therapists’ comments was that it had been a privilege, a humbling experience to come so close to other people’s lives, to witness their pain and suffering and see their sometimes remarkable ability to cope and adapt. The therapists described how this insight had affected their own personal growth as they “used different parts of themselves with different clients”. It had also enriched their own personal ...
Source: BPS RESEARCH DIGEST - Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Authors: Tags: Mental health Occupational Qualitative Source Type: blogs