What Is The "phonite" Of A Psychologist?

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

Sometimes you come to a person who provides psychological help, and you are faced with a diktat, when the psychologist does not hear you and tries to convince you that he considers it right, to impose some thoughts on you without proper confirmation of your hypothesis, which does not even look like a hypothesis, but rather, it is an axiom.

As a result, you come to solve one problem, you leave with two.

Or a psychologist, for example, begins to laugh at your views, preferences, broadcast double messages (that is, behave incongruently - say one thing and do another, and vice versa, when dissociation is clearly visible between his words / emotions).

Someone has a phonetic need to be meaningful, to be listened to, to do, as he said, is very parental unfulfillment.

You hear admonitions from some psychovloggers: in order to impress the client as a confident specialist, you need to be categorical. In CBT, categoricality is a manifestation of maximalism and refers to errors of thinking. Categorization is good in the exact sciences.

This does not mean at all that a psychologist cannot have his own convictions. But the psychologist does not impose his beliefs on others.

Although categorical, directiveness is often resorted to by hypnotherapists, for example. Psychiatric textbooks describe the roles of the doctor: dominant, expert, listener, assistant.

Some of the psychologists are guilty of excessive evaluativeness, hanging on other labels.

Someone on the forum begins to create coalitions of colleagues, trying to divide into black and white.

On the forum, you often come across categoricalness, intolerance, envy, and even insults.

I also have something to work on. For this, fortunately, there are intervisions for specialists in the Association for Cognitive-Behavioral Psychotherapy, in which I am a member.

Only the one who does nothing is not mistaken.

How can a psychologist avoid mistakes? Do not write, do not practice, do not express your opinion. Mistakes cannot be avoided, but they can be minimized.

I like the CBT direction because in this approach almost everything is structured, at seminars you are introduced to the rules of professional ethics, techniques for working with client mistrust and other controversial situations, there is a clear plan for working with various requests, which minimizes the number of therapist's mistakes …

The CBT therapist never asserts anything, he is not directive. The client at CBT is practically an equal partner. The CBT therapist explores the client's inner world picture together with him, forms a hypothesis. The client can always check this hypothesis in the course of the practical assignment, accept or reject it.

In the CBT approach, the client, with the help of the tools provided by the specialist, creates his own destiny, no one teaches him how to live and behave correctly.

Each session is structured and transparent, before the session, the specialist introduces the client to the session plan, at the end of the session, intermediate results are summarized.

In no way do I diminish the importance of other approaches, I just share my experience.

Intervisions are needed in order to work through the therapist's "blind spots", to share experiences with colleagues.

I know from myself that it is easy to see someone's "blind spots", it is much more difficult to find them in oneself. This is possible largely through getting feedback when working in a group with a mentor and other professionals. Sometimes customers give feedback.

Additionally, I practice communication on the forum, because it also allows, through observation of others and receiving feedback, to improve their relationships with people and work technique.

I noticed that over the years of being on the forum, communicating with colleagues, readers, I understood a lot about myself, changed a lot, changed part of my views. A lot of new knowledge, skills, invaluable experience in the course of training, therapy, practice were obtained. A lot of water has flown under the bridge. I am glad that I do not stand still, I am gradually changing, growing.

Many thanks to colleagues, readers, clients, teachers

* Artist: Robert Gonzalez.