The Psychologist Works As A Person

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

There is a lot of controversy and debate around which method of psychotherapy is the most effective. Over the entire period of development of psychology as a science, and this is already about 150 years, today there are more than 400 methods, schools, directions. It is clear that some of them have won the greatest recognition of the scientific community, some have not yet proven their effectiveness on a large sample of clients, but still, there are a lot of methods.

Which one to choose?

Once, when I was just taking my first steps in psychology, one wise man said that a psychologist works as a person. I didn’t quite understand what he meant, because I needed working tools, I needed an algorithm for conducting a session, like a step-by-step instruction. Without this information, it was scary to go to the border of contact with the client, because it is not known what will happen at each subsequent moment, how the client will react, what he will say, what emotions will begin to wake up. So, I needed a toolbox.

Of course, without tools, nowhere. We, psychologists, in our work, of course, use different techniques and tools, we keep track of the time, we try to get the best out of the session in order to summarize the result at the end. Everyone does it in their own way.

Is there one particular mechanism that works?

No, it is not. When I realized this, it became easier for me, and more difficult at the same time. Easier, because the expectation of the appearance of a certain key from all doors is gone, because it does not exist. And it is more difficult, because I realized that in this process only I decide how to conduct the session. Of course, I'm not alone, I'm with a client. We decide. But certainly not techniques, methods, schemes and similar rigid things.

I began to focus on the present moment and make a decision not according to a template, but according to what the situation requires at the moment. I became more sensitive and attentive to what is happening in the "here and now". My energy began to be in the process of the therapy itself, and not in the sorting out of different methods and schemes.

I really liked what Patrick Casement wrote about in his book Learning from a Patient. He said that when the session begins, the psychologist needs to forget all the knowledge that he possesses and understand that the situation that will unfold is unique and inimitable and what was a working tool with one client will not work with another, even if the situations are similar. He advised to always be in the "here and now" and not to hang old patterns on a new situation.

Some time passed when I really understood what he meant. And therefore, I will say now to those who are looking for psychological support for themselves, the following.

You need to find, as they say, “your psychologist” - the one whom you trust, the one whose words you listen to and the one whom you just “hear” and he, accordingly, “hears” you. It doesn't depend on the method he owns. It all depends on your personality and the personality of the psychologist. If this person suits you, then the work will be effective, if not, then no methods will help you. Therefore, look for a person, not a method.