How is personal therapy useful for those who have connected their lives with therapy?
Many people believe that psychotherapists are a special kind of person who has resolved all internal conflicts, learned all the possibilities of existence, and has already “served” enough time in personal therapy to now work with other people.
This is often not the case.
To become a psychotherapist, personal therapy is as necessary as learning the methodology and acquiring all the necessary knowledge.
A psychotherapist is a person who works with himself.
Without personal therapy, his career may be bright, but short-lived. Because the very first obstacle that such a therapist encounters at the level of personal experiences in contact with a client paralyzes him. As a rule, training in all modalities of psychotherapy involves long-term, deep personal psychotherapy. And such therapy does not need to be limited to the training program.
Why is supervision needed in psychology?
Imagine: you were taught theory, shown some techniques in practice, you may have trained them in a group, and they even (this happens not in all universities) helped you understand your personal experiences in connection with these techniques.
More specifically, you managed to grasp the connection between what you personally experience as a person, as an individual (who cannot help but have his own projections, expectations, fantasies, traumas and everything that you will have to work with all your life) and your perception of those or other methods, your behavior as a therapist, psychologist.
But to grasp the fundamental connection is one thing, but to learn to track your own internal experiences, emotions, to be able to realize how specifically “mine” interacts with “his, the client” in this process is completely different, and this will have to be learned. After all, not immediately, for example, after explaining the theory of driving and a couple of practical lessons, you sat down and drove off?
No, you probably had to travel a lot of kilometers around the city with an instructor to get used to seeing signs, looking in the mirrors, competently assessing speed, your own and others’, the distance to other road users and your behavior on the road.
The ability to be aware of one’s reactions precisely in contact with a client (at the same time without losing the ability to be aware of the client’s reactions) is a habit that a supervisory psychologist helps to develop.
I have asked myself many times: is it possible to develop this habit forever? Is there a state in which supervision by a psychologist, even occasionally, would no longer be necessary?
And I came to the answer that it’s unlikely. There are long periods of work when everything goes quite successfully, the psychologist is not bothered by any serious personal problems, he has worked enough in his personal therapy so as not to stumble upon the same rake not only in his own life, but also with clients, and, it seemed what more could you want?
But even in such cases, when there is practice, experience, and personal development, there will always be a challenging client, there will always be a difficult case or, perhaps, difficult for you as a psychologist.
In fact, it is very good that such cases exist. Because they contain a lot - the opportunity to realize oneself at a new level, the motive to learn some new work techniques, turn to more experienced colleagues, the motive to search, try, apply your own creative resources, and work on tasks that have not yet been worked out.
Indications
It is recommended to consult a psychotherapist if:
- neuroses, depression and other disorders caused by constant stress;
- pathological fears and phobias;
- psychovegetative disorders, especially those provoked by serious illnesses (for example, oncology);
- alcoholism;
- drug addiction and substance abuse;
- eating disorders;
- addiction to gambling;
- dependence on virtual reality;
- other pathological addictions.
Sometimes psychotherapy to combat alcoholism or drug addiction is preceded by a course of drug detoxification. Being under the influence of psychoactive substances or alcohol, a person cannot adequately evaluate the doctor’s words. But sometimes they start communicating at the first symptoms of withdrawal symptoms. In such a state, the addict believes that the psychologist is the only one who can help and gains confidence in him. As detoxification progresses, the doctor visits the patient at least once a day, and then proceeds to individual psychotherapy.
Why do I think that individual therapy for a psychologist is mandatory?
In this part I would like to dwell on one point: some university graduates seriously believe that individual therapy for a psychologist is not necessary. Well, just think, there are problems - who doesn’t have them?
The logic they follow is something like this: “Well, I didn’t have any terrible injuries there? Nobody beat me, there was no violence, my childhood seems to be quite ordinary, well, yes, my personal life is not going well and I don’t have enough confidence, but what are my years? It will resolve over time...”
But the point is not at all about “terrible injuries” and not about the fact that someone demands from a psychologist a necessarily happy and settled personal life right after graduating from university. The point is different. The ability to face your painful emotions. In the ability to contact them in the presence of another and with another about them. It’s about understanding how the client feels? How does psychological counseling and psychotherapy work from the inside?
When this experience is absent, the psychologist cannot know how certain techniques work. Psychotherapy is not assembling a mechanism according to instructions. If a psychologist avoids personal therapy, this means that within himself he rejects the client’s position itself and considers it “beneath his dignity.” Then how does he treat the client?
I really don’t know a single reason why individual therapy for a psychologist would not be necessary.
"No problem"?
If you reassure (or rather, deceive yourself) in this way, it means that you are not developing and are not moving to other levels of awareness and being. The presence of problems (if you don’t really like this word, let’s call them tasks) means a motive to develop and improve the quality of your own life.
If you don't have this motive, what can you give the client? How will a client feel next to someone who either does not recognize his own development goals or simply does not develop?
“Am I sufficiently developed”?
While we are alive, there is hardly enough. This, again, is about the lack of development, only for a different reason. Perhaps you have been practicing self-care and have actually been able to unload the underlying baggage of the underlying traumas. But who said that as life goes on, new challenges don’t arise? Perhaps this is about your fear of something new, the fear of losing a certain stable state of affairs? As soon as you decided to stop there, you began to regress. Man is a dynamic creature, he is always on the move. And if he does not have new goals and new obstacles, it turns out that he is confidently degrading, alas.
“Well, what can they tell me new?”
Do you view psychotherapy and counseling as a magic pill? It’s not you who should be told something new, but you – yourself. And only you can want it. Your personal therapist is unlikely to be smarter than you by any “objective” criteria. He should only be able to present you with yourself, and all that is required of you is a willingness to see it. Why you don’t want to see this is a question for you.
“I have enough knowledge, I can figure it out myself”?
Perhaps you'll figure it out. But then why work as a psychologist and prove to others that it is effective? Your potential clients are saying exactly that – “I’ll figure it out myself.” Why dissuade them and write on forums about the effectiveness of psychotherapy, your approach and you specifically? And if you think that the only difference is in the knowledge gained, then send the client to study psychology. You have the right to recommend to your client only those methods in which you yourself are confident.
“I will be judged and criticized”?
And I heard this from psychologists. If this is your case, all that remains is your own attitude towards clients. I hope all reading psychologists are aware of the mechanism of projection.
“This is probably not a problem worth investing in yet”?
There are many shades here. From “it will seem insignificant to the therapist” (again projections and speculation) to “well, it’s still not critical yet.” However, when it gets really bad, you may need doctors. It is possible that this will also be a valuable experience that will lead you to understand at what stage of the development of the problem you should seek feedback about yourself. But whether it is worth going through such an experience is up to you to decide. Perhaps it is more environmentally friendly to act “proactively” rather than wait until the thunder strikes.
It is clear that the above does not mean that a psychologist will have to go to therapy once a week for years, like going to work, and for the rest of his life. Everything has its own time, its own periods, its own needs.
Once upon a time, we live parts of our lives enjoying the resulting effects from all our previous investments in ourselves. But someday a new stage begins, new needs come to the fore, and with them new obstacles.
And it is obstacles that allow us to know ourselves better. Should a psychologist avoid this process? And abandon the method of solving his problems, which he himself promotes? – it’s up to you to decide what you consider the most logical and reasonable.
I consider personal therapy a prerequisite for becoming a psychologist. And in my online remote psychological assistance project, when discussing the possibility of working together with a fellow psychologist, I am always interested in the fact and number of hours of personal therapy.
Discussion of the possibility of work occurs only with a minimum, by my standards, number of hours of personal therapy with a psychologist, which is necessary so that a graduate of a psychological university can feel it from the inside and understand his attitude towards the client’s position, and also at least begin to understand his main tasks .
The first stage of psychotherapy
At this stage, the doctor collects anamnesis. The main thing is to use leading questions to distinguish between fiction and truth. In order not to violate fragile trust, the doctor does not focus the patient’s attention on the identified lies (especially if this does not play a role in further treatment). At the same time, they do everything possible to make the patient ask questions:
- Why did this happen?
- Where is the mistake?
- How is he different from other people?
During individual conversations, the psychotherapist does not give answers; it will look like teaching, an attempt to instill one’s own thoughts. Such tactics are usually viewed with hostility. At the first stage, they do not seek clarification from the patient himself; it is important that he thinks about how further self-destruction and refusal of psychotherapy and drug treatment could end.
Individual therapy for a psychologist and supervision for a psychologist - similarities, differences, intersections
Supervision for a psychologist and individual therapy for a psychologist often overlap. It would seem that these things are easy to distinguish, because the individual therapy of a psychologist does not consider him as a professional. But can a psychologist himself take his experiences beyond the brackets of personal therapy and as a professional as well?
And vice versa, if, while analyzing a client case, a psychologist realizes his reactions and their direct connection with his personal traumas, unresolved problems, or in general, through the prism of a client case, he learns about what has not yet been resolved and worked out in him, then is it possible to completely separate one from the other?
But, nevertheless, differences can be drawn.
First, personal therapy and supervision in psychology differ primarily in the focus of attention. We remember that in one case a personal task is stated, in the other a professional one. And no matter how the personal tasks of the psychologist intersect with professional ones, the supervisory psychologist will himself keep the attention of the client colleague on the main point of his request or adjust the request if there is a feeling that, for example, the colleague has a greater need to solve the wrong problem, to which the focus was initially directed.
Secondly, supervision in psychology has a teaching orientation, unlike personal therapy. Although, of course, by taking care of ourselves, we can simultaneously learn the techniques, methods and strategies that our therapist uses, but this is rather a side effect.
In supervision, it is quite possible to set the task not only to become aware of oneself in contact with a specific client, but also to obtain the view of another specialist on the strategies and techniques of therapy in relation to this client. And the supervisory psychologist, agreeing to such a work context, becomes obliged to provide his colleague with his view, experience, methods and strategies of therapy.
Thirdly, individual therapy for a psychologist is a thing with a much narrower scope than supervision. There are many conditions here that I talked about, in particular, in the article about the therapeutic contract. And if a fellow psychologist requests personal therapy, he is subject to the same rules and boundaries as all other clients, and the responsibilities of the therapist are similarly respected.
With supervision, the situation may be milder. For example, if in the case of long-term therapy it is customary to maintain a relationship with only one specialist psychologist, then in the case of supervision there may be more than one psychologist-supervisor.
A psychologist-supervisor also often combines several roles - for example, teachers act as supervisors, who, on the one hand, give grades and take tests (and where can one escape the inevitability of certification in teaching?), on the other, lead supervisory groups and individual supervisions.
It also happens that the roles of “ psychologist-supervisor ” and “ employer ” are combined. This often happens when an experienced psychologist begins, within the framework of a psychological center, for example, to gradually delegate incoming clients to those who are still starting their path in the profession, while simultaneously raising the level of his employees through supervision and, as it were, passing on everything that he himself was able to learn further. .
This is beneficial to all parties - yesterday's students receive psychological practice, which is developed and secured by the name and reputation of an already experienced psychologist. The organizer receives additional income, as well as the opportunity to solve more complex professional problems (related to training other specialists in supervision).
What I offer as a supervisory psychologist and personal therapist
First of all, I will say that supervision for a psychologist and personal therapy for a colleague are, after all, two different worlds, in my opinion.
If you decide to undergo personal therapy with me, in addition to understanding and solving your own problems, you may well receive a learning effect. However, a request for personal therapy excludes (at least for this period) our cooperation as colleagues.
If, during the course of our work, you also want to work in my project as a consultant, we can begin to discuss this topic only after the completion of your personal therapy, subject to the correct completion of the therapeutic relationship and some pause in time.
But if you don’t have any experience and first have a need to solve your problems, this is a completely adequate way to start your professional life. And I cannot help but remember my personal experience in this regard: all my serious advancements in relation to the profession almost always occurred after successful personal processes with good therapists.
These were not always long-term requests, but I am very well aware of the connection between some positive changes in the profession and various forms of counseling and psychotherapy that I requested.
If you already have some experience in counseling and personal therapy, and you need to expand your practice and further training, I can be useful to you as a supervisory psychologist .
It happens that supervision requests intersect with personal requests. In such cases, boundaries and boundaries are discussed individually, but, as a rule, I only indicate a possible direction of work in personal therapy, which you may well undergo with another therapist. And my main emphasis is on self-awareness when working with a client and on therapy techniques and strategies.
Content:
- Benefits of individual psychotherapy
- Indications
- Treatment tactics. 3.1. The first stage of psychotherapy. 3.2. Second stage of psychotherapy. 3.3. The third stage of psychotherapy.
- The final stage of psychotherapy.
Psychotherapist sessions are one of the most effective methods of treating various types of addictions (drug addiction, alcoholism, smoking, etc.). A specialist of this profile can convince a person to start therapy and find the strength to give up an addiction. Even the most expensive methods of drug treatment (including coding) will not bring results without affecting the patient’s psyche.
Individual psychotherapy is much more effective than group sessions. Sessions are especially necessary in the initial stages of the fight against alcoholism, drug addiction and other addictions. Many people visit a psychotherapist even after complete completion of treatment. According to narcologists, this significantly reduces the risk of relapse.
