Being a Psychotherapist

When I was younger and deciding on a career path, after my first clinical experience, I thought: therapy is interesting, but I don't want to spend my lifetime listening to other people's problems! And yet, here I am, and loving every minute of it.

The most valuable thing I got from doing precisely this, listening to other people's problems and their ways of dealing with them, trying to figure out more constructive approaches, is that I have learned life strategies from each and every single individual I have spoken to.

First of all, it is more difficult to surprise me. I've met people who hide from ambulances, people who receive radiations from aliens and secret services, people whose role on earth is the secular war against the forces of Satan. Such stories may sound funny at first, but when you actually look at the person who's telling you all this, and you listen to what they say, their drama becomes obvious: their reality does not match up with everyone else's reality, they know people don't believe them, they know people make fun of them, and yet they have no way of escaping what they feel, hear and see. And if you try and put yourself in their position, you suddenly feel trapped: what do you do when you literally hear a voice that comes out of nowhere and tells you to join your relative in the grave, a voice that no one else hears, a voice that won't go away? And it scares you, and when you tell someone about it, they say you're crazy and mind their own business? And you know you're not crazy, because you can hear this voice clearly?

Another thing that I have learned from these extreme stories is that there is no rule for who develops a severe mental disorder and who doesn't (not to mention to nonpsychotic ones). I have seen people with a medical degree come in for treatment, as well as people with as little as 4 years of schooling altogether, people from rich families and people from poor families. And you should be very careful about mocking these people (not because they may hurt you, the great majority are harmless) but because you can develop one form or another of a severe mental problem at any age.

Most psychotherapy though focuses on depression and anxiety, and there are endless things to learn about the way humans think from only talking to people. The great plus one has as a therapist is that people do open up, and you are entitled to ask uncomfortable questions too - and you'll be shocked how well the picture fits together when you have all the pieces of the puzzle, and how effective your suggestions can become if you keep updating them with experience.