Why does it seem as though many professionals in the mental health field are very screwed up themselves?
Tuesday, July 15th, 2008
Well la-di-da asked:
I’ve worked in the mental health field for a few years now. I’ve worked among many therapists, and have talked to countless others on the phone. Half of these people (actually probably more than half) are crazier than the patients! The ones I’m talking about have been very rude, verbally abusive, arrogant, condescending, catty, and just over all very negative. Many of these people have their own practices and see patients and I would cringe at the thought of having them as a therapist. If only patients knew….
Why do you think this is the case many times? Why do people who apparently need so much mental help themselves go into a field where they are supposed to have a healthy edge to help others?
Well here is my assessment:
I’ve worked in the mental health field for a few years now. I’ve worked among many therapists, and have talked to countless others on the phone. Half of these people (actually probably more than half) are crazier than the patients! The ones I’m talking about have been very rude, verbally abusive, arrogant, condescending, catty, and just over all very negative. Many of these people have their own practices and see patients and I would cringe at the thought of having them as a therapist. If only patients knew….
Why do you think this is the case many times? Why do people who apparently need so much mental help themselves go into a field where they are supposed to have a healthy edge to help others?
Well here is my assessment:
I agree that people go into the field thinking they will learn something about themselves, “better” themselves, and have this gung-ho attitude about helping others - “I’ll be an expert because I’ve been through this” type of mentality. But this is where they get stuck - just merely learning about counseling is not enough to help heal. It is the relationship between patient and counselor that helps the healing process, and you can’t magically get the same effect just from reading the books. SO …these people end up disappointed and still “unfixed”. Just my 2 cents.
Diego