crisis hotlines & being a patient before a doctor

kilog · Aug 6, 2009

What I think is a wise thing to do when considering a career in psychology (or any field for that matter) is to gain some direct exposure to the paths available so that one can try to gauge how their professional time will actually be spent. An easy comparison that comes to mind is accompanying a physician on rounds at a hospital if you are considering an MD/DO program, though I know there are plenty of other examples. Given the nature of clinical psych, however, I have the impression that gaining the same kind of exposure can be tricky. One helpful resource that I've discovered is working at a crisis/suicide hotline (especially if one is considering being a clinician). It doesn't require a great deal of training, and, while the responsibility is accordinly small, it's a great opportunity to put yourself in a position where you are listening to people express their emotions and learning more about how you feel/respond in those kinds of situations. Another interesting resource is actually being a patient in therapy. While I'm sure there are many arguments about how necessary or helpful this can be in the described context, I was struck to learn about current doctoral students who have never been patients themselves. It seems intuitive to entertain the idea that learning about the therpeutic experience from the other side of the fence can provide valuable perspective to an aspiring clinician.

These two examples aside, I'm wondering what experiences anyone else has had that have shed light on the day-to-day of what it would be like to be a psychologist, whether it's "shadowing," working/volunteering in applicable settings, or anything that anyone has found helpful in providing insight. Given the incredible amount of very different opporutnities that exists within this field, it can sometimes seem daunting to try to sort through all the options one might have. I think the sharing of such information would be a valuable resource for helping some do what I feel is somewhat underrated: finding situations where one can actually experience different areas of the profession before committing their careers to the field (not that you have to know everything before you do anything or that you can't revise/resubmit along the way, but you get my drift...)

Thanks.

Psychology 76 · Aug 6, 2009

kilog said:
What I think is a wise thing to do when considering a career in psychology (or any field for that matter) is to gain some direct exposure to the paths available so that one can try to gauge how their professional time will actually be spent. An easy comparison that comes to mind is accompanying a physician on rounds at a hospital if you are considering an MD/DO program, though I know there are plenty of other examples. Given the nature of clinical psych, however, I have the impression that gaining the same kind of exposure can be tricky. One helpful resource that I've discovered is working at a crisis/suicide hotline (especially if one is considering being a clinician). It doesn't require a great deal of training, and, while the responsibility is accordinly small, it's a great opportunity to put yourself in a position where you are listening to people express their emotions and learning more about how you feel/respond in those kinds of situations. Another interesting resource is actually being a patient in therapy. While I'm sure there are many arguments about how necessary or helpful this can be in the described context, I was struck to learn about current doctoral students who have never been patients themselves. It seems intuitive to entertain the idea that learning about the therpeutic experience from the other side of the fence can provide valuable perspective to an aspiring clinician.

These two examples aside, I'm wondering what experiences anyone else has had that have shed light on the day-to-day of what it would be like to be a psychologist, whether it's "shadowing," working/volunteering in applicable settings, or anything that anyone has found helpful in providing insight. Given the incredible amount of very different opporutnities that exists within this field, it can sometimes seem daunting to try to sort through all the options one might have. I think the sharing of such information would be a valuable resource for helping some do what I feel is somewhat underrated: finding situations where one can actually experience different areas of the profession before committing their careers to the field (not that you have to know everything before you do anything or that you can't revise/resubmit along the way, but you get my drift...)

Thanks.

I think is one of the most important things an undergraduate can do. For example, reading about what a psychiatrist does and following them around on rounds are not even comparable. I was unsure if I wanted to be a clinical psychologist or clinical neuropsychologist before I started a neuropsych internship at a hospital this summer. Now after experiencing clinical neuropsychology firsthand, I know that's what I want to do. I understand that you really don't specialize yourself until grad school, but going into my junior year I know I want to be a clinical neuropsychologist. That helps a lot more with what I do my last two years of undergrad opposed to just thinking "I like clinical psych and neuropsych but not sure which one I really want to do."

McClinas · Aug 6, 2009

I graduated from university about 3 months ago, and I found a position working as a mental health counselor in an inpatient hospital. It is extremely rewarding, is solid on a resume, and gives me an idea for what I want to do in the future. If you can find something like this, I would highly recommend it.
Best

GradStudent87 · Aug 6, 2009

kilog said:
What I think is a wise thing to do when considering a career in psychology (or any field for that matter) is to gain some direct exposure to the paths available so that one can try to gauge how their professional time will actually be spent. An easy comparison that comes to mind is accompanying a physician on rounds at a hospital if you are considering an MD/DO program, though I know there are plenty of other examples. Given the nature of clinical psych, however, I have the impression that gaining the same kind of exposure can be tricky. One helpful resource that I've discovered is working at a crisis/suicide hotline (especially if one is considering being a clinician). It doesn't require a great deal of training, and, while the responsibility is accordinly small, it's a great opportunity to put yourself in a position where you are listening to people express their emotions and learning more about how you feel/respond in those kinds of situations. Another interesting resource is actually being a patient in therapy. While I'm sure there are many arguments about how necessary or helpful this can be in the described context, I was struck to learn about current doctoral students who have never been patients themselves. It seems intuitive to entertain the idea that learning about the therpeutic experience from the other side of the fence can provide valuable perspective to an aspiring clinician.

Thanks.

I would agree with that and I've always kind of actually wondered myself why clinical volunteer work and being in therapy weren't requirements to get into a program that trains people to be clinicians. Maybe it's me but i don't know how anyone can be an effective therapist without having bee through the process themselves and i don't know how one can know they want to work with people in crisis without having some kind of experience doing it.

psychmama · Aug 6, 2009

GradStudent87 said:
I would agree with that and I've always kind of actually wondered myself why clinical volunteer work and being in therapy weren't requirements to get into a program that trains people to be clinicians. Maybe it's me but i don't know how anyone can be an effective therapist without having bee through the process themselves and i don't know how one can know they want to work with people in crisis without having some kind of experience doing it.

As usual, I think the reason it's not required is that clinical psychology, as a field, suffers from a "split personality" - some think of it more as a scholarly pursuit while other see it as more of an applied profession. Of course there are lots of psychologists in the middle, but the divide is still there.

This is my opinion, FWIW.

KillerDiller · Aug 6, 2009

GradStudent87 said:
I would agree with that and I've always kind of actually wondered myself why clinical volunteer work and being in therapy weren't requirements to get into a program that trains people to be clinicians. Maybe it's me but i don't know how anyone can be an effective therapist without having bee through the process themselves and i don't know how one can know they want to work with people in crisis without having some kind of experience doing it.

I don't know, I would never want therapy to be a requirement. Even if we do decide to see someone, how many of us are going to end up working with an analogous high-functioning population? I don't feel that my experience seeing a client-centered therapist did much to prepare me for working with the severely mentally ill. If anything, it set my expectations for the pace of client progress too high.

Therapy and health treatment in general are too personal to ever be mandated for trainees.

cara susanna · Aug 6, 2009

Also, it's so hard to get meaningful clinical experience without any kind of higher degree thanks to confidentiality and what have you.

GradStudent87 · Aug 7, 2009

KillerDiller said:
I don't know, I would never want therapy to be a requirement. Even if we do decide to see someone, how many of us are going to end up working with an analogous high-functioning population? I don't feel that my experience seeing a client-centered therapist did much to prepare me for working with the severely mentally ill. If anything, it set my expectations for the pace of client progress too high.

Therapy and health treatment in general are too personal to ever be mandated for trainees.

Yea I guess I can see that argument, also it can be kind of expensive so maybe not a requirement but highly encouraged. I can see what you're saying about how most psych studentsare fairly high functioning(although even this may be a bit of assumption, there are people who are brilliant and get very far in life who are really messed up in the head) and the process of working with them in therapy is going to be different then working with someone really mentally ill. However I'd say there are still some basic aspects of a good therapist-client relationship regardless of what the client has or is dealing with. Yea idk maybe required is too much, but highly encouraged at least, granted I have not been to graduate school yet so I do not know exactly what type of training is given to weed out our own biases/defenses but being able to do that well is probably the biggest key to being an effective therapist.

KillerDiller · Aug 7, 2009

GradStudent87 said:
I can see what you're saying about how most psych studentsare fairly high functioning(although even this may be a bit of assumption, there are people who are brilliant and get very far in life who are really messed up in the head)

Just to clarify, I would never suggest that all clinical psych students are free from diagnosable mental illnesses. There are students who can work through very serious conditions. But if someone is able to complete the requirements and secure a spot in this highly competitive field...well, I think we have to acknowledge that that level of functioning is atypical for an afflicted population. Heck, that level of functioning is atypical in a nonclinical population.

psychmama · Aug 7, 2009

KillerDiller said:
Just to clarify, I would never suggest that all clinical psych students are free from diagnosable mental illnesses. There are students who can work through very serious conditions. But if someone is able to complete the requirements and secure a spot in this highly competitive field...well, I think we have to acknowledge that that level of functioning is atypical for an afflicted population. Heck, that level of functioning is atypical in a nonclinical population.

I don't know -- I guess it depends on how you define "high functioning." No doubt that being a doctoral student in psychology is evidence that you function well in certain domains, but not necessarily all. If you think of cognitive and emotional functioning in a categorical way, as the DSM does, then yeah, we are on average "better". But I tend to conceptualize mental illness and functioning from a more dimensional perspective -- with all of us on a continuum with certain traits, vulnerabilities, personality styles, that can cause us problems. Personal therapy has helped me realize that I have some things in common with my patients. Perhaps not to the same degree (I hope!) but of the same kind. Therapy has increased my understanding and empathy for patients and what they go through coming to see a therapist for help.

crisis hotlines & being a patient before a doctor

kilog

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Psychology 76

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McClinas

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GradStudent87

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psychmama

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KillerDiller

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cara susanna

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GradStudent87

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KillerDiller

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psychmama

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