Is therapy depressing?

[brightness]

Today my boyfriend and I got into a debate about this question. I felt like helping people and keeping up on the mental health community would be good for a person who has mental health issues. However, he started to discuss the idea that instead it might be depressing, hearing about people's problems all day. And what about the people who don't get better, or relapse, or even commit suicide?
Which got me to wondering if being a clinical psychologist is actually a depressing job. I like to be up on my feet, but I also really care about people and love to communicate with them. This makes it hard for me to keep looking at psychologycounseling, even thought thats my major and what I have thought I'd end up doing for awhile. (either that or being an NP/PA) I want to help people and I am very interested in psychopathology and development, but I can't have a job where I am depressed all day, or where most of the things I deal with have a negative valence.

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[Therapist4Chnge]

...it might be depressing, hearing about people's problems all day. And what about the people who don't get better, or relapse, or even commit suicide?

It can be depressing, which is why it is important to not only have strong boundaries (personal/professional), but also outlets so you don't keep everything in.

I learned early on that I can't judge my worth and ability as a clinician strictly on the outcome of my patients, as there are certain patients where you do everything 'right' and it still doesn't work out.

Which got me to wondering if being a clinical psychologist is actually a depressing job.

It depends on the person, the work, the population, etc. Often times you need to be able to step back and look at things a bit more objectively. I try and look for 'net positives'. If a patient took 3 steps forward and 1 step back while working with me...they are still 2 steps farther ahead than they were before our work. The work can't be about a person's ability to 'cure' someone else.....since that is often an unrealistic expectation.

I believe it is important for everyone to have people they can talk to, and ideally someone they can work with about their own stuff, so it doesn't get tempted to leak over into someone else's session.

-t

 

[JR in SB]

Many years ago, when I first began to wonder if being a psychologist would be right for me, I had a discussion with a clinical psychologist who had a private practice. He told me, "Its not the patients that you help, but the patients that you can't help." He was referring to how difficult it is to accept not being able to help somebody.

One "given" of being a psychologist is that therapy will not necessarily help everybody; in fact, it can potentially be harmful!! Another given is that you are constantly surrounded by people dealing with various difficulties in life. Either of these two facts could certainly bring many people down emotionally. However, EVERY psychologist I have spoken to has stressed the absolute necessity of taking care of your own health first and foremost. One cannot be a potent therapist if their own life is not under a certain degree of control; the counter-transference would be too great. Along with taking time for yourself and your health, a therapist needs constantly to maintain the doctor/ patient boundaries. This does not mean that the therapist cannot be warm, caring, or empathic; however, a skill that should be acquired is the ability to leave work at the office, and realize that a patient's life is separate from the doctor's.

Certainly the profession is not for everybody. You should definitely find out how as a human you react to people who are in need, and see if this is overwhelming or depressing for you.