Hello, I was wondering when you've felt like you've most led a career of service? I do think there's an inherent service aspect to this career, but I guess I wonder what specific activities make you to feel like a person who contributes.
The scale of the service to others does not matter to me (a special connection to another person is a great service!), and it does not have the monetarily charitable, but I wonder about people's connections to the idea of contributing to a 'greater good'? Or what role meaningfulness plays in your careers (or even lives)?
Thanks!
I'm the one who will speak up about facts/research and/or logic that 'pops the bubble' in the poor-excuse-for-thinking that often causes iatrogenic or system-induced harm in clinical treatment settings when unscrupulous (or ignorant) administrators and clinicians who are primarily motivated for self-gain get together and go about spreading such nonsense in order to get ahead.
And I'm also among the 1-2% of VA psychologists who actually say 'no' (with supporting evidence/logic) sometimes to veterans with respect to their urgent requests (demands?) for a PTSD diagnosis. Everyone else is either a 'rubber-stamper' ('yes,' every time to the request) or a 'pass-the-buck' ('I'm gonna send this request to be worked up for PTSD straight to the specialty clinic without even doing a rudimentary trauma/military history to rule it out due to the person not even reporting history of a Criterion A event') type of 'clinician.'
It doesn't pay well, it doesn't make me 'well-liked,' and it doesn't lead to promotions or career advancement; but at least I can sleep at night.
I will likely be mauled to death some fine day in a VA parking lot by an angry Veteran with a tire-iron who became incensed at having his service-connection for 'PTSD' denied/reduced and who blames me because I wasn't a 'rubber-stamper' or a 'pass-the-buck' psychologist. And, since I have had to say 'no' (to PTSD diagnosis for service-connection) to several of our career VA police officers here locally over the years, they probably won't even bat an eye at the incident (and maybe even take some grim satisfaction from it).
How's that for 'service?'
I went into clinical psychology because I really had a thirst for authentic conversations and--basically--cutting through the bull**** to get at the truth that heals.
Unfortunately, over the years, I've witnessed the drift of the field away from this central guidepost to becoming more political and ideological than rational and scientific.
