Therapist self-care

[Iwillheal]

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This must have come up before and so if there is a thread for that, mods please direct me to it and delete this one.

Okay, therapist self care: I already have the one by Norcross, "Leaving It at the Office," which is fine though I felt something was lacking...can't quite put my finger on it. Any other books you would recommend, either in place of this one or to complement it? Thx

 

[Pragma]

This must have come up before and so if there is a thread for that, mods please direct me to it and delete this one.

Okay, therapist self care: I already have the one by Norcross, "Leaving It at the Office," which is fine though I felt something was lacking...can't quite put my finger on it. Any other books you would recommend, either in place of this one or to complement it? Thx

I recommend a bar and some friends who aren't in any way involved in psychology. Best self-care I could think of aside from exercise 😀

 

[LivingOffLoans]

I agree with the exercise suggestion, and seeing non-psychology friends for drinks or an activity is also a good idea. I love hanging out with my friends from high school who just want to talk about and play music now.

 

[roubs]

I agree with the exercise suggestion, and seeing non-psychology friends for drinks or an activity is also a good idea. I love hanging out with my friends from high school who just want to talk about and play music now.

Thirded. We must be onto something.

 

[Iwillheal]

Okay, so, one, become an alcoholic...check. 😛

When you say "high school friends" or friends who aren't "involved in psychology," do you guys have a particular group in mind? Because I'm assuming that we are trying to accomplish two things: one, be grounded, which we usually do through relating with old friends from childhood and pre-college days. Two, to get some perspective, and so even if it's not old friends, hanging with college buddies who ended up becoming businessmen and lawyers may also provide needed distance from the sometimes crazy-making self-referential world of psychology...even if it is to enter the self-referential and crazy-making world of law, business, or in case of another classmate, politics.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Okay, so, one, become an alcoholic...check. 😛

When you say "high school friends" or friends who aren't "involved in psychology," do you guys have a particular group in mind? Because I'm assuming that we are trying to accomplish two things: one, be grounded, which we usually do through relating with old friends from childhood and pre-college days. Two, to get some perspective, and so even if it's not old friends, hanging with college buddies who ended up becoming businessmen and lawyers may also provide needed distance from the sometimes crazy-making self-referential world of psychology...even if it is to enter the self-referential and crazy-making world of law, business, or in case of another classmate, politics.

I think the biggest reason for it is just so that you aren't constantly surrounded by people who're talking about psychology. It's an interesting phenomenon to witness that when you have a group of psych grad students standing around in a social setting, the topic of conversation will invariably wind itself back to grad school.

As for any particular group, I don't know that it matters a great deal, so long as their interests are of course compatible with yours. I hung out with other psych grad students fairly frequently when in my program, but the majority of my friends were grad students in different fields (mostly natural sciences and engineering). It was great, because when we got together, other than checking on each others' thesis or dissertation statuses, no one "talked shop."

 

[Pragma]

Okay, so, one, become an alcoholic...check. 😛

When you say "high school friends" or friends who aren't "involved in psychology," do you guys have a particular group in mind? Because I'm assuming that we are trying to accomplish two things: one, be grounded, which we usually do through relating with old friends from childhood and pre-college days. Two, to get some perspective, and so even if it's not old friends, hanging with college buddies who ended up becoming businessmen and lawyers may also provide needed distance from the sometimes crazy-making self-referential world of psychology...even if it is to enter the self-referential and crazy-making world of law, business, or in case of another classmate, politics.

Well if it is not a bar, then maybe somewhere else. There's a big leap from going out for drinks and becoming dependent on alcohol (APA suggests you don't label people with their illness with terms like "alcoholic").

Really any friends that you have. Psychology people can drive me nuts sometimes even still. I'd say it helps me stay grounded, but also just provides me with an outlet to think and talk about other types of things. I find the work that some of my friends do to be fascinating, and it is a nice escape from the day-to-day pontificating that characterizes many interactions between psychologists/psychologists-to-be.

Social interaction also helps combat depression

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

After the first wk of classes I went to happy hour with psych ppl and almost all of the talk was psych related. I made a joke about there being a sampling error in the distribution of men & women at the bar. Everyone laughed, which confirmed I/we all needed to expand our social circles.

 

[Iwillheal]

APA suggests you don't label people with their illness with terms like "alcoholic"

Ah, for Christ's sake....

 

[PsychPhDone]

For what it's worth, my main group of friends here is within clinical psych and though we do talk shop, it's mostly of the "oh my god there are not enough hours in the day" category - now that we're past shared coursework we don't talk about psych much. . Thank goodness for everyone's significant others being OUT of the department...

 

[ela]

One thing I've found helpful is taking advantage of the gymnasium facilities at my school; specifically swimming. To be honest though, I mainly get my swim workout in so that I can use the steam room, sauna, hot tub afterward. Something about moving through varying levels of h2o melts the everything away.

Also definitely second having OUTSIDE of psych friends / interests / activities.

 

[Doctor Eliza]

A lot of people are talking about the va.lue of non-psych friends, but also there is real value in having psych friends, especially in the post-graduate years. Particularly with regard to clinical work, which is something that people outside of the biz can't really relate to. For example, just the other day I had a great conversation with a colleague/friend about how doing marriage counseling makes us think about our own relationships differently.

All the above stuff is good too. 🙂

Best,
Dr. E

 

[heshmonster]

Scotch, pipe, scotch, repeat.

 

[JeyRo]

Scotch, pipe, scotch, repeat.

I'm all for a pulse-pounding workout and then a tall hoppy IPA afterwards.

Check!

 

[LivingOffLoans]

Okay, so, one, become an alcoholic...check. 😛
When you say "high school friends" or friends who aren't "involved in psychology," do you guys have a particular group in mind?

For me, the "they are not involved in psychology" group does consist of many high school friends. None of them care much for hardcore academia, let alone psychology, so I hardly mention the field unless they ask me something about it. When we get together, we just have fun - music, beach, jokes, drinks, etc...

The funny thing is, I used to want to talk about psych around them all of the time, but now, I have so much respect for our friendship and how powerful psych material is, that I really do choose to push it aside. Having said that, I love to talk about psychology with people either in the field or in a related discipline. Want to talk about intersubjectivity for 3 hours? Let's do it.

Because I'm assuming that we are trying to accomplish two things: one, be grounded, which we usually do through relating with old friends from childhood and pre-college days. Two, to get some perspective.

Definitely. We need it!

 

[roubs]

I'm all for a pulse-pounding workout and then a tall hoppy IPA afterwards.

Check!

Hmm, we have opposing political views yet similar recreational habits. 🙂

 

[heshmonster]

JeyRo, Roubs ... we should be friends. I routinely drink the hoppiest of hops boms (DFH 90min IPA, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, etc.) after a powerlifting/olympic lifting session, or after a long bike ride. Fuels the fire. Scotch and the pipe are only for the weekend, preferably with good company, a tweed jacket, and something from the annals of continental philosophy or psychology. Hmmmmm.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

JeyRo, Roubs ... we should be friends. I routinely drink the hoppiest of hops boms (DFH 90min IPA, Lagunitas Hop Stoopid, etc.) after a powerlifting/olympic lifting session, or after a long bike ride. Fuels the fire. Scotch and the pipe are only for the weekend, preferably with good company, a tweed jacket, and something from the annals of continental philosophy or psychology. Hmmmmm.

I rarely drink anymore, though if I have a beer, it is often a DFH. Their 60min IPA is always solid. I am happy/sad that they are more widely distributed now, as they used to be my 'backyard' brewery. Good guys out there. Rogue is probably my next fav, with Dead Guy Ale being my usual go-to.

 

[Pragma]

I found that beer-drinking makes it harder to keep my BMI in place. I stick to whisky or scotch!

What does olympic lifting entail? Because just cardio works well for me 🙂

 

[JeyRo]

I found that beer-drinking makes it harder to keep my BMI in place. I stick to whisky or scotch!

What does olympic lifting entail? Because just cardio works well for me 🙂

Some of those double IPAs and barleywine-style ales are suprisingly caloric, this is true. Never developed much of a taste for wine or spirits, I will say.

 

[heshmonster]

I rarely drink anymore, though if I have a beer, it is often a DFH. Their 60min IPA is always solid. I am happy/sad that they are more widely distributed now, as they used to be my 'backyard' brewery. Good guys out there. Rogue is probably my next fav, with Dead Guy Ale being my usual go-to.

Hey, T4C, we should be friends ...

Rogue rules. Have been to their brewery in Oregon many a time. Can't wait to get back out there ... to the glorious, west coast ...

I found that beer-drinking makes it harder to keep my BMI in place. I stick to whisky or scotch!

What does olympic lifting entail? Because just cardio works well for me 🙂

I agree, the burrrrs, if kept unchecked (i.e., if I don't bike 100 miles a week to burn them off) would fatten me right up.

Olympic lifting = a lot of compund lifts. Snatch, clean and jerk, sqaut (hi-bar and front), etc. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubNke295jJY&feature=related
Hard to maintain in grad school, but helps keep me sane and strong.

Some of those double IPAs and barleywine-style ales are suprisingly caloric, this is true. Never developed much of a taste for wine or spirits, I will say.

Had a Westvletern recently ... must have been 800 calories in that one beer. So damn tasty though.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

Hey, T4C, we should be friends ...

Rogue rules. Have been to their brewery in Oregon many a time. Can't wait to get back out there ... to the glorious, west coast ...

Visiting the Rogue brewery is on my Bucket List. I enjoy a good beer, but the extra calories are killer. I cut out almost all alcohol as part of my training, and don't miss it that much. I'll have a beer on occasion, but if Corona is the best beer a bar offers...I'll definitely pass.

Speaking alcohol and travel...I'd love to get back to Ireland and/or to Scotland to check out some of the classic distilleries. I prefer mostly single malts if I had to choose, but some of the blends out there are quite good too.

 

[Ollie123]

There is no comparing the Jameson they sell here to what I had when I was in Ireland. Though not surprisingly, many of the other local whiskeys were even better. On the other hand, despite what everyone had told me, I was sorely disappointed to learn the Guinness is not all that different. I'm partial to ales (not IPAs but pale or belgian whites) though so perhaps that was a part of it.

 

[roubs]

Not to merge this thread w/the weight thread, but does anyone know of evidence that 150 beer calories are worse than 150 of another kind of calories? I know it piles up if you add on beer to a diet that's already at or above caloric requirements :/ Basically I'm trying to justify beer. I'd rather (and have) cut way back on refined sugar foods.

 

[Pragma]

Not to merge this thread w/the weight thread, but does anyone know of evidence that 150 beer calories are worse than 150 of another kind of calories? I know it piles up if you add on beer to a diet that's already at or above caloric requirements :/ Basically I'm trying to justify beer. I'd rather (and have) cut way back on refined sugar foods.

For me it is a subjective feeling - I feel more full when I have been drinking beer.

I did come across this rating system for beers, which may be of interest:

http://www.efficientdrinker.com/beer/complete-calories-abv.html

 

[JeyRo]

Not to merge this thread w/the weight thread, but does anyone know of evidence that 150 beer calories are worse than 150 of another kind of calories? I know it piles up if you add on beer to a diet that's already at or above caloric requirements :/ Basically I'm trying to justify beer. I'd rather (and have) cut way back on refined sugar foods.

A calorie is a calorie I guess - but it's probably much better to have 150 calories of sustained, slow-release carbohydrate energy or protein than 150 calories of simple sugar. I lost a lot of weight low carbing.... I went from 260 to 200 this way (gained a lot of weight on internship and postdoc) and went from a waist size of 42 to 38..... and have stayed at that waist size since.

Sadly, the highest-carb alcoholic drinks also happen to be my favorites (the aforementioned double IPAs and barleywine-style ales). Straight vodka is virtually carb-less (although it's calorie-dense alcohol).

 

[Iwillheal]

Speaking of alcohol, I get my jollies from eating pastries (dry and the not-too-sweet varieties). I used to drink alcohol but it became excessive so I switched to my original love, sweets and carbs. Dark chocolate, pastries and black tea, coconut bun and coffee...I'm in heaven. Funny thing is originally I thought that the switch would lead to a more healthy lifestyle, but the beer belly has been replaced by a bigger pastry belly, and I've lost some of my jovial wisecracking drunk persona which made me a lot of friends. In short, sorry for the lame jokes, blame the lack of alcohol, but know that I do have the potential. 😉

 

[nika751]

I do martial arts. It works great. I get non-psych friends, the chance to develop skills outside of psychology, and great exercise. I would recommend it to anyone 🙂

 

[Occlumentia]

To echo some of the earlier suggestions, exercise and non-psych friends. I do cardio classes and go for runs occasionally, but even regular bursts at home while studying are good (crunches, push-ups, stretches). I limit my alcohol and coffee but have a fair bit of tea (mostly green or herbal).

Even while stupidly busy with study, I try to sneak in a few minutes of non-study-related reading at night (currently slowly making my way through Agatha Christie) which clears my mind.

I also find that gaming helps - preferably tabletop, with a bunch of friends. Immersing yourself in another world and animating characters with your mind is powerful (nerdy) stuff. Video games are also good but I prefer the humour and presence of a gaming group.

Or, you could combine exercise and gaming if you have something like Patient 0 in your area 😀

 

[Pragma]

To echo some of the earlier suggestions, exercise and non-psych friends. I do cardio classes and go for runs occasionally, but even regular bursts at home while studying are good (crunches, push-ups, stretches). I limit my alcohol and coffee but have a fair bit of tea (mostly green or herbal).

Even while stupidly busy with study, I try to sneak in a few minutes of non-study-related reading at night (currently slowly making my way through Agatha Christie) which clears my mind.

I also find that gaming helps - preferably tabletop, with a bunch of friends. Immersing yourself in another world and animating characters with your mind is powerful (nerdy) stuff. Video games are also good but I prefer the humour and presence of a gaming group.

Or, you could combine exercise and gaming if you have something like Patient 0 in your area 😀

LOL, that looks intense.