What and why do you love what you do?

[psychyes93]

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This might be an interesting thread to consider..

What aspects of your psych program, specialty, area of research/interest do you love the most? Why do you love what you are doing? What have you learned through the process?

Lets try to make this forum a bit more positive 🙂

 

[ClinicalABA]

I love my job variability, flexibility, and autonomy. I'm paid a good salary, and that helps. I get to hang out with toddlers, blow bubbles, play with balloons, and make play-doh birthday cakes, all while adhering to administration standards of an empirically supported evaluation instrument. That is just awesome and just as much fun for me every time I do it (seriously- learn to do the ADOS-2 Toddler Module). I work with many great families, from whom I've learned that humans are incredibly resilient and prepared for a lot of difficult situations. At times I am challenged by what I encounter, requiring further development and refining of my clinical and consultation skills (which keeps me from getting bored). I like being able to teach and supervise. I get to work in multiple environments (clinic, schools, and homes), so I get drive around a lot through some beautiful country. In my current position, I have no administrative duties, which is great. Only thing I consistently don't like is writing reports. I hate reports, but if they're the cost to blow bubbles for 18 month olds, then I can suck it up.

 

[PsyDr]

Testifying is a lot like breaking up with an angry person. You say what you need to say, someone essentially yells at you, you answer the questions as concisely as possible, and then you get to leave. So that's pretty nice.

Clinical work at its best is helping a nice person in a very bad situation. Writing reports by the pool is nice. Document review at home is pretty nice.

Since I'm in pp, I get to write a lot of things off. My personal favorite is taking colleagues out for dinner/drinks and it being written off.

 

[Justanothergrad]

One of the things I specialize in is psychodiagnostic assessment with a specific focus on instrument validation. A major barrier to care is that people are linked with inappropriate treatments based on poor diagnostic decisions, in part due to instrument design. It stems from my time as a practitioner where I saw bad bad bad and horrible diagnoses getting passed off, even when popular instruments are used. I like the idea that people get treatments they need and that people don't get judged inappropriately for comments,thoughts, etc. that do not reflect pathology. It feels good to see people do well and its rewarding to see people have accurate answers to help them understand whats going on in their lives and how they can get better control of it. This underlines why I've enjoyed my other area of research looking at factors influencing what it takes to get people into treatment.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I love it when I get a consult for an enraged patient and walk out of there with everyone calm.
I love it when the preteen girl who I didn't even remember from a talk in the ED runs up to me in Walmart and asks if she can give me a hug.
I love it when a patient says they were thinking about what we were talking about last week cause I know they are beginning to internalize what we are doing.
I love it when a married couple who could barely sit in the same room two weeks ago is spotted in the parking lot hugging each other.
I love it when a young teen tells me that she used to only think about ways to die and now she wants to live.
I love it when a father finally opens up to his son and tells him how all of his anger came out of his deepest fears and love for his son that he so desperately wanted to protect from the pain he experienced.
I love it when a patient says that they couldn't wait to get here today to talk to me about X.
I love it when a patient no longer needs to hurt themselves because they recognize that talking to caring people about their pain, fear, sadness, anger and receiving appropriate validation actually makes them feel better.
I love it when I tell the angriest most obnoxious kid at a school that he could be the angry kid on a Southpark episode and he laughs at himself and this experience reduces his anger to the point where the teachers were able to notice the change.
I love it when a patient realizes that medications won't make their life better and that they have to do things to make their life better.
I love it when a patient celebrates a year of sobriety. (I usually won't see them much longer than that)
I love it when I talk to parents during intake about some of the dynamics of what is going on with their child and family during a seemingly hopeless situation and I am right on the money because I have seen it before and they begin to recover some hope.
I love it when a patient's defensive structure eases enough that they realize on a deep emotional level what unconditional positive regard/agape/love feels like and recognize that they don't want to or need to settle for less in future relationships.

I could add to this list every day, but these are just some of the experiences that I have had over the course of my training and early career.

 

[Harry3990]

I love it when I get a consult for an enraged patient and walk out of there with everyone calm.
I love it when the preteen girl who I didn't even remember from a talk in the ED runs up to me in Walmart and asks if she can give me a hug.
I love it when a patient says they were thinking about what we were talking about last week cause I know they are beginning to internalize what we are doing.
I love it when a married couple who could barely sit in the same room two weeks ago is spotted in the parking lot hugging each other.
I love it when a young teen tells me that she used to only think about ways to die and now she wants to live.
I love it when a father finally opens up to his son and tells him how all of his anger came out of his deepest fears and love for his son that he so desperately wanted to protect from the pain he experienced.
I love it when a patient says that they couldn't wait to get here today to talk to me about X.
I love it when a patient no longer needs to hurt themselves because they recognize that talking to caring people about their pain, fear, sadness, anger and receiving appropriate validation actually makes them feel better.
I love it when I tell the angriest most obnoxious kid at a school that he could be the angry kid on a Southpark episode and he laughs at himself and this experience reduces his anger to the point where the teachers were able to notice the change.
I love it when a patient realizes that medications won't make their life better and that they have to do things to make their life better.
I love it when a patient celebrates a year of sobriety. (I usually won't see them much longer than that)
I love it when I talk to parents during intake about some of the dynamics of what is going on with their child and family during a seemingly hopeless situation and I am right on the money because I have seen it before and they begin to recover some hope.
I love it when a patient's defensive structure eases enough that they realize on a deep emotional level what unconditional positive regard/agape/love feels like and recognize that they don't want to or need to settle for less in future relationships.

I could add to this list every day, but these are just some of the experiences that I have had over the course of my training and early career.

This is a great, inspiring list. Thank you very much for sharing. The reminder of all of these incredible benefits to work in our field was a very nice pick me up on an otherwise dreary morning.

 

[smalltownpsych]

This is a great, inspiring list. Thank you very much for sharing. The reminder of all of these incredible benefits to work in our field was a very nice pick me up on an otherwise dreary morning.

There are many days when I need to remind myself too. 🙂

 

[Dentistry3399]

I love it when I get a consult for an enraged patient and walk out of there with everyone calm.
I love it when the preteen girl who I didn't even remember from a talk in the ED runs up to me in Walmart and asks if she can give me a hug.
I love it when a patient says they were thinking about what we were talking about last week cause I know they are beginning to internalize what we are doing.
I love it when a married couple who could barely sit in the same room two weeks ago is spotted in the parking lot hugging each other.
I love it when a young teen tells me that she used to only think about ways to die and now she wants to live.
I love it when a father finally opens up to his son and tells him how all of his anger came out of his deepest fears and love for his son that he so desperately wanted to protect from the pain he experienced.
I love it when a patient says that they couldn't wait to get here today to talk to me about X.
I love it when a patient no longer needs to hurt themselves because they recognize that talking to caring people about their pain, fear, sadness, anger and receiving appropriate validation actually makes them feel better.
I love it when I tell the angriest most obnoxious kid at a school that he could be the angry kid on a Southpark episode and he laughs at himself and this experience reduces his anger to the point where the teachers were able to notice the change.
I love it when a patient realizes that medications won't make their life better and that they have to do things to make their life better.
I love it when a patient celebrates a year of sobriety. (I usually won't see them much longer than that)
I love it when I talk to parents during intake about some of the dynamics of what is going on with their child and family during a seemingly hopeless situation and I am right on the money because I have seen it before and they begin to recover some hope.
I love it when a patient's defensive structure eases enough that they realize on a deep emotional level what unconditional positive regard/agape/love feels like and recognize that they don't want to or need to settle for less in future relationships.

I could add to this list every day, but these are just some of the experiences that I have had over the course of my training and early career.

Wow! To see the actual changes in patients and know you made a difference..that is truly humbling, inspiring, and valuable. Thank you for all that you do 🙂

Curious as to where you attended grad school and was it for a PhD or PsyD? It seems you see all sorts of people..

 

[schoolpsy21]

As my username suggests, I work in school psychology. I love being able to be the "psychological expert" in the school system, and basically function as a guide to other school staff in working with their students. I love that every day is different, even if it can be chaotic sometimes. Most of all, I love being able to watch kids grow up and succeed in school (and life) with proper supports in place 🙂

 

[smalltownpsych]

Wow! To see the actual changes in patients and know you made a difference..that is truly humbling, inspiring, and valuable. Thank you for all that you do 🙂

Curious as to where you attended grad school and was it for a PhD or PsyD? It seems you see all sorts of people..

Thank you for you kind words. I am glad I wrote that because I was struggling a bit this week and it helps sometimes to step back and focus on the bigger picture. Yes, it can be rewarding but also incredibly emotionally draining and difficult at times. Sometimes the most difficult part is how intangible and uncertain much of the work is. Definitely have to be able to tolerate the uncomfortability of not knowing as our PD used to say.

I obtained a PsyD degree at a university based program in Southern California and did my internship at a state hospital in a rural western state and postdoc in community mental health in same area. Any good clinical psychology doctoral program whether PsyD or PhD typically offers broad and extensive training and experiences so by the time we're licensed many psychologists would have similar rich experiences. As a rural practitioner, I do tend to have a broader experience than many because I don't have the luxury of referring out much.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I love getting the differential diagnosis right so the patient can get the proper treatment. The vast majority of my referrals have seen 3-5+ specialists and are desperate to get help.

I love intervening (via assessment and consultation) when someone is struggling and at risk of ruining their career. It's more I/O type work, though equally rewarding.

I love getting people back to work w. the right transition plan. Getting someone back successfully saves them from a worse quality of life that comes w. SSDI and feeling broken.

I love being able to be part of a multi-disciplinary team and getting patients home with their families instead of rotting away at a nursing home.

I love conducting research that can directly apply to a clinical population, as it multiplies the # of patients that can be helped.

I love doing outreach education (community, fire, police, legislators, etc) to help shape policy and public perception to assist my patients.

 

[Rivi]

I love the nature of this work. It is very interesting.

I enjoy the pace of my job.

I enjoy watching people improve, and being able to teach concepts that people use in their recovery.

The pay and benefits at my site are pretty sweet as well.

I enjoy having fun with the groups and individuals, and using appropriate humor as well.

I enjoy watching the connections people make in the groups, and watching people come out of their isolation.