I remember getting very disturbed in my initial days of practice as a psychologist. Slowly I got used to the process of handling others’ mental worries and illnesses and it gave me a sense of satisfaction and self-worth seeing the difference I could bring about in the wellbeing of the clients after the therapy/counselling sessions. All mental health professionals must be familiar with this feeling, I am sure.
The practise of psychotherapy can be highly rewarding and gratifying. Psychotherapists/ psychologists regularly make a significant positive impact in the lives of those with whom they work. But this endeavour can also be very taxing, emotionally demanding and challenging. To be effective and efficient in our profession we need to attend to our wellness, otherwise, we can be at risk of developing problems that might impact our professional competence.
The research literature also shows that psychologists and mental health professionals, in general, tend to neglect their own mental health, despite serving in a field that promotes the health and well-being of others. There are studies that suggest psychologists and mental health professionals need to be more aware of the effect that stress and the nature of their work have on them. They need to be aware of the stressors, feelings of distress and burnout which is a part of their profession. They need to take care of their well-being to be able to function in a more productive and ethical manner.
During such a time when the whole world is facing many psychological disorders as a result of the COVID pandemic, the psychologists are perceived as saviours and there is a surge in client calls. Despite its many rewards, the practice of psychotherapy/ counselling may cause us to experience feelings of distress.
Distress is described as the subjective emotional reaction we each experience in response to the many stressors, challenges, and demands in our lives. Distress is a normal part of life and we all experience it, whether in response to working with difficult clients, coping with demands at work and family front, caring for an ill loved one, experiencing financial concerns, and many other stressors in our lives. While distress is a normal part of life, distress left unchecked over time can lead to burnout in therapists.
There could be work-related factors or personal factors in the life of a psychotherapist that may contribute to the distress – burnout continuum. Work-related factors may include the type of client, relapses, calls at odd times, emergencies like suicide attempts, problems related to payments, lack of expected progress, long working hours, not feeling appreciated enough and other complaints to list a few.
Similarly, personal factors like marriage or problems in married life, going through a divorce, ailing family members, caring for small children, demands of family life, financial issues are reasons enough to stress the mental health professional at a personal level too. Stress is the downside of the mental health profession as we can see, but is always neglected by the mental health professionals themselves.
The term ‘Burnout’ was coined by Freudenberger (1986) thought to be having three components- emotional exhaustion, depersonalisation and a decreased sense of accomplishment. A therapist may experience them at different times of his/her career in varying degrees, degrees. Moreover, mental health practitioners work in a culture of caring for the mentally ill where they are supposed to have empathy, patience and compassion which is not reciprocated equally by the client or its family.
This one-way working relationship can be very taxing for the therapist when they are experiencing stress from other areas in their life. the psychologist/therapist is also equally vulnerable to get affected negatively by stressful situations even though they are equipped with the knowledge of identifying it early. They need to pay attention and take care of their own mental health and well-being in order to be able to serve more efficiently their clients. In different countries, there are regulatory bodies that have emphasized the self-care of mental health professionals.
It has been observed that those professionals who work with trauma clients experience vicarious traumatisation, relational difficulties and empathy fatigue which can affect their clients adversely.
Knowledge about self or self-awareness may help and give an insight to the mental health professional on how to take a step back and take care of oneself first to be helpful while dealing with clients. In fact, expert therapists know how to care for their own mental health as they consider it the most important therapeutic tool.
It has been observed that experienced therapists report less work-related stress as compared to those who are early in their career as mental health practitioners. This can be attributed to their understanding of the importance of self-care and prioritizing it. The term self-care refers not only to an engagement in various practices but also to have a caring attitude or ‘being’ caring toward oneself.
Self-care involves self-reflection and action in terms of knowing one’s needs and making a conscious effort to seek out resources that will foster health and well-being.
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