Generally, people think of a psychologist as a mechanic who is visited by crazy people (“their head no longer works well”) seeking to be fixed. The truth? I wish we had that ability, our work would be even more rewarding than it is, but reality must be corrected in two points here and, those who wish to study this beautiful career or who are already doing so, must be the first to understand this important detail. .
As he recently presented in his column, people who turn to psychotherapists are not crazy and psychotherapists do not fix their patients. Although this error in the concept of psychology is understandable because, in general, the patient turns to the psychotherapist when he feels he is functioning poorly, looking for a solution to his problem, hoping that with a few pieces of advice such as “think this and not that.” (like tools introduced into a car), the problems disappear and everything returns to normal. But this doesn’t work like that.
The patient or client (to remove the assumption of being injured or sick) is not a crazy person who needs to be fixed, he is not like the car, the washing machine or the refrigerator, which when it starts to malfunction you put some tools in it and! puff! It starts to go well. No, the person is an interesting being, a dynamically complex subject and actively committed to the improvement process, one could say that one does not work “on the subject”, but rather with the subject, who must do his or her part.
Others see the psychotherapist as a surgeon who is consulted in order to remove that “tumor” that they have in their life, that toxic part of their personality or that discomfort that they are suffering, leaving them as good as new after therapy/surgery and taking home only the “healthy parts of his personality.” It would be beautiful to be able to do it, that with just a couple of exercises everything in the life of the patient/client would improve but, unfortunately, the psychic apparatus does not work that way, it cannot be separated into parts and function only with some, it is an unbreakable whole. Although you can change the way it works, you will never be able to change “the piece” or remove the “organ” that you don’t like.
A better way to think about what a psychotherapist does, however, is to see him or her as a rehabilitation assistant, perhaps a kinesiologist or chiropractor of the mind. The psychotherapist helps his patient / client to develop strengths, teaches him to work with her weaknesses. We all have limitations (due to our personality, our genetics, our upbringing, our life experiences, etc.) and while we try to do the best we can with what we have, we may need help to be able to do even better, the psychotherapist can provide that guide to find new ways of doing things, to gain new strength or even to recover those that had been lost.
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The psychotherapist’s work is slow, it is a painful process, because the patient/client is the one who must do the work, no one else can do it for him, for you, the psychotherapist will be there guiding you in that process, encouraging you and presenting you with new challenges. Physical rehabilitation is developing the body little by little, step by step, slowly, good psychotherapy should be a similar process for the mind, helping to develop mental and emotional muscles such as patience, tolerance, persistence, courage and the acceptation. The most important thing is that, in the end, each patient must develop the work for themselves, thus, a good therapist will promote self-development, helping to create strength and skills for life.
Surely there are many other ways of seeing the psychotherapist and their work, but these are what Jennifer offers in her publication, something to take into account as patients and as therapists (or future therapists). I think it is also important to note that the work of the psychologist is not restricted only to psychotherapy, but that could be material for a new article.
Photography by p.Gordon on Flickr