Mental Therapist

[WonderWanda]

Should someone with mental health disorders of their own be practising as a therapist or does it depend?

I have looked into this briefly and there are suggestions that mental health conditions are at higher rates amongst psychologists and psychiatrists. It could be argued that a therapist who has experienced issues for themselves would be more understanding and empathetic towards their client's struggles. In cases of of experienced anxiety or depression I can see how this might be beneficial.

Currently there are no restrictions on any mental health conditions that would prevent a person from practising as a clinical psychologist.

In cases of schizophrenia, BPD, psychosis etc, all of which that can leave the affected person detached from reality or with a warped view of events, is it ethical that they be allowed to treat others?

For example: Would you be comfortable sending your child suffering from anxiety, to a Dr who has schizophrenia? Not that you would know of course.

The title of this post suggests you are trying to be deliberately goady.

If the condition is well managed with medication or other approved means then yes, there is no reason they shouldn’t be able to practice in psychiatry. Obviously if somebody is undergoing a mental health crisis they need to be signed off sick and shouldn’t be working, I wouldn’t expect somebody who is actively mentally unwell to be treating a child with anxiety but I wouldn’t expect them to be serving me in Tesco or cleaning my home etc either, they should be off work until well again. It would be discrimination to say nobody with certain mental health conditions can work in specific fields unless it could be evidenced that having such a condition would stop them being able to do the job regardless of how well the condition was being managed.

Would you be comfortable sending your child suffering from anxiety, to a Dr who has schizophrenia? Not that you would know of course.

If you can't tell, how could it matter?

This topic seems to come up weekly.

I'm not sure what your agenda is as you have already started a near identical thread.

I have schizo-affective disorder which is a serious mental illness. I have a career, family etc.
My illness is managed by medication. I don't have a warped view of events & I'm no more detached from reality than anyone else managing a serious life long condition.