Do you think most psychologists and therapists are batshit crazy?

[NewYearFitQueen]

I know about 4 in real life and trust me, they do not lead lives you would want to lead, plus at least two of the seem batshit crazy themselves

This. I’m trained in a specific 1:1 therapeutic intervention and never use those skills outside work.

But why would you think therapists wouldn’t be just as likely to be rude as people in any other randomly chosen job?

This thread is worryingly revealing of people’s misconceptions about therapists and therapy. They’re just ordinary people doing a job, like teachers or receptionists or accountants or lorry drivers. They aren’t some kind of ultra-enlightened, permanently-kind Buddhas with no personal problems or hang-ups.

My sister is an acerbic, easily-irritated, marmite kind of person, with strong opinions and a take it or leave it attitude. None of that appears to stop her doing valuable work in her specialist therapeutic field inside the consulting room.

My couples therapist friend has had an affair. I imagine it’s likely to improve her ability to work with couples, if anything.

I kind of agree, you have to have suffered emotionally and mentally to see the need for some jobs. But some of us are sane enough to be some use in spite of our own demons.

This

Can only speak for psychologists, but of the sample of approx 200 I know to some degree, only about one or two have more obvious mental health needs. I'm assuming that's what you meant with your derogatory phrasing, perhaps? On the whole they seem professional.

Also, there is a huge difference between anyone who sets up as a 'therapist' who may or may not have had training, versus the expensive and lengthy education for psychologists. The NHS pay for the doctoral part of the training and the selection is rigorous (have family connection). I'm sure the NHS are invested in not throwing £150k+ training fees on people who are actively unstable.

My friend since my teen years became a psychologist. She was someone who very much liked dishing out advice and had quite a dominant personality. She was however incredibly weak willed when it came to men. She let them treat her like dirt. How it affected her as a psychologist I have no idea but she ended up working to rehabilitate convicted sex offenders. She said she never thought about their victims, when I asked her about that, at that point she had not had children. I also know she was SA by a cousin when she was young so the fact she wanted to assist sex offenders was quite something.

My friend’s DD is at University and intends becoming a psychologist. She is a very feisty and grounded young woman. I would describe her as a force of nature with a very loving heart. Knew her own mind from very young, I would say she is exactly the sort of person who will make an excellent therapist, wise beyond her years.

My friend had a Masters and my friends DD intends to train to this level, so fully qualified.

I know 3 - one is very grounded, the other 2 quite self involved but stable

I wanted to agree that they are just human. When you have counselling or therapy if you want to sit Infront of a perfect robot we now have the AI option.

Life coaches, tend to be reformed addicts. The therapists I know, who are not doctors, but have done some online course, are either reformed addicts, or now adult children of addicts or abandoned babies or have suffered some trauma of their own.

I would only pay for a medical doctor that specialised in psychology.

I know a medical doctor who advises on policy, who is a back garden dog breeder and has some distressing treatment of women in her family history.

I am also interested in what draws people to jobs where you are sitting there listening to people’s problems all day. I know one person who recently qualified as a psychotherapist and she has lots of unresolved issues despite having therapies as part of her course. She doesn’t like others being happy or successful so I secretly things she just prefers to be around people with problems worse than hers.

Medical doctors don't specialise in psychology. Clinical, educational, occupational, and forensic psychologists do. It requires an undergrad degree at upper 2:1 or above typically, then some in job experience, then applications to (for clinical) the NHS for a three year doctoral training post (salaried). You may be thinking of a psychiatrist, who is a medical doctor who specialises in medications that are evidence based to help with specific diagnosed disorders. Some psychiatrists also seek post qualification training in therapy.

I mean, I don't think you can really use this as an example- this is something that could happen to ANY woman in any field. It almost feels a bit like you're holding people who work in mental health to a higher standard than you'd hold others in other career fields and I'm wondering why that is? Just because you work with mental health doesn't mean you are immune to your own challenges or that your circumstances can't change with bereavement/ burnout/ starting a family etc.

I think it's really important to ensure that if you're choosing a counsellor that they are accredited and properly qualified, registered and that they undergo their own supervisions. But even then I work in a side along field and I've had managers who were excellent supervisors who really challenged me, and some who weren't so great so it also depends on what their own support network and resources are like.

I go for regular counselling after a difficult life event and honestly I think my counsellor is fantastic at what she does. I don't need to know about her personal life or how she behaves in other settings as long as she continues to be appropriate and a useful source of reflection to me during our sessions. I've been for counselling previously where it didn't just click as nice as they were.

I think the counselling 'space' is very different than real life - you wouldn't sustain that type of interaction in real life if that was how you behaved in every conversation. So it's not realistic to expect counsellors or psychiatrists to act this way in their personal life. I have a few friends in this field and I'd say initially they were probably drawn to it due to their own experiences with mental ill health within their families but I also would imagine they're very good at their jobs and often a lot of 'helper' roles do draw people who have experienced trauma and who were helped in some way or who want to ensure others have a different experience. I would say the same is true for me, but I'm very aware of that and I've only ever disclosed that in a work context (outside of supervision) once, in a planned way and with clear purpose to help the other person understand a cycle they were struggling with seeing because their support is not about me, if I'm there to support someone it's my job to balance the power dynamics in the room and to center their needs and goals - I'm not thinking/talking about myself in those moments. But I would also say for the most part I've had really good training and been in really strong, capable teams, not everyone has that experience.

The "Wounded Healer" is a pretty common aspect of psychological professions - those people with hurts themselves drawn to work with others.

When I worked in the US, people were much more comfortable with the idea of interviewing therapists to find one they wanted to work with and whose style suited them.

as others have said there is just such a huge difference in these roles. A psychiatrist or psychologist is completely different to a therapist. Life coaching is a whole new level of nothingness 😂 it’s like comparing a social worker with a nursery nurse with a babysitter.

I use a BCAP accredited therapist and tbh, I can’t see why it would matter if she was a real life mentalist. She helps me unpack my life and learn coping and self protective methods. It’s all about me not her.

What a strange post.

I know a psychologist (a proper one) and while she is lovely, she is a bit mental

I'd put psychiatrists in there too. I couldn't say all were bonkers and a bit crap but my sister has been in therapy (with psychiatrists and psychologists) for about 10 years and some of the shit she has been fed and encouraged to do has really made me worry about who they are and that's hard to challenge because she has trusted these people.

I agree with the op.
I know a Professor of Psychology who also practices clinically. They have said to me that if ever me or mine ever need psychological support to let him know and he will recommend a safe pair of hands.

What therapy do you do with a psychiatrist ?

it’s incredibly hard to become a clinical psychologist, there is no doubt it takes a special sort of person but so does being a surgeon/ oncologist etc.

they then have the added factor of spending their career with seriously ill people with often little chance of recovery who are, by definition spouting crazy but also fascinating stuff that healthy minds never get to, it’s not surprising they might seem somewhat unique IMo!

had to edit as psychiatrist autocorrected to psychologist rendering that comment obselete and now wondering if that’s been happening to other posters 😂

"Psychology" in the academic sense is a very wide field. I'm assuming you are just talking about the clinical psychology/therapy side of it (which is a small subsection) and not, say, research psychologists, educational psychologists, industrial psychologists etc etc? (Sorry, but having studied psychology at university back in the day I am STILL continually irritated by the assumption that my studies "had something to do with therapy and Freud." Nothing to do with either in my or most of my cohort's cases. And if I'd specialized later, it still would not have been to do with therapy in any way )

Therapists and counsellors are often not trained clinical psychologists either. Pretty much anyone can call themselves a therapist, which is one of the problems. And clinical psychologists aren't psychiatrists. Psychiatrists are medical doctors.

I think so many people give good advice but can’t apply it to themselves.
Help people living organised lives when they themselves live in chaos.
Doctors save lives while they smoke, eat crap, drink etc
Give amazing relationship advice while living in toxic relationships.
I don’t think we should always judge their life or expect them to be living as they preach.. Many people are just great at helping others but not themselves.

"The "Wounded Healer" is a pretty common aspect of psychological professions - those people with hurts themselves drawn to work with others."

Isn't this similar of many jobs though? People with glasses are significantly more likely to become opticians? People who have been hurt/ harmed in the past are more likely to go into policing. Many teachers didn't have a positive experience of school themselves. Exposure to a job is actually a massive part of looking at it as a viable career option. And people who have had need to use a therapeutic service either formally or informally will therefore be more likely to consider that as a career option than someone with zero prior experience.

Here we go again. She won’t have been ‘in therapy’ with a psychiatrist. Psychiatrists are medical doctors who specialise in diagnosing and treating psychiatric illnesses. They might see a patient regularly, but in the same way as you would see a cardiologist if you had heart issues — they would be diagnosing, prescribing medication and supervising treatment. They’re not talking therapists. And certainly she may have been misdiagnosed and not received appropriate treatment, or disagreed with her duagnosis, but you could say that of any medical issue.

I’m a therapist. I’m also a human being. I’m not a perfect wife, mother, friend, daughter. I’ve experienced a normal level of difficulty in my life but no serious traumas.

We’re not there to give advice or tell people what to do. We’re there to help clients to find their own answer.
Psychologists are more medical model based, so will look at symptoms, diagnosis and therapeutic interventions which the NHS can measure easily and do quickly, like CBT/DBT.

I see an awful lots of people who’ve had a bad experience with camhs psychologists or NHS mental health support with CBT therapists. They describe it as a generic support which was like putting a sticking plaster on something which needed more delicate long term exploration. This isn’t provided usually by the NHS or by public bodies, it’s usually found in the private sector.

If you want to explore a diagnosis or start a pathway to medication, a psychologist would be a good place to start. If you want therapy, to help alleviate anxiety/depression/trauma and you want to be able to explore it fully, in a non CBT type way, a counsellor would be better. Look for a BACP or UKCP registered one. Ask to see their registration details. We have regular clinical supervision and CPD and have completed a course which requires observed skills training, additional supervision and personal therapy.