[Littlemeinside]

I see some people in here wanting to have a degree in psych and become a T. So is it normal for someone who have been hurting to have that wish? I have a degree ( loooong time ago) and acknowledged that I couldn´t practice because I was doing it to repair myself and had not worked on my own issues. I thought that I had, but real life proved me wrong.
I find that a lot of T´s with short degrees may do more harm than good? I may not be right, but it seems from this forum, that some who are really struglling with close relationships and IRL issues themselves, are the onces who want to practice? One thing is being able to quote a textbook ( myself included).Just wondered about the motivation behind it? Is it" I am not cabable of handling my own issues...there for I will help someone else instead, to forget my own and feel worthy"??..

Not saying whether it´s good or bad!

I wouldn't myself want to be a t. I don't have the patience it would require to be good at the job, I tell my t all the time how much I appreciate her gigantic ability to be patient and let me figure stuff out for myself instead of just telling me. On the other hand I can certainly understand how being in therapy can make a person want to go to school and learn about it - I am just fascinated with the things I have learned about Jungian psychotherapy stuff in the past 15 months!! Especially the dream work and Active Imagination, and most recently Jung's idea of the 4 functions. T just told me Sunday that it looks like I'm working with my 4th function now, this is apparently a big thing, I had no clue of course what she was talking about, but she recommended a book and I'm going to find it at the library to do some reading on my own. (Another of those times I hate that she moved away. I can't borrow her books anymore!)

[pbutton]

I find psychology very interesting but it does not appeal to me as a career choice. Not my style.

I did until I went to therapy for the first time. Now i hate the field with a passion. lol.

[stopdog]

No. Never. It seems like the most boring job on the planet to me.

[DelusionsDaily]

I have wanted to but my T said she thought it would be too triggering for me right now. But I may revisit the option later down the road.

I would have to get a grip on my own sanity first, But I think it would be very rewarding and difficult.

[avlady]

i would love to be a T- but i only have an associates in Arts degree-also another year of college added to that-no i don't see it hppening now because i don't have enough courses you never know i could take some if i come across some money!!!

[Syra]

Not me. too terrifying.

[sittingatwatersedge]

it was my dream, to become a clinical psychologist

this was long years before I even knew (consciously, anyway) that I had issues to work through

and now that I know I'm working on them

and T encourages me to give it a try (school that is)

but by the time I work through 577394756338495 issues, I will be too old.

so I guess i will settle for being an exquisite listener. heaven knows there are few enough of them in this world. *sigh*

[BonnieJean]

my t says everyone is a work in progress.

[wotchermuggle]

I loved psychology before I had mental health issues, but never considered it as a career. Now, even though I'm more interested than ever, I don't think I could emotionally hold multiple clients and provide them with meaningful care.

[content30]

I'm currently seriously considering it. My T became a T because her T helped her years ago. I had a friend who was a T who became a T because she was helped. I think that many to most Ts become Ts because they were helped by Ts. I have a BA, but I want to get my masters. I have worked through my issues in therapy and am doing great. However, I want to make sure that I have a whole year free of issues before I really do apply to school. So, I'm going to take the GRE this year and maybe apply next year. Since I was young, I was always one of those people that others would come to, confide in, and ask for advice. I'm also really outgoing and love people and love talking to people. I just worry that I won't know what to say to everyone...but I guess everyone starts somewhere...eek! We will see. I'm not 100% sure yet, and like I said, I want another year of doing really well. I do NOT want any of my issues to ever be an issue for someone else. I just want to help set others free...like my T did for me. I want a job where I can help people...a job with meaning!

[CantExplain]

I might become an adequate T, but I'll never be as good at that as I am in my current job.

[Yoda]

nope, never would want to be a T

research in psych would be interesting though

[geez]

I am in school for exercise physiology (to become a personal trainer) because I want to help people who want to be healthy. I became healthier as a result of a supportive T and my own will to be healthy. I was obese and lost 80lbs and have kept it off for a couple years now. That is why I'm in school now however.....

I do have a desire to be a T someday. I have insight and empathy (as I've been told by a psychiatrist and other people who where in outpatient with me - I have great questions as I've been told) and I've had a desire to be a T for a while but I'm not 100% sure if it's because I'm getting help and I'm interested in it right now or for the long haul. I tend to research to death whatever I'm interested in that moment.

Yes...my T says there's a pretty good chance I'd be a darn good one. That was one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me. But where I am in my life financially I can't go back to school...it's just impossible. And honestly my 1st real love is veterinary medicine, which would be even more challenging. I live near an incredible vet school that I could never get into; I would have to move and take so many science classes I never took in 4-year college. But I think I could be a pretty darn good vet, too ...I like animals more than people, but as a practicing vet you have to deal with both the animals and their owners. I think as both a therapist or vet I would have a high level of empathy and be able to handle the pressures that came with either profession.
If I had stayed married (been divorced like 5 years now), I was going to get my vet tech degree from a day program at a community college.
I feel sad because no on helped me figure out what I liked or was good at or what I wanted to do when it might have made a real difference in having a CAREER that made me happy. It was just get good grades, college, find some job. That's it.

[adel34]

I got a bachilors degree in counseling psychology and took several courses in expressive arts therapy, and totally enjoyed it!
However, with the last year of college I had all these struggles with my mood, and then how long it's taken me to finally get settled, I just ddon't know if I could take the pressure of the job, the need to always be looking at myself all the time, always be paying attention to clients when they're there and trying to meet their needs, I sometimes think it would be too much.
However, I do one day think I might be able to be a peer specialist, someone who has dealt with mental illness and the system but feels solid enough to help others. This seems like a good middle ground between not being a therapist and being one.
Just today I lead the first session of a women's support group with three other interns at my facility and it went very well! I sure used my psych knowledge to plan and help facilitate the group.

nope, but sometimes i wonder how they manage to keep their mouths shut. that is why i could never be a t.....

[Nightlight]

I'm studying psychology. I'm not certain where it's going to take me at this stage as there's a long way to go before it leads me anywhere (I've only finished one year). In therapy I've worked through a huge amount that I didn't think was possible to move through. I wouldn't want to help other people in a regular therapy type job unless I was confident about my own abilities to take control of my own problems, maintain a good level of stability, and so on. I think the important thing is being wise enough in your own life to work to overcome problems. If that's possible then I also think it probably is possible to put your issues aside and have enough knowledge to help other people, while keeping your own problems out of the room. I also prefer to be helped by someone who truly understands the challenges of life and knows that it's possible to over come them (and has personally done so). So if that was what I wanted as a career, it would be because of that. Because I know that it really is possible to change the things that need to be changed in order to live a better life, and I'd want to be able to do my bit to help other people make their way towards that too.

It's not really what I'm personally aiming for, not right at the moment anyway. I don't know how far I'm going to be able to take my degree, but psychology is certainly what I most enjoy learning about. I decided that in starting to study at a later age than many, not having a very clear career goal, and after leaving school early without qualifications, that I need to study what I most enjoy in order to keep my motivation up. I think I'll leave career decisions until later in my degree when I'm more sure of what I most enjoy focusing on.

Oh and I agree that veterinary medicine would be good too!

[rainboots87]

I like the idea of it, but I recognize I would be an awful T, so no. There are many reasons why, but the main one is that I'm extremely emotionally sensitive. I would like to help people who've dealt with one of my past issues, but indirectly.

[WikidPissah]

no freaking way, I've been on this board long enough to know that some people are BAT SH IT crazy! (myself included) There is no way I could handle that. I'll just stick to my little corner of the world and count my beans.

[Sannah]

Well I guess I should say something since you sent me a PM telling me that I need help so you must be really curious about this and truly want a discussion.

So I guess what you are saying Littleme is that T's have to be perfect? So docs can't be obese or unhealthy, lawyers can't get speeding tickets, teachers can only get A's?

Because you couldn't handle being a T doesn't mean that everyone else can't handle it. The bottom line is can a person do the job and be effective with their clients.

I didn't get my MSW so that I could help myself, even though that is what ended up happening. I got my MSW because I am very interested in people and have a talent for this kind of stuff.

I remember another student during my MSW who really disliked me because I had anxiety. She thought that I was the biggest loser. She obviously had a problem with social workers having issues. I presented a case one day which showed that I knew what I was doing and that I could be very helpful to clients. Her mouth was literally hanging open. She prejudged me without knowing anything about me except that I had anxiety (which I no longer have BTW because I have been working hard on myself).

I had so many issues, low self worth, unhealthy boundaries, wasn't meeting my needs, wasn't living in the moment, attachment problems, fear of intimacy, etc. and I've worked on all of them. Yes, I have a problem that I am still working on with having close friends but I am extremely close to my husband and children. (My close friends issue seems to be connected to rigidness and not my ability to get close). I am still working on this but I don't think that it invalidates all of the areas where I can help my clients. And each T has strengths and weaknesses and clients need to go to T's who can help them with the issues that they have.

I think that having worked on the issues brings a dimension of knowledge that you just can't get from learning from a textbook.

[Littlemeinside]

Originally Posted by Sannah

Well I guess I should say something since you sent me a PM telling me that I need help so you must be really curious about this and truly want a discussion.

So I guess what you are saying Littleme is that T's have to be perfect? So docs can't be obese or unhealthy, lawyers can't get speeding tickets, teachers can only get A's?

Because you couldn't handle being a T doesn't mean that everyone else can't handle it. The bottom line is can a person do the job and be effective with their clients.

I didn't get my MSW so that I could help myself, even though that is what ended up happening. I got my MSW because I am very interested in people and have a talent for this kind of stuff.

I remember another student during my MSW who really disliked me because I had anxiety. She thought that I was the biggest loser. She obviously had a problem with social workers having issues. I presented a case one day which showed that I knew what I was doing and that I could be very helpful to clients. Her mouth was literally hanging open. She prejudged me without knowing anything about me except that I had anxiety (which I no longer have BTW because I have been working hard on myself).

I had so many issues, low self worth, unhealthy boundaries, wasn't meeting my needs, wasn't living in the moment, attachment problems, fear of intimacy, etc. and I've worked on all of them. Yes, I have a problem that I am still working on with having close friends but I am extremely close to my husband and children. (My close friends issue seems to be connected to rigidness and not my ability to get close). I am still working on this but I don't think that it invalidates all of the areas where I can help my clients. And each T has strengths and weaknesses and clients need to go to T's who can help them with the issues that they have.

I think that having worked on the issues brings a dimension of knowledge that you just can't get from learning from a textbook.

My PM was not related to the topic of this thread and I think it´s against the guidelines to discuss pm´s openly. But thank you for sharing.

( And I didn´t work as a T. I acknowlegded my limits before I entered that profession)