What makes therapists want to be therapists

mandazzle · Jun 12, 2013 at 04:50 PM

I know it is the case with a lot of therapists that they chose to become one because of their own struggles. I am a psychology student and have always wanted to be a therapist because of my eating disorder (primarily, as well as other issues). Have you ever asked your T why they chose to do what they do? What was their response?

Miswimmy1 · Jun 12, 2013 at 05:37 PM

I have asked my t. She told me, in detail, why she wanted to be a therapist. I believe that my therapist has her own issues (although she did not tell me about herself), but anyway... she told me that she has a history of mental disorders within the family, etc. and that she had always wanted to help people in some way, and because of her exposure from an early age to mental disorders, she was interested in that field.

kaliope · Jun 12, 2013 at 05:49 PM

im a social worker getting ready to go back to school to become an mft. i ended up in this field because i was an office manager in a mental health office and i gained so much experience helping others but was limited without a degree to do more and i wanted to do more to help others. i admit i started out in the mental healht field by taking lots of psych classes trying to find out what was wrong with me though.

tinyrabbit · Jun 12, 2013 at 06:22 PM

My T says it's ultimately about wanting to feel better about himself and his own problems. He is a very caring person who wants to help others but he ultimately does that for himself, not out of pure selflessness.

Fine by me. I say watch out for the ones who claim to be saintly and selfless.

learning1 · Jun 12, 2013 at 08:48 PM

My t said she was an English major and her professors suggested that since she was interested in the relationships between the characters, maybe therapy would be a good field for her. I think she is good at it and it seems as if there must be more she could say about her reasons for getting into it, but that's all she told me.

sarek · Jun 13, 2013 at 02:59 AM

Right now I am not working in the field though I am thinking about a career change. My most important motivation is that I am an INFP. I have the heart and soul of a healer and an intuitive ability to figure people out.

I would never be a technical or doctrinal expert in the field of psychology, my approach would always be the soft, idealistic way, backed up with formal knowledge and analytical abilities.

WikidPissah · Jun 13, 2013 at 06:58 PM

usually it's a curiosity about what makes people tick. And then a bit of wanting to help people. And a bit more of wanting to make a decent income.

archipelago · Jun 13, 2013 at 07:36 PM

I'm also a psychology student, changing careers. Some of it is my own experience in therapy and how amazing that has been. But the real change happened when I volunteered on a hotline. The power of human connection just amazed and thrilled me.

My own therapist made a commitment (in the hippy days) to be a decent, compassionate force in other people's lives. He was going to be an astrophysicist so this was a big switch. The only thing in common is that both fields require curiosity. I think if you don't feel fundamentally curious, you just won't last long in the field. It is not my primary focus but it is a quality that is important and keeps people going.

content30 · Jun 13, 2013 at 10:53 PM

Well, in January of this year, I decided that I wanted to be a therapist. I told my T a couple months later...I was scared to tell her that I wanted to do this. I usually don't have a problem talking to my T, but my T knows everything about me. Also, she is an excellent T, a supervising T, and a Clinical Director. So, her opinion meant a LOT to me. I wanted to be a T because I had such a great experience with my T. She helped me come back from the brink of death to thriving, and I want to help others do the same. When I told my T this, she was very excited and told me that she became a T because she sought therapy when she was young. Her T walked alongside her and helped set her free. She said that she was glad that she could do the same for me.

So, there are two of us in this story who became/are becoming Ts because we had other Ts help us heal from the hurt and go from barely surviving to thriving!

Bill3 · Jun 13, 2013 at 10:53 PM

Quote:

But the real change happened when I volunteered on a hotline. The power of human connection just amazed and thrilled me.

This happened to me as well.

tinyrabbit · Jun 14, 2013 at 09:17 AM

I would actually really love to be a T - I'd especially like to help children. But I can't afford to retrain!

geez · Jun 14, 2013 at 09:59 AM

I have an interest in psychology and perhaps going to back to school for psychology. I most recently went to a workshop on IFS, Yoga and anxiety. The majority of the people there were therapists. Through the exercises in the workshop I've learned that T's are just as 'screwed up' as the rest of us and have there own baggage. That has what lead them into the field of helping others. One T I met had a very traumatic childhood and was a trauma therapist who was very dedicated to his clients. He also realized that because of his trauma he was able to really show compassion for his clients.

mandazzle · Jun 14, 2013 at 12:18 PM

Something that is also a motivation for me is that throughout my time in treatment I always wished more of the staff I have worked with have had some of the same issues I was in treatment because I feel like that helps a lot. So I am going to become an eating disorder therapist so that I can say to someone else 'I went through the same thing and came out the other side'.

Bill3 · 05:15 PM

When a person has been mistreated, the person can learn I am not important. Someone else is important. That thought (conscious or unconscious) can influence every decision in life.

As a therapist, one can readily and professionally say I am not important. Someone else is important. Thus the job of therapist, or of helping person generally, can fit very well with the underlying thought created by the mistreatment.

The person who becomes a therapist may not be able to escape the belief in their unimportance, but they transcend it. The person finds a way to become and feel important--by learning how best to make others important. The person becomes important and unimportant at the same time. And heals.

stopdog · Jun 14, 2013 at 07:11 PM

I think it is because most were not good at math but wanted indoor jobs.

unaluna · Jun 14, 2013 at 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stopdog

I think it is because most were not good at math but wanted indoor jobs.

I think you are totally right! When I found out my former pdoc couldn't spell but had wanted to be a physicist, I asked him if he got in the wrong line to sign up for his major!

unaluna · Jun 14, 2013 at 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bill3

When a person has been mistreated, the person can learn I am not important. Someone else is important. That thought (conscious or unconscious) can influence every decision in life.

As a therapist, one can readily and professionally say I am not important. Someone else is important. Thus the job of therapist, or of helping person generally, can fit very well with the underlying thought created by the mistreatment.

The person who becomes a therapist may not be able to escape the belief in their unimportance, but they transcend it. The person finds a way to become and feel important--by learning how best to make others important. The person becomes important and unimportant at the same time. And heals.

Interesting. I'm so grateful to my t for helping me on with my backpack, and he'll say something like, yeah it makes me feel useful. So there's a deeper meaning to that.

murray · Jun 14, 2013 at 09:16 PM

My T was a history major and probably wanted to actually get a job...lol

Edited to add: My T also said that he had a transformative experience riding public transportation for months and striking up conversations with a lot of older people who had either been in the war or in concentration camps and was so moved and honored to bear witness to their stories.

GenCat · Jun 14, 2013 at 09:37 PM

My T told me she was a nurse, and worked in the medical field for 25+ yrs before someone told her she needed to be a therapist. She said she was always helping and giving advice to others, so why not get paid for it? And she said that there needs to be more therapists out there who are in the business because of the people, not just the money. And she added that I would make a great therapist. I have been considering about majoring in Psychology for 3 years now, because I can relate so much to the field, and the medical aspect of it fascinates me!

archipelago · Jun 15, 2013 at 09:20 AM

Actually when I was in a psychology training program, we had to be pretty good at math to do advanced statistics and other tests and measurements course work. It wasn't conceptually difficult like pure math, but still it was detailed and really elaborate. I mean who can really care about having things to the 4th decimal point? Drove me crazy.

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tinyrabbit Grand Wise Rabbit Member Since Feb 2013 Location: England Posts: 4,084 11 3,059 hugs given	Jun 12, 2013 at 06:22 PM #4 My T says it's ultimately about wanting to feel better about himself and his own problems. He is a very caring person who wants to help others but he ultimately does that for himself, not out of pure selflessness. Fine by me. I say watch out for the ones who claim to be saintly and selfless.
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learning1 Grand Poohbah Member Since Apr 2010 Posts: 1,872 14 437 hugs given	Jun 12, 2013 at 08:48 PM #5 My t said she was an English major and her professors suggested that since she was interested in the relationships between the characters, maybe therapy would be a good field for her. I think she is good at it and it seems as if there must be more she could say about her reasons for getting into it, but that's all she told me.
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WikidPissah Euphie Queen Member Since Jul 2010 Location: New England Posts: 10,718 (SuperPoster!) 14 4,940 hugs given	Jun 13, 2013 at 06:58 PM #7 usually it's a curiosity about what makes people tick. And then a bit of wanting to help people. And a bit more of wanting to make a decent income. __________________ never mind...
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tinyrabbit Grand Wise Rabbit Member Since Feb 2013 Location: England Posts: 4,084 11 3,059 hugs given	Jun 14, 2013 at 09:17 AM #11 I would actually really love to be a T - I'd especially like to help children. But I can't afford to retrain!
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stopdog underdog is here Member Since Sep 2011 Location: blank Posts: 35,051 (SuperPoster!) 13 1 hugs given	Jun 14, 2013 at 07:11 PM #15 I think it is because most were not good at math but wanted indoor jobs.
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murray Grand Poohbah Member Since Dec 2009 Posts: 1,522 14 3,391 hugs given	Jun 14, 2013 at 09:16 PM #18 My T was a history major and probably wanted to actually get a job...lol Edited to add: My T also said that he had a transformative experience riding public transportation for months and striking up conversations with a lot of older people who had either been in the war or in concentration camps and was so moved and honored to bear witness to their stories.
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archipelago Grand Poohbah Member Since Jan 2013 Posts: 1,773 11 239 hugs given	Jun 15, 2013 at 09:20 AM #20 Actually when I was in a psychology training program, we had to be pretty good at math to do advanced statistics and other tests and measurements course work. It wasn't conceptually difficult like pure math, but still it was detailed and really elaborate. I mean who can really care about having things to the 4th decimal point? Drove me crazy.
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