Anyone on here a psychology professional?

I qualified as a psychotherapist this year. I work as a T in a paid job.
Just my take on this, that this is a public forum for peer support. People post on here for support from others who hopefully understand and empathise a little with the ups and downs of being a client in therapy, as I am myself of course.
So I would offer my perspective as a client. This is not a website for consultancy, and so it would not be appropriate to respond in that way. Also, most people who 'know' me on here know the ****ed up vulnerable client side of me, and that's okay. My clients IRL don't have, or need, access to that side of me.
I've noted a few T's on here, and I don't always agree with what they say from a T perspective. Maybe because I work from a different modality, have different ethical principles etc. I don't think it's appropriate or ethical to 'give advice' as a T on here, because people are not my client, I don't have a relationship with them, and it would be very limited, perhaps damaging advice as it's only based on the little bit of the story that people choose to bring here.

Also, I don't want to. I've been at work all day.

I wouldn't consider random online time "volunteer work". very likely some do organized volunteer work. in, or maybe even outside of the profession. who says volunteer work has to be therapy work? maybe they enjoy habitat for humanity, or working the soup kitchen, etc

I know therapists who do volunteer work related to therapy. But they do it in person. Not on the internet.

Many people volunteer for many things. It doesn't mean they have to go on online forums and provide services to strangers whom they never met. Also I don't think than not wanting to volunteer on online forums or elsewhere makes therapists money greedy or bad at what they do,

I spend plenty of my own time mentoring and tutoring MY students. I am not interested and have no time to tutor people online or people who aren't my students or people I don't personally know. I don't see how it makes me bad.

Also even the most wonderful professionals often have no time to volunteer as they have small children or ailing parents or their own health problems. It doesn't mean that whatever they are doing they are only doing for money. That's just weird statement.

Therapists ( and other people in helping professions) aren't omniposcent gods with plenty of free time, they are just people

As a side note I occasionally volunteer in homeless shelter. It never occurred to me to suggest others must do the same. Or that those who don't volunteer are bad people or aren't caring or something.

By this logic people could say my volunteering has to be strictly related to my day job. Says who?

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There aren't many professionals on this forum specifically, due to a lot of the reasons outlined by previous posts. But, if what you need specifically is an online therapist or psychology professional to provide you counseling, then there are plenty of platforms where you can access that, many free of charge. Those platforms, however, are designed to be confidential and one-on-one, because it just wouldn't be ethical for therapists to provide their "professional opinion" to strangers they know nothing about on an anonymous forum intended for casual peer discussions. If you do need help, though, and find the digital realm more comfortable than the physical realm, consider the following sources.

https://www.talkspace.com/
Someone To Talk To, Online Therapy & Free Counseling - 7 Cups of Tea
https://www.iprevail.com/

Exactly. Imagine having small children and you devote yourself only to your work. Doesn't sound very kind or altruistic now does it? Especially agree on the health problems too. People forget that doctors, therapists, etc are patients too sometimes and have limitations there. They also have to do "continuing education" or professional licensing and advancement often on their own time, sometimes even on their own dime.

But most of that is secondary in this discussion...the key is it can be dangerous dispensing specific professional advice in a therapeutic context.

I am a professional, a licensed MFT. I am not practicing at the moment but my license is active because I keep up with required continuing education requirements, which means I can start practicing again any moment I want to. I would like to start an organization that would help people in slightly different ways than what our current mental health system offers, but it's only an idea at this time.

I am not on this forum to give anyone a professional advice. My opinions and my advice here are personal, not professional, so I am not creating any liability issues either for myself or for PsychCentral. I am not operating in my professional capacity on this forum. My status here is a regular member like most users and my opinions and/or advice have just as much weight/credibility as everyone else's.

Those who have seen my posts know that I am a big critic of the existing mental health system, but I am also not someone who wants to abolish it unlike some people who believe this is the solution. I am a proponent of major reforms but not a destruction of the mental health service.

To the OP's point, I don't think it's fair to compare therapists to members of other professions who go on forums to share their experiences and give advice because they don't have the same liability as therapists or medical doctors do. Due to a very personal nature of therapy, it'd be inappropriate and irresponsible for therapists to volunteer their professional services to anonymous forum users when there is no way for them to obtain all information they need about someone to form their professional opinion.

That's not to say that therapists can't or shouldn't volunteer their services. They certainly can and they do. Therapists take on some pro bono cases in their private practices and some of them establish non-profit agencies where people can get free or low-cost services, some work for community clinics. There are certainly ways for therapists to serve the public outside the pay-for-service model, including online services, but giving away professional advice left and right on online forums to anonymous users is not the way to do it.

By the way, I'd argue that the quality of advice from other types of professionals on forums is not the same as what they offer for payments. If I tell some mechanic on a forum about my car problem, they may give me general ideas on what may be the problem, but no one would be able to know exactly what's going on unless they check the car and, most certainly, no one would get off their backside to meet with me and to check my car (if we live in the same locale) unless I pay them. So, while online forums give some useful info and are helpful in that way, they will in no way replace a professional service of any kind.

If one feels they need or want therapy, luckily there are plenty of therapists out there in real life (it's of course isn't always affordable), this is a forum where people discuss therapy not where they are provided with therapy. I think maybe that's where confusion lies.

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I think after 32 replys burnt_ out gets the message lol

Thers is no dam free therapy to be had here lol

I agree. I am going for my psych degree. I'm still an undergraduate so I have not b gotten to the good stuff, but I can imagine that while wanting to help people, therapists have to have their own time to regroup and be regular people outside of work.

I enjoy this forum so much because I feel that I get more help than I ever have from speaking to a therapist. That's just my personal opinion.

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I didn't mean it as a condemnation of an entire profession. Sorry if you took it that way. I guess I was thinking more from the practical/universal advice standpoint, and/or sociologically speaking.

Personally, I have a much easier time gathering my thoughts and exchanging them through the written medium (and often also late at night for whatever reason), and the on-the-spot counseling was always a bit of a struggle for me.



Some of them do. I had one like that and it got me nowhere. My feelings are usually of frustration, and I almost never know what to do. That exchange felt like borderline abuse from my perspective and I had to move on.



A lot of good reasons though for them not contributing. I wonder if they lurk however, to get a perspective on people in this particular context.

Mine wouldn't lurk. She didn't want to know anything about me before we met.
I doubt many would lurk. I think that's just a projection of desire.

I'm studying to be a professional therapist. See you all at the convention in August.

yes there are mental health treatment providers here on psych central but due to the rules of the site, any professionals must not perform their jobs while on the site. short version this is a mental health .....support....group. not a group where a therapist or psychiatrist is doing their job. So all posts on psych central by any mental health treatment providers have to be the same as any of the other members...

give hugs\thanks\ share our own struggles or info based on things we have gone through or know about in general terms (example what you can easily find out by google or calling your own doctors or visiting local libraries....) and make suggestions of things that have helped ourselves that may help another member.

I havent seen any license numbers and disclaimers stating a person will get therapy and such from being here. I dont even think this site is licensed for things like performing therapy and having mental health treatment providers posting with in their jobs rather than as a general member. in fact at the bottom of the page is this disclaimer...

The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for medical advice,
diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider.
Always consult your doctor or mental health professional before trying anything you read here.

my suggestion is ....to get advice from a professional point of view not a general membership point of view you will need to contact your own treatment providers..

Some of us may have tried that... perhaps a number of times... and found it completely unhelpful... or can't afford it... or can't find anyone. It's not always so black-and-white.

I have not found any therapist to give any majorly different/more insightful opinion really than can be found from general membership.

Agree. That's why they're not called opinionaters! Or information givers. Or gurus. Or tellers. Or lecturers. Or TED talkers?

The difference, as I see it, is that they think they do something unique and useful besides stay back. They are the ones who see themselves as insightful interventionists with great opinions, advice, lectures to clients, information givers, hold themselves to be gurus, etc.
I do not.

Oh the irony. Therapy itself is precisely that… the damaged trying to help the damaged.

As for professionals hanging out here, I think it best for them not to be here, but clearly there a few are and I dont see it as a problem.

However, I think any ethical and conscientious therapist would want to spend time here READING POSTS, so they can see the true impact of their work. My sense is that most therapists neither solicit nor receive much genuine feedback, and are living in a fantasy world. Instead of listening to each other and to their theoretical abstractions, they ought to spend some time in the real world.

It is in my ethical code and policies, and that of every colleague in the profession that I know, to collect feedback from every client, during and at the end of their therapy, and to extensively reflect on that in quality supervision.
I do not need to read posts on here from other therapist's clients, because they are not my clients and I am not responsible for their therapists way of working, just because I am in the same profession. I am responsible for my clients, and take their feedback very seriously. But I don't need to justify how I work to anyone who is not my client or colleague.

I have had very mixed experiences of many professions, for example teachers. I was assaulted by a woodwork teacher in my high school, however I don't assume that all woodwork teachers therefore need to attend to inherent flaws in their profession, because I recognise that individuals are different across every profession and lifestyle. I have two female friends who have also had similar experiences from teachers, but luckily I can hold on to the bigger picture that there are some unethical teachers out there, but the majority do not behave in this way. I view all professions in this way, that some individual members will be flawed, but not most or all. This is my personal opinion of course, and I appreciate that not everyone will agree, but I hope that my view in general enables me to not generalise my thinking in a way that may be detrimental to myself and my optimism in life, and general trust in humanity.

I am a big fan of therapists reading on sites like these. I think it can help them know what some clients won't tell them and just how much harm they can cause.
I tell the one I see how much I think her ilk suck and how often and in what ways she fails - but it does seem to surprise her (from what she says - though she is rarely honest) that a client would not adore her.

From reading the posts of many therapists and blogs written by many of them I think they are quite possibly the most arrogant profession there is. I do wish they would read and understand how damaging they are and can be, but I think the narcissism of most of them prevents that.

If I saw someone claiming to be a T in this forum and offering anything like therapy to people posting here, I would think that was really unethical behavior. Reading someone's posts online isn't the same as having a relationship with them, doesn't mean you know the whole story or what that person needs. Therapy's supposed to be done in a safe and confidential environment, and this certainly isn't one.

I've heard of Ts offering their clients reduced fees and extra time, I've heard of Ts volunteering in shelters... that is altruistic. Setting up shop on psychcentral forums wouldn't be helping anybody.

I don't think it is allowed on this forum. As for the rest of the Internet, why would they? When they can get paid?

Look at the true altruists, us who work or have worked with computers. We volunteer our knowledge for free all the time. Maybe we should stop because it is unethical? I mean, I could severely mess up your machine and worse, and you trust me, a stranger to help you... and we do.

But I shouldn't complain, I'm actually glad there are so few therapists here. I am a true believer in peer support.

I would argue that psychological insight comes from living life, not from sitting in a little room with a near stranger, but I guess that is an option too.