The career of a psychologist unfolds through many phases.聽 How does the experience, including both the joys and the challenges of being a psychologist, change over time?聽 Borrowing Jeffrey Kottler鈥檚 (2012) depiction of the stages in the career of a psychologist, we asked 海角乱伦 faculty to offer their perspectives.聽聽Fran Brown, PsyD, Program Director (MA & PsyD) offers insight into Stage Six.
Stage Six – Midcareer Doubt: “What if I’m not really doing anything?”
This year I officially move from categorization as an early year psychologist to midcareer status. In some ways that seems incongruent after practicing for a full 10 years. But that鈥檚 what we do: practice. There is always much to learn, many clients to help, and much suffering in the world. As the old saying goes, just about the time I think I鈥檝e heard it all, something new comes my way and I am humbled by all that is still unknown to me.
In my clinical career I鈥檝e traveled the stages of transformation that you鈥檙e currently learning about. As I look at the research on the Midcareer Doubt Stage, I seem to be right on target. I鈥檓 past, 鈥淚 get to do what I love and get paid for it鈥� and have moved to 鈥淲hat if I鈥檓 not really doing anything?鈥� This is a question I have asked myself more than once. After many years of doing psychotherapy, I now have enough experience to know that sometimes therapy is not successful for a variety of factors 鈥� of which I am only one. Yet in those times I am filled with self-doubt. It鈥檚 that one client that is not progressing, the one whose resistance that cannot be overcome, that sticks with me at the end of the day. It鈥檚 a struggle not to go to that place in a global way, 鈥淲hat if I鈥檓 not really doing anything, WITH ANYBODY?鈥� The clients keep coming, their problems can seem insurmountable. Who am I to think that our work will make any difference at all?
At those times I make a conscious effort to remind myself of all of the clients who do make progress, who have gained much from their therapy and are leading happier and more productive lives. My professional journey continues, and with it the realization of what I learned here, at 海角乱伦: My work is to facilitate, not cure. And the relationship DOES make a difference, one client at a time.
Kottler, J.A. (2012).聽The therapist鈥檚 workbook: Self-assessment, self-care, and self-improvement exercises for mental health professionals聽(second ed., pp. 10-16).聽 Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.