To help others, we must be fine. In view of this, there is an implicit danger in the professional practice of psychologists: the wear and tear resulting from frequent contact with the problems of others. Here’s what you can do to help.
Psychologists are also human beings and do not abandon this condition in their professional exercise, in this sense taking care of our health adds to our professional quality, especially when we understand the risk of exhaustion of the profession. Well, how can we take it? Of all the situations we face, which ones are particularly dangerous?By listing and describing eight personal care options for psychologists, we will try to clarify these issues.
- Psychologists practice their profession in different contexts.
- In each of them interaction with people is essential.
- In some areas there is greater dedication to care.
- In others to leadership.
- Education.
- Etc.
- Whatever the specialty.
- The important thing to remember is that.
- Without being good.
- You can’t help others to be well.
“Know all theories, master all techniques, but when you touch a human soul, just be another human soul. -Carl Jung-
According to the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language (RAE), care is the “demand or attention to do something right”. The auto prefix means “clean or on its own”. So taking care of yourself would be that attention we give ourselves to be good.
If one focuses on the figure of the psychologist, self-management would be linked to the achievement of well-being through certain practices, it is about taking care of our health holistically, there are many ways to do it. Let’s look at below:
Self-care is an activity that we all do in different ways, it is born both from experience and from meta-experience, for psychologists it is an activity of special importance: not deviating is very positive for the profession, as well as avoiding the temptation to project something of what one knows about oneself in the other.
On the other hand, self-knowledge at the professional level will also be in charge of telling us which clients we can help and which ones it will be better to recommend to other professionals. We are talking about a particularly valuable skill in clinical practice.
Another practice of self-care for psychologists is self-control, according to the EAR, self-control is linked to our ability to dominate us and to the assessment or assessment of our knowledge and skills.
Self-control improves our well-being because it helps us to draw and respect the limits established in a state of reflection, where analysis is paramount and not certain impulses fueled by possible circumstances. In addition, handling self-control with confidence will make it easier to connect with others on a personal and family level.
Resilience is our ability to overcome problems, it is useful to reach others, because we can share our experience and the path we travel to achieve this attitude.
On the other hand, being resilient we will be able to face other people’s problems with a force that can evoke our own experiences, before which we tend to show resistance through our defense mechanisms.
What often happens to clinical psychologists is that a patient touches the soul, this is no cause for shame, because if we have learned to overcome our adversities, that contact will be positive, it can even be loaded with a transformative essence.
This is a good practice for both clinical psychologists and those working in other fields, we must remember that through psychotherapy we can get to know each other, solve problems and add value to our work, an investment that, if made at the right time, can be very profitable.
In addition, this goes hand in hand with resilience and emotional management, which are fundamental to our emotional health and which, as if it were small, is also beneficial to our physical and social health.
Fatigue tends to accumulate as a result of constant interaction with others. In this sense, psychotherapy is a good tool to slow down this process. On the other hand, well-made psychotherapeutic supervision can help us eliminate the small addictions we’ve acquired over time.
Social health is fundamental to our well-being. This is one of the forms of self-care of psychologists that we must highlight, it is about taking care of our relationship with others, professionally, because empathy is one of our core skills, and on a personal level, having sources of support.
It is necessary to cultivate relationships to enhance them, especially when we talk about “nutritious” people. In addition, it is important to set limits so that others do not overstep and that we feel good. We can do it professionally, considering we take into account the therapeutic element, and on a personal level we can do it to show others how far they can get to us.
In fact, we could apply it at a time when people close to us say “you who are a psychologist, help me,” telling them it’s part of our job and explaining how this help would work professionally.
Going back to the previous point, the psychologist’s work is associated with concern for the well-being of others, an interest that sometimes takes us beyond what we can, threatening a responsible approach.
In addition, due to the willingness to help, we may end up neglecting to support others, a delivery that will ultimately affect precisely the quality of the help we can offer.
In this regard, Nancy Morales helps us to reflect with her thesis, gathering different researches that show that psychologists can develop wear and tear if they do not practice self-care.
Being aware of our needs allows us to avoid reaching that moment when a single drop in the glass of our self-control overflows. To improve awareness, we can perform multiple activities, such as meditation, observing without judgment, abandoning results, accepting, and leaving. listen to us and connect with the present moment, among others.
Disconnecting means making room at all times. Understand when it is best for our attention to be free from our conscious will, such as when we want to rest, for example. And when it’s best for our care to be conscious, like when we’re in consultation with a patient.
In addition, it is also necessary to establish a scale of priorities in which at least the most important plans that affect our well-being, i. e. physical, emotional, social and spiritual, are protected. Here are some activities that can help in this regard:
In short, psychologists can take care of themselves in different ways, the important thing is to know all the self-care options of psychologists and use them frequently: they will certainly be a valuable help to face the wear and tear associated with the professional. Practice.