Self-Care & Development
This section emphasizes the importance of self-care and continuous professional development for psychotherapists. Discover resources and strategies to maintain personal well-being and foster growth throughout your career in psychotherapy.
132 articles found
Working with Survivors of Covid-19
At the time this post will be published, according to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), over 340,000 United States (US) citizens will have died from Covid-19. The psychological toll is incalculable. Thousands more have had traumatizing near-death experiences, including enduring medically-induced coma for the purpose of lung ventilation (Zimmerman et al., 2020). Medical trauma […]
Olivia Carelli, Psy.D.
January 3, 2021
Impact of Coaching on Rates of Utilization and Clinical Change for Digital Self-Care Modules Based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
The purpose of the current study is to explore if the addition of personalized coaching improves outcomes of an iCBT program, as reported by Brown et al., 2020. The Learn to Live iCBT program offers several modes of enhanced personal coaching support, which is optionally available to the user. Individuals can get coaching support via […]
S. (Jeb) Brown, Ph.D. + 1 more
December 20, 2020
The Relationship between Trainee Therapist Personality, Technique Usage, and Perceived Helpfulness
Research suggests that therapist personality traits impact self-reported theoretical orientation (e.g., Ogunfowora & Drapeau, 2008). For example, studies have shown that therapists who report having a psychodynamic orientation generally report being higher in creativity, intuition, imagination, individualism, anxiety, and introversion (Arthur, 2001). In contrast, Arthur’s (2001) research showed that cognitive-behavioral therapists were more conventional, rational, […]
Samantha H. Kunkel, A.S. + 3 more
December 1, 2020
Drawn from “The Person of the Therapist”
“When the wrong man uses the right means, the right means work in the wrong way” (Stevens, 1970, p. 7). Looking beyond what now would be considered her sexist language, we might appreciate that Barry Stevens had a knack for stating wisdom in down-to-earth terms, terms so simple and clear that the truth shone through […]
Edward W.L. Smith, Ph.D.
August 28, 2020
Bearing Witness to Clients’ Traumatic Experiences in Psychotherapy and Therapist Mental Health
Early 2020 has brought with it a number of unprecedented challenges. These challenges include navigating the coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) pandemic and combating police brutality and racism more broadly while in the midst of that pandemic. For some, experiencing or witnessing actual or threatened harm from COVID-19 may be traumatic (Horesh & Brown, 2020). Further, the deaths […]
Elizabeth Penix, M.S.
August 27, 2020
2020 President’s Column 55(2)
My first lessons in self-care as a core professional competency were unwanted and unexpected. After a “normal” pregnancy, I went into labor five days past my due date and navigated to the hospital in the middle of the night under blizzard conditions. I made it to the hospital, but by the time I got there, […]
Jennifer L. Callahan, Ph.D., ABPP
August 3, 2020
An Independent Practice Does Not Need to Be an Isolated Practice
Recently we have heard a lot about the importance of therapist self-care. Jeffrey Barnett (2014) made a strong case that self-care is an ethical imperative based on the APA Ethics Code principles of beneficence and maleficence, as well as the guidelines related to competence, managing personal problems and conflicts, and avoiding harm. Self-care has […]
Barbara J. Thompson, Ph.D. + 1 more
April 21, 2020
A Psychological Perspective on Collective Action and Healing
A Psychological Perspective on Collective Action and Healing The field of psychology has traditionally focused on promoting the well-being of individuals, couples, families, and even groups, but has focused less on promoting the well-being and healing of communities as a whole. There is much that psychology can offer to promote connection and health within communities […]
Rohini Gupta, Psy.D. + 1 more
March 8, 2020
When You Wish Upon a Star
Steve Ragusea, a long-time psychologist friend, keeps reminding me that “clinician burnout” is a major public health hazard in today’s healthcare environment. The National Academy of Medicine’s report “Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout: A Systems Approach to Professional Well-Being” fully supports his view, finding that between 35 and 54 percent of the nation’s nurses and […]
Pat DeLeon, Ph.D.
March 8, 2020
Self-Care as a Clinical Competency
As a newly minted post-doctoral fellow, I have repeatedly encouraged junior trainees to eat lunch, talk about their pets, get candy from my candy bowl, or offer to get them coffee if I am already headed out to get my own. At its core, I am trying to model and foster self-care amongst trainees in […]
Jennie David, Ph.D + 1 more
February 2, 2020
Personalizing Trauma
For Paul, for your courage I have been a mental health clinician for nearly 20 years, come from a family with a ‘high genetic loading’ for mental illness (as a psychiatrist colleague once bluntly noted) and I have had my own experience of depression and anxiety in the context of a marriage break up. Thus, […]
Megan Turner, Psy.D.
December 22, 2019
Self-care Strategies for a Psychotherapy Researcher
In the research world, we often hear the mantra publish or perish. It serves as a reminder that careers and advancements depend on research productivity and contributions to the field. However, right around the time I accepted my first academic position, I stumbled upon a book cover that caught my eye. It was a series […]
Joshua K. Swift, Ph.D.
November 12, 2019