Psychologists also do therapy with other professionals – 08/26/2023 – Equilíbrio

“Wow, you can’t get mad about that. After all, you’re a psychologist.” It’s one of the comments these professionals tend to hear when they’re out of their offices and, for some reason, get nervous about a situation.

For clinical psychologist Marina Ambar, specialist in neuropsychology, this type of thinking is part of the imaginary of how a psychologist should behave, even when he is not working.

“I think they put us in a place of people who are neutral in all senses and possess knowledge, which is not true. This kind of thinking ends up overloading us, both in the sense that we always need to have answers, whenever we are asked something, and in the sense that we should be shielded from feelings”, he says.

The ability to feel is an aptitude that should be part of the lives of those who follow this career.

“The profession of psychologist requires sensitivity, ability to understand and detach from judgment. But, at the same time, it is necessary to remain critical”, says Claudinei Affonso, coordinator of the psychology course at PUC-SP (Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo). .

The attention that psychologists need to sustain during several sessions throughout the day, in which they assist different patients with the most diverse demands, is also an important attribute of the profession.

“It is extremely tiring to listen actively all the time, it is necessary to have a lot of concentration. In this sense, therapy helps a lot in how to direct our energy”, reports Ambar.

In addition to the important role that psychotherapy has for personal development and self-knowledge, the psychologist highlights the relevance of the practice for the good of the profession itself.

“The therapeutic process is essential because many contents that patients bring to therapy end up going through the psychologist too, and we have to know what is ours and what belongs to the patient”, emphasizes Ambar, who has studied psychology for four years and started therapy even before entering college.

Therefore, at times, these professionals change chairs and leave the place of analyst to become the analysed.

Claudinei Affonso states that, for a psychologist, it is very important to undergo psychotherapy to preserve one’s mental health.

For psychologist and psychoanalyst Ana Carolina Fantin, regardless of the theoretical approach that the professional follows, it is essential to submit to the method through which you intend to assist other people.

“Through therapy, psychologists can learn to separate what is theirs and what belongs to the other, avoiding or circumventing very well the identifications with their patients that, if not perceived and worked on, could lead to inappropriate conduct”, observes Fantin , who has a 20-year career and has also been doing analysis since before joining the university.

“There is also the importance of being able to deal with what we call countertransference, which are the feelings and thoughts that patients awaken in their therapists. Without good therapy, a good analysis, dealing with this is somewhat difficult”, he says.

So that professionals know how to handle all these situations, they are advised to undergo psychotherapy when they are still in graduation.

David Pio Alcantara, a student in the seventh period of psychology at Ufes (Federal University of Espírito Santo), says that some professors of disciplines more focused on clinical care usually make this indication. He himself was already a patient before passing the entrance exam and continues with the sessions until today.

“Therapy is an opportunity to be vulnerable to qualified listening. Like it or not, sitting in the shoes of the speaker teaches us a lot about how the people who come to us to be heard”, he says.

Pablo Castanho, coordinator of the Centro Escola of the Institute of Psychology at USP (University of São Paulo), emphasizes that, although there is this culture of encouraging students to start a therapeutic process, it is not something that is required. After all, many students do not have the financial means to pay for the treatment costs.

The importance of having this follow-up is because, during the course, the university student comes into contact with content and reports that address mental health problems and situations of great suffering, such as cases of severe depression, suicide and sexual abuse.

“I believe that psychology courses should develop strategies within a pedagogical framework to deal with this dimension of emotional mobilization that the study itself and the internship activity itself awaken in students, so that individual psychotherapy can be postponed for a moment where people are more able to pay”, says Castanho.

One way out, says the professor, is to be able to rely on a network of dialogue and talk to other colleagues about clinical cases —always maintaining professional secrecy, of course.

This is sometimes done in the supervision model, when a psychologist consults a more experienced professional to discuss a particular case. But it can also happen more horizontally, explains Castanho, when some psychologists get together to talk about the challenges they are facing in the consultations.

The coordinator of the School Center of the Institute of Psychology at USP says that, in general, students who choose to graduate in psychology already have a sensitivity and a greater interest in relation to issues of the human mind, therefore, when they have the conditions, they do psychotherapy from a young age.

But these professionals do not need to go through the therapeutic process for the entire duration of their career. “Therapy is an artifice to enhance some things that are in life. So, yes, the psychologist can do therapy, be discharged, continue seeing his patients and, like anyone else, go back to therapy because something happened, like the death of someone close, a relocation of the profession, or even when a patient awakens something that was more hidden there and that demands more intense care”, he says.

This Sunday (27) is celebrated Psychologist’s Day. The date goes back to the year 1962, when the profession was regulated by the then president João Goulart (1919-1976) from the publication of Law nº 4.119, on August 27th.