Nice, even good, until the last sentence. Of course you want someone who knows your problem, and maybe had it themselves, but if they are good professionals, that hour is YOURS.
It’s considered customary to include a link to the column in the OP (original post) on this board.
I’m guessing this is the one in question. It would have been interesting if Cecil took a novel approach to Rosenhan’s “On Being Sane in Insane Places”, I think.
It’s also possible that the questioner was referring to the Bias Blind Spot.
the reference to Thorazine is a bit dated
But still used. Perhaps Cecil is old-fashioned in more ways than we know…
Clinical social workers are required to go into therapy as part of their training. It’s important to experience mental health care from the consumer’s perspective, and the therapist needs to be aware of his or her own issues, lest those get tangled up with the client’s. I imagine it’s the same for other mental healthcare providers.
It would have helped if Cecil had made a distinction between Psychiatrists, who typically have the hard science background that prepares them for medical school, and Psychologists, who major in Psychology and are trained to the PhD level in principles of behavior and therapy. Psychiatrists know little of that and in today’s world for the most part simply prescribe medication. They form two quite different populations. That’s not counting the Masters level therapists and social workers who do most of the “therapy” work.
Nothing to add to the discussion. I just saw Ercouper’s name and it intrigued me. 
We have drummed into us again and again that it’s not about us, it’s about the client. It’s more a question of people being ethical and professional. We are told to seek supervision – if we don’t it’s a sign we’re unprofessional, not unhealthy. We are told that there are clients with whom we cannot work for a variety of reasons including countertransference. If we continue to work with them we are unprofessional, not unhealthy. My own personal background is used only as what is called “conscious use of self”: if I tell this to the client will it benefit him/her or not? If not, keep it to yourself.
Even for a complete layman, spending a lot of time trying to reason with cult members (Shakespeare deniers, for example) can be like running a rasp over your soul.
Are mental health workers crazy? Well, i’ve worked as and with them for 3-4 years and thought i’d comment.
Work in the public service field is about heart. Those who do it for any other reason are the ones who are bad at their jobs because its self-serving. Those are the ones i’d consider ill. Its like taking water from a thirsty person when you have a water bottle on you.
I challenge anyone to work with people who are severely depressed, borderline or other PDs, or have schizophrenia day in, day out and not be effected negatively. Why?
Imagine seeing yourself or your loved ones pain in the eyes and lives of other people. People LEARN how to seperate themselves and keep empathy and that’s NOT easy. Being patient with someone who is by no (learned) control of their own attacks you for what they want but cant have, even if you cant provide it. They may express this by telling you that you are the worst person in the world, but when they are healthier they know they were given unconditional love, which facilitates growth. Heart. Next time they wont need my help because they have ‘learned’ the skill or coping necessary to do it on their own.
You do that for less money than your cousin makes at Taco Bell.
Is that crazy? Perhaps 
“Told to seek supervision”? In Georgia, it’s a requirement for licensure (for clinical social workers, anyway).
I am a nurse, and while I have worked with a number of psychiatrists, psychologists, clinica social workers and other therapists, I will only speak for nurses. When I work in an actual psychiatric venue, I see more staff going off on “stress leave” than when I have worked in medical surgical or a residential facility. I am not sure if there is a greater awareness of depression/stress and the toll it takes on health, or if it is because of burnout. Certain behaviors are exhausting to work with day in/ day out. Psych nurses can be a cynical jaded bunch, not my favourite people to socialize with. I would rather hang out with Long Term Care nurses or medical/surgical nurses. On the other hand, psych nurses tend to be less co dependant than many of their collegues who work in other areas. So less waaaah, my husband is cheating on me again, and spent our paycheck at the casino, and more “I think my brother in law is bipolar, or at minimum a complete jackass.”
Its enough to drive me to drink…coffee.
Aren’t drug abuse and addiction cases high among pharmacologists and anesthesiologists? I mean if you are smart and fascinated by drugs it seems plausible you might go into one of those fields right?
If you are smart and fascinated by mental illness and psychology it might also follow you’d be interested in certain fields?
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