Therapy for Therapists

Let’s face it: You’ve been debating for a while whether or not you should go to therapy. You tell your clients each and every day that reaching out for help is one of the strongest things they can do, that everyone can benefit from therapy, and to at least try it out before you dismiss it completely. While it might seem easy to tell these things to others, it can be difficult to tell these things to yourself. Should it be required for therapists to attend therapy? Let’s find out!

You never know who is going to give you a call, schedule an appointment, or walk through your office door. Each and every day, you deal with people of all different backgrounds, histories, ages, genders, and experiences. Your clientele is filled with a vast array of different personalities, demographics, and reasons for attending therapy in the first place.

Day in and day out, you’re taking care of other people. You’re listening to them, asking them to dive deeper into their thoughts and emotions, and helping them with healthy coping strategies.  You’re there for all of your clients, each and every day. You’re the person they run to when they need help or when they’re seeking advice. But who’s taking care of you? Who’s there for you when you need help? Therapists need help every now and then too. Part of the job is to empathize with others’ experiences, which can take a toll. Here’s how therapists can cope with the emotional burden of their work.

As a therapist, you sit there daily and open yourself up completely and fully for each client. You throw all of yourself into each and every session. You’re fully invested physically, mentally, and emotionally. It can be a very intimate experience, especially when working with ongoing clients. You love the bonds and relationships you’ve been able to build with your clients. You wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world. That being said, you’re still feeling like you’re missing out. The emotions, connection, and intimacy you’re feeling in each session don’t really replace the true 2-way intimacy you would receive from a romantic partner. Here’s what to keep in mind as a therapist when one-way intimacy falls short.

You spend most of your days inside and alone. From the moment you wake up in the morning, your commute into work, sitting at your desk in your office, and back to your home each night (if you even go to an office away from your home!). Isolation is setting in.

Let’s face it. The past few years have been a whirlwind. Black Lives Matters protests. The global COVID-19 pandemic. War breaking out in Ukraine. The overturning of Roe v. Wade. And mass school and public shootings. These are only a few of the recent happenings in the last few years. What’s going to happen next? How are you supposed to cope?

Answer the following questions with a Y (Yes) or N (No): Do you feel like you’re not good enough? Y/N Do you worry people will think you’re not smart? Y/N Do you doubt yourself? Y/N Do you hate making mistakes? Y/N Do you feel like your successes don’t mean or prove anything? Y/N If you responded with Y, or Yes, for a majority of your answers, you’re actually not alone. You’re experiencing what’s known as Imposter Syndrome.

Life throws a lot your way. It can feel like you’re drinking water out of a firehose. It’s a rollercoaster of emotions. There are good times mixed with bad or challenging ones. At times, it can feel a little bit too much. The pandemic, a war, political battles on the news and social media, inflation. These are only a few of the issues we have all just faced in the past few months.

Loss of motivation, feeling drained, skipping work or repeatedly showing up late, harboring a cynical attitude about your day-to-day activities—these are some common symptoms associated with work-related burnout. If your burnout is consistent and debilitating, you might turn to a professional for advice. A therapist can provide you with useful tools to manage burnout. But what if you, the professional, the one giving the advice, are experiencing burnout yourself?

For the average person, finding a therapist can be relatively easy nowadays. There are so many resources online that can help. From the initial search to learning more about potential therapists you’re interested in, it’s a process, but not necessarily a difficult one. But, it’s easy to forget that therapists are just people, too.