Abstract:It is well-accepted that occupational hazards are endemic to the profession of psychology and that psychologists bring both strengths and vulnerabilities to their choice of career. Given the pressures faced by psychologists in contemporary society, how can we most effectively meet our ethical obligation to maintain competence throughout our professional life span in order to provide high quality care to those we serve? In this article, we propose to expand the current conceptualization of psychologist function… Show more
“…If research on the cognitive processes of HD individuals can bring clarity to the specific self-referenced schema that are associated with this or other adaptive behaviors, avenues for intervention development to promote health seeking behavior will be highlighted. Finally, given psychologists’ increasing attention to the importance of self-care in effective clinical work (Wise, Hersh, & Gibson, 2012), our findings may have implications for therapists as well as patients. The hazards associated with occupational burnout combined with the intensive demands of challenging clinical work suggest that – like patients – clinicians could benefit from the skill building interventions such as practicing self-compassion.…”
Depression is highly prevalent among college students and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Dependency is among the known personality traits that predict an elevated risk for depression. Prior research has focused on the depressogenic role of self-critical thoughts among destructive overdependent (DO) individuals but has not considered other internal processes (such as self-compassion) that might influence mental health. The current report examined whether self-compassion had either moderating or mediating effects on the links between dependency and depression in college students. In a cross-sectional study, 85 college students completed measures of dependency, self-compassion, and depressive symptoms. Analyses suggested that self-compassion mediated both the effect of DO on depressive symptoms and the effect of healthy dependency (HD) on lower depressive symptoms; self-compassion did not moderate links between dependency and depressive symptoms. Our exploratory findings suggest that positive self-schema (in the form of self-compassion) may contribute to the downstream mental health effects of both adaptive HD and maladaptive DO.
“…If research on the cognitive processes of HD individuals can bring clarity to the specific self-referenced schema that are associated with this or other adaptive behaviors, avenues for intervention development to promote health seeking behavior will be highlighted. Finally, given psychologists’ increasing attention to the importance of self-care in effective clinical work (Wise, Hersh, & Gibson, 2012), our findings may have implications for therapists as well as patients. The hazards associated with occupational burnout combined with the intensive demands of challenging clinical work suggest that – like patients – clinicians could benefit from the skill building interventions such as practicing self-compassion.…”
Depression is highly prevalent among college students and is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Dependency is among the known personality traits that predict an elevated risk for depression. Prior research has focused on the depressogenic role of self-critical thoughts among destructive overdependent (DO) individuals but has not considered other internal processes (such as self-compassion) that might influence mental health. The current report examined whether self-compassion had either moderating or mediating effects on the links between dependency and depression in college students. In a cross-sectional study, 85 college students completed measures of dependency, self-compassion, and depressive symptoms. Analyses suggested that self-compassion mediated both the effect of DO on depressive symptoms and the effect of healthy dependency (HD) on lower depressive symptoms; self-compassion did not moderate links between dependency and depressive symptoms. Our exploratory findings suggest that positive self-schema (in the form of self-compassion) may contribute to the downstream mental health effects of both adaptive HD and maladaptive DO.
“…Therefore, to competently take care of our clients, we must take care of ourselves. Consequently, self‐care is an ethical necessity and not a luxury (Norcross & Guy, ; Wise et al., ). Concisely put by Barnett, Johnston, and Hillard ():Self‐care is not an indulgence.…”
As we recognize how taxing our profession can be, therapist's self-care has become a salient topic in mental health. However, we are still discerning how to promote self-care in our practice and in training. In this paper, we present a study on the personal gains that MFT students experienced after participating in the Person-of-the-Therapist Training (POTT). We propose that the reported changes (better understanding of self, change to self, relational changes, and change as a process) constitute improvements in the trainees' well-being, and can therefore be considered self-caring behaviors and practices. We state that models like POTT, that focus on embracing our vulnerability, can help clinicians be more caring toward ourselves. We conclude this paper by presenting clinical and training recommendations.
“…Similarly, the psychological literature has clearly framed burnout and its prevention as an ethical imperative related to competence [1,5], given that psychologists must "engage in ongoing efforts to develop and maintain competence" and "be aware of personal problems that may negatively impact competence and take appropriate action" [6].…”
“…Importantly, we know that potentially stressful life events do not inevitably lead to individual impairment and adverse outcomes, but rather sometimes lead to resilience and great fulfillment. If both personal and system-level supports were readily available, professionals could be better equipped to tackle challenging job responsibilities with resilience and achieve great fulfillment [5,10].…”
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
