Impaired practitioners: Psychologists' opinions about prevalence, and proposals for intervention.

Abstract

Licensed psychologists mere surveyed about opinions toward "impaired practitioners." Academicians and practitioners (N = 167) were sampled. Results suggested (a) a significant proportion of psychologists were judged to be impaired; (b) the majority of respondents believed that impaired practitioners are a serious problem; (c)feui psychologists were willing to refer impaired colleagues to a therapist or report them to a regulatory agency; (a) training in ethics was related to awareness, seeking help, offering help, and reporting colleagues to a regulatory agency; and (e) respondents overwhelmingly favored the least restrictive proposals for intervention. Implications for training and prevention are discussed.Considerable attention and concern have recently been directed toward professional issues relating to impaired practitioners. Otherwise referred to as "troubled colleagues" or "distressed psychologists," impaired practitioners are broadly defined as psychologists whose work is impaired or adversely affected by physical, emotional, legal, or job-related problems (Nathan, Thoreson, & Kilburg, 1983).The idea that psychologists often face personal distress that is expressed in substance abuse, sexual overtures toward clients, and depression is not new. What is new is the profession's growing awareness of these problems as are the current efforts to study the issue. These efforts are largely represented by the American Psychological Association (APA) Board of Professional Affairs Steering Committee on Distressed Psychologists, the proposed Volunteers in Psychology (VIP) Organization, and Psychologists Helping Psychologists (PHP), all of which have emerged since 1980. A historical overview and coverage of APA's proposals can be found in the Board of Professional Affairs Steering Committee on Distressed Psychologists Draft Report (Nathan, et al., 1983).Unlike the professions of medicine, dentistry, social work, and nursing, which have already begun to focus on their impaired practitioners, Skorina (1982) suggested that psychology has developed an aura of invulnerability that fosters high expectations for personal efficacy, equates personal difficulties with incompetence, and leads to an unwillingness to seek help from colleagues. This idea is believed by Skorina to have been perpetuated by two factors. First, there is a reluctance to challenge fellow professionals-an unwillingness to interfere in the work of a colleague. There is also minimal formal supervision and performance evaluation of professional psychologists. The overall result is little external control or monitoring of most psychologists' daily work activities, especially that of private practitioners. Therefore, it is important to the profession, and to die public, to monitor and aid distressed psychologists who behave inappropriately-especially practitioners who do not properly serve their clients.Alcohol abuse among psychologists is being addressed by Psychologists Helping Psychologists, and the Volunteers in Psychology program has been proposed by the ...

Impairment: Implications for the Counseling Profession

“…Although the connection between psychic distress and impairment has not been addressed, Prochaska and Norcross reported that psychic distress seems to be more prevalent among therapists than among the general population. In another study, Wood, Klein, Cross, Lammers, and Elliott (1985) found that most of the psychology practitioners they surveyed believed that impairment is becoming a serious problem for the mental health professions.…”

“…This threat may not be as great, however, as the reluctance of professionals to take responsibility for the maintenance of professional standards (Stadler & Willing, 1986). Barbara Wood and her colleagues (Wood et al, 1985) surveyed licensed psychologists about their opinions regarding impaired psychologists. Of those who responded, 58% had never offered help to an impaired psychologist, 92% had never referred an impaired colleague to a regulatory board, and 40% knew of situations where no action at all was taken to aid an impaired practitioner.…”

Responding to graduate students' professional deficiencies: A national survey

“…This, of course, is a troublesome frame of reference not unlike the medical model of normality basically defined as the absence of disease. It is also worth noting, from the standpoint of screening, that in a sample composed of Directors of Training of APA-approved programs and practitioners randomly selected from the National Register of Health Providers, 53% were opposed to "mental health check up(s) as a prerequisite to graduate school admission" (p. 848) (Wood, Klein, Cross, Lammers, & Elliott, 1985).…”

Psychothérapie des troubles de la personnalité : quand l’impasse n’est pas du côté du client

“…Tout récemment, Barnett (2008) qualifiait d'alarmant le niveau de détresse et de perturbation psychologique vécu par les psychologues. L'ensemble des études empiriques disponibles suggère qu'un nombre important de psychologues, entre 15 % et 30 %, serait perturbé psychologiquement et que plusieurs travaillent quand même dans cet état (Wood et al, 1985 ;Floyd et al, 1998 ;Pope et al, 1987). Les psychothérapeutes auraient 60 % de probabilité de vivre un épisode dépressif substantiel au cours de leur carrière (Pope, 1994), et les psychologues masculins ont été signalés comme ayant le plus haut taux de suicide parmi toutes les professions par l'Occupational and Safety Hazard Administration aux États-Unis (Ukens, 1995).…”

“…La lenteur et la nature erratique du processus thérapeutique, et la néces sité de faire preuve d'une grande patience pour se satisfaire de résultats partiels après beaucoup d'efforts, sont reconnus comme des facteurs de stress et de découragement inhérents à la pratique clinique (Wood et al, 1985 ;Guy, 1987 ;Sherman, 1996). Cela est d'autant plus vrai avec le client souffrant d'un trouble de la personnalité puisqu'il faut souvent de longs mois de travail systématique pour établir une alliance et voir les premiers progrès significatifs.…”