Rafting the rapids: Occupational hazards, rewards, and coping strategies of psychotherapists.

Abstract

In today's market, clinical practitioners have complex and demanding jobs. This survey study identified contemporary occupational hazards, rewards, and coping strategies of 208 psychotherapists and the interrelationships among these variables. Unexpected post hoc gender differences revealed that female therapists reported significantly more rewards and coping strategies than men. Suggestions are offered for how practitioners can promote their own job satisfaction. Implications for supervisors and trainers of psychotherapists are also discussed.Clinical practitioners sometimes wonder what keeps them going. On any given day, they try to serve client needs, maintain an ethical practice, manage increasing paperwork and bureaucracy, stay informed about new interventions and specialties, foresee how emerging changes in the health care environment will affect them, market their services, and defend the efficacy of their interventions (Coster & Schwebel, 1997). Juggling the ups and downs of these responsibilities can be likened to rafting the rapids; sometimes it's exhilarating, other times it's frightening-with survival linked to appropriate responses to and knowledge of the rivet Clinicians muse, Can I cope with the increasing demands of my job? How well am I coping? Do I still look forward to going to work most days? What should I do differently to feel better about my job?In recent years, there has been greater understanding and appreciation of the job-related stressors or hazards of being a psychotherapist (

Burnout in Australian psychologists: Correlations with work-setting, mindfulness and self-care behaviours

“…Self-care behaviours can take various forms such as self-awareness: Acknowledging potential blind-spots and weaknesses (Barnett, Baker, Elman, & Schoener, 2007); self-acceptance or selfcompassion: The ability to be caring and understanding towards oneself (Neff, 2009); and supervision from peers or a superior (Coster & Schwebel, 1997). Less formal activities are also considered self-care behaviours, such as engaging in physical activities, spending time with friends and family, and taking breaks between sessions (Kramen-Kahn & Hansen, 1998;Stevanovic & Rupert, 2004). Collectively, these activities have been labelled career-sustaining behaviours (CSBs; Stevanovic & Rupert, 2004).…”

Characteristics of Job Burnout and Humor among Psychotherapists

“…Unlike many other studies that have made brief comparisons of humor to job burnout among mental health therapists (Kramen-Kahn and Hansen 1998;Rupert and Kent 2007;Stevanovic and Rupert 2004), this study provided an opportunity to study the specific characteristics of both variables, and how characteristics correlated with each other.…”

“…From a survey group of 595 psychologists, Rupert and Kent (2007) found that maintaining a sense of humor was rated the most important career-sustaining behavior out of 25 behaviors. In a similar study, Kramen-Kahn and Hansen (1998) noted that out of 208 psychotherapists, eighty-two percent (n = 171) rated maintaining a sense of humor to be most important in sustaining a successful career. In another study, two hundred and eightysix licensed psychologists rated a sense of humor among the four top strategies to use in combating career stressors (Stevanovic and Rupert 2004).…”

Causes and Treatment of Burnout in Residential Child Care Workers: A Review of the Research

“…Numerous studies have found an inverse correlation between social support in an organization and the development of burnout (Cherniss, 1980;Dietzel & Coursey, 1998;Etzion, 1984;Himle, Jayaratne, & Chess, 1987;Himle, Jayaratne, & Thyness, 1989;Jackson & Schuler, 1983;Jayaratne, Tripodi, & Chess, 1983;Kramen-Kahn & Hansen, 1998;Maslach & Jackson, 1981;Maslach & Pines, 1977;Pines & Maslach, 1978;Russell, Altmaier, & Van Velzen, 1987;Shinn, Rosario, Morch, & Chestnut, 1984;Wade, Cooley, & Savicki, 1986;Winnibust, 1993). Many have found this effect to be related to both supervisor support and co-worker support, noting that "decreased emotional support from supervisors and co-workers was predictive of irritation, emotional exhaustion, and depersonalization .…”