Therapists as parents: Is it good for the children?

Abstract

How do children experience having a psychotherapist as a parent? Theory and research, in conjunction with the results of a small-scale study (n = 20), suggest that children harbor both positive and negative feelings: Whereas most children feel that certain skills of their parents (e.g., empathy, tolerance, expertise in handling problems) are of benefit to them, they also decry their parents' tendency to act like a therapist at home, the long hours they work, and the occasional intrusions of patients into their home life. Being a therapist is good for one's children as long as one's professional skills are not applied indiscriminately.Numerous myths and stereotypes about psychotherapists and their children persist in American culture. Among the most notable of these are the following: that therapists are unemotional, cold, distant, humorless, narcissistic, and incessantly analytic or interpretive; that their children are psychologically impaired; and that the lack of normalcy in these children can be attributable directly to their parents' idiosyncratic personality or childrearing practices (

The COVID-19 era: How therapists can diminish burnout symptoms through self-care

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Self-evaluation of Parental Competence – Differences Between Parents with Pedagogical and Non-Pedagogical Professions

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