Therapists Get Over Yourselves
Well this is a post I have no real desire to write. Maybe it is because the pandemic has taken its toll on all of us, maybe therapists have a narcissistic streak in them, maybe it is just about getting “noticed”. I do not know, but I am getting more than a little fed up with therapists disclosing way too much about themselves personally in their social media approach.
Colleagues, your clients are not interested in your children, they are not interested in your holidays, they are not interested in your natural hair colour (yes, I never thought I would write this last one). If your client’s are interested in these things please consider that you may well need to look at the boundaries you maintain with your clients. We are not islands or stones, but we are mean to be neutral in the process. When I trained originally, I was told to always be mindful of self disclosure. By all means use it if there is genuine therapeutic purpose, but invoke the Ericksonian “My Friend John/Jane” rather than linking it directly to yourself.
Carrying on with the general theme of this rant, colleagues, please stop saying you created something unique and slapping a name to it and saying that you “founded” a particular type of therapy. Therapy, is by its very nature a bespoke process so everyone should have a unique approach to themselves. However, this does not mean that you are doing anything unique, nor indeed not doing anything particularly special. This is particularly indicative in the hypnotherapy world, and I place the blame for this squarely on hypnotherapy trainers. Very often students are taught such a narrow field of theoretical knowledge (after all, most courses are no more than 120 live hours) that students go out only knowing what the trainer taught them. When they spread their therapeutic wings they have a “Eureka” moment which they think is revolutionary. Please if you are a hypnotherapist, at least read up on the pillars of the the psychotherapeutic world. These are psychodynamic, integrative, and cognitive and behavioural. I think you will find that most of what you might consider to be revolutionary has already been done before.
Now, this might sound like I am being harsh. I am not, I want those providing therapeutic services to be as knowledgable as they can be. This is the true secret of surviving as a new and not so new therapist. Not endlessly talking about yourself nor considering yourself more than what you are. Please take a step back and consider who you are speaking to when you post.
