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Is modern mental healthcare insane or am I?
I'm a budding therapist currently in the second year of my clinical MSW program. I was drawn to the field for classic reasons (parents struggling with mental illness, me seeking therapy as a result, yadayadayda). As a teenager and young adult, I was fascinated by the intricacies and nuances of people's experiences and by the power of therapy to make complicated people feel better. It took me awhile to find a therapist who "jived" with me, but once I did it was quite a profound experience.
For the past two years of my program, I have become more and more disillusioned with the field. I imagined that I would learn how to do what my therapist did for me. And while some of those skills have been mentioned (listening, empathizing, etc.) the orientation is wrong. Most of the people I encounter (professors, classmates, internship supervisors and colleagues) are not at all interested in (or even aware of??) the "depth" psychotherapy I know to be very real. Very few people seem to have a real idea of or ability to apply transference/countertransference (which, now that I learn about them myself, seem imperative for any beginning clinician to be aware of). I've had supervisors blatantly judge clients with no apparent awareness (like "There's just something off about him, he might have antisocial personality disorder" or "I could never just sit in silence with somebody. If you wanna do the work, I'm here for it, but I can't just sit there wasting time").
I find myself so confused and saddened by the current state of mental health care. What is happening? And I don't think it's only in community mental health. Most therapists I've tried to find myself since my one good experience (she retired, sadly) have not been able to engage in depth work. I was talking to my most recent therapist about my anxiety of not being able to help my clients, and she said, "Some people make their job their whole life. I'm just not like that."
I feel like I need reassurance that in this world of manlualized treatments, coping skills, and SMART goals, there are still people seeking depth, truth, and freedom. Reading about psychodynamic therapy has been, truly, a godsend.
I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on this.
edit: Wow, I wanted to generate discussion but I never expected this! I so appreciate each person for commenting. I want to reply to every post but there are simply too many now. I'm reading each one and feeling very good about the solidarity/insight/support. Faith in therapy (somewhat) restored. Thank you all :)
edit 2: Just to let everyone know (since it's come up a few times in the comments), I do actually have a job lined up after graduation at a psychodynamically/analytically aligned agency with a lot of individual and group supervision as well as didactic instruction. I am STOKED about this, and the literature I'm currently reading as "onboarding" somewhat inspired this post in a sense of "If therapy can be THIS way, why on EARTH would people be practicing THAT way?" I'm less disillusioned with my own path, moreso the state of affairs and the quality of services most people seeking therapy will experience.
Is modern mental healthcare insane or am I?
I'm a budding therapist currently in the second year of my clinical MSW program. I was drawn to the field for classic reasons (parents struggling with mental illness, me seeking therapy as a result, yadayadayda). As a teenager and young adult, I was fascinated by the intricacies and nuances of people's experiences and by the power of therapy to make complicated people feel better. It took me awhile to find a therapist who "jived" with me, but once I did it was quite a profound experience.
For the past two years of my program, I have become more and more disillusioned with the field. I imagined that I would learn how to do what my therapist did for me. And while some of those skills have been mentioned (listening, empathizing, etc.) the orientation is wrong. Most of the people I encounter (professors, classmates, internship supervisors and colleagues) are not at all interested in (or even aware of??) the "depth" psychotherapy I know to be very real. Very few people seem to have a real idea of or ability to apply transference/countertransference (which, now that I learn about them myself, seem imperative for any beginning clinician to be aware of). I've had supervisors blatantly judge clients with no apparent awareness (like "There's just something off about him, he might have antisocial personality disorder" or "I could never just sit in silence with somebody. If you wanna do the work, I'm here for it, but I can't just sit there wasting time").
I find myself so confused and saddened by the current state of mental health care. What is happening? And I don't think it's only in community mental health. Most therapists I've tried to find myself since my one good experience (she retired, sadly) have not been able to engage in depth work. I was talking to my most recent therapist about my anxiety of not being able to help my clients, and she said, "Some people make their job their whole life. I'm just not like that."
I feel like I need reassurance that in this world of manlualized treatments, coping skills, and SMART goals, there are still people seeking depth, truth, and freedom. Reading about psychodynamic therapy has been, truly, a godsend.
I'd love to hear anyone's thoughts on this.
edit: Wow, I wanted to generate discussion but I never expected this! I so appreciate each person for commenting. I want to reply to every post but there are simply too many now. I'm reading each one and feeling very good about the solidarity/insight/support. Faith in therapy (somewhat) restored. Thank you all :)
edit 2: Just to let everyone know (since it's come up a few times in the comments), I do actually have a job lined up after graduation at a psychodynamically/analytically aligned agency with a lot of individual and group supervision as well as didactic instruction. I am STOKED about this, and the literature I'm currently reading as "onboarding" somewhat inspired this post in a sense of "If therapy can be THIS way, why on EARTH would people be practicing THAT way?" I'm less disillusioned with my own path, moreso the state of affairs and the quality of services most people seeking therapy will experience.