Why Practical Learning Is Essential Before Working In Psychotherapy
From the surface and appearances, psychotherapy, or rather, the stereotypical image of what psychotherapy is, can seem like a fundamentally intellectual, theoretical activity: two people talking in a room. However, the reality is quite the opposite: psychotherapy is fundamentally practical, especially from the therapist’s point of view.
Ultimately, what is offered in a psychological therapy process is a training program: training to learn to regulate one’s own emotions, to detect self-sabotaging thoughts in time, to repress impulses when necessary, etc.
Considering that, It is not surprising that those who want to dedicate themselves to working offering psychotherapy must go through a very complete practical learning process.
The 4 reasons why practice is essential to know how to give therapy
These are the aspects for which, in order to work giving psychotherapy, practice and ease in day-to-day life with patients is crucial beyond practical knowledge.
1. The therapeutic bond is something very fluid and dynamic
Much of the probability of success or failure of a psychotherapy process depends on whether an adequate psychologist-patient therapeutic bond is established; a game of balance between professionalism and empathy (but without falling into friendship), and between assertiveness and knowing how to listen. Knowing how to master this facet of therapy requires practice and active participation in psychotherapy processes.
2. You have to know the bureaucratic, administrative and material aspects
The profession of psychotherapist is not limited only to what happens during sessions with patients; You have to know everything that surrounds that and makes it possible, that is, the management of material resources and assets that allow us to work with guarantees and legally. Practice allows you to avoid unpleasant surprises from day one, caused by “silly mistakes”.
3. Having contact with other therapists is very valuable
Through practice contacts and problem-solving capacity are gained in the context of teamwork ; Even if there is only one professional caring for a patient, for example, it is common to seek direct or indirect help from other professionals in the sector.
4. It is not enough to know what works, you have to know how to apply it
There is a big difference between seeing a therapeutic procedure described in a book, and apply it in a real work context. When trying to apply those ideas to the real world, new problems arise, new questions, and also new solutions that had not been thought of.
How to learn clinical practice in psychotherapy?
These are several key ideas when specializing in the field of psychotherapy.
1. University education is essential
If having a university degree in Psychology or Medicine will not allow you to train in the field of clinical and health psychology, so if you are reading this, you want to work doing psychotherapy and you have not gone through these years of training, your first goal should be Enter this world by learning the most basic things.
Serving as a psychotherapy professional is complex and possible errors can lead to many problems for patients. ; Therefore, it is normal that before you can decide to start the internship you should spend some time familiarizing yourself with the concepts, techniques, objectives, etc.
2. Make sure you train in psychotherapy
Not all forms of care for patients or people seeking help with emotional or behavioral problems can be considered psychotherapy. Keep in mind that psychological therapy generally It is an intervention process that lasts months , and which has several phases, structured towards reaching the final objective after several sessions. For example, offering one-off telephone support for people who are experiencing distress at a particular time is not technically psychotherapy.
3. Look for references in those who offer therapy in their daily lives
Within the field of psychology there is a wide variety of specializations and professional profiles. , and not all of them are dedicated to caring for patients through psychotherapeutic processes. Therefore, it is important that you ensure that when training through Master’s and postgraduate courses you have teaching teams with many psychotherapy professionals (duly accredited and trained for this) and who have dedicated themselves primarily to this activity in recent years. .
4. Learn various therapeutic resources
The most effective forms of psychotherapy vary depending on the problem or disorder the patient has, according to scientific research. Thus, It is positive that you learn to master a relatively wide range of therapeutic resources.
Are you interested in training in clinical practice from psychotherapy?
If you have completed a university degree in Psychology or Medicine and are thinking about becoming a professional in the field of psychotherapy, you may be interested the Master in Integrative Psychotherapy developed by Institut Mensalus.
It is a training and specialization program taught at the Mensalus facilities (although it has an online option with live classes over the Internet, and a mixed option in which online and in-person classes are combined), of a academic year in duration, and in which the theoretical-practical aspects of psychological therapy are learned from professionals, in their work context. Upon completion, a University Degree is obtained from the Nebrija University of Madrid.
Starting from an integrative theoretical positioning in which various techniques and methods are combined to emphasize flexibility in the face of the problems to be treated, students become familiar with clinical practice and observe real therapy cases. The groups are small, and their dynamics are supported by constant feedback from the teaching team.
You can find more information about Mensalus training programs on this page.
