Self-awareness: Psychotherapy leads to better clinical work

Washington DC Psychologist, Psychoanalyst, Dr. Lynn Friedman - writes about the importance of personal psychotherapy in a counselor or psychotherapist's development

Increasing self-awareness: Obtaining psychotherapy, consultation and supervision

Increased self-awareness can lead to increased clinical skill. For example, knowing how you feel is often a prerequisite to tuning into how others feel, that, in turn, leads to the development of empathy. So how does one go about increasing ones self-awareness? There are many paths to heightening ones self-awareness. In my opinion, the hallmarks of a caring and effective psychotherapist are:

1. voraciously reading the professional literature with an eye towards understanding the patients who we see
2. obtaining supervision from a clinician who is oriented toward helping you to deepen your understanding of your countertransference reactions
3. actively consulting with colleagues, in a confidential setting, about one's clinical work
4. seeking one's own psychotherapy or psychoanalysis. The latter can, in fact, alter your life trajectory.

Obviously, there is much more to be said about each of these. And, in fact, volumes have been written. We'll be talking more about each of these things, in class and in the blog. But, for now, in thinking about reading, I'd love to hear from you as to books that you have found particularly helpful. In my next post, I'll talk about a few that I found particularly helpful.