The Imperfect Therapist

In times of celebrations alluding to the Day of the Psychologist, we need to discuss a
agenda that, in my perspective, is a real urgency: the vulnerability of the therapist.
I don't know if the therapists who will be reading this text will identify with my
description, since the experience can be different for each one. But from my place,
I identify since the graduation course, the absence of that look. The most we heard was that, if we wanted to work with human suffering, we needed to understand our own. Therefore, "do therapy". Okay, so far understood. But when we arrived at the first
therapists' offices, when we talked to teachers, who are
great influencers in our frame as people and professionals, I felt something in common: detachment. No one spoke of each other's pains and difficulties. I finished
graduation thinking that opening a doctor's office was enough to rent a room, decorate and start spreading. So silly me. The experience at the clinic took me in very different ways. And there I was
trying to understand my difficulties through an individual therapeutic process.

I went to therapy. Until I stopped to reflect: is this just happening to me? Am I alone?
scared of the responsibility we have and the great challenge of listening to human vulnerability? Only I am apprehensive in my attempts to hold the hearts of my patients, but not always being sure that I am getting it right? Only I am
working for hours thinking it will make me a successful therapist?

Cruel questions that, I confess, took some time to find your
answers. The vulnerability that we encouraged in our patients was not found
there, among colleagues. At first glance, the feeling that only our office is messy is quite painful. But then, along the way, starting with
new classes, exchanges, corridor conversations, we ended up facing this discovery:
we are all keeping our imperfections within seven keys. I still seek
explanations for the reason why our profession received this “form” and to learn
that a successful therapist is one who understands the patient in the first appointment,
leaves with the evaluation ready, the diagnosis, treatment plan and, whenever the opportunity arises, the perfect technique comes out of the hat at the same moment. Our internal hard drive must have the book
decorated. But in spite of that, what I have to say in this text is that, if at any point in
your trajectory you questioned the same things as me, I already have the answer: no, no
it just happens to you. < / p>

The truth is that we are as imperfect as any other human being that inhabits
this Earth. We have our difficulties, weaknesses, a sum of errors. We also
cried, stumbled, fell flat on our face. We failed. But what I can really
give us credit for is that, despite all this, we try our best to work with them so that when we are in front of a patient we can be as
they deserve : for integers. Realizing this is the greatest lesson in self-care that we can
teach, we discover our personal limits, that we are not therapists for all types of patients and that, therefore, referral is the best care also with those who seek us. Having the clarity of this is like arriving at a paradisiacal beach after a steep trail: the horizon is immense and, paradoxically, despite the limits we put on our work, our possibilities become infinite. Happy day for imperfect psychologists,
colleagues! Tamires Dartora CRP 07/23893