Psychotherapy is often referred to as the talking cure.

Psychotherapy is often referred to as the "talking cure." It is a way that the person may address their particular human condition, in all its complexity, by the act of speaking to a psychotherapist who is trained to listen. The kind of listening involved in psychotherapy rests on a particular concept of the way the mind functions. The mind functions as a complex entity that resonates with both conscious and unconscious thoughts. This view of the mind is supported both by new discoveries in neuro-science and by the fact that we are sometimes led to do, to feel or to think in a way that we cannot easily make sense of or explain rationally.

Though we can know quite a lot of what goes on in our mind, we have all had the experience of being surprised at times by our reactions to events, or taken aback by sudden thoughts or memories that seem to come unbidden into our awareness. Some people also find themselves seemingly compelled towards certain actions, or unable to rid themselves of certain thoughts, beliefs or feelings, despite their best efforts.

The role of the psychotherapist is to assist the individual to overcome the psychological difficulties and suffering that they may encounter. In order to do this the psychotherapist must have a thorough understanding of how the mind works, how we develop particular interests, what motivates people and how and why interests and motivations sometimes veer away from the norm and can lead people into difficulties.

Jobs Outlook

Psychotherapists are employed in the health services working with adults and children. Some psychotherapists work in other caring professional and non-profit organizations as well as with the prison service with adult and young offenders. Most psychotherapists in Ireland work in private practice with clients who are referred by their GP or psychiatrist, or who self-refer in order to address particular issues in their lives.

Expected Salary: €35,000 - €55,000

The Work of the Psychotherapist

Psychotherapists generally work in a one-to-one situation with a client. A large part of the work involves listening to the client’s account of their situation, their concerns, their anxieties, their compulsions and the difficulties that the client may be encountering.

The psychotherapist is expected to be able to maintain an open and uncritical position regardless of what the client might reveal. Using his/her knowledge of the way people work and what motivates people, the psychotherapist assists the client in understanding what has led him/her to the particular situation in which s/he now finds himself. In order to do this, the psychotherapist encourages the client to speak about his/her upbringing and background in great detail. The psychotherapist assists in uncovering and clarifying the particular issues or circumstances that may contribute to the client’s current problems.

A new and developing area of work for the psychotherapist is the field of forensic psychotherapy. This involves working with people who have been directed to attend psychotherapy by the courts. The role of the psychotherapist in this situation is to identify the reasons that have led the individual to behave in a particular way and to assist the person to find ways to avoid particular difficulties in the future.

How to become a Psychotherapist

Clinical Psychotherapy is generally studied at master’s level, following a primary degree in Psychotherapy Studies, Psychology, or a related discipline in the social or human sciences. The formal training usually involves a two-year academic and clinical programme, during which the trainee psychotherapist meets with clients while under the supervision of an experienced practitioner-trainer.

Part of the requirement also is that the trainee psychotherapist undergoes his or her own psychotherapy over a period of at least two years, so that any particular issues that might interfere with their work with clients may be uncovered.

On successfully completing a master’s programme in psychotherapy it is possible to apply for membership of one of the Professional Psychotherapy Associations, such as The Association for Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy in Ireland (APPI) or The Irish Forum for Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy (IFPP). Following this period of formal training, the psychotherapist will be required to complete a period of supervised clinical practice of about two to three years in order to achieve full accreditation or Registered Practitioner status.

Practitioner Profile

Psychotherapists tend to be mature students who already have a certain amount of life experience. Life experience is especially useful in assisting the practitioner to choose a career of psychotherapy as well as assisting in the practised art of listening with openness and without prejudice to the variation of individual concerns that people present with. As such, practitioners are from a variety of backgrounds and life experience - from law, nursing, social work, teaching, the clerical vocations, academia, medicine, etc. The minimum age for most courses is 23.

Practitioners tend to be motivated self-starters as well as analytically-minded, open and resourceful. They are expected to take an active interest in the world and keep up with the contemporary social and cultural landscape as this inevitably informs the thinking of the clients that attend psychotherapy.

The Ups of the Career

For those who are interested in how the mind operates and what motivates people, the work of a psychotherapist offers endless opportunity for such analyses. The psychotherapist is constantly presented with new challenges in the form of the multitude of ways that people endeavour to live their lives and the difficulties that they encounter.

For those who work in private practice, there is freedom to work on one’s own and independently. This has broad appeal to many and this tends to be the way that most practitioners work.

The Downs of the Career

Practitioners must be strong self-motivators and prepared to go with the ups and downs of working in private practice. Also, the work itself can be isolating, whether one is working on one’s own in private practice or in an organisation. For this reason it is incumbent upon practitioners involve themselves with other psychotherapists through reading groups and clinical discussion groups and to attend seminars and conferences in order to keep up their training.

Where to Study

Both a B.A. in Psychotherapy Studies and an M.A. in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy are provided at Independent Colleges, 60-63 Dawson St., Dublin 2.

Contact Details

School of Psychotherapy
Independent Colleges
60-63 Dawson Street
Dublin 2
Telephone: 01-6725058
www.independentcolleges.ie

Hugh Arthurs
Head of Psychotherapy Training
School of Psychotherapy
Independent Colleges
60-63 Dawson Street
Dublin 2
Phone: 01-6355819

Eve Watson
Head of Psychoanalysis
School of Psychotherapy
Independent Colleges
60-63 Dawson Street
Dublin 2
Phone: 01-6355821

Links

www.psychoanalysisireland.ie

www.psychotherapyireland.ie

www.appi.ie

www.ifpp.org

Courtesy of: Independent Colleges

www.independentcolleges.ie