{"id":1207,"date":"2017-03-06T08:10:39","date_gmt":"2017-03-06T00:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/darylchow.com\/Daryl_Chow\/Blog\/wordpress\/?p=1207"},"modified":"2019-06-20T13:38:19","modified_gmt":"2019-06-20T05:38:19","slug":"signs-that-therapists-are-barking-up-the-wrong-tree-in-our-professional-development","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/darylchow.com\/frontiers\/signs-that-therapists-are-barking-up-the-wrong-tree-in-our-professional-development\/","title":{"rendered":"Signs That Therapists are Barking Up the Wrong Tree in Our Professional Development\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m going to re-look at some deeply held truths \u00a0we were taught to believe about professional development in the field of psychotherapy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Actually, if these truths are closely examined, they are perpetuated lies.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Signs<\/p>\n

Sometimes you climb the ladder to the top,
only to discover that you’ve placed it against the wrong wall.<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

~ Joseph Campbell<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

What’s worse than falsehood is a distorted truth. <\/span><\/p>\n

This is not an attempt to put up a straw man about our field. Rather, I hope we can<\/span><\/p>\n

a) Stop digging ourselves into a deeper hole, and<\/span><\/p>\n

b) Get ourselves out of the entrenchment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Before you read on, answer the following question:<\/p>\n

Do you consider yourself a person who is open to challenging your own assumptions<\/a><\/strong>?\u00a0<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

If you are, read on. If not, the following list is going to cause you some discomfort.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here it goes:<\/span><\/p>\n

In no particular order, here are signs that we are barking up the wrong tree in our professional development:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Learning:<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

1. We think that being in a state of flow means we\u00a0are experiencing deep learning.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. We equate feeling benefit from clinical supervision as actual learning.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. We think that we can get better by engaging in deliberate practice within particular schools of psychotherapy.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. We think PD\/CEU activities (trainings, workshops, seminars) are going to get us\u00a0better as a therapist.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. We conflate learning<\/i> and performing<\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

6. We amass content knowledge in specific areas and fail to deepen our interpersonal skills.<\/span><\/p>\n

7. We watch master therapists in action and try to emulate them.<\/span><\/p>\n

8. We pursue what’s new.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Experience<\/strong>:<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

9. We fail to distinguish between clinical experience and skills acquisition and<\/i> maintenance.<\/span><\/p>\n

10. We think client feedback is going to help us better as a therapist.<\/span><\/p>\n

11. We say that clients are our best teachers.<\/span><\/p>\n

12. We think that once we amassed enough confidence in our practice, we get into flow states easily, and start to believe that we have arrived.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

On Beliefs in Therapy<\/strong>:<\/span><\/h2>\n

13. We think there is a right<\/i> way to do therapy.<\/span><\/p>\n

14. We think therapy models hold some truths instead of seeing them as metaphors to guide.<\/span><\/p>\n

15. We overvalue the idea that adhering to a model of therapy will get you better.<\/span><\/p>\n

16. We conflate our feeling of benefit with actual client benefit.<\/span><\/p>\n

17. We think fitting the right clinical diagnosis\/ clinical formulation \/ treatment plan for your client matters towards the outcome.<\/span><\/p>\n

My hopes for putting this forth is so that we can instead begin to plant seeds of transformation on fertile ground for us to grow our craft.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the course of the next several weeks, I will be expanding on each of these points, and why we are wasting our efforts in these.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0Love to hear your initial thoughts about this.<\/span><\/p>\n

Stay tuned by subscribing to this list (see below).<\/span><\/p>\n

Best Wishes,\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Daryl Chow, Ph.D.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019m going to re-look at some deeply held truths \u00a0we were taught to believe about professional development in the field of psychotherapy. 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