Why psychologists do not give advice

Neither vital laws nor aphorisms about life, psychologists are in charge of guiding and giving autonomy.

People who have graduated in psychology or who work as psychologists know well that, in addition to asking for a free consultation, there is another habit that leads many people to make a basic mistake when they hear that a friend or relative is a psychologist: asking for advice about life..

Of course, asking for and giving advice is not a bad thing in itself. In fact, people who are psychologists may quietly give advice, and may even divulge advice in the media, but make it clear that this is not the defining activity of their profession. This means that, in the context in which a psychologist talks about his or her work, he or she does not give advice; in other situations, he or she does.in other situations, yes.

Assuming that the profession of psychologists consists of giving advice leads some people to ask for their help by raising a problem and finishing the subject with "what should I do? But, although it may seem strange because of the myths that circulate about the profession, psychologists do not give advice. I will now explain why.

Psychologists: dealing with individual or collective problems

People with a background in psychology know things about behavior and mental processes that predispose them to know better how to deal with certain situations usefully and effectively, yes. But that doesn't mean they can give someone advice "on the fly."

In fact, it is not even true that all psychologists it is not even true that all psychologists are dedicated to dealing with the life problems of individual people.. This is done only by those engaged in psychotherapy and clinical intervention; there are also many other branches of psychology that either work for organizations and not for individuals (organizational or human resources psychology), or do research on the basis of data on many people, as in psychological research and cognitive science.

In both cases, psychologists do not intervene in cases of individual psychological problems, so asking them for advice does not make much sense. But neither does it make much sense when the person is involved in psychotherapy and mental health.Why is that?

Magical solutions to universal problems

As we have seen, many psychologists do not orient their work to deal with collective problems, or with problems demarcated by legal entities, not persons. However, those who intervene in individual cases do not give advice either, for three basic reasons.

The need to attend a consultation

If you want individual attention, you have to buy the entire package of individualized care, not just the appearance of it.

In other words, you have to attend a consultationIn other words, you have to attend a consultation, a context in which, despite having that name, the client will not ask questions that need to be answered.

Psychologists do not have in their memory a book containing all the vital guidelines to follow and what to do in each case. First, because such a book does not existFirst, because there is no such book, and psychologists are normal people, flesh and blood, and not oracles with the ability to come into contact with something like divine and universal laws.

But then, what does psychotherapy consist of? This brings us to the second point as to why the task of a psychologist is not based on giving advice.

Psychotherapy is a two-way task

Understanding which options are the best to deal with a problem is something that must be done by both the psychologist and the patient. is something that must be done by both the psychologist and the patient, not just the psychologist.not only by the former.

Knowing what to do depends on the willingness of the person seeking help and on the specific characteristics of his or her life, and the role of the psychologist is to give guidance on the fly, not to give categorical answersnot to transmit categorical answers to vital doubts.

Of course, if psychologists had as a tool a list of laws of life, these would be so many that they would not fit in a room, and even less in the long-term memory of a psychotherapist. Quite simply, the characteristics of a person's problem can be so many and so varied that there cannot be a defined protocol of action for each one of them..

Thus, much of what a psychologist does in the consulting room is simply listening to understand the client's problem and to have the opportunity to develop a series of individualized measures. For that reason alone, it is already impossible for their work to be summed up with "I give advice", something that can usually be done at a bar after 10 minutes of conversation. No; the psychologist listens and asks many questions over a long period of time and in several sessions..

But what comes next, when the psychologist understands the problem, is not giving advice either.

Acting on the focus of the problem

Giving advice is simply that, to issue a series of statements talking about what should be done in a particular case. But psychologists don't do that. Talking about what should be done is not, in itself, something that brings the person much closer to solving that problem, because to believe that would be to fall into the error of assuming that psychological problems appear simply when a person does not know what to do.

Thus, a person with a gambling addiction would simply need someone to insist strongly on the advice to stop gambling. Once that person became aware of the problem from what he hears the other person say, the problem would be solved. Too bad that in the real world this does not happen: psychological problems do not arise from a lack of information, but from something much deeper: inappropriate behavior patterns that need to be corrected by doing more and talking less. by doing more and talking less.

Thus, the work of psychologists does not consist in informing people about what they should do, but in guiding them towards a model of behavior that is useful to them and that allows them to be happier. That is why the product of psychotherapy sessions are not aphorisms and life maxims, but rather intervention programs such as, for example, the "I'm happy, I'm happy" program.but intervention programs such as Self-Instruction Training, something like routines used in a gymnasium made for our brain.

Mental health psychologists create the necessary conditions so that their patients can reorient their actions and thoughts in a more appropriate way, according to their in a more appropriate way, according to their own goals. Perhaps the temptation to ask psychologists for advice comes precisely from the fact that we are not very clear about the latter, the idea of what we want. In advice, the objective to be aimed at is already given: "do this". Fortunately or not, what happens in a psychologist's office is much more complex.