Psychologists are also people of flesh and blood (we laugh, we cry, we get angry...).

A reflection on the supposedly non-human nature of psychologists.

This article was inspired by the many times I have been told a somewhat peculiar comment about my profession. And not only to me, but many of those who read this text and are dedicated to psychology must be thinking the same thing.

Debunking some myths about the psychology profession

There are many branches of psychology, but not all of them are popularly known. When someone thinks of a psychologist, he or she automatically associates it with the clinical specialty, that is, the discipline that studies behavioral disorders in order to subsequently subject the patient to therapy to improve his or her quality of life. Coincidentally, the profession of clinical psychologist is the most exploited by the Hollywood film industry and is also closely related to the most famous clinical psychologist in history, Sigmund Freud, Psychoanalysis and the enormous world of dreams.

The couch

For this reason, when someone asks you what your profession is and you answer that you are a psychologist, almost instantly they have already imagined you sitting in a chair with a patient on the couch.

"Divan: armchair/bed for lying down and

closely related to psychoanalysis".

Self-psychology

Once it is assumed that you are dedicated to psychology, and although no one knows that yours is not the clinical specialty, one of the phrases that we have heard the most since we started studying the fantastic career of psychology usually arises in the minds of the interlocutors.

Leaving aside other well-known recurring questions such as: guess what I am thinking, are you psychoanalyzing me? Or "Tonight I dreamt of a castle, does that mean anything to you?", there goes the phrase that is repeated ad nauseam!

"Psychologists study that career because they have some problem and want to cure themselves (vulgarly called "crazy" or "deranged")".

Let us reflect on this sentence. As in all careers, there are people who are peculiar, strange, conflictive and even with serious behavioral problems.. Just as it happens in the psychology career, it also happens in all disciplines, as in all jobs and especially as in life.

There are people with more or less serious problems in every corner of our society, and also some in the faculty. I can attest to thisbecause I have had the "pleasure" of meeting several "peculiarities" who come from the same profession.

But this does not mean that we should make the exception the rule. There are also people who study this career in order to better understand why they are the way they are. Although we have all had those thoughts in our heads at one time or another, simply because we are human beings and reflective. But my advice for people who are considering studying psychology with the sole interest of trying to solve their problems, it is preferable to go to a consultation and try to solve your possible "problems" or worries that way. In the end, you will surely save a lot of time and go directly to the objective.

Psychologists have emotions, incredible as it may seem.

As the title of the article says psychologists are people. We don't do everything right, nor can we surely "cure" ourselves, as many believe. We have tools to manage some situations more easily, but we don't do magic.

We make mistakes, we fall down, we get hurt and we also suffer.. We have difficulties, complicated circumstances and less bearable moments, just like everyone else. We have the right to be bad, like everyone else, and that does not make us any less professional. We have to keep in mind that our attitudes, emotions and situations affect us subjectively, so we have to discern very well what affects us on a personal or professional level. If what happens to us is really unavoidable, it is necessary to solve that problem and that situation in order to be able to perform our work in the best possible way.

Psychologists who come to consult

Psychologists often also need to go for consultation to solve certain issues that affect them. Does it sound strange that a psychologist goes to another psychologist? Well, it doesn't have to be.

For example, a psychologist may need to go to therapy because he or she is unable to work out the mourning of the death of a family member or loved one.. It may happen that this person comes for consultation so that another professional can help him/her in the accompaniment of this process called grief.

Grief has different phases, and we do not always pass quickly from one state to another, but we can stay in one of these phases for more or less time or even get stuck in one of them. Especially in this society in which we are not taught to go through grief normally, it seems that we have very little time to overcome grief and not everyone needs the same time to assimilate the loss of that person who is now gone.

Each person deals with bad times in his or her own way.

Many people have been stuck for years in a phase that does not allow them to move forward in their lives normally. In other cultures and/or countries such as Mexico, the loss or death of a person is faced in a very different way. Examples such as the Day of the Dead in Mexico where everyone goes out to the streets to remember the deceased with songs and customized with skulls painted on their faces. On the other hand, in the United States, a kind of catering is held at home so that everyone can say goodbye to the deceased and offer condolences to the family.

These are different ways of dealing with the same reality. Psychologists, as human beings, are also different when it comes to going through a moment like this. We are not immune to sadnessno one is.

In short: a psychologist is neither a robot nor a magician.

So then, and going back to the thesis of the article, I hope that after reading this text, when you meet a psychologist again, you will think differently about what he/she is like or what he/she can bring to you. Do not forget that people are, above all, people. With defects and with virtues, with fears and with illusions.

Sincerely yours,

A psychologist.