The 10 key skills to be a professional therapist

These are the fundamental skills to develop professionalism in psychotherapy.

Knowledge and practical experience are very necessary aspects to adequately perform the psychologist's profession. They carry a great deal of weight, but this does not mean that they are the only things psychotherapists need to perform adequately in therapy.

There are several key aspects to become a good clinical psychologist, ranging from the most obvious such as empathy or having good active listening through the rest to the code of ethics and, also, having a good emotional regulation.

These and many more are are the keys to be a professional psychotherapist that we are going to discover next.

What are the keys to practice professionally as a therapist?

A positive relationship between therapist and client is a predictor of successful therapy, as well as a prerequisite for being a good psychotherapist. The more positive this relationship is, the more confident the client will be in explaining his or her problems in detail, and the more willing he or she will be to explore them and introduce new coping strategies into his or her life.

The knowledge and experience of the professional are crucial aspects for the good performance of a therapeutic process, but it is also essential that the therapist has well developed certain therapeutic skills such as empathy, active listening or emotional intelligence. Patient and therapist must experience a feeling of teamwork, establishing a positive bond and commitment towards the achievement of therapeutic objectives.The professional's skills exert an important influence on this commitment.

But just because it is necessary to establish a positive relationship does not mean that it should be like the one we have with friends or family. The relationship in therapy must be asymmetrical in two ways.

On the one hand, it is asymmetrical emotionally, since it is the patient's problems that should take center stage, not ours as psychologists, while on the other hand, it is asymmetrical in that it is the patient's problems that should take center stage, not ours as psychologists. it is asymmetrical in that it is we psychotherapists who have the professional knowledge to help the patient to improve his or her quality of life and health. to improve their quality of life and mental health.

In addition to this, formal rules of operation, space, duration and frequency of sessions and the commitment that the patient will actively collaborate with the professional to help him or herself to address their problems must be established.

Skills and requirements to be a professional psychotherapist.

Do you want to know what it takes to be a good psychologist? There are many aspects to take into account when doing psychotherapy so that the therapeutic process is as effective and smooth as possible. However, all of them can be grouped in the following points.

Mental flexibility

Psychologists meet many different people, each with their own particular opinions, views and beliefs, ideas that can be as varied as they are shocking.

For this reason, in order to practice psychotherapy properly, it is necessary to free oneself from prejudices, stereotypes, beliefs and preconceived ideas, as well as the in addition to applying unconditional acceptance of what the patient thinks. It does not mean that we have the same opinion as our patients, but it does mean that we must be open to what is different and unknown.

To reach such a degree of tolerance, it is necessary that as professionals we have dared to leave our comfort zone.. We all have such metaphorical "zones", made up of habits, customs and routines that give us security and comfort. In the particular case of psychologists, it implies daring to set aside our beliefs and points of view in order to adapt to the patient and make him/her trust us.

Every psychologist must put into practice the art of questioning, discovering, investigating and assimilating what surrounds us, because it can serve as a true source of inspiration.

2. Empathy

It is fundamental in the clinical practice of every psychologist that he or she knows how to put him or herself in the place of his or her patients.. The psychotherapist must have the mental mechanisms and strategies necessary to understand what are the patient's particular fears, needs and circumstances that have caused him/her to feel the way he/she does now. Only reaching this understanding of the emotional state of the patient, the psychologist will be able to approach the case.

3. Introspection

Introspection is another necessary key for any good psychologist who appreciates himself.. It is a complicated task, but very beneficial for our clinical practice. We cannot understand our patients without first having carried out an exercise of self-observation, analyzing and understanding ourselves.

It may seem that this is simple, but it requires deep reflection and discovering our strengths and weaknesses in order to grow as people and apply psychotherapy correctly.

Only by knowing ourselves well will we be able to better manage and control the mental states of others.

4. Authenticity and respect

By authenticity and respect we mean being personally coherent, avoiding defensive responses and showing attention and empathic responses, in other words, being with the patient. It is essential to pay attention to the qualities and resources that the client has used to manage his or her distress on his or her own before coming to psychotherapy..

As professionals, we can afford to do some self-disclosure from time to time, giving information about ourselves. This should not be too frequent because we should not steal neither time nor protagonism from our patient. If personal information is disclosed, it should be released in dribs and drabs with the clear objective of increasing our patient's collaboration and trust.

5. Active listening and observation

Active listening is a sine qua non quality for psychotherapy. It does not only imply listening to the patient, but also paying close attention to him/her, being aware of everything he/she has to say.It means being aware of everything he/she tells us without interrupting him/her except to ask the appropriate questions.

Not only will active listening help us to better understand what the patient is experiencing, but it will also help us to establish a better therapist-patient relationship.

Knowing how to listen makes the consultation a relaxed atmosphere. By creating an atmosphere of complicity, the patient will be freer to explain his or her problems in a calm and sincere way.in a calm and sincere manner.

The patient should not be interrupted so that he/she can express him/herself freely. In this way, he will be able to answer his own rhetorical questions that he asks himself out loud.

It is also important to observe how he tells us things and how he behaves gesturally. Silence is not the mere absence of words, but a pause that can tell us many things..... The professional should observe how the patient experiences these pauses, expressing emotions such as nervousness or discomfort through non-verbal language. Therefore, we must pay attention to the movement of his hands, his posture and gestures. Everything, absolutely everything, transmits information in one way or another.

6. Confidence and security

It is essential that as professionals we transmit confidence to our clients, making them aware that we will do everything possible to help them, that we are there for them and that our professional practice aims not to harm them in the least.

Trust is transmitted by feeling it in oneself.. In other words, in order for the patient to feel confidence in the therapy, the professional must first show confidence in his or her own skills, knowledge and experience. If the therapist's way of speaking does not show a certain air of determination and security with his words, it will be difficult for him to transmit it to the person who turns to him for help.

By this we do not mean that we should be overly technical or show how much we have studied. Showing confidence is not synonymous with being pedantic.

The idea is that, showing the right tact and without being excessively direct, we transmit the guidelines for action in a clear, concise and reliable manner. We must avoid being ambiguous, giving contradictory messages, showing ourselves as inferior to our patient or hesitating.These behaviors are undoubtedly detrimental to the therapeutic relationship.

7. Be a good communicator

In addition to knowing how to listen, it is very important to know how to transmit what we want the patient to understand.. It is necessary that the psychotherapist has good communicative resources to make sure that the patient understands what the objective of the therapy is and what tools are going to be used, making him/her understand that he/she will have to take an active role throughout the therapy but under the guidance of the professional.

Becoming a good communicator is possibly one of the biggest challenges psychologists face on a daily basis. The reason for this is that, even if we already have many years of experience, it is always the case that we must adapt our words to the patient, who will have a certain cultural level. Some will find it more difficult to understand a concept than others, and that is why we will be there to make it as easy as possible for them. we will be there to make it as easy as possible for them.. It is essential to have good communication skills.

8. Analytical capacity

It is habitual that the patients like to speak, very much. They talk and talk, and they are in their right, because that's why they have come to psychotherapy.. In order to be able to act it is necessary that the professional knows how to interpret and select what the patient tells him/her and that it is related to his/her main problem.

Since it is not advisable to cut the flow of the conversation, the analytical and selection capacity of the psychologist is basic. You should stick to what is important, to the information you need to get to the root of the problem..

We have reached number 8 on our list, but I believe there are two more aspects that we cannot ignore in the good practice of clinical psychology.

9. Emotional intelligence and self-regulation

This is almost a truism, but it is worth mentioning. Every therapist must possess a certain emotional intelligence and self-regulation. If they do not have it, they should consult a psychologist before applying therapy because otherwise it will be very difficult to provide quality psychotherapy.

Emotional intelligence does not only imply having empathy, but being able to recognize our own emotional states, knowing how to name them and apply tools to manage such emotions.

10. Compliance with ethical and professional requirements

This point is another truism, but unfortunately there are not a few psychologists who seem to think that the code of ethics does not go with them. Although the debate on whether psychology is a science is intense and we will always find opinions of all kinds, even among colleagues in the profession, what is not debatable is that psychotherapy must be based on empirical evidence, what is not debatable is that psychotherapy must be based on empirical evidence and respect ethical and professional requirements..

Among the fundamental requirements to be respected are confidentiality, referral to another professional if we do not see ourselves capable of attending to the case or treating the patient's problems for whatever reason, and avoid any other type of relationship beyond the professional one. Following the code of ethics is not a skill, but an ethical, moral and professional obligation and we do not take the slightest risk in affirming that a psychologist who does not respect it is not a good psychologist.

Among these requirements is also the need for constant training. Psychological treatments are frequently updated, as well as the way disorders are diagnosed and treated.and also the way disorders are diagnosed and approached. If we want to give the best possible psychotherapy to our patients, it is essential that we are aware of the latest developments in the field, making sure we are up to date and do not use techniques that science has shown to be ineffective.

Do you want to train in psychotherapy?

If you want to train and become a professional in the care of patients from the psychological therapy, you may be interested in the Online Professionalizing Postgraduate Course In Integrative Psychotherapy organized by Instituto Mensalus.

@professioal(2062724)

This post-university training program lasts 6 months and includes theoretical and practical classes as well as all kinds of materials and documentation, all in a 100% online format.