Valuing the Person of the Psychotherapist (Chapter 1)

Leaving It at the Office

Individual Therapist Variables	Factors reflecting characteristics of the therapist, including warmth, empathy, emotionally close, genuineness; contrasts with EST’s
Therapeutic Relationship	The relationship between a client and their clinician, which acts as the means by which clients change during the therapeutic process
Self-Monitoring	Awareness, observation, and recording of self-behaviors, thoughts, and feelings. Particularly relevant to therapists’ personal and/or occupational stress
Industrialization of Mental Health Care	The attempt to standardize treatments to fit a best practices or EST approach

There is evidence that individual therapist differences can influence progress and outcome, given all other factors remain constant.
There is evidence that the quality of the therapeutic relationship can influence progress and outcome.
Ethical codes maintain that therapists pay attention to their self-care, as much as to the service of the client.
Don’t give to clients what you deprive your family and friends of. “Many therapists will candidly admit to giving more time, energy, and devotion to their practices than to their spouses, children, or themselves” (p. 8). Why do you think?
Can you find creative ways to take breaks? How do you take breaks? For example, taking a different weekday off each month to avoid postponing sessions with the same clients each time.
Therapists tend not to be influenced by their theoretical orientations about change in regard to self-care.
In general, healthy escapes and helping relationships can be effective self-care. Schedule consequential, meaningful activities, and cut out mundane ones. Be willing to do less. This may boil down to the question of How much money do you have to have?
Many organizations will use and abuse you if you let them (See p. 14-15 for excellent examples).
Ethical codes maintain that therapists pay attention to their self-care, as much as to the service of the client. Here is a list of professional organizations and links to their ethical codes: