A psychology student's professional aspirations in clinical counseling

¶ … personal analysis of the professional aspirations of a student of psychology. The reasons given for wanting to enter the field include an intellectual interest in understanding the unconscious mind. Professional goals consist mainly of establishing a clinical counseling practice focusing on personal development and family and interpersonal relationship health. Empathy is cited among the student's greatest strengths as a future clinician. Maintaining self-awareness is presented as a key component of avoiding counter-transference and vocational burnout.

What are your reasons for becoming a psychologist?

I have always been fascinated by the idea of understanding the human mind. I am particularly intrigued by Freudian psychodynamic theory as it pertains to the influence of the subconscious mind and to the process by which thoughts and feelings become suppressed from conscious awareness (McWilliams, 2004). From a practical perspective, I consider the practice of clinical psychology to be among the most important disciplines because it provides such valuable help to individuals and enables them to increase the quality of their lives. By extension, helping every patient also helps some of the people within that person's immediate family and within that person's sphere of social influence.

What are your professional goals?

My professional goals include establishing myself as a practicing professional in the field of clinical psychology. More specifically, I hope to be able to see patients and to help them identify any psychological issues troubling them in order to help them address and resolve those issues. More specifically, I hope that my future practice will focus on areas such as interpersonal and family relationship counseling in the private one-on-one setting.

What type of clients do you wish to work with? Why?

Ideally, I would most want to work with patients encountering ordinary challenges in life that could be effectively addressed by applying concepts of self-reflection, psychodynamic analysis with respect to unconscious influences on behavior, interpersonal conflict resolution, and intra-family harmony. All of these areas are crucial to the long-term happiness of patients and to their ability to make the most out of their lives. In some ways, individuals in need of psychological counseling in connection with "ordinary" life circumstances and challenges may be an under-served patient community because of the overwhelming popularity of acute psychological disorders among psychological professional interest.

What type of clients do you prefer not to work with? Why?

By implication, to the extent I would prefer to work with patients seeking assistance with the ordinary challenges of life, I suppose I would prefer not to work with patients suffering from acute psychiatric disorders. Perhaps, my apprehension is also related to the fact that patients with acute psychiatric disorders present such serious clinical issues that they typically preclude focusing on the types of "ordinary" life issues that interest me the most.

What counter-transference issues might you experience as a psychologist? How will you handle these issues when they emerge?

I understand that patients have a tendency to succumb to transference, particularly within long-term client-therapist relationships and especially in the context of the psychodynamic framework (Mitchell & Black, 2003). Similarly, I have learned that counter-transference is also a risk within any relationship potentially prone to transference (Mitchell & Black, 2003). As a practical matter, I intend to maintain awareness of any tendencies on my part toward counter-transference by being aware of any tendency to think about clients in between sessions in any manner other than in direct connection to their clinical issues. At the first sign of any potential risk of counter-transference, I would consider discontinuing the relationship and referring the patient to a colleague.

How will you handle stress in order to reduce/prevent burnout?

I understand that vocational stress and burnout are potential risks throughout clinical medicine and that it is substantially related to perpetually being in a position of such extreme responsibility for the welfare of others (Krasner, Epstein, Beckman, et al., 2009). I intend to be as mindful as possible of possible signs of stress in my life at their very earliest possible manifestations. I hope that I will be able to recognize and identify sources of stress so that I will be able to reduce any factors within my ability to do so (such as in relation to scheduling and over-working).