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| This is a serious question; Should a Councillor have emotion when dealing with their clients?
I would have thought that this would be you taking your clients problems personally which I would have thought would be unadvised.
Sometimes I get the impression that these Councillors and Social Workers have more problems in their heads than their clients and maybe they do these jobs because it actually makes them feel better about themselves seeing other people with more problems than themselves. I often think this is why English people love watching those sad depressing soaps like East-Enders becuase it makes them feel better about themselves. | |
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If you cannot engage emotionally with your clients, then you won't be able to work with them. The best couselors, therapists, etc are those that can have some feeling for the client or patient and then help the patient reframe or see the difficulty differently, in a way that helps the client. For example, if one is anxious, learning to look at things as opportunities rather than threats is helpful. That's a gross simplification, of course, it's a lot of hard work, especially for the patient. But the therapist needs to have the person's trust, requiring some engagement. And of course anyone would be affected by a tragic story. YOu have bigger problems if you're not.
What you describe - people wanting to hear of others misfortunes as a way of making themselves feel better is a very common phenomenon in the general public. It's a downward social comparison - your life looks better in comparison when someone is doing worse. There's also a lot of voyeurism in society.. we want to see misfortune sometimes to make ourselves feel better by trying to experience some guilt. Sort of like cold water on the face. But, I think you're wrong in that most people in mental health professions go into it for reasons like that. You would not be able to stand it day after day. It's really difficult, punsihing.
As for the number of social workers and counselors, I don't know. I do not think there are not enough psychiatrists and psychologists and medically trained therapists. I'm also an American, so am used to different systems, but I believe the OP has medical training.
Finally, these are just my opinions - I'm not a mental health provider, but I am a researcher and have been what we call in the US, a mental health consumer.