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Choosing psychotherapy as a career: Why did we cross that road?
Author(s) -
Farber Barry A.,
Manevich Inessa,
Metzger Jesse,
Saypol Erica
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.20174
Subject(s) - psychology , narrative , psychotherapist , social psychology , philosophy , linguistics
This article addresses the question “Why do people become psychotherapists?” via two approaches. The first involves an examination of the empirical and clinical literature on motivations and influences common to most psychotherapists. The second approach explores multiple pathways to becoming a psychotherapist by considering distinct gender‐linked career trajectories. We identify 12 oft‐noted themes in the literature on therapists' career paths (e.g., cultural marginalization, a psychologically minded way of understanding self and others) and link these to the narratives of the eight authors in this issue. Finally, we discuss ways in which understanding career motivations may be useful for therapists in their practice. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 61: 1009–1031, 2005.