What are some highlights of being a psychologist?

Question

I'm doing a report and would prefer professional psychologists to answer.

Answer 1

Psychologist is in fact a psychotherapist who plays with the psychology of the people.  The therapist is a Western invention. Freud himself suffered from great psychological problems, so did Jung, so did Adler, so have the other great psychologists and psychoanalysts and therapists; they are not masters. You have learned those techniques from this tradition, the Western tradition. You can be very efficient, you can help people and people will be helped, but your doubt will not disappear. In fact the more people are helped, the more doubtful you will become: what is happening? -- because it looks mysterious.

If nothing comes out of your work, that will be perfectly okay: you will wonder what can come out of it -- you have not arrived yourself. When somebody has an ego problem and you help, how can you help? -- because the problem exists inside you too. You can get totally involved with the person, you can tell him everything that is known to you about the ego, you can give him recipes, you can give him devices to get rid of it, but deep down you know that these things can't work because they have not even worked for you.

So the therapist is living a kind of lie; he is pretending something to people. He has to, otherwise he will not be able to work. He has to keep a mask, he has not to allow people to see what exactly his situation is. But, later on when you are alone your mask will slip.Sometimes you will be able to see your face in the mirror and you will be worried. This worry will become more and more as you become more successful and this doubt will poison your whole being.

You can continue working as a therapist but pay more attention to your own inner growth. Don't be fooled by your work. Sometimes that happens: when you start succeeding you can be fooled by it. You can think, 'When I am helping so many people there must be something in me' and then the ego can become even more strong.

You will have to give a little attention to yourself. Work, continue your work, but don't allow it to become your life, don't allow it to become equivalent to your life. You owe something to yourself too. If you can go deeper into your being you will be able to help also. Then there will be no pretension, no lie, and the doubt will disappear. When the doubt disappears miracles become possible, because whatsoever you say, you mean. And it is out of your own experience -- it is not borrowed. It has an authenticity, a truth, it is self-evident, and you can put it out with passion.

Answer 2

- you get to help people

- you have managed due to your knowledge and studies to help yourself and you go about better through certain situations and judge things more clearly

- you get to do research

- you get to do what you enjoy and get paid - if you truly love your job

Answer 3

FREEDOM!

Well, for me it is.

I love my job. I love trying to help folks figure things out to make their lives better. I love working with people. Also, it's so broad an area that you don't have to do one-on-one, you can give seminars and workshops, do profiling - well, the list is virtually endless.

It's the best!