How Do Therapists Develop?

Curt and Katie chat about how therapists can be rigid in their thinking at times and then seem to be performing mental gymnastics at other times. We look at the developmental stages of therapists (drawing from William Perry’s work) and identify where therapists get stuck, where they often regress, rebel, or sink into compliance.

Transcripts for this episode will be available at mtsgpodcast.com!

In this podcast episode we talk about what typical development looks like for therapists

Therapists go through developmental stages just like everyone else. We thought it would be good to look at how therapists can get stuck in rigidity (or do mental gymnastics) at early stages of development.

How can therapists be both rigid AND do mental gymnastics?

·      Therapists employ mental gymnastics when they are trying to put together conflicting ideas and solve all of the problems in the field, individually

·      Rigidity can happen when people have “figured out” their own choices and believe that everyone should do what they do

·      Under-resourced and under-motivated folks can often get very rigid

How do William Perry’s developmental stages apply to therapist development?

·      First stage is dualism (i.e., right or wrong), everything is fixable or solvable (grad school students wanting to know what to do)

·      Second stage is about finding the right authority to listen to (i.e., sticking very tightly to a specific modality)

·      Third stage, early multiplicity, which is getting to the stage where therapists start to know what they don’t know

·      Fourth stage, late multiplicity, most problems have solutions we don’t know, people can have their own opinions, and some problems can’t be solved. This is a very uncomfortable stage.

·      There are additional stages mentioned in the episode, we focus on Stage 4

·      When people get stuck at stage 4, they are likely to regress to early stages (and become more rigid) or they are likely to rebel, or play the game

What are the concerns with therapists at earlier stages not moving through to later stages?

·      Therapist Facebook groups may support stage 4 and earlier therapists providing dualistic or simplistic questions and answers leading to shortsighted

·      Difficulty looking at any opposing voices due to rigidity or rebellion or compliance

How can therapists avoid rigidity in their thinking (or rebellion, or compliance)?

·      Providing space to understand the options

·      Employing critical thinking

·      Deeper thought about what you’re doing and why you’re doing it

·      Explore context and have conversations with folks further along in their development

Resources for Modern Therapists mentioned in this Podcast Episode:

We’ve pulled together resources mentioned in this episode and put together some handy-dandy links. Please note that some of the links below may be affiliate links, so if you purchase after clicking below, we may get a little bit of cash in our pockets. We thank you in advance!

William Perry’s Scheme of Intellectual and Mental Development

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Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide Creative Credits:

Voice Over by DW McCann https://www.facebook.com/McCannDW/

Music by Crystal Grooms Mangano https://groomsymusic.com/