Obviously, everyone experiences stress at various points over the course of their lives. Stressors range from the minor — being late for an appointment, missing an exit on the freeway — to the major — loss of a loved one, serious personal injury or illness. Stress will induce physical, cognitive and emotional changes in the individual to varying degrees, relative to the individual in question and the level of stress.
Psychologists experience the stress of everyday living like anyone else. And, like anyone else, psychologists typically experience stress related to their work, as well.
In addition to these universal stressors, there are specific occupational vulnerabilities common to psychologists. Such occupational vulnerabilities should not surprise us. Most occupations entail certain risks, hence the existence of hardhats, for example. These vulnerabilities are related both to the person and personal history of the psychologist, and to the nature of the work psychologists do.
An interactive model is helpful in understanding how the person and the work of a psychologist may contribute to professional distress and impairment in the profession. Psychologists bring with them to their work both strengths — knowledge, resources, life-experience, sensitivity and training — and weaknesses — historic emotional injuries, a tendency to over-identification, the need to be seen in a positive light, for example. In fact, vulnerabilities related to the person of the therapist tend to parallel their strengths and in many cases stem from the same source. For example, a person who has suffered loss in childhood will likely be more sensitive to such a condition in others, and therefore more able to understand and guide another in those circumstances. But a person who has suffered may also feel suffering more acutely, or be prone to rescuing rather than helping a client find her own way out of the predicament facing her. In other words, what makes us helpful may also make us vulnerable.
Work-related stress, for psychologists, includes that caused by the social context of the work — including the stigma associated with psychotherapy, decreasing financial rewards, limitations on service provision, for example — and those related to the psychologist's role — repeated exposure to emotionally difficult material, the need for careful maintenance of boundaries with the client, the need to control one's emotional response in the therapy room, an isolated work environment, and limited control over outcomes, for example. It is hard enough to hear about the often intense emotional pain of the client, but to also actively repress one's own emotional response, and to have limited ability to ease such pain, can be wearing over time. The responsibility of the psychologist to protect the welfare of the client and the public can also be wearing. Many of these working conditions have been linked to burnout, which is more common in circumstances that fail to satisfy personal needs, where there is role conflict and ambiguity (should I call the police or wait for the client to contact me?); responsibility for people versus things; limited decision making power; and upsetting, frustrating or difficult work (Ackerly, Burnell, Holder and Kurdek, 1988.) There are many other examples of the ways in which the person and role of the psychologist may cause stress that are beyond the scope of our purpose here. These may be further explored by going to "
"Occupational Vulnerabilities for Psychologists."
Psychologists have an ethical responsibility to remain resilient in the face of such influences, and to know when they need assistance, or other alternatives, in order to remain resilient. They also have a responsibility to know when they cannot do so. These responsibilities are a tall order, requiring psychologists to acknowledge their personal limitations, in some cases.
The habitual role of helper may make it difficult for psychologists to acknowledge their own need for assistance at times. They may be uncomfortable in the role of the one who is helped, or they may, with the best of intentions, try to 'tough it out' regardless of their own well-being. In these circumstances, the psychologist is likely to become distressed.