The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast - What Makes a Great Psychologist? The Skills & Traits That Matter Most

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hi, my name is Emily. I am a master's student studying clinical psychology at Southampton. I bought the book The Clinical Psychologist Collective to help myself prepare for my first round of doctorate applications and I'm so glad I did. Seeing how others have reflected on their journeys has been so insightful and it's given me a lot to reflect about with my own journey and skills. It's also helped to put things into perspective and reminded me that if I don't get onto the doctorate this year, that's okay. I think the most unexpected pleasure of this book, however, was just how inspirational

Starting point is 00:00:41 each and every person's journey was, and using these stories as my morning motivation each day has been such a pleasure. I'm almost reluctant to come to the end. Have you ever wondered what truly makes a great psychologist? Is it intelligence, years of training, or something else entirely? Today I am breaking down the essential skills and traits that every psychologist needs.

Starting point is 00:01:08 And I'll even be role playing some real life examples. Yes, there's an outfit, which will really bring them to life. So if you're an aspiring psychologist or just fascinated by human behavior, stay tuned. Hi, welcome along to the Aspiring Psychologist podcast. I am Dr. Marianne, a qualified clinical psychologist. Now the psychologist you see before you has taken many years to get to this point. I first went to do my undergraduate degree in psychology in 1999. Did all sorts

Starting point is 00:01:43 of relevant experience, all sorts of different roles, did my doctorate in clinical psychology and I professionally qualified as a clinical psychologist in the year 2011. And along the way I've of course picked up traits that I think work pretty well for me in my career as a psychologist. So I thought it might be really interesting to have a look at what these are. This is especially helpful if you are considering a career in psychology or if you are already in it.

Starting point is 00:02:11 So with no further ado, let's have a little look at the skills and traits that separate good psychologists from great ones. Whilst of course the qualifications and the knowledge are essential, I think it's actually the human skills, the way we listen, communicate to and respond to others that really define our impact and that of course are going to be the difference that makes the difference in this kind of battle with AI technologies. So the first traits that

Starting point is 00:02:40 I think are really important are those of empathy and emotional intelligence. Okay so let's define those terms. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person, whilst emotional intelligence is the skill of managing our own emotions and reading the emotions of others in order to be able to respond appropriately. Let's have a look at our first little role play example and if you're listening to this as an MP3 you are going to miss out on my costume so you may want to come and swing by to YouTube where I'm Dr Mary Ann Trent. Okay so let's have a look at our first role play example. A client has just shared that they're feeling overwhelmed with anxiety and that it feels

Starting point is 00:03:26 like no one is understanding them. Here is maybe what not to do. Oh yeah. Hmm. Yeah. I used to, I used to be a bit like that really. Um, I think I was probably just, you know, overthinking it really. So have you tried not doing that?

Starting point is 00:03:51 Just you know, forget about it really and you've got to really remember that the people around you might find it a bit boring to keep kind of banging on about it. So maybe that's why they don't seem that interested. Have you tried that? Okay, so a better approach, which demonstrates the empathy and the emotional intelligence, which I think are so key,

Starting point is 00:04:15 would be something a bit like this. That sounds really tough. It makes complete sense that you'd feel really overwhelmed when you've got so much going on. You're not alone in this, and I want to help you to feel more in control. So I guess our takeaway from that is that a great psychologist doesn't immediately jump in and fix things. We're making space for emotions, we're making sure that our clients are feeling heard and validated and that they know that it's a safe

Starting point is 00:04:43 space that they can they can bring themselves and we can collaborate to find a way forwards. We're not sharing too much about ourselves and we're not making it all about ourselves either. We're not dismissing the client because if we do that you might find that that is the one and only time that you will see them. They won't come back. Okay so that's a little bit of food for thought. Let's think about the second of our traits, which I think are critical thinking and scientific rigor. Let's define our terms. So critical thinking means being able to analyse information,

Starting point is 00:05:20 evaluate research, and apply scientific evidence to practise. So what we think of as a scientist practitioner model. So an example of this might be that an influencer is sharing a kind of viral TikTok hack for how a 10 second social anxiety cure. I guess a great psychologist doesn't believe the hype. They would look at the evidence. They would look for what research shows us.

Starting point is 00:05:49 They would look for what clients are telling us about this. They'd question its validity and assess whether it really works and whether it keeps on working, keeps on keeping those problems at bay. Because if it just comes back 10 times worse and bites that person in the bum that is not super helpful. We're not looking to distract from our problems, we're looking to make significant changes that help people to be able to cope and to function.

Starting point is 00:06:18 So I guess our takeaway from that is yeah it's really nice to look at new ways of doing things and it can be helpful to explore with clients what they might have heard. But we do need to balance that curiosity with our scientific skepticism and to be able to protect our clients from misleading or harmful practices, we've got to be able to be using evidence-based principles

Starting point is 00:06:41 that really get results. Let's take a look at our third traits. And those are what I would think of as communication and education. Let's define our terms. So, of course, psychologists need to be able to translate complex psychological concepts into everyday language. And it's being able to do that to a variety of audiences and picking the right audience for that particular time. That might mean that it's for clients, for the public or even for

Starting point is 00:07:12 other professionals. So let's have another look at a role play example. For example, a client might ask well what exactly is CBT? Cognitive behavioral therapy is a structured goal-oriented psychotherapy modality based on cognitive restructuring and behavior modification. Okay. So that didn't feel very dynamic or very human, did it? So what would be better? That's a great question. Thank you for bringing that to me. CBT is a type of therapy that looks at the way that our thoughts, our feelings and our

Starting point is 00:07:45 behaviours all act together which might actually keep us stuck. It's kind of a way of helping us to really reprogram, stop doing things on autopilot, to help us think about how our brain and our body responds to challenges that arise for us. So our takeaway from that is that a great psychologist meets people where they are and makes psychology accessible and practical rather than intimidating. Okay, so this brings us on to our trait four,

Starting point is 00:08:17 which is ethical integrity and professionalism. Let's define our terms. So psychologists must of course always act in the best interest of their clients. We've got to follow professional codes of ethics, maintain our boundaries and be aware of any biases we might have. An example might be that a client might ask to connect with you on social media or request personal advice outside of sessions. A great psychologist kindly but firmly maintains

Starting point is 00:08:46 those professional boundaries while still supporting the client's needs too. Trait 5. Flexibility and adaptability. Let's define our terms. Psychologists work with diverse individuals and ever-evolving research. This means that we must continually adapt our approach rather than relying on rigid methods. Let's have another little look at a role play. So in this one a client with social anxiety is struggling to engage with their traditional talking therapy. We need to stick with this approach for at least 12 weeks otherwise it's not gonna make a difference. Doesn't matter if it's not working right now, we need to stick with it. Okay so would you come back after

Starting point is 00:09:30 you had been told that? I don't think I would. So a better approach would be one that uses kind of adaptive thinking and really honours where the client is right now. It might look something like this. Thank you for raising that with me. I really want to make sure that we can help you to engage in this therapy as much as possible so that you get the benefits. It might be that you know small tweaks like the where we sit in the room might really help so rather than sitting one-on-one opposite each other we could perhaps think about sitting maybe shoulder to shoulder as we talk or maybe even doing some adult coloring both at the same time as we talk. Have you got

Starting point is 00:10:13 any other ideas or suggestions for things that you think might be helpful? So I think in this second example a great psychologist is really knowing that one size does not fit all and that we need to be able to adapt our approach to fit the person in front of us and to make sure that the client feels that they've got some buy-in, they've got some power to be able to really kind of work collaboratively rather than just being done to. So those are my five key traits that make a great psychologist. We've covered empathy, critical thinking, clear communication,

Starting point is 00:10:51 ethical integrity and adaptability. But what do you think? Which one of these traits do you think is most important and are there any other skills that you would add to the list? Please do drop a comment below and if you found this content helpful, please don't forget to like and subscribe. To learn other great ways of being a brilliant reflective psychologist, please do check out the Clinical Psychologist Collective book, which gets wonderful reviews. Thank you so much for being part of my world and I'll see you very soon. Take care. Hi, I'm Max, and I work as an assistant psychologist in the learning disability service in West Yorkshire. Like most people working in psychology, I'm slowly but surely working myself up to that seemingly impossible goal of getting onto the clinical doctorate. With that end goal in mind

Starting point is 00:12:12 I thought I'd have a look at what's out there and see what books might be helpful for this. I came across Marianne's book, The Clinical Psychologist Collective, and decided that this would be a great buy for me to help me on my journey. I found Marian's book really informative, most insightful. I especially liked how the stories reassured me that you don't need to be academically perfect to become a psychologist and that as long as you have good interpersonal skills such as compassion and empathy you will get there. I would highly recommend this book to all aspiring psychologists, and also those who want to know a bit more

Starting point is 00:12:50 about the world of clinical psychology, and maybe want to work in that field one day.

The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast - What Makes a Great Psychologist? The Skills & Traits That Matter Most

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