Can I be a therapist if I have a mental illness?

I'm going to give you the honest answer.

Thank you to my Patrons:
Tyler DeWitt
Arnt Richard Johansen
Imran Maskatia
Elizabeth smith
Sam Duritza
Anna Hindley
Collin Pavelchik
Eric Earley
Evan Alvarez
Ryan Landoll
Neuro Transmissions
BrainCraft
Aaron Freedman
Marisa Hilliard
Steve Mazza
Bryan Thien
Samuel Anderson
Jennifer Case
Shanda Wells
Saleem Hue Penny
Sri Santhanam
Denise Johnson
Emily Walter
Samar
Lars Bußmann
Julie Herrick
Rebecca Erde
Mariana de Morais
Karl Schwirz
Cesalie Stepney
Christy
BobC
Sam J
Sya Remiel
Meka Huggins
12tone
Boone Greenly
XP
Farid Chakhssi
Heidi Højgaard
Jinaveve Kruger
Max Byck
Jenn
大輔 中浦
Bratati Basu
Nick Bulman

Topics discussed:
0:00 - Introduction
0:35 - Biases in mental healthcare
1:10 - Good therapy can be learned
3:05 - Mental health isn’t binary
4:16 - Motivation for becoming a therapist
6:05 - Know yourself
7:28 - Know your limits
10:33 - Research is me-search
11:40 - Famous therapists with mental illness
12:34 - Don’t make assumptions
13:20 - Conclusion


Connect with Ali:


THE PSYCH SHOW! Creating mental health videos that educate, entertain, and empower! Produced, written, and edited by clinical psychologist Ali Mattu, Ph.D. All videos are provided for informational purposes only and do not constitute clinical advice.


If you or someone you know needs help immediately, you should take one of the following actions:
- go to your nearest hospital emergency room

[danm]

I really like the way you put the question in context with "Can I become a doctor if I've had a cold?" it really does highlight the biases in mental healthcare and its very validating

[DrLizListens]

Clinical psychologist here with ADHD, anxiety, chronic pain, BDD, and trauma. 🙃 The wounded healer archetype is real but diagnoses don't define people. Mental health & wellness is a part of being human. However, I had to hide my real experience in graduate school. Now, it's part of my therapeutic process self-disclosing when clinically appropriate. Transforming pain into meaning can be a radical act of compassion.

[Itania]

I'm a clinical psychology student on my way to be a psychotherapist for children and teens. I have struggled with mental illness since at least the age of 13 but probably before that. Having mental illnesses myself gives me both advantages and obstacles when it comes to becoming a therapist. I definitely have a deeper understanding for patients than a lot of staff I have encountered in my internships. The other day I had a seminar. We were discussing an instrument to measure social phobia. I was pointing out that I was finding some wording hard to understand. The teacher said: 'Oh, well, you probably don't have social phobia. THEY understand this.' I said: 'Actually I do have social phobia. And I don't like the way you assume none of us have mental illnesses. That's just not realistic.' I said that in front of 60 students in an online class. She simply repeated what she had said previously and told me social phobia wasn't like what everyday people have, when they're afraid of public speaking. I was so confused and angry. She just didn't believe me? Without knowing me? But I talked to some classmates afterwards and they were super supportive. So a) YES YOU CAN BE A THERAPIST WITH MENTAL ILLNESS IF YOU ARE STABLE AND HAVE LEARNED THE TOOLS YOU WILL BE AWESOME and b) I'M BRAVE
Thank you.

[Healing_Oaks]

I am a therapist and I have extreme social anxiety and bipolar disorder. It does not stop me from wanting to help people. I can put the focus on the client and my issues aside every session.

[melizh]

I'm a junior on college studying psychology and i've been dealing with anxiety and depression for my entire life, you have no idea how much this video helped me, because it has been always an insecure for me that i won't be able to perform on my job in the future. SO THANK YOU❤️

[lopkeee]

I have ADHD and GAD. I’m in therapy now for around 6 months already and I’m currently taking my Master in Psych to be a therapist someday. We can do this! 💪

[Jade-wbfd]

I’ve been wondering about this since I got diagnosed with mental illnesses when I was a teenager. I knew I wanted to work in the mental health field but I also knew I needed to work on being able to cope first. So now 7 years after barely graduating high school I’m finally studying BSc Psychology with counselling at University. I think having firsthand experience of mental illnesses would be a pro and not a con in this field because we would know what it feels like to be in their position, so we would have maybe more empathy than someone who doesn’t have a mental illness and hasn’t experienced what they’re going through. But I also think it’s important for therapists to go to therapy so they don’t carry their work around with them. My therapist has a therapist.

[joethecounselor]

Early in my career I started saying, "If you don't think someone is crazy, you just don't know them well enough yet." Mental health issues are far more common than most people think.

[neurotransmissions]

Great video, Ali! It's so important for folks to know that our mental health journeys are all different, and they don't disqualify us for any career or interest. And I really like your point about not becoming a therapist because you want to get help yourself.

[OiVinn-eqml]

This is a relief to hear. My biggest fear is empathy burnout, anxiety & emotional baggage I have effect me from becoming a therapist.

[adampotter]

Hearing that you have struggled with social anxiety and are now so confident and successful as a therapist really gives me hope. I suffer from pretty bad social anxiety and it's the number one thing that makes me think that I "can't do" clinical psychology, despite it having been my dream for over a decade. How much do you think you should balance waiting until you 'feel ready', and 'feeling ready by doing'?

[hangry_panda]

This video made me cry, I have been avoiding this video because I struggle with anxiety and panic attacks, and covid has not helped. I was losing hope on becoming a therapist with an mental heath problem, even if I went to therapy for years. But this video got me motivated. Thank you so much.

[xThinkinqofYou]

I am a prospective grad student with childhood trauma and watching this video was insightful! I'm currently in therapy to address my past trauma in order to become a better therapist in the future.

[PracticalInspiration]

Great video and great message. I love the way you summed it up..."you are not your mental illness".

[anthonymenor]

Had the privilege of connecting with Ali and discussing this topic. Thank you so much Ali for encouraging me to not give up on helping people despite my social anxiety!

[thesoulstirrer]

One of the major reason for me to shift from Commerce and Business to Psychology, is that I'm motivated to study in this field because of my own experiences with Anxiety Disorder as well as Depression for over 5 years now.

I really feel that having a personal experience helps you to actually understand what happens at 'ground zero' and how important it is to help out others.

[blackbox]

A few years ago I asked myself this very same question and this bias has set me back. My whole life I thought I was useless due to my trauma.

So, I am a psychology student now who had a shitty childhood and was suicidal most of my life. I still struggle and I 100% agree. All my therapist friends or trainee clinical psych friends struggle(d) with their mental health to an extent, sometimes they struggle getting help for themselves too, sometimes they come to me for help as a friend. A good social worker friend reminded me of the pain mixing your work life with your personal life can cause and even if you're perfectly fine, you will see awful stuff, hear and experience it. I just feel comforted knowing that I have so many years of studying and learning from experience ahead of me. I asked my counselor if she 10 years ago could be in this room with me and play the role of counselor and she said, "no, I'd run away to the bathroom and cry."

We cannot forget that therapists have their traumas, mental health struggles and their own therapists. My sociology teacher sees mental illness as a social construct and a natural part of life, not in a dismissive way, but in a way to say that we all need help at times, and even those we deem "crazy" have their place and value. You were very right in pointing out the binary view of the mentally healthy 100% therapist and the crazy scary client.

You know those movies where a child draws a scary picture and writes an edgy poem so a parent sends them to a therapist to fix them? In real life, my therapist friends are the types to draw edgy pictures with edgy poems to accompany them and I am glad. As therapist / future therapists, we don't exist to fix people, we exist to provide them help, whatever that help may be.

Keep spreading the kindness, Ali. We all appreciate you :)

[michelekurlan]

These questions need to be posed to potential presidential and vice pres candidates

[Vyanne]

I'm a psychotherapist in training and I'm going to a crisis right now. Since I experienced traumatic events throughout my childhood, I have gone through many crises ever since. I want you to know that you helped me so much with your words. There is so much stigma around mental illness and there are so many myths concerning our job that the pressure can be suffocating.

[kathe.s.]

I have literally been asking therapists this question in the last couple days... Amazing, thank you for the answer and how detailed the answer is