Psychiatrist therapy

What he meant was that when working with a mental patient for a long time, the way the doctor communicates, talks, and even gestures, are similar to the patient. That is, speaking slowly, using simple, short sentences, sometimes repeating, and always asking if the patient understands. The doctor must do this to ensure that the patient understands and follows what he says, and it is also a way to assess the patient's level of alertness, clarity, and ability to communicate verbally.

After the lecture, the teacher asked, "Do you understand?" - we burst out laughing and replied: this is a vivid example of occupational disease.

Occupational diseases are not a strange concept, especially in some specific occupations. For example, people working in mines are at risk of lung diseases, environmental sanitation workers are prone to skin diseases. But few people pay attention to the occupational diseases of psychologists or psychiatrists. Circular 15/2016 of the Ministry of Health lists 34 occupational diseases covered by social insurance, divided into five groups. I do not see diseases related to psychology or spirit.

People who work in psychological counseling and psychiatric treatment are even assumed to always be clear-headed, coherent, and calm, in control of every situation. That's why when my friend - who currently works as a school counselor for an international school in Hanoi - shared on his personal page his desire to find a psychological counselor, he received almost no useful information, except for a series of "haha" icons and comments praising him for being "good at joking".

Psychologists and psychiatrists are not immune to psychological and mental problems such as boredom, anxiety, stress, depression... Like many other professions, they also encounter worries, pressures... related to their work.

I still remember the professional meetings in an online psychological counseling project for young people that I participated in many years ago. This was a weekly, even daily activity to evaluate the performance of each counselor, in order to improve the quality of service.

Many meetings end in tears for those receiving feedback. They can be hurt by overly demanding requests or comments that are outside their expertise, whether intentional or not.

Psychologists and psychiatrists need support in many issues related to professional ethics - which are not easy to clearly define in black and white, or can easily fall into "righteousness and wrongdoing" due to the lack of clarity and coherence of the parties involved - psychological and psychiatric patients. Ethics includes many aspects, but the most important is not to take advantage of the patient's weak and dependent condition for personal gain and to cause harm to the patient.

For example, a psychologist may intentionally prolong the duration of therapy to collect additional fees, or have a romantic-sexual relationship with a patient during the consultation.

On a less negative note, not being able to help clients resolve their problems can also be stressful for counselors and therapists, especially when working with people who are suicidal or have thoughts of harming others. Too much exposure to client problems, especially those that are extremely sensitive, private, or even shocking, can be haunting for a psychologist.

A recent report from the Ministry of Health said that Vietnam has about 15 million people suffering from mental disorders ranging from mild to severe, with depression and anxiety being the most common. Meanwhile, the mental health care network in Vietnam is still lacking in both quantity and quality. The country currently has 605 psychiatrists, reaching 0.62 doctors/100,000 people, while the global average is 1.7, and high-income countries are 8.6.

People with mental illnesses are often stigmatized and shunned, so they tend to hide their illness and feel ashamed when others find out about their illness. For psychiatrists and psychologists, professional pride and pressure from community stigma can make them hide their illness even more. And like any other illness, the longer it is left untreated, the harder it is to treat. Not everyone is like my friend who has the courage to admit their problems and openly seek support.

The theme for this year's World Mental Health Day on October 10 is "Prioritizing mental health in the workplace." Part of that priority should probably be given to counselors and therapists so they have the opportunity to address their own issues, because like doctors, they cannot cure themselves.

This is also an opportunity to improve the quality of the team of psychiatrists and psychological consultants, which is currently very weak and lacking.