SpongeBob SquarePants is autistic and that "being autistic" is his superpower according to Tom Kenny. Full disclosure: I had an employee who nicknamed me "SpongeBob" and I assumed it was because of my enthusiasm for my job, but now I wonder.
Research confirms that as many as 60% of autistic people are savants in some other domain like math, statistics, arts, music...
A few tidbits related to high burnout rates in Mental Healthcare providers:
As many as 60% of all people who become Mental Healthcare providers self-reported trauma in their youth which was much higher than self-reported by students entering business. While that number must be taken with a grain of salt (is it possible to reach adulthood without experiencing events that could be framed as "traumatic"?), it does make those practitioners more vulnerable to being "triggered" when clients report similar traumas.
Another trend that is reported in the academic literature is that the vast majority of people entering Mental Healthcare report being motivated by altruistic reasons or by empathy. The repetitive amplification of "feelings" over "objective facts" through-out their professional training leaves them unprepared for the reality of paperwork, expense reports and bean-counters. Compared to nurses' training, they have little explicit training in filling out medical records.
The aggressive filtering that favors highly empathic people also leaves the extremely vulnerable to the evil that resides in the hearts of some men: Incest, pedophilia, child abuse and neglect, torture and the casual killing of people who "get in the way". This is a big deal because a significant percentage of the patient load is generated by the justice-system. Like cops, Mental Health professionals get a jaundiced view of human nature because so many of their clients happily choose maladaptive responses to conflicts.
"Highly empathic" people might be very poorly prepared to provide care for autistic people (for whom emotions are a foreign language), sociopaths and psychopaths. A "empathy centric" therapist working with autistic, socio and psychopathic patients are box-end wrenches in a world of cap-screws that require Allen wrenches.
Another motivation reported by many people entering Mental Health professions is the belief that they will be able to guide policy and have a profound impact on society (i.e. throw a very long shadow). The reality of being low-seniority in the office is a shock to many of them and so is a work-load that leaves little time for strategic consultation with the Governor.
Prescription:
Three shifts of "job shadowing" during the students Junior year of their 4-year degree and an internship during their Master's program. Expectations minus reality equals disappointment. Internships are a great way to manage expectations.
Stop filtering out "non-empathetic people" from programs. A sociopath who is good at emulating empathy might be the perfect Mental Health worker for Child Social Services.
Explicitly train the student in a Electronic Medical Data system. They never have to learn to LIKE it, but if they are proficient it can free up hours a day. If they learn one system then they will have much better ability to learn a different system.
Teach mental-toughness skills. Too much empathy is like a weak swimmer going out into the rapids to rescue a swimmer who is foundering. The Mental Health practitioner needs to have a suite of skills on-the-shelf BEFORE they get their buttons pushed.
Advance apology
If a Mental Health provider reads this and is offended, I am sorry. Perhaps it would have seemed less judgemental if I had cloaked the observations in professional jargon. But my readers are not "professionals", they are practical people who solve problems. I write for them.
I have kids " on the spectrum" and at our house we do call it their " Super Power". They are not " Savants" as such but do have certain things they are very, very good at. ( Obviously certain weaknesses too. One of my daughters is so sweet and trusting but is Beyond gullible ! The main idea for us/them regarding Super Powers is they ARE better at some things ! Don't feel sorry for them or demean them because they are different. They celebrate their differences ( and work around the challenges.) ( I also note that the guy who does the voice for Spongebob stated recently that Spongebob is autistic. Not sure how that plays except my oldest son is a bit excited over the information.)
ReplyDelete"Hello friends! Want to share an amazing opportunity that's been a game-changer for me. It's all about maximizing your earning potential online. Don't miss out on this chance to level up your financial game. Check it out here ➜➜➜➜➜ GOOGLE WORK
DeleteA High School friend of mine went on to be a Shrink. He would be the first one to admit, he did it to fix himself first, others second.
ReplyDeleteThere's an old adage that people who go into psychology and other mental health professions do so in hopes of solving their own problems. More than a little truth there.
ReplyDeleteI remember a professor in one of my psych classes telling the class; "you guys know why you are going into psych, dont you? It's cheaper than therapy and you get credit hours."
DeleteWhy are you apologising for exercising judgment? We are designed to do that, and will do it. We must be careful to exercise RIGHTEOUS judgment, and will certainly make mistakes....less, if we seek humility and wisdom from our Judge, God Almighty the Provider. Beware the "psyche" (soul) mechanics....turn to the Maker and Keeper of souls!
ReplyDeleteWho said "Look too long into the Abyss the Abyss will look into you. And "Beware when fighting Monsters lest you become a monster ".
ReplyDeleteMichael
Joe, as I have mentioned, I had a career in child welfare, mainly foster care with a little juvenile justice and child protective service. I came into it a little different than a lot of other folks, I was 39 years old with 3 teen age kids and I had worked in a psych hospital with children and adolescents for 4 years while I worked on my Masters in Personnel Management. I had picked up a B.A. in Psychology while in the Air Force. I ended up supervising a lot of young folks with Bachelors and Masters in social work. A lot of them came to the job believing they would be movers and shakers, setting government policy and saving the world. Not only were they not ready to be little widgets in a big bureaucracy. They weren't ready to deal with the tragedy that f'd up parents can inflict on their families. A couple of random thoughts, the sociopathic and borderline staff were too busy trying to game the system to be good at their jobs. I didn't think Social workers made good high level administrators and policy makers. We needed a little less "feels" and more focus on cause and effect. An engineer with empathy, if you will. People who view their work as "art" rather than science are real resistant to defining objective measures and methods. My entire career was in Wayne County (Detroit area) so a preoccupation with racial politics was inevitable. You know when you proclaim "racism" is the reason more children of color are in foster care, you have closed the door on any other assessment of why children of color are over represented. Well, I've been retired 12 years and I'm sure they've fixed it all since then.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting. Always great to hear from somebody who has been there and done that.
DeleteAdding a comment that arrived via email:
ReplyDelete"Helping others is part of the genius of the 12 Step Program. It is part of the healing process regardless of type of trauma.
It is proof that you put your demons into the past.
THAT is why so many people who suffered trauma go into Mental Health professions."
My adult son was diagnosed on the Autism Spectrum and has trouble maintaining a full time job due to stresses. It takes patience and allowing them to maintain some control of what they do. Sadly, the lower functioning adults often pass away prematurely due to depression and their lifestyle. They know they are different from their siblings and family members who they grew up with but went on to 'Bigger and Better'. The autistic - they are stuck right where they are, unable to move forward. It is important to give them encouragement to become more involved with the world around them.
ReplyDeleteWhile not having experience in a childhood trauma. I grew up working on a 2nd cousin's farm, everything from rabbits up to cattle and growing hay and alfalfa and of course bailing it and hauling it. I went into the Army and became an MP. Five years and decided to get out. My mother was a nurse and decided that was something I was interested in. While in school I took my psych rotation and enjoyed working in that specialty and when I graduated I applied for a psych nurse job and was hired. Now, I was not an 18 year old "feelings" young person, a seasoned military cop with all the life experiences crammed into 5 years. I was good as adult psych nurse. I went ahead and attained my BS in Nursing and Behavioral Sciences, worked in both capacities and finally attaining my Masters in both. I very much saw the idealism and the burn out and disgust at the whole mental health system. They did expect to change the system, invoke sweeping policy and procedures into a system that was more moribund in the status quo then even medicine proper was. After 15 years I even become disillusioned by trying to reinvent new therapies that had been tried and rejected 15 to 20 years before, because truly nothing is really new under they sun... My last 10 years as a nurse was spent in an advanced Med/Surg unit, a step below ICU. I couldn't be happier doing pure nursing. There has been a drastic change in how we treat and administer to mental health and not for the better, that feelings became far more important than discovering the root cause and insurance and hospital (bean counters) administrators not wanting to subsidize mental health centers.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting. Well thought out and well presented opinions from people who have been there and done that are something money can't buy. Thanks for contributing.
DeleteI worked in chronic care and we had social workers. They start off with lovely motives and sweet attitudes but end up grumpier and more burned out than any other healthcare worker.
ReplyDeleteI had a friend who's mother answered cries of unfair with "Life's unfair, but it's unfair to everyone and that makes it fair." I would suspect that the different rates of trauma among therapist vs business majors is just the sensitive ones cling to their tramas while everyone else moves on.