Psychology is a field that is developing very quickly. To become a real professional and succeed, you need to have certain qualities and predispositions. What are they? We will tell you about it in this article. Check it out!
Let’s start by reviewing the key qualities that help and hinder the work of a psychologist.
| Helpful qualities | Disruptive traits |
| Mental and emotional balance | Mental and emotional imbalance |
| Unconditional love and interest in people | Contemptuous attitude toward people or certain groups |
| Openness to others | Secretiveness and shyness |
| Empathy | Lack of empathy and indifference |
| Respect for boundaries, rights, freedoms of oneself and others | Authoritarianism and lack of respect for others |
| Objectivity and consistency in judgments and thoughts | Subjectivity and inconsistency in judgments and thoughts |
| Calmness and patience | Impulsiveness |
| Autonomy and self-sufficiency | Dependence on other people |
| Willingness to help others and ability to ask for help | A tendency to self-affirmation at the expense of other people |
| Positive attitude | Pessimism |
| Activity | Passivity |
The main tool of a psychologist is his personality. To become a good specialist, you need to invest time, effort and finances in your development.
The qualities that every psychologist needs are sensitivity and empathy. It is impossible to function in such a job without sincere sympathy, tolerance and interest in the patient’s story. The ability to feel other people’s pain is a trait that is given by nature. The ability to deal with one’s own feelings is a professional skill that a psychologist can learn.
Experts at the Institute of Applied Psychology conducted their own research and, based on interviews with students, identified several reasons why people want to be psychologists:
The most important things in the work of a psychologist are interest in the case, love for people and a sincere desire to help. With this approach, you can become a true and good specialist.
In addition to the right personality, a psychologist must also have certain professional skills that will help him work with people. Fortunately, most of them can be mastered with systematic study and practice. Here are some of the most important skills that a psychologist cannot do without.
A good psychologist should have developed communication skills. After all, his main task is to establish contact with the patient, to gain his trust. The entire psychological assistance session is based precisely on communication. A competent psychologist knows how to choose the right words, when it is better to speak and when it is better to keep silent and listen. It is also important for him to be able to communicate with different types of people, since each patient is unique and reacts to the psychologist in his own way.
A psychologist must have a well-developed emotional intelligence. In psychology, it is understood as the ability to recognize the emotions of the interlocutor, correctly understand his motives and desires, and manage his own emotional state. Emotions play an important role in psychology and communication.
Many people are skeptical of psychologists and do not believe they can help. Such people come to the session “fully armed” and build a wall around themselves. Therefore, a psychologist must be able to penetrate this wall – for this purpose a sense of keen observation and the ability to quickly assess the other person are useful.
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