Why Mental Health Workers Need Therapy Too

The demanding nature of mental healthcare careers can lead to significant levels of work-related stress, often resulting in compassion fatigue, trauma, and burnout. Mental health practitioners who provide therapy can benefit from receiving therapy themselves.

A 2022 Medscape study found that nearly 40% of psychiatrists reported clinical depression. Therapy is important enough that it is often encouraged or even, in some cases, required.

“We carry the weight that comes with this ever-important job,” said J Cangialosi, LCPC, a therapist and clinical development coordinator with Relief Mental Health in Illinois. “Within that weight lies a potential for experiencing our own anxiety, depression, grief, and sometimes even PTSD-like symptoms that come from the secondary trauma that sometimes ensues.”

Therapists and other mental healthcare workers who are vigilant about their own mental health may find themselves in a better position to serve both themselves and their community.

“We’re dealing with the ongoing and almost never-ending supply of new problems and toxicities that people are dealing with day-to-day,” said Jeff Ditzell, DO, CEO and lead psychiatrist at Dr. Ditzell Psychiatry, PLLC in New York. “And so, I think if mental health workers aren’t aware of their own self-awareness and hopefully understand things like burnout, but also fatigue and issues with work-life balance, they can find themselves in a position where their own mental health is suffering.”

Discover how therapy for therapists fosters self-care, promotes emotional well-being, and enhances professional effectiveness.

A career as a mental health professional can be profoundly rewarding, helping clients improve their emotional well-being and lead more fulfilling lives. However, mental health workers may experience fatigue and exhaustion due to constant exposure to clients’ trauma, potentially resulting in a condition commonly referred to as compassion fatigue.

“It’s a common misconception that mental health professionals are somehow emotionally immune because of their training,” said Mosun Fapohunda, MRCPsych, a British psychiatrist. “In fact, the opposite is often true. The nature of their work places them at high risk of emotional burnout, secondary trauma, and compassion fatigue. Mental health workers spend their days absorbing the pain, anxiety, and trauma of others. Over time, this cumulative emotional labour can take a serious toll if not addressed.”

Compassion fatigue is characterized by emotional and physical exhaustion and a diminished capacity for empathy caused by the demands of caring for others. It is one of the major causes of therapist burnout. Heavy caseloads, lack of support, and the inherent stress of the work contribute to compassion fatigue.

If not addressed, compassion fatigue may bring on secondary trauma or vicarious trauma, characterized by sleep disturbances and physical exhaustion and, in severe cases, a shift in worldview emphasizing cynicism, pessimism, and danger.

Familiarity with the warning signs can help you get help quicker.

“First of all, you have to realize that burnout is a real thing,” Ditzell said. “It’s not just like someone’s a little weary or tired. It is a real thing that happens in professional settings, and it has certain characteristics that are usually in three dimensions: emotional exhaustion, feelings of being overwhelmed, and depersonalization or feeling indifferent or detached…It’s not just something that you feel for a day or two because you had a rough week, and that’s it. And so it’s important to be aware of it so that you have a certain amount of awareness of one’s mental health in general, especially as a provider. So you can prevent burnout or prevent things like compassion fatigue and a cycle of diminishing returns in how you approach your work and your profession.”

At a time when the U.S. faces an unprecedented demand for mental healthcare services alongside a mental health workforce shortage,

Over half of all mental health practitioners surveyed noted that compassion fatigue contributed to their burnout, according to a 2023 report from Simple Practice. Seeking therapy is an important way for mental health professionals to combat compassion fatigue and minimize their risk of burnout.

Mental health professionals who seek therapy can experience several benefits, such as preventing compassion fatigue and enhancing personal and professional development, which can translate to providing better care to their clients.

As Sigmund Freud wrote in 1912, “Anyone who wishes to practice analysis should first submit to be analyzed himself by a competent person.” In Europe, Freud’s beliefs on this subject are law. Therapists must take part in a minimum of 250 hours of personal therapy to obtain licensure.

In the U.S., however, personal therapy is not generally required for licensure, although many graduate programs and professional organizations strongly encourage it as a key component of self-care and clinical competency. Prioritizing self-care through therapy not only helps you maintain your emotional well-being, but it can also enhance your professional development, presenting you with different clinical techniques and applications that you can bring back to your client practice.

Participating in personal therapy helps you relate to your clients’ vulnerabilities and challenges. The experience deepens your understanding, making you more empathetic and less likely to respond reactively.

Personal therapy can lead to greater self-awareness and a more objective and empathetic approach with clients. For example, therapy can help you uncover and address unrecognized prejudice, unconscious bias, and personal triggers. Unacknowledged attitudes and personal blind spots relating to issues like sexuality, gender, race, or addiction may affect how you respond to clients and the overall level of care they receive.

Working with a therapist can address countertransference, managing how your emotional reactions to clients stem from your own beliefs, assumptions, and unresolved issues. A trusted therapist helps you recognize, understand, and control these reactions, preventing them from interfering with your client’s progress or the therapeutic relationship.

Therapists face the same challenges in their personal lives as everyone else, dealing with relationship issues, family conflicts, disappointment, and grief. Therapy provides a safe space for these professionals to process their own experiences and emotions, receive support, and develop coping mechanisms.

Mental healthcare providers are people, too, after all, and are likely to see positive change if they choose to undergo therapy. With burnout and compassion fatigue being factors for many mental health professionals, the need can be even greater. The key is simply making an intentional commitment.

“A huge percentage of people are going to benefit from some kind of therapy at any point in their life,” said Ryan Sultan, MD, a psychiatrist and the research and medical director at Integrative Psych, a practice based in New York and Miami. “The question is: is this a priority for me now? How much of my time do I want to devote to this thing? And it’s not just your physical time, your 45-minute session once or twice a week or whatever it is. It’s your headspace. It’s like the mental energy it takes is a cost, right? Plus, therapy is not inexpensive. So I think it’s a matter of setting priorities.”

Given the challenges of working in the mental health professions, therapy for therapists offers important benefits to practitioners and clients. Undergoing therapy not only enhances your clinical skills and professional effectiveness, but it also promotes your self-awareness and emotional well-being.