How Therapists Become Trapped by What They Know

One of the strangest things I’ve noticed in over 20 years working in mental health is how difficult it can be for professionals to question what they’ve spent years learning

We train to understand human suffering

We study trauma, attachment, psychological defences and human behaviour. We spend years in personal development, supervision and learning how to recognise our own assumptions

And somewhere along the way, we can become so convinced of what we know that we stop noticing how much of what we see is being shaped by it

I’ve done this myself…

I’ve spent years believing I understood something, only to discover that I’d never really questioned it

Here’s what I find particularly interesting

When someone challenges a therapist’s understanding, the therapist can often explain that challenge using the very framework being questioned

They can talk about openness, curiosity and recognising their own defences while remaining completely unaware of what they’re doing in that moment

And the more sophisticated their understanding becomes, the more convincing those explanations can sound

How would we even recognise that happening? It’s called a blind spot for a reason

If every challenge to our understanding can be accommodated within it, what would it actually take for us to discover we were wrong?

I wonder whether some of what we call professional development is simply becoming more knowledgeable about the very things that prevent us from seeing clearly

Because you can spend a lifetime learning about human beings and still struggle to meet one without your explanations getting in the way

Including yourself

People Not Pathology | Infinite Recovery Project