In this episode of The Aspiring Psychologist Podcast, Dr. Marianne Trent explores the essential skills and traits that truly make a psychologist great. Through engaging examples and roleplays (with bonus costumes!), Marianne brings to life the human qualities that set excellent practitioners apart.

Timestamps

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 01:07 - Empathy & Emotional Intelligence
• 02:11 - Roleplay: What Not to Do vs What Helps
• 04:08 - Critical Thinking & Scientific Rigour
• 06:14 - Communication & Education
• 07:19 - Ethical Integrity & Professionalism
• 08:23 - Flexibility & Adaptability
• 09:18 - Roleplay: Adapting Therapy for the Client
• 10:28 - Final Thoughts

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Have you ever wondered what truly makes a great psychologist? Is it intelligent years of training or something else entirely? Today, I'm breaking down the essential skills and traits that every psychologist needs, and I'll even be roleplaying some real life examples. Yes, there's an outfit which will really bring them to life. So if you are an aspiring psychologist or just fascinated by human behaviour, stay tuned. Hi, welcome along to the Aspiring Psychologist Podcast. I am Dr. Marianne, a qualified clinical psychologist. Now the psychologist you see before you has taken many years to get to this point. I first went to do my undergraduate degree in psychology in 1999. Did all sorts of relevant experience, all sorts of different roles. Did my doctorate in clinical psychology, and I professionally qualified as a clinical psychologist in the year 2011. And along the way, I've of course picked up traits that I think work pretty well for me in my career as a psychologist.

So I thought it might be really interesting to have a look at what these are. This is especially helpful if you are considering a career in psychology or if you are already in it. So with no further ado, let's have a little look at the skills and traits that separate good psychologists from great ones. Whilst of course, the qualifications and the knowledge are essential, I think it's actually the human skills, the way we listen, communicate to and respond to others that really define our impact, and that, of course, are going to be the difference that makes the difference in this kind of battle with AI technologies. So the first traits that I think are really important are those of empathy and emotional intelligence. Okay, so let's define those terms. Empathy is the ability to understand and share the feelings of another person. Whilst emotional intelligence is the skill of managing our own emotions and reading the emotions of others in order to be able to respond appropriately.

Let's have a look at our first little role play example. And if you are listening to this as an MP three, you are going to miss out on my costume. So you may want to come and swing by to YouTube where I'm Dr. Marianne Trent. Okay, so let's have a look at our first role play example. A client has just shared that they're feeling overwhelmed with anxiety and that it feels like no one is understanding them. Here is maybe what not to do. Oh, yeah, yeah. I used to be a bit like that. Really. I think I was probably just overthinking it really. So have you tried not doing that? Just forget about it really. And got to really remember that the people around you might find it a bit boring to keep banging on about it. So maybe that's why they don't seem that interested.

Have you tried that? Okay. So a better approach which demonstrates the empathy and the emotional intelligence, which I think are so key, would be something a bit like this. That sounds really tough. It makes complete sense that you'd feel really overwhelmed when you've got so much going on. You're not alone in this and I want to help you to feel more in control. So I guess our takeaway from that is that a great psychologist doesn't immediately jump in and fix things. We are making space for emotions. We're making sure that our clients are feeling heard and validated and that they know that it's a safe space that they can bring themselves and we can collaborate to find a way forwards. We're not sharing too much about ourselves, and we're not making it all about ourselves either. We're not dismissing the client because if we do that, you might find that that is the one and only time that you will see them.

They won't come back. Okay, so there's a little bit of food for thought. Let's think about the second of our traits, which I think are critical thinking and scientific rigour. Let's define our terms. So critical thinking means being able to analyse information, evaluate research, and apply scientific evidence to practise. So what we think of as a scientist practitioner model. So an example of this might be that an influencer is sharing a kind of viral TikTok hack for how a ten second social anxiety cure. I guess a great psychologist doesn't believe the hype. They would look at the evidence, they would look for what research shows us. They would look for what clients are telling us about this. They'd question its validity and assess whether it really works and whether it keeps on working, keeps on keeping those problems at bay because if it just comes back 10 times worse and bites that person in the bum, that is not super helpful.

We're not looking to distract from our problems. We are looking to make significant changes that help people to be able to cope and to function. So I guess our takeaway from that is yet it's really nice to look at new ways of doing things and it can be helpful to explore with clients what they might have heard, but we do need to balance that curiosity with our scientific scepticism and to be able to protect our clients from misleading or harmful practises, we've got to be able to be using evidence-based principles that really get results. Let's take a look at our third traits, and those are what I would think of as communication and education. Let's define our, so of course psychologists need to be able to translate complex psychological concepts into everyday language, and it's being able to do that to a variety of audiences and picking the right audience for that particular time.

That might mean that it's for clients, for the public, or even for other professionals. So let's have another look at a role play example. For example, a client might ask, well, what exactly is CBT? Cognitive Behavioural therapy is a structured goal-oriented psychotherapy modality based on cognitive restructuring and behaviour modification. So that didn't feel very dynamic or very human did it. So what would be better? That's a great question. Thank you for bringing that to me. CBT is a type of therapy that looks at the way that our thoughts, our feelings, and our behaviours all act together, which might actually keep us stuck. It's kind of a way of helping us to really reprogram, stop doing things on autopilot to help us think about how our brain and our body responds to challenges that arise for us. So our takeaway from that is that a great psychologist meets people where they are and makes psychology accessible and practical rather than intimidating.

So this brings us on to our trait for which is ethical integrity and professionalism. Let's define our terms. So psychologists must of course, always act in the best interest of their clients. We've got to follow professional codes of ethics, maintain our boundaries, and be aware of any biases we might have. An example might be that a client might ask to connect with you on social media or request personal advice outside of sessions. A great psychologist kindly but firmly maintains those professional boundaries while still supporting the client's needs to trait five, flexibility and adaptability. Let's define our terms. Psychologists work with diverse individuals and ever evolving research. This means that we must continually adapt our approach rather than relying on rigid methods. Let's have another little look at a role play. So in this one, a client with social anxiety is struggling to engage with their traditional talking therapy.

We need to stick with this approach for at least 12 weeks. Otherwise, it's not going to make a difference. It doesn't matter if it's not working right now, we need to stick with it. Okay, so would you come back after you had been told that? I don't think I would. So a better approach would be one that uses kind of adaptive thinking and really honours where the client is right now. It might look something like this. Thank you for raising that with me. I really want to make sure that we can help you to engage in this therapy as much as possible so that you get the benefits. It might be the small tweaks where we sit in the room might really help. So rather than sitting one-on-one opposite each other, we could perhaps think about sitting maybe shoulder to shoulder as we talk or maybe even doing some adult colouring both at the same time as we talk.

Have you got any other ideas or suggestions for things that you think might be helpful? So I think in this second example, a great psychologist is really knowing that one size does not fit all and that we need to be able to adapt our approach to fit the person in front of us and to make sure that the client feels that they've got some power to be able to really work collaboratively rather than just being done to. So those are my five key traits that make a great psychologist. We've covered empathy, critical thinking, clear communication, ethical integrity, and adaptability. But what do you think? Which one of these traits do you think is most important? And are there any other skills that you would add to the list? Please do drop a comment below. And if you found this content helpful, please don't forget to like and subscribe. To learn other great ways of being a brilliant reflective psychologist. Please do check out the Clinical Psychologist Collective book, which gets wonderful reviews. Thank you so much for being part of my world, and I'll see you very soon. Take care.

If you're looking to become a psychologist, then let this be your podcast psychologist.