Why Personal Experience May Not Matter

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I received a question on how can a psychologist help a client if they haven’t been through a similar experience. 

Great question.

It’s likely you’ve had a time when someone close to you was going through major challenges and you didn’t have the answer or the solution for them. And that’s okay because our personal experience might not be what they really need. It shouldn’t stop you from trying to give support and assistance. 

Just like a surgeon isn’t required to have broken a hip to know how to fix one, a psychologist works the same. A psychologist uses an evidence-based approach to help someone going through specific challenges such as depression, anxiety, trauma, or other mental discomfort. We may not be able to fully understand what someone is going through, but we can grasp a decent amount of their experience when listening.