ABSTRACT
You didn’t cause it. You can’t fix it. Take care of yourself. —Nancy Zimbro, social worker
One of the traps that many clinicians, particularly beginning ones, get into that contributes to burnout is that of trying to be all things to all people and assuming a tremendous amount of responsibility for the outcome of psychotherapy. This is also sometimes referred to as the supertherapist trap or the rescuer trap and goes something like this: “If I were a really good (“super,” “knew what I was doing,” etc.) therapist, my client would improve,” or conversely, “If my client isn’t getting better, I must be doing something wrong.” There is obviously some truth to these statements at times. “Good” therapists will likely have better outcomes than “bad” therapists, in most cases. However, it is the disproportionate amount of responsibility that you take for your clients’ welfare that contributes not only to your own burnout but to the detriment of those you treat as well.
