When “openness” becomes suspicion of any limit, therapists lose the tools they need most: moral clarity, professional distance, and genuine client protection.
I received my MSW in clinical social work in 1991 from New York University. We studied theories of psychological development, specific skills in working with individuals, families and groups, we took one social policy class and one class on "ethnocultural issues." We did a research project. 3 days a week we went to a field placement. We took electives on psychoanalytic theories. This prepared me for a career as a psychotherapist. I don't know who is going to be a psychotherapist in the future because from everything I've been hearing, including your blog, MSW and counseling students are learning zero about how to do their future jobs. It's true that not all MSWs become psychotherapists but if you don't learn about human psychological development you cannot function competently doing any kind of social work.
I received my MSW in clinical social work in 1991 from New York University. We studied theories of psychological development, specific skills in working with individuals, families and groups, we took one social policy class and one class on "ethnocultural issues." We did a research project. 3 days a week we went to a field placement. We took electives on psychoanalytic theories. This prepared me for a career as a psychotherapist. I don't know who is going to be a psychotherapist in the future because from everything I've been hearing, including your blog, MSW and counseling students are learning zero about how to do their future jobs. It's true that not all MSWs become psychotherapists but if you don't learn about human psychological development you cannot function competently doing any kind of social work.