reflective essays clinical psychology

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Study Skills

Reflective practice toolkit, introduction.

• What is reflective practice?
• Everyday reflection
• Models of reflection
• Barriers to reflection
• Free writing
• Reflective writing exercise
• Bibliography

If you are not used to being reflective it can be hard to know where to start the process. Luckily there are many models which you can use to guide your reflection. Below are brief outlines of four of the most popular models arranged from easy to more advanced (tip: you can select any of the images to make them larger and easier to read).

You will notice many common themes in these models and any others that you come across. Each model takes a slightly different approach but they all cover similar stages. The main difference is the number of steps included and how in-depth their creators have chosen to be. Different people will be drawn to different models depending on their own preferences.

• Reflection 

The cycle shows that we will start with an experience, either something we have been through before or something completely new to us. This experience can be positive or negative and may be related to our work or something else. Once something has been experienced we will start to reflect on what happened. This will allow us to think through the experience, examine our feelings about what happened and decide on the next steps. This leads to the final element of the cycle - taking an action. What we do as a result of an experience will be different depending on the individual. This action will result in another experience and the cycle will continue. 

Jasper, M. (2013). Beginning Reflective Practice. Andover: Cengage Learning.

Driscoll's What Model

By asking ourselves these three simple questions we can begin to analyse and learn from our experiences. Firstly we should describe what the situation or experience was to set it in context. This gives us a clear idea of what we are dealing with. We should then reflect on the experience by asking 'so what?' - what did we learn as a result of the experience? The final stage asks us to think about the action we will take as a result of this reflection. Will we change a behavior, try something new or carry on as we are? It is important to remember that there may be no changes as the result of reflection and that we feel that we are doing everything as we should. This is equally valid as an outcome and you should not worry if you can't think of something to change. 

Borton, T. (1970) Reach, Touch and Teach. London: Hutchinson.

Driscoll, J. (ed.) (2007) Practicing Clinical Supervision: A Reflective Approach for Healthcare Professionals. Edinburgh: Elsevier.

Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle

• Concrete experience
• Reflective observation
• Abstract conceptualization
• Active experimentation 

The model argues that we start with an experience - either a repeat of something that has happened before or something completely new to us. The next stage involves us reflecting on the experience and noting anything about it which we haven't come across before. We then start to develop new ideas as a result, for example when something unexpected has happened we try to work out why this might be. The final stage involves us applying our new ideas to different situations. This demonstrates learning as a direct result of our experiences and reflections. This model is similar to one used by small children when learning basic concepts such as hot and cold. They may touch something hot, be burned and be more cautious about touching something which could potentially hurt them in the future. 

Kolb, D. (1984) Experiential Learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall.

Gibb's Reflective Cycle

• Description
• Action plan

As with other models, Gibb's begins with an outline of the experience being reflected on. It then encourages us to focus on our feelings about the experience, both during it an after. The next step involves evaluating the experience - what was good or bad about it from our point of view? We can then use this evaluation to analyse the situation and try to make sense of it. This analysis will result in a conclusion about what other actions (if any) we could have taken to reach a different outcome. The final stage involves building an action plan of steps which we can take the next time we find ourselves in a similar situation. 

Gibbs, G. (1998) Learning by Doing: A Guide to Teaching and Learning Methods. Oxford: Further Education Unit, Oxford Polytechic .

Think about ... Which model?

Think about the models outlined above. Do any of them appeal to you or have you found another model which works for you? Do you find models in general helpful or are they too restrictive?

Pros and Cons of Reflective Practice Models

A word of caution about models of reflective practice (or any other model). Although they can be a great way to start thinking about reflection, remember that all models have their downsides. A summary of the pros and cons can be found below:

• Offer a structure to be followed
• Provide a useful starting point for those unsure where to begin
• Allow you to assess all levels of a situation
• You will know when the process is complete
• Imply that steps must be followed in a defined way
• In the real world you may not start 'at the beginning'
• Models may not apply in every situation
• Reflective practice is a continuous process 

These are just some of the reflective models that are available. You may find one that works for you or you may decide that none of them really suit. These models provide a useful guide or place to start but reflection is a very personal process and everyone will work towards it in a different way. Take some time to try different approaches until you find the one that works for you. You may find that as time goes on and you develop as a reflective practitioner that you try different methods which suit your current circumstances. The important part is that it works - if it doesn't then you may need to move on and try something else.

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• Last Updated: Jun 21, 2023 3:24 PM
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• Jan 9, 2021

My Reflections on My Journey to Clinical Psychology

My first day in a clinical role will live with me forever. I had been studying psychology for 3 years at this point & had all of these ideas in my mind about what a career in clinical psychology would like on the ground. I turned up armed with all these psychological theories & models, ready to apply them to make people ‘better’ & the world a better place. I had my pen & my notebook ready. I’d seen how therapy was done on the TV. I ‘knew’ what therapy should like. So naïve.

My first role was as a community neuropsychological support worker. I was supervised by psychology & occupational therapy colleagues to deliver brief mood assessments & interventions (CBT-based) & neuropsychological rehabilitation tasks. The first thing that struck me was how low & unmotivated the patients were, especially in contrast to my mood, which was ecstatic to have acquired such a great post & motivated to get going & put all I had learned into practice! The biopsychosocial picture of neuropsychological deficits & rehabilitation had largely been neglected in our teaching at university. We had been taught ‘this is the neurological deficit & this is how you treat it’, which seemed straightforward enough to me. Low mood, anxiety (as well as the environment, competing multi-disciplinary approaches & spouses) seemed to complicate this picture completely! I learned very quickly to contain my own thoughts & feelings to be congruent & aligned with the patient, & I learned to adopt holistic formulations of presenting issues!

The second thing that struck me, & probably one of my most important realisations of my career to this day, was how understandable & reasonable each person’s distress was. Here they are, at the start of their much longed for retirement, ready to finally travel the world, & now they find themselves wheelchair bound, speech-impaired & unsafe to be left alone due to severe anterograde amnesia. There was nothing irrational or faulty about their thinking or their distress. Suddenly all the models I had been taught (primarily traditional Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, psychodynamic & biological models) did not seem to fit the clinical picture.

The same realisations hit me over & over again in my next clinical roles in inpatient & outpatient mental health services. Patient after patient, the notes all read the same- ‘patient has a history of sexual abuse, parental neglect & maltreatment’ followed by a list longer than my sons list to Santa of different diagnoses; paranoid schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizotypal personality disorder, depression, borderline personality disorder, anti-social personality disorder. Further, the over representation of those from BAME communities, lower socio-economic groups & oppressed & marginalised groups was startling.

Again, at university we were taught about the ‘signs & symptoms of mental illness’. We were taught about a list of diagnoses & disorders. This made sense sat at a desk in the library or in a lecture hall. The professor made a compelling argument. And then I entered a clinical setting. The word ‘disorder’ just did not sit well with me at all. If a person has been abused by those they should feel safest with their whole life, then would it not make sense that they would constantly feel anxious, fearful & ‘paranoid’ of others intentions? This did not sound disordered to me at all; in fact this his sounded like a very useful, adaptive & effective function of the brain.

Working across physical & mental health settings, another prominent realisation was that the environment in which we live could very much help or hinder health & wellbeing. Our capitalist, individualistic & Christian society places such an emphasis on productivity, being a ‘good & productive citizen’, & on individual achievement at the expense of co-production & cooperation that we become disconnected from what we actually need to maintain our health. The very things that we need to maintain our emotional & physical health - physical activity, secure social connections & time in nature, which all produce serotonin, dopamine & oxytocin (the brains feel good chemicals)- are they very things such a society takes us away from. And ironically, this type of society takes us towards all the things that contribute to physical & mental ill health- a sedentary lifestyle, competitiveness, lack of safety & security in accessing resources (exams, schooling, job uncertainties), lack of connection with others, lowered opportunities to develop secure attachment with parents & lack of opportunity to connect with nature. Capitalist societies encourage a focus on status & accomplishment in terms of monetary & material success, convincing us this is what we need to be well & ‘happy, when ironically this focus deprives us of the things that we actually need.

Further, the structural & material inequalities facing many patients were obvious. Over crowding, unsafe neighbourhoods, victimisation of marginalised groups, lack of access to resources such as safe & secure housing, food, schooling etc were all clearly contributing factors when undertaking wellbeing assessments. However these factors were scarcely addressed in interventions, if addressed at all.

Throughout the services in which I worked, the dominant narratives reflected that of a British society- narratives that include the biomedical model of distress, ideas about distress & suffering being abnormal, ideas about being a productive citizen, ideas about parenting & the model family etc. It became apparent to me over & over again that these dominant narratives did not fit for the vast number of patients we saw. This was particularly the case with ‘revolving door patients’, which made me question- maybe, just maybe, it’s the treatment approach that’s the problem- not the patient.

These realisations started me on a journey that would shape my understandings of distress & ultimately my clinical practice throughout my career.

My ‘relevant experience’ path to clinical psychology, like so many others, reflects a varied journey. I worked in various clinical & research roles across a range of clinical & academic settings; as a research assistant at university & for the local NHS trust, as a health care assistant in forensic & mental health inpatient services, a support worker in learning disability services & community mental health services, as an assistant psychologist in pain management & physical health settings.

These roles enabled me to develop various transferable skills that were relevant to the broader role of the clinical psychologist such as how to build effective & constructive working relationships with the multi-disciplinary team, leadership & project management skills, data entry, management & analysis skills, flexible communication skills & report writing & note-keeping skills. They also enabled me to start developing crucial clinical skills such as containment, de-escalation & crisis management skills, the ability to ‘sit-with’ discomfort, self-awareness & self-management skills, brief therapeutic intervention skills & an appreciation of the role of the all important therapeutic relationship.

Many of my learning experiences that shape my current thinking & the clinical psychologist I am today were gained from these roles. I developed an understanding of different services, service pathways & the role of other health professionals within the multi-disciplinary team & the role of the clinical psychologist within such services. Most importantly, thy influenced my understandings of distress & the way I practice clinically. I came to appreciate the evolutionary & functional role of thoughts & emotions as well as the importance of systemic & wider ecological analysis, assessment & intervention in understanding these inner experiences. As a result I endeavour to avoid locating distress in the individual, always contextualising distress within the socio-political context. When offering intervention, whether with staff or patients, I always strive to explore top-down interventions as well as bottom-up ones, ensuring I do not become a maintaining factor in harmful social practices. This may include lobbying at government level, challenging unhelpful or unfair or unjust policies this may be informing policy development or addressing service structures. It may also include challenging unhelpful dominant social narratives such as austerity or biomedical understandings of distress.

Another key moment in my formation as a psychologist was undertaking training in Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT). Not only did this model help me to make sense of my early career realisations & to frame them in a psychological model for clinical purposes, it also offered me a profound explanation in terms of how I made sense of my personal career journey when applying for clinical psychology training.

I, along with the patients, family & colleagues that I work with, live in a society that views happiness as the norm & anything that deviates outside of this as abnormal. The concept of unpleasant inner experiences such as distressing thoughts, feelings & physical sensations being inherent to our survival & a normal & understandable response to our experiences fit with my evolutionary psychology beliefs. Understanding thoughts & feelings not as something to change or challenge, but as a friendly ally scanning our environment for potential danger & threats, trying to keep us safe helped me to start changing my relationship to the more difficult thoughts I experienced. It also helped me support patients to learn to view their thoughts regarding their unchangeable situation such as a pain condition, diabetes or stroke in such a way, reducing the impact of these thoughts on their actions & their wellbeing. Learning to view inner experiences in this way, & viewing thoughts as just a thought, can be an empowering & liberating experience enabling us to choose which ones to listen to & which ones to let go.

The added dimension of values-based living within ACT also helped me at a time when I was feeling particularly hopeless & despondent with my career. I had applied several times for the clinical psychology doctorate & despite having many interviews I was just not able to acquire a place. I noted that the thoughts my mind was generating were very critical & reflected catastrophizing & all or nothing thinking styles. I constantly had thoughts such as ‘I am not good enough’, ‘I will never achieve a place’ & ‘if I don’t get a place then I was failure’.

Like so many others I had placed clinical psychology training on a pedestal & had become overwhelmed by all-or-nothing thoughts… I noted that I was so focused on the goal of attaining a place on clinical training that I had lost sight of the here and now, and all the amazing work I was already undertaking & achieving; key note speaker at a highly reputable conference, published papers, pioneering service development & offering psychological intervention… Actions I was already undertaking connected with my values such as to promote psychological thinking in others, to develop high quality psychologically-informed services, to help & support others. I started to reconnect with what was important to me, what gave me & my career purpose, what gave me satisfaction & joy in my daily life.

Connecting with these values instead of my goals & learning to live aligned to them was the first step to changing my attitude towards clinical psychology training. The second step was practicing mindfulness & thought defusion. Again, my thoughts were taking my focus to the future & to the ‘what if…’ scenarios are minds are set up to create in anticipation of potential danger. ‘What is I never gain a place on training…’ ‘What if I can’t think of answer to the interview questions…’ ‘What if my anxiety overwhelms me again…’ Each time I attached to & fused with these thoughts my anxiety increased & my connection with the present moment & all my current values-based actions weakened.

I started to move away from back & white / all or nothing thoughts. I started to see the grey areas. I stopped living in my head, fused & automatically believing the thoughts my mind generated- the stories about my experience. Instead I started to live connected to my actual experience, as lived through my direct senses with the world. I connected with my daily actions in the workplace linked to my values, the achievements I had already accomplished, the values-based actions I was already undertaking. Living in the here & now, connected to my values, rather than my goals, enabled me to feel enriched & reconnected with my purpose. Of course I continued to set goals along the way including obtaining a place on clinical psychology training, but removing my focus from these goals & gently shifting it on to my values reduced the sense of pressure & stress I felt, whilst enhanced my wellbeing on a daily basis.

So my closing words of wisdom to all aspiring psychologists are to resist fusing & buying into every social narrative you encounter & every thought you have regarding your career choice, to use every experience as a learning opportunity & to connect with your personal & career values. Live everyday in the moment, taking valued actions, & if you do set yourself goals, hold your focus loosely on these! And always contextualise experience.

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A Reflective on Clinical Psychology

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Reflective writing for coursework in Psychology

13th July 2018 Jayne Pearson Disciplinary Assessment Case Studies , Metacogition , Summative , Writing 0

Instructor: Dr Eleanor Dommett, IoPPN

Module: BSc, Psychology, Level 6 Assessment: Reflective writing using personal profile blog entries in KEATS Students produce five separate blog posts, no more than 500 words each, focussed on five of the topics taught in seminars and workshops (e.g. metaphors of learning, learning design). This contributes 25% of the module result.

Brief Description

This module does not directly teach psychology content but rather requires students to develop a psychology teaching resource for Level 4 students. To achieve this, they must engage with their chosen psychology topic but, critically, they must also engage in academic discussions around teaching and learning. The module has four types of summative assessment, however this case study will only focus on the reflective blog posts.

Why did you introduce the assessment? 

The programme context is one of diverse assessment where we move away from standard essays and examinations, unless these are essential to meet the learning outcomes. Additionally, the students on this programme have had experience of  reflective practice previously on core modules so the transfer of this into the blogging medium is not overly challenging to them. At present blogs are not part of assessment in other modules on the programme.

There were three reasons I chose to including reflective writing through blogs for assessment in this module to meet the learning outcomes:

• Reflection: I wanted to encourage the practice of continuous reflection. For this to work, the reflective writing had to be brief and informal so an essay-style submission was not appropriate. Blogs offer a way for jotting down thoughts directly online without having to worry about finessing of academic writing and structure. The students were asked to base them on  Gibb’s reflective cycle  and based on their reflection make one recommendation to an educator in each blog.
• Connecting theoretical to practical: I wanted to give the students a tool to concretise some abstract concepts. Teaching students about metaphors of knowledge creation can be quite challenging despite their wealth of learning experience that they could relate to these concepts. In order to be sure that they engage sufficiently with these sometimes-abstract concepts I wanted them to create something about each core concept. This type of writing allowed this personal creation without providing a heavy workload.
• Employability: Blogging is a useful skill and one our graduates should have  practice with Although this assessment is not conventional blogging to an external audience, many blogs are written in a reflective narrative style.  This assignment allows our students to have some experience of the reflective blog genre before they graduate and enter employment or further study. Like all skills we want students to engage with, the best way to ensure they do is to include it as part of assessment and provide support and guidance as well as feedback.

How did you design the assessment criteria and weighting?  

The five reflective posts contributed 25% of the final module grade so each one is worth 5% and they are single marked. The marking criteria  were developed to incorporate criteria on what makes for good blog writing as well as the necessary content. I looked for similar blog marking criteria online and found a few. Based on these and the programme marking criteria (which is based on the College one) I created marking criteria in the standard format for the module.

How did you give feedback  and provide formative practice ? 

Written feedback was given using the comment section of the blog. Each student received personalised feedback with the relevant section from the criteria included. A percentage grade was also given. Contributions can be time-locked (so a hard deadline can be used). KEATS has a suitable blogging tool (I used the OU Blog but there is also a Moodle blog) which allows students to have individual blogs that are visible to me but not other students.

After the first set of blogs were submitted and feedback was returned, the students with the most effective blogging style were asked if their blogs could be shared. Both students agreed with this and they were shared with the rest of the group. This facilitates familarity with the more public arena of blogging for external audiences.

How did you explain this to students? 

The overall assessment strategy was described in the Module Introduction video and Module Guide on the module KEATS page. The following, more detailed information, was included in their  Assessment Brief  issued at the start of the module:

Several different blogs were also given as links on the KEATS pages so that students had examples. A copy of the marking criteria was also provided on KEATS.

What benefits did you see? 

Diversity of coursework: I think use of reflective writing through blogs, as one of several diverse assessments, improved student experience. The students who completed the final evaluation (30% of students) valued the clarity of the marking criteria and free text comments specifically referred to the amount of reflection and diversity of coursework as good things about the module.

Increased engagement: I also think that improved learning was likely driven by the reflective posts because they meant that students turned up for all seminars and workshops and joined in. Across the entire term only two students missed one of these each so attendance was at 100% for most weeks. Comments made in the module reflection essay support this with students saying they paid more attention because they knew they had to do the reflection and this required a deeper level of engagement.

Supportive environment: Knowing that every seminar and two of the three workshops had assessment associated with them meant that I planned these even more carefully than normal because I did not want students to feel they were not suitably supported. I also made sure I referred students to a wider range of sources in general. Academic papers are important but many key individuals in education now blog regularly and so I aimed for students to be more aware of this.

The above points were based on:

• Eva-Sys feedback
• Content on module reflections which specifically referred to blogs/reflection
• My own experience teaching the module.
• Note: that there was no data from before the blogs were introduced to compare with. The average grade for the five blogs was 65% with a range from 51% to 77%.

What challenges did you encounter and how did you address them? 

The posts were quite time-consuming to mark. Each student submitted 5 in total and, although individually these could be marked quite quickly, the multiple submissions created a high workload. Additionally, at least 30% of the students submitted at least one practice ‘Homework Task’ which was good because it gave them a feedback opportunity, but it did add to the workload.

I managed to create a more efficient process eventually by constructing feedback in excel and then pasting it in as plain text. This allowed some shortcuts for standard phrases and rubric criteria. Despite being time-consuming they were enjoyable to read.

I capped numbers on this module because it was the first presentation and is optional, but the workload was just manageable with the 25 students I allowed. More than that would make the number of blog posts too high to mark in a timely fashion.

I was concerned that the technology would let me down or that I would have set it up wrong, but I did not encounter any problems.

I asked a couple of students to test the blog function in Week 1 and check they could not see other students’ posts. The fact that the feedback is provided via the blog means students can see it as you write it unless you hide them during the marking process, which is what I did.  I did discover that you cannot edit comments, only delete them and start again, so I started to prepare them somewhere else where I could read everything through carefully before putting it as plain text into the comment box.

Some  students may feel overloaded by the number of submissions. Only one student missed a post (submitting 4/5 instead) so I am not sure about this, but it is something to consider.

What advice would you give to colleagues who are thinking of trying reflective blogs? 

• Definitely go for it, but try to challenge the students in a single way at a time: so if they have experience of reflections then they can be challenged with a blog but if they have not done something before, give them a chance to develop the skill of reflective writing before transferring it to a novel medium.
• If you are using blogs, make sure you can provide simple feedback (i.e. just plain text) as that is all the comments sections of the blog can allow.
• Always double check your blog settings if you do not want students to be able to read other students blogs.
• Give students examples of blogs and formative feedback options.

View Eleanor Dommett’s brief interview when she won a King’s Teaching Excellence Award for effective feedback:

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Clinical Reflective Essay

Ever written a reflective essay before? If you have this type of essay it would be almost the same. If you haven’t, this article can help you with that. The difference for this kind of essay though is that it focuses loosely on the health and welfare of the person writing it. To understand more about what this type of article is, why don’t check out what it’s about below. 

4+ Clinical Reflective Essay Examples

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Definition of Clinical

The term clinical refers to anything that relates to medical teaching, practices or work. To inspect and treat patients with medical problems.

Defining Reflective

To brood, to meditate on something that needs to be reflected. To be able to think clearly and carefully about something important before acting upon it.

Defining Reflective Essay

This type of essay makes the writer or the author reflect, brood, meditate or to examine their experiences in their lives. The author narrates the experiences that they have undergone whether it is a good or a bad experience. The lessons they have learned through those experiences.

Definition of Clinical Reflective Essay

A clinical reflection is an instrument that is used by an individual to understand their past experiences. This is also used to reflect on the actions they took to reach the point of where they are now. This kind of essay does not only apply to the medical field, but for day to day activities in their lives.

Reflective Essay Vs Other Essays

The difference between a clinical essay and other essays is that a clinical reflective essay requires you to dive right into your soul. To make you express your feelings, emotions, thoughts and ideas on paper. It makes you vulnerable. On the other hand, essays like persuasive essays, informative essays and argumentative essays just to name a few only asks you to think and view in a strategic and straightforward way.

Tips to Write a Clinical Reflective Essay

Like any other type of essay, writing a reflective essay has some ways and here are a few tips to start your reflective essay.

• Brainstorm and Draft: Brainstorm some ideas for a title of your essay. Once you have done this, make a draft to construct your thoughts. 
• Introduction: Start by making the introduction. This helps your reader know what you are planning on writing about. Your introduction must not be too short and vague nor too long and obvious. Draw your audience in with a l ittle information found in your introduction.
• Describe and Share: In your second paragraph, describe the event you underwent and your personal feelings about it. Be vulnerable . It draws your readers in even more. It makes them understand you and let’s them know what it’s like to be in your shoes.
• Evaluate and Reflect: After sharing your experiences, evaluate and reflect on them. Make sure that your reflections also match your audience. 
• End it: End it with a concluding statement. What you have learned, what you have noticed, and what you can say for the future.

Do I have to get personal with my essay?

This may depend on how okay you are with getting personal. As this is a reflective essay, this may be a bit difficult for others to open and share. But again, it depends on you as the author if you wish to get personal when you write your reflection essay.

How long should my essay be?

Not too long nor too short. About 300-400 words is okay.

Can I use quotes in my reflective essay?

You may, just as long as you cite your source.

Why is it important to be vulnerable in my essay?

Reflective essays are different from some of the essays you may have written. Reflective essays make you reflect on your life and experiences. This makes you vulnerable.

Some medical students say that writing clinical reflective essays can be tough on their well being. This is because you have to be vulnerable. You have to lay it all out and look back at your past experiences whether they are good or bad. Reflect on them and see how far you have made it. The actions you took to get past and to reach where you are now. Yes, this type of essay can be difficult but it’s also a good way of seeing how far you have gone.

Clinical Reflective Essay Generator

Text prompt

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Reflect on a clinical reflective essay about a challenging patient interaction and what it taught you.

Write a clinical reflective essay on the importance of empathy in patient care.

Clinical Experiences: Personal Reflection Essay

Clinical experience is precious to the practice of medical professionals because it provides an opportunity to immerse myself in my future profession fully. Thus, going through this stage was especially valuable for me, as I learned a lot and increased my efficiency and effectiveness as a professional. During my clinical internship, I had to perform various tasks and assist in treating and providing care to patients. Therefore, I was involved in performing practices such as conducting diagnostic tests. This is of particular value because it enables me to understand how to analyze the patient’s medical situation and determine the correct course of treatment.

In addition, it was my responsibility to help patients with minor injuries of all kinds. Critical in this process is proper communication to give peace of mind and comfort to the individuals. Moreover, as part of my clinical practice, I interacted with and worked with people with chronic health issues and mental concerns. In the latter case, it is essential to circumvent the possibility of stigma about mental issues, as “public knowledge about physical diseases is usually seen as beneficial, knowledge about it is often disregarded” (Mannarini & Rossi, 2019, p. 1). It is also worth noting that biased opinions and personal judgments must be avoided when providing medical care.

During my clinical experience, I encountered several problems and challenges. This allowed me to improve my problem-solving skills and to work collaboratively with other professionals. For example, I often consulted with other doctors and nurses when I had problems with diagnoses in order to understand my situation better and to prescribe the most effective treatment. In addition, I worked with different age groups, which gave me an understanding of the unique characteristics and treatment of children, adolescents, and adults. I realized that each group needs to be approached differently depending on their developmental characteristics, both mental and physical.

Mannarini, S., & Rossi, A. (2019). Assessing mental illness stigma: a complex issue . Frontiers in Psychology, 9 , 2722. Web.

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1. IvyPanda . "Clinical Experiences: Personal Reflection." December 13, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/clinical-experiences-personal-reflection/.

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IvyPanda . "Clinical Experiences: Personal Reflection." December 13, 2023. https://ivypanda.com/essays/clinical-experiences-personal-reflection/.

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8 Steps Towards Reshaping Your Life

Knowing why you fell is the key to getting back up..

Posted April 12, 2024 | Reviewed by Davia Sills

• What Does "Self Help" Mean?
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• Setbacks in people's lives bring challenges but also lessons.
• The key is learning lessons, knowing one's vulnerabilities, and taking baby steps towards changing patterns.
• It's important to identify a sense of purpose, create a lifestyle that works, and celebrate achievements.

Shera’s business collapsed after her business partner suddenly pulled out, and a week later, her close friend unexpectedly died. Jake looks back on the last five years, and all he sees are disappointments—a stressful yet dull job and a dating history where things never work out.

Both Shera and Jake are struggling in their own ways for good reasons. While life can bring joy, sometimes all you feel is life hitting you with body blow after body blow. Sometimes, these events are outside your control—the loss of Shera’s friend, simple bad chemistry on a date. Sometimes not—maybe Shera’s business partner felt she was too controlling; Jake’s dating life may reflect how he presents himself.

The challenge here is not only about successfully navigating these setbacks but also about learning something from them so you can move forward more effectively. Here’s how to get started:

1. Learn the lesson.

Learning to run your life is a process of elimination; within every adverse situation in our lives are embedded lessons often about what not to do. Pay attention to those red flags, speak up when something is bothering you (or the opposite), and let small things go so you can focus on what is most important.

What is the moral of the story of Shera’s and Jake’s experiences? Rather than only feeling like victims, is there something here, a lesson that life is teaching them?

2. Know your Achilles’ heel.

Your Achilles’ heel is your emotionally vulnerable spot; everyone has one or two, and they span everything you do, affecting how you run your life. For many, it’s about fearing conflict and strong emotions from others. This gets in the way of them being assertive and saying what they want, leading to walking on eggshells and accommodating. For others, it’s about controlling their emotions—flaring up with anger —that leads to blaming and an inability to solve problems.

Looking back, where did you get stuck running in your life? Did you not solve problems? Were you not able to be assertive and get what you want? Were you too stubborn or too emotional, always burning bridges, or not being able to reach win-win compromises? Think about the one or two things in your life that, if you did them, might make the biggest difference.

3. Tackle your lessons and Achilles’ heel.

Once you know where you can get stuck, the hard work is over, and now it’s time to take action—time to tackle the problem head-on. Shera realizes she was too controlling with her partner; Jake sees that he has a pattern of being too self-focused on those crucial first dates or that he’s fearful of confrontation and hasn’t stepped up to talk to his boss about getting more challenging work.

And because the Achilles heel may be a bigger pattern, it needs to be treated as a more significant pattern: On reflection, Shera realizes she needs to work on not being so seemingly controlling, even with friends. Jake discovers he needs to be more assertive at the job and be a better listener in personal conversations.

4. Set realistic goals.

This is not about a makeover. Both Shera and Jake can start slow. Shera doesn’t need to go the extreme and become a limp noodle when talking with friends, nor does Jake need to send an angry email to his boss about his job. Start slow and realize it is less about fixing the situation and the other person and more about how you run your life over the long haul.

5. Expect setbacks.

Shera and Jake will do fine on a good day, but with enough stress, Shera may slide back into her controlling tendencies, and Jake may become more passive. That’s fine—another lesson—learning what triggers you to fall back into your old patterns.

6. Find a lifestyle that works.

All this only works if it fits into the bigger vision of your life. Shera may get by without a work partner but now works 100 hours a week. Jake may give up online dating , but it doesn’t solve his problem of feeling lonely .

Here, it’s helpful to look at the bigger picture of the life you want to create. Start with the ideal—on the ideal day, ideal week, how would you spend your time? What would you do? What would bring you joy and not just kill time, or what activities would give you a sense of passion and purpose?

7. Build around your sense of purpose.

“What is the one thing you can do that no one else can do because of who you are?” —Buckminster Fuller

Your ideal life tells you something about what you’re here for, but at a more modest level, what gives you passion and purpose, and what do you want to dedicate your life to? These are hard questions but important ones. Because life is a journey, and you can’t predict the future, you may not know what path to take right now, but you can decide on your options. Pick the one that feels right now, and your future life will always give you feedback about whether it works for you or not.

8. Celebrate achievements.

Our brains are wired for the negative, so we have to work hard to create those positive circuits. While everyone has a to-do list, try writing down your done list. Practice writing down all you appreciate and what you feel gratitude for at the end of the day—no detail is too small. This is not only an antidote to depression and anger but will help train your brain to notice the positives in your life more.

Is it time to reshape your life?

Bob Taibbi, L.C.S.W., has 49 years of clinical experience. He is the author of 13 books and over 300 articles and provides training nationally and internationally.

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Doctoral Internship in Clinical and Community Psychology Matches New Fellows

Yale doctoral internship in clinical and community psychology graduates celebrate.

The results of the national match were announced for psychology internship programs on Feb. 16. Through this process, the Yale Department of Psychiatry's Doctoral Internship in Clinical and Community Psychology selected its incoming class of 14 fellows who will spend a year training at one of nine clinical sites based at the Connecticut Mental Health Center and Yale New Haven Hospital.

Fellows were selected from a large pool of over 300 highly qualified applicants. Donna LaPaglia, PsyD, ABPP, the department's acting director of training, said, These individuals represent the future leaders of the field, I have no doubt that they will make significant contributions to our Yale community and to the field of psychology.”

The success of this year’s match speaks to the faculty and staff investment in the internship recruitment process. Rajita Sinha, PhD, deputy chair of psychiatry for psychology and chief of psychology said, "We have one of the largest Psychology Sections among academic medical centers across the country with stellar psychology faculty involved in this training program. Their efforts have yielded an exceptional internship program that draws the best graduate students from across the country. We look forward to training the next generation of health service psychology leaders.”

Jacob Tebes, PhD, chief of psychology at the Connecticut Mental Health Center, said, “We had another outstanding match this year, one of our best ever. We look forward to welcoming an exceptional group of psychology fellows.”

" We couldn’t be more pleased with the results of this year’s match," said Dwain Fehon, PsyD, chief of psychology at Yale New Haven Hospital. "The pool of applicants was quite competitive, and we were able to match with our top choices. We are truly looking forward to their arrival in July.”

Students typically complete this clinically oriented internship as the final year of a five-year program of graduate study, which leads to a PhD or PsyD. Additional information on the internship is available at www.psychologytraining.yale.edu .

Connecticut Mental Health Center

Yale new haven hospital, featured in this article.

• Donna LaPaglia, PsyD, ABPP Associate Professor of Psychiatry; Director of the Substance Abuse Treatment Unit of the Connecticut Mental Health Center; Associate Director of Addiction Services, the Connecticut Mental Health Center
• Rajita Sinha, PhD Foundations Fund Professor of Psychiatry and Professor in the Child Study Center and of Neuroscience; Deputy Chair of Psychiatry for Psychology, Psychiatry; Director, Yale Interdisciplinary Stress Center; Chief, Psychology Section in Psychiatry
• Jacob Tebes, PhD, BS Professor of Psychiatry (Psychology), in the Child Study Center and of Public Health (Social and Behavioral Sciences); Director, Division of Prevention and Community Research, Department of Psychiatry; Director, The Consultation Center; Chief Psychologist, Connecticut Mental Health Center; Program Director, NIDA T32 Postdoctoral Research Training Program in Substance Abuse Prevention; Director, Elm City COMPASS, Psychiatry
• Dwain Fehon, PsyD Professor of Psychiatry; Chief Psychologist, Psychiatric Services, Yale New Haven Hospital; Director, Behavioral Medicine Service

Rachel Zirman

Psychiatry site evaluation reflection.

During my site evaluation with Dr. Saint Martin, I presented three HPIs on the following topics- Adjustment disorder, schizoaffective disorder, and Bipolar 1 with acute mania. Upon presenting my patient with schizoaffective disorder, Dr. Saint Martin pointed out the low prevalence of this disorder in the general population and the lack of probability that the patient would actually be correctly diagnosed with it. I then researched for my journal article the issue with the disorder according to DSM-5 diagnostic criteria and the suggestions that could be made. Overall, I now believe that a better way to categorize these patients would be to attach their symptoms to a specifier of a specific psychiatric diagnosis such as depression with acute psychosis, instead of schizoaffective disorder. I found that research to be very interesting and made me understand the rejection of this diagnosis in the medical world a little bit better. I also spoke and researched different drugs that I encountered on my rotation such as benzodiazepines, SSRIs, and TCAs for example. I spoke about their unique MOA and side effects to look out for. I enjoyed researching the efficacy of each drug as well. I found the site evaluations to be educational yet challenging and always found myself learning about new things that I hadn’t thought about or heard about on my rotation. I found a lot of value in those discussions with Dr. Saint Martin and it furthered my learning.

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