Rather than turning to cigars like Freud, many psychologists are trying yoga as a way to unwind and unburden themselves.
Being a psychologist can't always be easy, particularly since helping other people cope with difficult periods in their lives can put one in desperate need of a stress management strategy oneself. Rather than turning to cigars like Freud, many psychologists are trying yoga as a way to unwind and unburden themselves.
Gabriela Hirsch, a researcher and doctor of psychology candidate at San Diego's Alliant International University, recently published a dissertation examining how yoga and meditation affects the practices of licensed counselors, therapists and psychologists.
Among 12 such professionals who practiced yoga at least 30 minutes each week, she found that they tended to feel a sense of accomplishment, with very little professional burnout.
Hirsch even used a standardized test to measure the latter. Called the Maslach Burnout Inventory, it revealed that psychiatrists who breathe deeply, stretch and meditation are less likely to be fed up with their jobs.
Of course, yoga also benefited the realm of interpersonal connections.
"These benefits included an improvement in their self-awareness, a constructive relationship to themselves, positive utilization of breath and an enhancement of their 'sense of connectedness' between body, mind and spirit," Hirsch concluded.
More than 170,000 licensed psychologists practice in the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
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Tags: counselors, psychologists, self-awareness, stress management, therapists
