Risk of physical harm is highest for psychologists assisting the
court in custody battles. If working as an evaluator for a custody
situation, it is advisable to be cautious. Forensic psychologists
are also at risk due to the fact that their patients have committed
crimes, sometimes very violent ones. Thus, there is always a risk
working with these patients. However, it is a myth that psychiatric
patients, as a group, are dangerous. For instance, less than 1% of
schizophrenic patients are violent, yet the media always seems to
focus on those that are. Thus, the overall risk of physical harm is
much lower than it might seem. In my opinion, the biggest danger of
being a psychologist is the emotional toll it takes. When dealing
with the all-too-real stressors of human suffering, grief, loss,
etc... it is easy to feel overwhelmed without even realizing it.
Burn out is a typical phenomenon among full-time psychologists and
it is very important to maintain yourself (take vacations, etc) to
let go of the heaviness for a while. Patients trust psychologist to
normalize their worlds for them and the weight of all their worries
becomes smothering if you let it.
