individual differences

1atenTherapists are all different and come in all shapes and sizes. Therapists/counselors are basically human critters like everybody else. Like other people, they sometimes make mistakes, give off attitude, have weird interpersonal mannerisms or can at times just seem full of crap. Like other people, some are smarter than others and some are smarter at one set of things than they are about another. Some basic things sort of set them apart from other people in general. One is that they're very intelligent when it comes to book reading and taking tests -- you can't get into graduate school to be a shrink unless you are very brainy about the tasks involved in going to school. They are also usually a little or a lot obsessive-compulsive and often don't have as much interest in a social life as other folks do. These are the qualities required to get through years and year and years of studying with no summers off, while you work two or three part time jobs teaching or doing some sort of research. (Think about it. Who but somebody a little bit obsessive-compulsive would say no to countless fun times with friends so they could study for several years for a piece of paper to hang on their wall? Psychologists, for example, go to regular college for 4-5 years and then go to grad school for 5-8 more. Then after a year or two of being closely supervised they can be a licensed shrink. That's 10-15 years.)