I’ve been on a writing hiatus lately because I’ve been adjusting to my first ever part-time government job: being a clinical supervisor (CS) at the University of the Philippines Manila’s (UPM) Clinic for Therapy Services! It was my favorite rotation when I was intern. So it's great that I can now give back to CTS for everything that I learned there. On top of that, I still see patients at a private hospital as well as conduct online sessions for a school-based therapy center.
We new faculty members have been instructed to exert extra effort in preventing mental health problems among the students. Since I’m a CS, one of my duties is to help occupational therapy (OT) interns to transition to the challenging role of a clinician.
One way that OT interns can thrive during internship is to have a good grasp of their strengths and weaknesses. We all must play to our strengths as much as we can. However, we can only resolve recurring problems by improving our weak areas instead of depending only on our natural abilities. This is where Jungian psychology comes in handy, even if the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) has psychometric problems.
The 16 Personalities at the Therapy Clinic
So how do you use Carl Jung’s cognitive functions to thrive as an OT intern?
That will depend on what your “hero” and “repressed” functions are. While your hero functions are your greatest strengths, they also pave the way to your greatest weaknesses.
There are interns who are good at visualizing future outcomes and at selecting the best strategies for achieving those goals for their patients (introverted intuition or “Ni”). However, they lack flexibility in addressing current problems (extraverted sensing or “Se”), especially those that they failed to anticipate. These interns are the INFJs and INTJs.
ESTP and ESFP interns are the opposite. They are good at seeing and spontaneously addressing current situations for what they are instead of denying or harboring delusions about them (Se). But many of the problems that ESXPs encounter could’ve been avoided if only they had done more analysis and planning for achieving their goals (Ni).
ENFP and ENTP interns are good at seeing real-world connections that enable them to create new possibilities (extraverted intuition or “Ne”), such as innovative therapy approaches. The problem is that not everything that is new is wise. “Novel” is not the same as “effective”. Interns with dominant Ne need to develop the discipline to build habits around the best ideas (introverted sensing or “Si”) lest they end up promoting quackery.
On the other hand, interns with dominant Si (ISFJs and ISTJs) are so methodical and detail-oriented in everything that they’re such reliable workers. The problem is that they can be so comfortable with accepted practices that they refuse to change even when circumstances already call for new and improved ways of doing things (Ne).
The strengths of ISFP and INFP interns lie in staying true to their convictions, which makes them empathizing and encouraging towards patients when the latter wish to live according to their individuality instead of following expert opinion (introverted feeling or “Fi”). IXFP interns though can be stubborn regarding certain high-falutin ideals about therapy even when the evidence clearly says that they don’t work (extraverted thinking or “Te”).
ESTJ and ENTJ interns, on the other hand, excel at gathering evidence and utilizing them to develop efficient systems for producing better patient outcomes (Te). Unfortunately, what is efficient is not necessarily moral (Fi). So EXTJs have a tendency to run roughshod over other people and their own conscience when they prize efficiency above all else. That’s a surefire way to destroy therapeutic relationships!
INTP and ISTP interns are good at reasoning from first principles and at deriving them from different situations (introverted thinking or “Ti”), which enables them to develop scientific therapy programs. These interns find out much to their consternation though that their assumptions about the world can be in conflict with their patients’ beliefs and desires. If you’re an intern with Ti as a hero function, learn to understand how your patients are framing their problems and adjust your approaches in a way that fulfills their needs (extraverted feeling or “Fe”) instead of imposing your ideology on them.
Finally, ENFJ and ESFJ interns excel at probing people’s feelings and discovering their needs, as well as in motivating people to work together so that those needs can be met (Fe). The problem is that interns with Fe as a hero function can be so preoccupied with group consensus that they can suppress more scientific albeit unpopular ways of doing things, even when abiding by logical principles (Ti) is what will actually improve patient outcomes.
Pruning Dead Branches
One of the keys to surviving OT internship is to know your strengths and weaknesses. Building on your strengths will prevent you from getting paralyzed over the most likely wrong notion that you’re not doing anything right. After all, UPM would not have allowed you to become interns if you didn’t have the basic knowledge and skills to survive. At the same time, be thankful when clinical rotations are exposing your weaknesses. It means that the training program is effectively excising harmful habits and attitudes that might get you in trouble later on as professionals. While the lessons may not come in pleasant wrappings, they will make you stronger so that you too may strengthen others.
(Photo by Gabe Pierce)
This is enlightening! Being an ENFJ at the workplace I find that my ' pragmatic solutions ' to improve processes to the workflow are not as effective as the solutions I come up with to build poor social dynamics at the office. However, the latter do lessen the friction among colleagues and it minimizes needless, tiresome dramas-which in turn helps in the quality and volume of productivity! But I guess it will help much more to be detached when assessing business matters!😊