PSYCHOTHERAPY AS A PROFESSION

The author discusses the professional world and setting of a psychothe rapist against the background of his subjective and personal experienc e manifested by typical polarities and fields of tension that exemplif y in equal measure both the special features and the risks inherent in this ''impossible vocation''. The following problems and polarities a re dealt with in detail: 1. Who chooses or is apt to become a psychoth erapist? 2. Vocational training somewhere between method-oriented meti culousness and innovative keenness to experiment. 3. Self-image - proj ected (foreign) image. 4. Own life - foreign life. 5. Innermost realit y and individual difficulty in respect of external reality and social integration.