Discussing past mental health issues in the interview?

[Snails]

I have interviews coming up pretty soon, and I've been wondering about this. This might be a little TMI, but since my concern is how much info to disclose, I figure I might as well tell you guys the whole story and you can help me figure out what I should leave out.

Edited January 30, 2011 by t_ruth
Edited at poster's request because of personal details, but leaving thread since I think answers are useful.

[neuropsych76]

I have interviews coming up pretty soon, and I've been wondering about this. This might be a little TMI, but since my concern is how much info to disclose, I figure I might as well tell you guys the whole story and you can help me figure out what I should leave out.

I would mention as little as possible. Clinical psych is so competitive, any potential problem could easily throw you out of the running. The adcom might worry about any relapses even if you are 100% depression free now. Also, they might worry about potential transference and countertranference issues down the road (i.e. you think you know what the patient is going through).

That's a tough situation though, good luck!!

Edited January 30, 2011 by t_ruth
see above

[biopsyc22]

No, you shouldn't mention it. The exception: if depression significantly impacted your grades and you have medical documentation to back up your claims. If your grades over all are bad, then this won't help. But if you have one very clear low point, then providing medical documentation may be appropriate.

Openly discussing any type of sexual dysfunction is really a taboo and may be taken as you not having proper personal boundaries, which will reflect poorly on your ability to be a mental health professional. Recall that therapist-client relationships are therapeutic relationships and therefore have very stringent rules to be followed. This is actually written into the APA ethics code. Your communication with clients is solely for their benefit and treatment and it is an ethical violation for you to communicate personal information for your own purposes.

Mind you, I'm not claiming this is your intention with wanting to share such information - but interviewers may perceive it as such!

Also, grad committees have hears hundreds of applicants say they want to become a professional psychologist to "help people." It's cliche, unoriginal, and beating a dead horse. If this is a Ph.D. program, then you should talk about research interests. The entire point of getting a Ph.D. is doing research, so you need to sound interested in doing research. They might not care if you intend to pursue research after completing your Ph.D. Just remember that as a Ph.D. student you're being paid to publish papers with your adviser's name on them. As an academic, their career is based on publishing papers.