Watch yourself
Video can be your best teacher
Most people don’t like to watch themselves on video. I sure don’t. I remember watching myself doing an interview as a resident. I repeated everything the person I was interviewing said. My supervisor could barely make it to the end of the session. It was torture. But I definitely learned!
Having supervised residents for over 30 years, I can say with confidence that there’s no better way to learn psychotherapy than to watch yourself on video. In the old days we took what we called “process notes.” They were supposed to offer a verbatim transcript of the session. Not only were they not verbatim, but they left out the most important things. Facial expressions. Body movements. The sound of speech. Laughter. The beginning of a tear. Silence.
Over time, I realized that, with a little encouragement, most residents would begin taping themselves. Once they realized how much they were learning, the rest was easy. But many said that the reason that they weren’t taping was because their supervisors were so used to process notes! So I wrote this little “Tips for Supervisors” piece (just published in Academic Psychiatry), to help the hold-outs experiment with video supervision.
For those of you who are not mental health professionals, think about ways that video could enhance your learning. Did your sister just ask you to make a toast at her wedding? Are you uncertain about the position of your down-dog? Do you want to improve your tennis serve? Today, it’s easy. Set up your smart phone and make a video. Then comes the hard part: sit and watch it. Watch it several times. Notice everything. Then do it again a few days later. And again. The more you do it, the more you’ll learn.
I still learn so much from watching video. Watching talks I’ve given helped me to slow down my public speaking voice and to come out from behind the podium. Watch yourself and see what you’ll learn!
See you next week,
Deborah