So, you’re interested in a career in clinical psychology. You’ve chosen well! The life of a clinical psychologist is intellectually stimulating, as well as emotionally and professionally fulfilling as you try every day to make a positive difference in people’s lives. For those interested in getting started on this career path, there are some important things you need to first understand about what makes a successful practitioner.

There are certain personality traits that all successful clinical psychologists share, and before you look for clinical psychology training in your area, you might first compare your own best traits with the following list:

1. Adept at Active Listening

You might wonder what the difference is between just “listening” and “active listening.” The former is a passive activity that’s fine for a friend listening to another friend talk about their relationship problems or work woes, but isn’t good enough for a clinical psychologist. Active listening is the practice of listening and taking in what someone is saying, and then offering feedback and comments that demonstrate that you’ve heard, understood, can empathize and also offer advice to help them.

If you’re the kind of person who can listen to others, make them feel heard and acknowledged, and then offer real constructive and practical ideas --- rather than just a “aww, that sucks” --- then you might just be the perfect candidate for clinical psychology.

2. Strong Sense of Empathy

Next, one has to possess a very powerful sense of empathy backed up by strong emotional intelligence. When you hear, read about, and discuss the problems that a patient is having, you have to be able to put yourself in their shoes and try your best to understand what they’re going through. In the past, there have been a great many more dismissive practitioners who saw empathy as a weaker trait for a clinician to have.

The trouble with that old-style approach is that it’s hard to make patients feel comfortable and ready to open up about their problems. The relationship between a psychologist and a patient is built on trust, and empathy on the part of the clinical psychologist will help to build that trust.

3. Passionate About Learning and Growth

The medical world is a constantly evolving one with new ideas, practices, tools and equipment emerging all the time. This creates an environment in which the successful practitioner knows that they are constantly bound by limitations of what they don’t know or fully understand. In order to push those boundaries out as far as they can go, successful psychologists will place themselves on a constant, ongoing journey of learning and professional development. If you’ve ever felt as though you’ve learned all you can know about something and don’t need to keep learning from others, then you’re not suited to any aspect of the clinical or medical worlds.

4. Patience

When you’re dealing with people in need, who are suffering from various mental health problems, it can take them a great deal of time to get to a place where they’re fully ready to open up and be honest about what’s going on in their heads and in their lives. It can feel frustrating at times when you feel you’re close to breaking through, only to then be thrown another curve ball, or for another layer of the onion to reveal itself. Patience must therefore abound, and it does in successful clinical psychologists.

5. Attention to Detail

Finally, one more trait of successful practitioners of this field is being able to notice small but meaningful details. So much of what’s at the root of people’s mental health problems can be traced to these sometimes seemingly minute details that actually conceal a much larger and more powerful truth. If you’ve got an eye for detail, then this career could be for you.

Read more: Successful Traits of Clinical Psychologists