What every new clinician needs to know about unintended harm — and why no one usually tells them until it is too late.
By Todd Schmenk, LMHC · RIACT · Clinical Training Series
You chose this field because you want to help people. That motivation is real, and it matters. It is also not enough on its own to ensure that what you do in a counseling room will actually produce the outcomes your clients need.
There is a concept that most clinical training programs introduce too late, or not at all. Once you understand it, you will see it everywhere — in your own work, in the work of colleagues, in the patterns that keep clients stuck despite months of good-faith effort on everyone's part. The concept is called an iatrogenic effect, and it may be the most important idea you encounter in your early training.◆
What Does Iatrogenic Mean?
The word comes from the Greek iatros, meaning healer, and genesis, meaning origin. An iatrogenic effect is harm that originates from the treatment itself rather than from the presenting problem.
Already have an account ? Sign in
