Self-knowledge in the training of psychologists. Experience of self-analysis from autobiography

Abstract

Introduction. If the psychologist's task implies the knowledge of the other in order to help him, how necessary is the knowledge of oneself in order to achieve it. This study aim was to assess the experience of self-analysis as an exercise in self-knowledge in the training of psychologists. Methods. Life history is used for the construction of an autobiography by the informants, under informed consent. Both the self-analysis involved in the autobiographical account and the process of construction and socialization are analyzed from the systematization of experiences. Results. The self-analytical exercise implies a confrontation with the self where the configuration of the personality is closely related to this conflict and to the need to know oneself. The perspective provided by the training process in psychology dimensions this need for self-knowledge. Conclusion. Self-knowledge is a processual framework of understanding the person in which one's own existence is questioned. Both self-knowledge and the ways of accessing it are for the psychologist in training an essential knowledge that makes possible the management of intra-subjective processes necessary for the attention in different fields of application.