Occupational deformation: 9 methods of prevention

Have you noticed that some professions are visible to the naked eye? It is worth looking at a person with pronounced cynicism and sarcasm and one can assume that this is a doctor. A lawyer will always find something to say from experience or recall some article. The teacher tries to explain and teach everything in as much detail as possible. The announcer has a well-delivered, fast and clear speech. Psychologists ask a lot of questions and want to “dig” you as deeply as possible.

We could go on for a long time, but in each case we are talking about the same thing – professional personality deformations. Simply put, it’s about transferring professional qualities, skills and habits into life.

Types of professional deformation

There are several main types of personality changes:

General professional. This includes excessive manifestations of the characteristics of the specialty in everyday life. For example, police officers describe this type as the perception of everyone they meet as a potential attacker.
Individual. They are determined by personality characteristics, and not by professional activity. They represent the development of a person’s inclinations in fertile soil in the form of the characteristics of the work he performs. This creates excessive responsibility for accountants.
Typological. They are formed by the fusion of professional and personal qualities. For example, they manifest themselves in the development of organizational abilities while working as a primary school teacher. In a positive way, they manifest themselves in the ability to quickly plan any event. With a negative course of deformation, an excessive love of commanding other people as one’s own students is possible.

In each case, occupational deformation depends on the type of work and the time spent on it.

Summary

Devoting a significant part of our time to our profession, we cannot but undergo psychological changes associated with the specifics of this activity; this is inevitable. But remember that you control your own mood, decide for yourself what to fill your life with, and choose your own ways to achieve a balance between work and personal life. Therefore, be vigilant and responsible, know how to cope with yourself and then everything will be fine.

We wish you success!

We also recommend reading:

Storytelling
Valueology: concept and main principles
Forms of social behavior of people
What is competence and what does it consist of?
Properties of mental states
The influence of social roles on personality development
Social stereotypes
Methods of career guidance
n-back problem
Formation of self-esteem in children
Emotional and psychological trauma

Key words:1Psychoregulation

Prevention of occupational deformities

The best prevention of professional deformations is the ability to separate work and personal life. You shouldn’t drag reports and telephone conversations into your kitchen. If your profession requires training at home, set up a separate workplace. When you get up from your desk, stop mentally continuing to solve business problems.

Leisure planning also plays a huge role. Switching attention, changing the environment and type of activity has a beneficial effect

It is important to come up with a hobby that is far from your main occupation. In addition, skill decompensation will have a beneficial effect

As a leader, sometimes allow family members to make choices for you at home and compromise more often.

Signs of development of occupational deformation

Obvious manifestations of signs of professional deformation are identical to the emotional burnout of an individual:

Apathy and depression . The employee no longer sees the point in personal growth, self-development, or even taking care of his health and appearance
Gradual decline in productivity and enthusiasm . Errors in work begin to appear more and more often, efficiency and the very desire to work decline.
Manifestations of aggression. There is a clear distinction between personality and behavior patterns at work and outside of it. If during rest a person can behave completely normally, have a good, sometimes even more than usual mood, then at work he becomes extremely irritable. Emotional breakdowns happen at the slightest provocation, and not only the individual suffers from them, but also those around him.

Connection with the profession

The most susceptible to occupational deformation are those who work with people, for example: law enforcement officers, military personnel, managers, deputies, officials, social workers, teachers, doctors, psychiatrists, salespeople, and psychologists themselves. For them, professional deformation can be expressed in a formal, functional attitude towards people. Both in the sphere of socionomic professions and in technical professions, professional deformations are expressed differently depending on the specific profession: for teachers - in authoritarianism and categorical judgments; among psychologists and psychotherapists - in an effort to manipulate another person, to impose a certain picture of the world, without taking into account the motives and goals of the person himself; among programmers, there is a tendency to look for errors in various life situations, a tendency towards algorithmization.

For managers, professional deformation can manifest itself as an increase in aggressiveness, inadequacy in the perception of people and situations, leading to a decrease (or loss) in the ability to communicate effectively, self-improvement, development, up to a loss of taste for life.

The same thing happens in creative professions, as illustrators Sergei Tyunin and Andrei Bilzho noted that many writers categorically do not accept the genre of caricature, since they are “men of their words”:

Vocational rehabilitation

There are several possible rehabilitation options, including the following:

completing training for qualifications and personal growth;
increasing the level of autocompetence and socio-psychological competence;
completing advanced training courses and transferring to a new position;
diagnostics of professional personality changes and development of individual schemes for their correction;
studying methods and techniques for self-correction of professional changes and self-regulation of emotional and volitional qualities;
preventive measures for professional maladaptation of an inexperienced specialist;
development of alternative methods for further professional and personal growth.

What is professional deformation

The concept of professional personality deformation was first used by sociologist Pitirim Sorokin back in the last century.

He noticed this phenomenon while studying the work of teachers. This is where the study of changes provoked by long periods of work in one place began.

Professional deformation - what is it? This is the transfer of professional skills into everyday life. During its development, there is a significant change in personal qualities that develop as a result of prolonged performance of stereotypical work duties. Peculiarities of perception and behavior and even human values are touched upon.

Main reasons for development

Occupational deformations have a number of causes. The key among them is prolonged stagnation (stagnation of growth). It occurs when a person reaches certain heights in work activity and stops moving forward to something new. Can develop in any job involving repetitive activities. Even the most prestigious positions do not save us from the onset of stagnation. Therefore, professional deformation of a leader’s personality is not uncommon.

Other factors of professional deformation:

continuous monotonous work;
regular stressful or conflict situations;
increased levels of nervousness or fatigue;
lack of prospects for further professional growth;
regular excessive workload in the workplace.

It takes some time for psychological professional deformation to develop. But there are two reasons for its appearance at a young age:

A novice worker has high expectations regarding the profession. Disappointed, he gives up and switches to uninitiated fulfillment of obligations. Not accompanied by a creative approach and variety of actions, it quickly leaves its mark on the personality.
A young specialist does not choose an activity because of its characteristic features. He is guided by other motives. This may be a desire to achieve power or to prove one’s social significance to someone. Therefore, a person treats the actions performed without interest, does not develop and quickly falls under the processes of deformation.

Minuses

Arrogance - develops in case of promotion, especially if the new position involves power.
Jam. A person stops developing and strives to learn more about his profession, which is why he becomes ineffective and unable to create and implement new creative ideas.
Destruction of relationships. Friends, family partners and just acquaintances who know one person cannot stand his dramatic changes. Just imagine, the head of a large department, coming home and, without leaving his role, tries to manage his wife and children, giving them instructions and reprimanding them for their mistakes, how long will they be able to see him as a loving father and caring husband?
Psychological barriers that protect the psyche do not hold up, which is why so-called burnout occurs. A person becomes disillusioned with his work, experiences fatigue, a persistent aversion to it, and loses the meaning of life. And all because I didn’t have any space or opportunity to take a break from my role, to notice myself in other images and to realize that I really am a multifaceted, versatile personality. It just becomes boring, especially if you had to do the same thing day after day.
Efficiency and productivity are reduced. Trembling and interest in one’s activities disappears without a trace. And then doctors begin to treat patients as faceless and soulless, and managers begin to treat employees as functions that need to be either adjusted or disqualified.

Notes

Granovskaya R. M.
Elements of practical psychology. - 6th. - St. Petersburg: Rech, 2010. - 560 p.
↑
Psychology of professionalism // Markova A.K. “Knowledge”, 1996
Channel “Culture”, program “Observer” from 09.20.2012 (see from 38.40), artist Sergei Tyunin.
Definition of "administrative delight" in Wiktionary
Rogov E.I.
Personality in teaching activities. - Monograph. - Rostov-on-Don: Rostov Pedagogical University, 1994. - 340 p.
Rogov E.I.
Psychology of the formation of professionalism. - monograph. — Rostov-on-Don: Southern Federal University, 2021. — 340 p. — ISBN 978-5-9275-1931-6.
Druzhilov S.A.
Professional deformations and destruction as a consequence of distortion of psychological models of profession and activity // Journal of Applied Psychology. - 2004. - No. 3. - P. 56-62.
Druzhilov S.A.
Professionally destructive activity as a manifestation of professional marginalization and deprofessionalization // Bulletin of Moscow University. Episode 14: Psychology. - 2021. - No. 2. - P. 45-63.

Appearance of the term

In 1915, the term “professional deformation” was first mentioned in the American Journal of Psychology [O. Polyakova, 2014], which served as the beginning of the study of this phenomenon. In Russian scientific literature, professional deformation began to be studied a little later, and the Russian-American sociologist and cultural scientist Pitirim Sorokin became a pioneer in introducing this concept into psychological scientific circulation. In 1921, considering the essence of this phenomenon in professional activity, the sociologist drew attention to its negative impact on the individual, on her experiences and behavior [M. Vorobyova, 2015].

A large number of psychologists paid attention to this issue, in particular, Solomon Grigorievich Gellerstein, Ewald Friedrichovich Zeer argued that people who deal with a certain amount of power are more susceptible to professional deformation. An important fact here is that a person, engaged in a certain activity, sets as his goal adaptation to the conditions and requirements dictated by this activity, in accordance with which his psychological characteristics change. Russian psychologists Rada Mikhailovna Granovskaya and Anatoly Leonidovich Sventsitsky paid their attention to this aspect [S. Ivanov, 2016].

What exactly is meant by professional deformation?

Causes

One of the most common causes of professional deformation, according to experts, is the specifics of the immediate environment with which a professional specialist is forced to communicate, as well as the specifics of his activities. Another equally important reason for professional deformation is the division of labor and the increasingly narrow specialization of professionals. Daily work, over many years, to solve standard problems not only improves professional knowledge, but also forms professional habits, stereotypes, determines the style of thinking and communication styles.. In the psychological literature, three groups of factors leading to the occurrence of professional deformation are distinguished: factors, conditioned by the specifics of the activity, factors of a personal nature, factors of a socio-psychological nature

In the psychological literature, three groups of factors leading to the occurrence of professional deformation are distinguished: factors determined by the specifics of the activity, factors of a personal nature, factors of a socio-psychological nature.

What are the disadvantages of deformation?

People who, due to their profession, develop only certain skills lose the ability to be flexible in relationships. They know how to build them only according to one principle, but simply don’t know how to do it differently (or forget). By the way, this feature explains a large number of office romances. Two doctors will always understand each other better than a doctor and an artist.

In work, people with professional deformation also sooner or later lose their positions. They can be true masters of their craft, but, as a rule, they have a narrow specialization. For example, a deformed IT specialist can hone his skills in working with a couple of programs for many years. After some time, when these programs become outdated, the programmer himself will be out of work.

Stereotypes

The stereotype “a boss must be tough-skinned, firm, persistent” changes the structure of managerial interaction, transferring it to a mode of threat of punishment for misconduct, orderly communication.
The stereotype “the boss is always right” negatively affects the employee’s independence of decisions and judgments, creates lack of initiative, and expectation of orders and instructions from management.
The stereotype of dogmatic adherence to orders gives rise to an attitude of mindlessly following any order from the boss, often leading to intrapersonal conflicts if one has one’s own opinion about the need to act differently.
The stereotype of the “little man” leads to a decrease in professional self-esteem, the manifestation of conformity and the absence of one’s own judgments on this or that official issue.
The stereotype of “optimal” role behavior often acts as a mechanism of adaptive behavior to certain work situations and specific professional actions. Thus, threatening and aggressive behavior is considered as optimal for obtaining evidence from a suspect, etc.
The stereotype of “finding the culprit” justifies all actions to find the culprit, punish him, etc. At the same time, work to identify the true causes of ineffective activity fades into the background, and its shortcomings are not revealed.

In general, non-professional usage, the term professional deformation

is used in a weaker sense, indicating (often ironically) only a certain influence of professional habits on people’s behavior in private life, the transfer of specifically professional stereotypes and attitudes to behavior outside of work.

Professional deformation of the investigator and the main ways to prevent it.

Home Favorites Random article Educational New additions Feedback FAQ

⇐ PreviousPage 2 of 3Next ⇒

Investigative activities contribute to the development and consolidation of certain professionally important qualities of a specialist. At the same time, it has psychological characteristics that can lead to undesirable changes in the personality of a specialist, negatively affecting his work. In these cases they talk about professional deformation.

Various prerequisites contribute to the appearance of deformation: objective (certain features of a particular profession) and subjective (personal psychological predisposition of the employee to the emergence and development of negative professional qualities).

Such features of investigative activities as irregular working hours, the presence of stress factors (lack of time, physical and information overload, etc., lack of rhythm in work) can lead to haste and haste, sloppiness and laxity, indiscipline, red tape in the investigation of criminal cases .

The features noted above (stress factors, etc.) can also lead to the so-called “legal nihilism”, which occurs when some employees begin to ignore criminal procedural norms and the law: they detain persons suspected of committing a crime without sufficient grounds; obtain material evidence without proper procedural registration (fixing); illegally limit the rights of the suspect or accused (for example, they do not present him with an expert opinion, believing that he will become familiar with it at the end of the investigation and upon presentation of all the materials of the criminal case), etc.

Constant communication with offenders can lead to the emergence and development of suspicion and sweeping distrust of these individuals by the investigator. Being the antipode of such an important professional trait as vigilance, suspicion (as well as mistrust) is a very dangerous type of professional deformation, since it inevitably leads to bias, tendentiousness, partiality and, ultimately, to an accusatory bias in the investigation process, which in turn can lead to serious mistakes, such as bringing innocent people to justice.

The investigator is vested with authority. However, an incorrect understanding of one’s powers and the inability to use them in the case of lack of control and irresponsibility can give rise to abuse of power, which is also fraught with serious consequences - violation of the law.

Investigative activity is characterized by legal regulation, careful observance of which contributes to the development in the employee of such qualities as a thoughtful attitude to every action, to decision-making, accuracy, discipline, etc. At the same time, the “normative” nature of this activity can also lead to the habit of reasoning and act according to the template, while referring to the article of the Code of Criminal Procedure, instructions, orders from superiors. Following the letter of the law can contribute to the emergence of such a dangerous trait as formalism, as a result of which the investigator becomes indifferent to people and their destinies.

Among the subjective prerequisites that give rise to the professional deformation of the investigator’s personality, an important place is occupied by the low level of his moral development. It has already been noted that the communicative activity of the investigator takes place in conflict situations; he has to communicate with extremely difficult “interlocutors” - the suspect, the accused, unscrupulous witnesses. It is clear that communication with such persons in itself can lead to the appearance of rudeness, irritability, emotional breakdowns, etc. The high development of moral and political qualities helps to successfully combat these manifestations of deformation.

The presence of a low moral and cultural level creates a psychological predisposition to the generation and consolidation of the above-mentioned deformation qualities.

In the course of performing professional activities, the investigator accumulates experience, grows in skill, develops determination and confidence in his actions. However, in the absence of self-criticism and decreased self-control, this can give rise to excessive self-confidence, an overestimation of his professional experience, and a belief in his own infallibility. As a result, he develops conceit, arrogance, and a reluctance to learn from others, which sharply slows down the growth of professional skills.

Such a trait as careerism brings enormous harm to the detection of crimes. Wanting to curry favor at any cost, such an employee can, without sufficient grounds, detain someone on the slightest suspicion, by any means obtain a confession from the detainee, carry out hasty, hasty operational investigative actions, etc. All this can lead to gross violations of the law. Careerism predisposes to the emergence and development of formalism, callousness and indifference to people, subjectivism, sycophancy and other deformative qualities.

The main thing that prevents and creates conditions for successfully overcoming any manifestations of professional deformation of the investigator’s personality is his constant work to improve his, first of all, moral and political qualities, constant self-education.

The procedural regulation of the investigator’s activities also plays a major role in this. Careful compliance with the requirements of the law, articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure and other regulations develops diligence, accuracy and clarity in the preparation of procedural documents, discipline, organization, and prevents the development of negligence, looseness, sloppiness, “legal nihilism” and other deformative qualities.

Mental work hygiene plays a significant role in preventing professional deformation - careful planning of one’s activities, proper alternation of work and rest.

The decisive factor in preventing and eliminating professional deformation is the team. Only in a close-knit team is there a real opportunity to constantly improve one’s personality, enrich oneself with the experience of others, etc. Criticism and self-criticism play a huge role.

A special role in preventing professional deformation of an employee’s personality is played by the personal example of colleagues and managers. Every day seeing examples of impeccable, highly moral behavior of his boss and his comrades, the investigator involuntarily becomes imbued with deep respect for them and the desire to follow the examples of their behavior and activities.

34. Psychological aspects of preparation for interrogation

One of the main tasks of an investigator when preparing for an interrogation is the creation of an information base, which is achieved by collecting initial data. The initial data for interrogation are heterogeneous in their sources and content. The most important among them are those that relate to the subject of the interrogation. They may be in the case materials, which the investigator carefully studies, especially from the angle of the upcoming interrogation. Particular emphasis should be placed on data related to the question of the guilt of a given person in the crime committed (in preparation for the interrogation of the accused) or on the identity of the accused (in preparation for the interrogation of victims and witnesses).

Information related to the subject of interrogation can also be obtained from operational sources.

The initial data for interrogation include information about the personality of the person being interrogated, such as the social status of this person, the social roles he performs, moral character and behavior in everyday life, attitude towards the team and the team towards him, attitude towards other persons involved in the case, psychophysiological qualities, behavior in situations of stress and frustration, etc. They can be obtained from existing case materials and operational sources or using special psychological methods: as a result of observation, conversation, by analyzing the products of activity, generalizing independent characteristics.

Of particular importance is the study of the personality of the accused, which is necessary not only for conducting a successful interrogation, but also for the investigation as a whole, as well as for the correct resolution of the case in court and subsequent work on the correction and re-education of the convicted person.

Studying the personality of the person being interrogated is necessary to determine the most effective methods of psychological interaction with this person, as well as to build probabilistic models of his behavior during interrogation. “When planning to overcome possible opposition,” notes M. I. Enikeev, “it is necessary to take into account such personal characteristics of the interrogated person as reflexivity, flexibility or rigidity (stagnation) of his thinking, as well as characterological qualities: aggressiveness, conflict behavior, resistance or instability to stress, to unexpectedly difficult circumstances. Since the initial data on the personality of the person being interrogated is often very scarce, it is possible to construct several most probabilistic models of the behavior of the person to be interrogated and options for the tactics of his interrogation.”

An important element of preparing for an interrogation is drawing up a plan. The plan can be detailed or short, written or mental. It should contain a list of questions, which in investigative tactics are divided into complementary, clarifying, reminding, control, and incriminating.

Additional questions are asked in order to fill in the evidence received and eliminate any gaps in it. They can be aimed at detailing the testimony.

Clarifying questions can also be asked in order to detail the testimony, but more often - to clarify and specify the information received.

Reminding questions are aimed at reviving the memory of the interrogated person, at creating certain associations with the help of which he will remember the facts of interest to the investigator. Several recall questions are usually asked to help the person being interrogated remember the circumstances of a forgotten event. At the same time, “reminiscent questions,” emphasizes R. S. Belkin, “should not be confused with leading questions, that is, such questions, the wording of which contains the answer desired for the questioner: “Was Ivanov wearing a gray cloak that evening?” with metal buttons? Due to the fact that leading questions have a suggestive effect on the interrogated person, orient him in what answer the investigator would like to hear from him and therefore can interfere with establishing the truth during the investigation, they are prohibited by law.”

Security questions are asked to verify the information received.

Incriminating questions are aimed at exposing the interrogated person in a lie that is obvious to the investigator. Usually they are accompanied by the presentation of reliable evidence to the interrogated person, refuting his testimony.

The success of the interrogation is largely determined by the correct choice of timing and the correct organization of calling the person being interrogated. As practice shows, premature interrogation (especially of the suspect and accused), as well as late interrogation, can have a negative impact on the further investigation. When choosing the time of interrogation, two factors must be taken into account: subjective and objective.

Subjective factors include the state of readiness for interrogation of the investigator and the interrogated. Before a complex interrogation, the investigator must be in good “shape,” that is, in such an emotional-volitional state that would provide him with free handling of the available case materials, successful control over the psyche of the interrogated person and management of this psyche within the framework of the law in order to obtain from this person the most truthful and complete testimony. The investigator must also successfully regulate his own mental states during interrogation.

Objective factors that determine the investigator’s readiness for interrogation include: a thorough study of the case materials, development of versions that should be checked during interrogation, drawing up a detailed interrogation plan, studying the personality of the person being interrogated.

A prerequisite when preparing for a complex interrogation (primarily of a suspect and accused) is the development of psychological techniques for establishing contact with the person being interrogated, since in many cases it is the lack of psychological contact that becomes an obstacle to solving a crime in general.

The solution to the question of where and in what place to interrogate (at the place of the investigation or at the location of the interrogated person) depends on the specific situation.

⇐ Previous2Next ⇒

Professional personality deformation

Professional personality deformation is a change in the perception of personality stereotypes, methods of communication, behavior, as well as character, which occurs under the influence of prolonged professional activity. Which professions are more susceptible to professional personality deformation? First of all, these are representatives of those professions whose work is related to people - managers, personnel workers, psychologists, teachers and officials. Workers in the medical and military spheres, as well as employees of special services, are slightly less susceptible to professional personality deformation.

Professional deformation of employees can be stable or episodic, positive or negative, and also have a superficial or global nature. As a rule, it manifests itself not only in demeanor and jargon, but also in a person’s appearance.

pros

Due to the fact that every day one has to “enter” the role assumed by the profession, deformation allows a person to quickly adapt to it.
Protects the psyche. Just imagine what would happen to, say, pediatric intensive care doctors if they had not learned to “freeze” their feelings towards young patients, acquiring certain tough character traits and losing the skill of empathy and compassion? While crying over one child, they would not be able to save the lives of others, because they would experience extreme grief and pain. And every day, observing dozens of sick, sometimes terminally, children, they could lose their minds, having lasted only a short time at work.
It can be useful in everyday life, since some skills can be applied not only in the workspace. Let’s say that individuals with medical education can provide first aid to loved ones in case of unforeseen circumstances, masters of sports in martial arts will protect the family, and PR managers will organize an unforgettable holiday for the child.

How to determine the approach of professional deformation

The approach of deforming changes in the psyche associated with work activity can be determined by the following factors:

You are afraid of losing communication with colleagues, your profession, your job.
All your conversations ultimately come down to discussing work issues.
Your family and friends find you difficult to deal with.
You associate your success only with your professional activities.
Your social circle is limited only to your colleagues.
You do not allow yourself and your colleagues to show emotions and express their experiences in the workplace.
You are often told that a conversation with you is reminiscent of a conversation with a doctor (lawyer, investigator, teacher, etc.), since in ordinary life you begin to communicate in professional language.
Your interests are limited only to your professional activities.
You treat your acquaintances as objects of your profession.

How does professional deformation manifest itself?

Each profession leaves a certain imprint on the character and personal qualities of the working person.

Teacher. The deformation of the teacher’s personality consists of an artificial search for errors in students’ work and constant nagging. Even while at home, the teacher continues to evaluate the behavior of relatives, family members, and acquaintances, giving each of them grades (mentally or out loud). It even reaches the point of absurdity when a representative of this profession begins to evaluate the actions of complete strangers whom he meets on the street: assesses the admissibility of their behavior, expresses indignation at the lack of education.

Doctor. The deformation of a medical worker is manifested in the complete automaticity of his skills and qualities. The doctor automatically assesses a person’s health even with a simple handshake: he instantly notes the temperature, pulse, and humidity of the palm

Pays attention to the person’s appearance and tries to find a connection with any disease, while advising the interlocutor to visit the clinic and undergo an examination (for some reason you look bad, you have bags under your eyes, etc.)

Travel agency manager.
For such people, the deformation is manifested in the fact that with any story about a completed trip or a planned trip, a representative of this profession becomes animated and shows purely professional interest, asking relevant questions and giving recommendations on the topic of tourism. In a similar way, deformation manifests itself in representatives of other professions. The programmer will try to derive certain algorithms for ongoing processes (even the simplest ones). The psychologist will strive to bring the interlocutor to a frank conversation in order to delve into his psychological problems and try to solve them (even if the interlocutor does not need it).

What it is

Unfortunately, you can often hear someone’s medical history beginning with the words “My father was a military man, so there was strict discipline at home...”. But it shouldn’t be this way; this is an example of professional deformation.

The phenomenon of professional deformations was first described in the 60s of the 20th century. It all started with studying the teaching profession. Today it is known that professional deformations more often arise in professions of the “person-to-person” type (socionomic professions). This is due to close interaction and mutual influence of the specialist and clients on each other’s personalities.

In such professions, the specialist’s attitude towards the client should be:

as an equal participant in the interaction;
moral;
respectful and humane;
but without unnecessary pity and nervousness, in order to preserve your own mental health.

Even more of this category is subject to deformation in professions that are endowed with increased power and weak control, for example, doctors, prison guards.

Professional deformations arise from professional adaptation. So, for example, a doctor needs to learn a certain emotional coldness towards people. But sometimes this coldness consumes a person, then he becomes like a machine (robot) everywhere, in all areas of life, and not just professional. Well, in the end the doctor treats the patient as an object, not a subject.

Let's consider the features of deformations using the example of the psychologist profession:

identifying patients with their diagnoses and talking only in this context (“the strangest social phobia in my practice”), using slang words;
communicating with clients and their relatives with undisguised irritation, demonstrating busyness and importance;
insulting clients based on their diagnoses, syndromes and symptoms (“this psychopath”).

Obviously, these are negative deformations that have nothing to do with either the ethical professional code or the elementary norms of universal morality.

Is it possible to notice professional deformations? Yes, if a person is aware of the experiences and does not drown them out. This is felt as a mismatch in the self-concept and in relationships with people. If a person speaks on his own behalf (“I’m tired today”), rather than blaming others (“I’m sick and tired of these clients”), worries and reflects on this, then there is a chance to identify deformations and get rid of them.

Occupational deformations do not occur in a short period of time; they take years. As a result of professional activity, the following changes:

specialist activity;
level of energy reserves;
activity of psychomotor reactions;
the structure of relationships with other people;
position regarding professional issues.

In addition, the stability of the psyche and body in relation to external stimuli changes. There is a fading or weakening of positive mental properties. Taken together, this is dangerous due to professional burnout and professional personality deformations.

Professional deformations occur in all people, but they are not always characterized as problematic and requiring adjustment. The level of severity of deformations and their impact on a person’s life as an individual, citizen and family member are important.