MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT PSYCHOLOGY/ PSYCHOLOGISTS BY BATOOL JAFRI
Psychology is a subject, a soft science that has recently been accepted in Pakistan as a legitimate profession, mainly by the youth. But, there are certainly many stigmas attached to the profession. Psychologists have to go through many irrelevant questions from society because of the lack of knowledge and misconceptions about the field. A few of the misconceptions are enlisted below:
Psychologists vs. Psychiatrists:
Psychiatrists are those professionals that complete their Bachelors in Medicine and Bachelors in Surgery (MBBS) degree and then specialize in psychiatry. They are allowed to prescribe medicines as they are doctors. Wonder what a psychologist does?
Psychologists are professionals or mental health professionals that provide therapy to their clients. Psychologists do not provide medicines, they cure and treat mental illnesses by therapy.
Session plans are formulated and clients are given sessions once or twice a week of maximum 40-60 minutes in which certain exercises and psychological interventions are used to help the client deal with their life situations, academic or vocational problems, and mental illnesses such as anxiety, depression, etc.
Mind Readers:
One of the most common misconceptions about psychologists is that they are mind readers. They know what you are thinking or what is going on in your head without you telling them. Psychologists hear questions like,
“Oh you are a Psychologist! Tell me what I am thinking right now?!” Sorry to burst your bubble, but that is not the case. Psychologists cannot read minds or predict your future.
However, through validated tests, they can tell you about your personality traits, your strengths, and weaknesses, your achievement level, and IQ, etc. that too can happen only after they conduct psychometrics on you. Also, they do not give guidance or walk you through the road of problems by holding your hand, but they will surely show you the way and will help you process your thoughts.
Psychology Equals Easy Degree without Math:
One great misconception is that Psychology is studied by girls who want to own, at least, a Bachelors degree before getting married easily. Or people pursue psychology because it’s very easy with rote learning, no technicalities, or math. If you are thinking about majoring in psychology because of any of these reasons.
Runaway now! Psychology is a soft science, which means there is no one way of treating a client, there are several theories, tests, and practices based on which clients are treated. And every person has individual differences, hence a psychologist has to deal with it differently. So, it is technical and conceptual.
Studying Psychology also revolves around a lot of research work and experiments which is impossible to be carried out without analytics, math, and statistics. Hence, psychology is not a piece of cake!
Always Hypnotize Clients:
Yes! Hypnotherapy is one type of therapy in psychology, but that doesn’t mean at all that psychologists hypnotize all of their clients. Hypnotherapy is only conducted when needed by experienced professionals and it is not in any way like it is depicted in movies.
Psychologists should always Provide Services for Free:
Like any other profession that involves services like doctors, nurses, paramedical staff, etc. psychology is also a profession. Like every other employee of these professions, psychologists must be paid as well.
However, like medical camps for physical health, mental health camps can be listed as a way to provide free services sometime. Some organizations provide free mental health services as well. But, a professional cannot provide free services all their life as it would be unfair to them like any other professional. However, indeed, mental health shouldn’t be treated as a luxury but as a basic need.