Psychology is an essential discipline in today’s society. The area of psychology is rapidly diversifying and expanding with various sub-disciplines emerging. Although it is a branch of science, its importance and strength depend on the approaches it has towards various issues. The current society applies psychology in a range of activities such as marketing of new products, interacting with people at work and home, in educating the public, in politics, and other significant areas. Currently, psychology is applicable in almost every aspect of life, and the psychologists have key roles to play. Understanding the Psychologists Essay. Since psychology makes vital contributions of in several fields, people should have a clear understanding of what psychologists do. However, it is a wonder that people are a little fuzzy about who the psychologists are and how they perform their healing role in the society.
Understanding the meaning of the word psychology is essential when defining the role and meaning of a psychologist. Previous studies of the 1590’s perceived psychology as a unit of science that entails the study of an individual’s consciousness and mind by introspecting the person’s experiences (Murugan, 5). However, in the recent decades, the definition of psychology has undergone various modifications hence giving the concept a behaviorist approach. The American Psychological Association (APA) states that psychology has multiple areas which depend on scientific explanations and apply to every day’s activities (Bray and Thomas, 640). The APA views psychology as both a doctoral and spiritual profession in which the individual examines the behaviors, emotions, experiences, and thoughts of the normal and abnormal people and apply the psychological knowledge to treat their souls and body. Understanding the Psychologists Essay. Following the vast nature of psychology as a discipline, understanding the ideal concept of a psychologist is not easy. Other than the broadness of the field in which they operate, other factors make it difficult to understand the role of psychologists.
Today’s world views psychologists as innovators possessing interpersonal, theoretical, and research knowledge that integrates various perspectives from developed theories to sustain the needs of the society and the people needs ((Lilienfeld, 1). One of the reasons why people are fuzzy about who and what the psychologists are is the nature of their profession. Psychologists are trained individuals with skills to assist others to cope effectively or come out of mental problems and life issues. They study the patterns of people’s behaviors, thoughts, and feelings from the scientific perspective and uses the knowledge to assist the individuals to understand, explain, and adjust how they behave (Cooper and Rothmann, 290). Both licensed and practicing psychologists may provide psychotherapeutic and evaluation services. They do this by utilizing a variety of techniques depending on the type of the required services. The roles of the psychologists are diverse because they treat various categories of problems. Understanding the Psychologists Essay. Some people may come for psychotherapy because they are angry, depressed, or just anxious about certain situations. Others may be having complex issues such as chronic conditions that threaten their lives and health. In most cases, people fail to understand who the psychologists are because they are capable of providing a variety of services including psychological, physical, mental, spiritual, and physical health to people. Therefore, defining the exact nature of a psychologist may be difficult.
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Secondly, it ‘s hard to differentiate the psychologists from the psychiatrist and health related professionals. Both psychologists and psychiatrists deal with people with mental problems. Parkinson defines psychiatrists as trained medical doctors with three or more years of residential psychiatric practice experience (224). Like psychologists, the psychiatrists are capable of assessing the person, diagnosing his or her condition, and prescribing appropriate medication (Parkinson, 224). Therefore, there is a thin line between the psychologists and psychiatrists.
Additionally, since the inception of the concept of psychology in the 19th century, debates have ensued about whether or not psychology is a science (Henrique, 1). This continual debate has made it difficult to classify psychologists as scientists researchers. There is no clear answer to this issue because both psychology and science are complex and interrelated disciplines. While the academic psychologists have defined the construct as a science, Paul Meehl confirms that psychology has failed to develop a cumulative knowledge structure with vivid conceptual core such as biology, anatomy, and chemistry (Henrique, 1). Understanding the Psychologists Essay. Reaffirming Paul’s sentiments, Kenneth Gergen says that gaining psychological knowledge is not substantial because the information is temporary and fades with the shifting cultures (Henrique, 1). On the contrary, many scholars are defining psychology as a science because of the scientific perspectives that most psychologists adopt when exploring the subject matter. Similarly, the psychologists have employed scientific tools and methods in their practice. As long as this debate continues, people will be fuzzy about who the psychologists are and where they fall.
Finally, people are skeptical about the scientific and theoretical roles of the psychologists in the society (Lilienfeld, 2). Psychology as a discipline faces numerous criticism both from the general public and by other disciplines such as medicine, philosophy, and history. Apart from viewing psychology as unscientific, people have come up with several constructions about psychology. Additionally, while a great percentage of the human population agrees that psychologists are helping people to improve their lives, only a handful of the world’s population understands what the psychologists are doing to help people (Lilienfeld, 9). In short, Lilienfeld opines that only a few people understand the how the psychologists operate. Understanding the Psychologists Essay. Therefore, understanding what a psychologist may not be easy for many people.
Psychology is an essential area that seems to control every aspect of today’s activities. Psychological knowledge has become applicable in several areas including business, education, military, health, economics, and politics. However, people do not have an elaborate understanding of what psychologists are and how they operate. The broadness of the field of their profession, the association between psychology and psychiatry, determining whether or not the field is a science, and little understanding of the psychologist’s operations explains why people are fuzzy about the role and nature of the psychologists. Understanding the Psychologists Essay.
