So the reason why I wanted to do today's episode was because I read this great article in the "Psychologist Magazine" by the British Psychological Society. And it was this wonderful clinical psychologist talking about how psychology was still not classed as a facilitating subject.
And I really wanted to build on this because the entire point of the article was to sort of say, wait, wake up, everyone, psychology is a great topic and it isn't this fake made-up pseudoscience everyone thinks it is. Psychology is a science. And now, I want to do my sort of own take on it, but I wanna recap on the article first. So, in this article she was saying that even Oxford University does not classify psychology as a facilitation subject. And I think she's all like I forget that not everyone would know what I mean, but what it basically means is that it's a sort of critical thinking subject that's really good. And basically, psychology is not on par with biology, chemistry, and physics, which people always think are the proper sciences. And that makes me so annoyed because psychology, we studied the scientific method, we have very, very strong ethical guidelines. And to be honest, we have probably some of the most stringent methodologies, or some of the most stringent procedures in place, simply because we know every single bit of research has to be good because psychology is so criticized, and so disliked in the wider section, especially, when it comes to academia.
Because if you walk into a room and say you are a psychology student, people will very much not understand what you're talking about, and they will sort of go, "Oh, psychology. Oh, so you're not really a proper scientist, you don't actually do science, do you? You just make up stuff. You just do predictions."
And this is something else that I hate about profiling. Because people... and because of the media, books, and TV programs people think that profiling is what psychology does. And as I talk about it in my Criminal Profiling Book, because of what FBI profiling is not scientific in the slightest, and it's actually, absolute rubbish, people think that psychology is also rubbish. And they have no idea that we apply the scientific method to everything. Like we have our methods, we have our scientific methods. We know how to write up a report, we know how to manipulate their reports, we know how to do all of this scientific stuff, and we do it, we do it well. Psychology would not have lasted 100 years. To be honest, as I mentioned in my Biological Psychology book, psychology has been about in one or two carnations since 500 BC with Aristotle. So, psychology would not have lasted this long if there was not at least some interest in it, and some science. And something else I talk about in my Biological Psychology book, because I go into the history of psychology is that there were a few different incarnations of different aspects of psychology. For example, phrenology, I probably butcher the pronunciation, which was the so-called scientific study of different shapes of the brain, and different lumps and bumps of the skull pertained to different abilities that people had. That did not last long because it was not scientific, but psychology is. And that is why psychology has lasted long. So, that's what I sort of think about that aspect. But another aspect is that, so, you've got biology, you've got the proper sciences, which are so amazing and so wonderful. Some biologists, they find out that smoking causes cancer. That is perfectly fine, it's very true, okay.
What do you do?
What do you do to stop people smoking?
You can't use biology unless you can invent some sort of hormone or some sort of drug that affects a person on a biological level to stop smoking, okay. So what do you do? You use psychology. You use what we know about human behavior because that is what psychology is. Psychology is the study of human behavior, and we are experts on it. We know what affects behavior, we know how to get people to behave in certain ways to some extent. So, you get psychologists to come up with a way to help people stop smoking. And they we draw on different areas, we draw on the social aspects, we draw on cognition, we draw on how people think about, and how to make people stop.
Without psychology, you cannot do any of this public health stuff.
And speaking of public health, one of the biggest things that has annoyed me during the pandemic is the way how you stop a virus is you modify people's behavior. Of course, like in addition to the biological aspects, like the vaccines and everything. So, you get people to socially distance, you get people to wear masks, you get people to wash their hands and do other behaviors that protects themselves and others. So, logic would dictate that you get psychologists to help. And yes, I know of at least one psychologist that is in SAGE, which is the advisory group to the government when it comes to emergencies. But when it comes to the news, and when you are like trying to explain stuff to normal people, who don't go to university and don't study psychology. Why, why do you get medical doctors talking about human behavior? I don't understand that. I if I become a doctor, I would not talk about medical problems, I would not talk about cancer because that is not what I know. So, why are these medical doctors, who are amazing experts on cancer, the cold, diseases, viruses talking about human behavior? I don't understand it. And the only answer I have is that psychology is seen as fake, and people don't wanna hear what psychologists have to say on the subject. And that just breaks my heart because I know psychology is amazing. I know psychology can help so many amazing people improve their lives. And I just, oh, I don't know how to put what I'm feeling into words. I love psychology. I know how great it is. I know how well it can help people. If I did not know that psychology was this great, I would not be doing this podcast for as long as I have. I would not be writing as many books as I have on psychology, but I want to share this with people. I want people to know that psychology is fun, amazing, really interesting. And people can learn so much. But again, because of how the media spins it, and how the older people, and the older doctors, the people in charge, the people who make decisions, they don't believe in psychology, so others don't.
Psychology does not get the trust and favor that it deserves.
For example, if you look at governments, if you look at the people in charge of hospitals, and who make decisions about mental health care in mental health departments, most of them are old white middle-class men who, I'm very sad to say, don't believe in mental health.
Some of them do. Tons of people are amazing, but lots of people, not just men, not just white middle-class people, tons of people don't believe in mental health.
And this just is so terrible because then the money is not put where it's needed, and the services aren't changed and reorganized in a way that makes mental health a lot easier.
Because mental health works with physical health.
I've spoken about this in my Health Psychology book, and in my Formulation In Psychotherapy book. There are tons of chapters on it. I've quoted research, I've quoted places that actually, are doing it. And how much better the patients feel, and how much better mental health is actually getting treated there. But again, unless people care about mental health and until they trust in psychology, this is never gonna happen, and people are never gonna get the help they need. So, yes, I just think this is such a shame. And what I'm trying to say is that if you feel like this, if you feel like people are disrespecting you when it comes to psychology, you aren't alone. There are so many people who are facing the exact same challenge as you. And I've also said on the podcast before that because I do psychology, because I love mental health and I believe in it, and I want to help people, I have been judged so harshly, sometimes by certain members of my own family. Because they think I'm wasting my time. I'm doing this weird little fantasy degree that isn't gonna help people, that I'm not gonna get paid in, that I'm not going to do anything with my life in.
And that has sort of been like, what? And it's just like, "Why would you say that? You don't know what you're talking about."
Psychology is not profiling:
And I can make a difference. People in psychology can make a difference whether it's clinical psychology, cognitive psychology, business psychology.
Psychology can be applied to every single little aspect of life because it's human behavior, and everything comes down to behavior. So, to be honest, psychology should be on par with biological, physics, and chemistry because it's so important, it touches everything. Physics might cover everything in the universe, biology might cover everything to do with living things, and chemistry might do everything chemical-related. I think I've just covered them really broadly but anyway, though. But psychology covers everything to do with our behavior. Whenever humans do something, that is down to us. The realm of psychology, I absolutely love because it allows us to cover everything. Anything that is even remotely related to human behavior, we can research, we can do something about other social sciences can't necessarily do it. And that is what I love about psychology. Not only can it help so many amazing people improve their lives, but we can explore anything we want because psychology is so broad. Is it a challenge? Yes. Is it this silly little thing that, you know, that is only a fantasy? No. Psychology is not a fantasy. Psychology is not made up. Psychology is not fake. It's not this little pseudoscience, profiling is. And yes, psychology has had a checkered past because of like ethical procedures, the Milgram study, and everything that is so hyped up by the media and other people.
Is that what psychology really is? How caring psychology is? How much psychologists love people and want to help them? That is what gets over missed. So, what I want to leave you for today's episode is just that you are not alone. Just because you do psychology, does not make you this weird little person, who is just trying to live out their little fantasy, and do this little made-up degree, and do nothing with your life, you aren't that. You are an amazing person who wants to help people, who wants to learn. And that I want to say, well done. You are amazing, I cannot stress that enough. So, to be honest, download this, save this for whenever you experience these hard times because I feel like you're gonna need it, I am. And I feel so much better for doing this episode. So, thank you for listening. You are amazing. And have a great day. And I'll see you next time.
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