Psych Major

Should a person with a known mental illness be a psychology major? Or should this person use the illness as a "fuel" for creative endeavors instead?

 

My wife talked to a school psychologist yesterday.

Her comment "Those psychologists sure like to listen to themselves talk"

Enough said.

 

I thought that was a prerequisite!

 

Psych... a magnet attracting dysfunction!

Those of us who have been through the academic process and do counseling know that some of the most messed up folks ARE psych. professors and therapist aspirants, even many practicing therapists also.

After spending over 25 years as a pastoral counselor I went and got my Masters (now doing the Ph.D. in Family Psychology). I am amazed at how tremendously dysfunctional are many of the counselors, instructors, etc. in this field. I endured torture watching younger and immature professors attempt to teach me things that I was practicing and had surpassed a long time ago. I once made a mistake of disagreeing with a young professor with a Ph.D. and I got blackballed and marked for the rest of my degree program. Can we say this person has any issues? Sigh...
I am thankful to be a student at a great distance school, for the most part, the basis of instruction is a celebration of diverse thinking from the "get-go"... I find that the Distance Programs in Psychology attract a better caliber of student and professor... students that want to learn for the joy of it, professors that want you to march to your own drum, and an institution that supports that.

Well... back to the topic... yes... they are all messed up...
The best in the field are those who are brutally honest about this with themselves and ALSO have taken the painful path of healing. It shows in the quality of counseling, teaching, mentoring, etc.... basically, they are humble folks who can spare some crumbs to other beggars on the same journey.

 

When I was in grad school at York, I once dated this Psych major who couldn't organize her life let alone her assignments.

 

I remember watching the wierd ones in my General Psch. class really get into it, and change their majors. Most even changed their religion, and Sigmond became their God.

 

Interesting thread. The poll results are even more revelatory.

Ironically, I visited a shrinks office today and it was dingy, small and it stank (the odor of the entire complex was horrific). And there on the wall was the "Doctor of Psychology" diploma. And it got me to thinking...

• This person spent all that time and money so that they could be crammed into a 7' x 8' office in an incarceration-style rehab center? Trying to help people who don't want to be helped?
  
• I have far less education, but probably make much more money that that particular shrink.

Okay, please don't bite me for thinking the above. It was just a thought, as I glanced at the diploma on the wall. It sure was a cheesy looking diploma.

And why was I in the shrinks office? We were conducting an investigation, which led us there.

 

The above questions suggest you have little real knowledge of the full range of diagnoses that might be considered "mental illnesses." Also, I consider it to be disrespectful to those who struggle with mental illness to indicate that their illness is THE defining characteristic that determines their career. A person with mental illness should do what makes them happy, what they feel most suited to, what can make them the most money, etc. In short, they should choose their careers the way everyone else does.
Jack

 

Re: Re: Psych Major

Of course, Jack. But that doesn't mean that everyone ought to respect their advice! (Or worse: be coerced to follow that "advice.")

--Orson
(Confessed fan of Thomas Szasz' anti-authoritarian psychotherapy, i.e., specialized talk.)

 

BTW - It's common knowledge that Psych majors are messed up. Their saving grace is that they are usually aware of this and have majored in Psych as a way of trying to figure themselves (and their families) out. Some of them even succeed.
Jack

 

The ones who don't end up on Jerry Springer.

 

Re: Re: Re: Psych Major

How do you know that you're not already respecting the advice of a person with mental illness. Are you certain that your attorney doesn't have Dysthymia? Can you be sure that your MD hasn't struggled with OCD? You think that you can tell if someone has a mental illness but you're only attending to stereotypes, not the real world. Sure, there are people with mental illness who live under bridges, etc. but that's not the question under consideration. As for Szasz, he wrote a few interesting books that made people say "Hmmm." Then nothing.
Jack

 

I'm with Jack. People tend to draw on their own drives and predilections when they decide what to major in, and a degree in psych indicates a serious interest in the human mind--something that someone who is struggling with mental illness might know much more about than the average person.

Jung coined the phrase "the wounded healer" to refer to what he perceived (back in the twenties or so) as psychiatry's tendency to attract people who had themselves experienced depression, anxiety, or such on an unusually high level.

I think this poll topic, unless it was meant as a joke, is ridiculous; anybody should be able to earn a psychology degree. Getting licensed as a counselor, clinical psychologist, or psychiatrist is obviously a different story, and should be dealt with on a case-by-case basis, not based on political jingo or social stigma.


Cheers,

 

I resent this generalization, and I hope that you didn't really mean this the way that it seems. My personal interest in psychology (and the motivation behind my psych major) is a result of my curiosity about the mind. My psychology-related interests lie primarily in the area of cognitive psychology, and specifically the modelling of thought processes. I wasn't motivated by any desire to understand why I'm "messed up," and I don't believe that my psychological health is any worse than that of the average person (and I'd like to believe that it's actually better than average). I'm sure that I'm not the only one who has studied psychology for reasons other than a desire to understand their own abnormal behavior. I know firsthand that there are some troubled people studying psychology, and I don't doubt that a person with mental illness (or a person with a mentally ill friend or relative) may tend to be attracted to the field (especially the area of abnormal/clinical psychology), but it's neither fair nor accurate to characterize all psych majors in this way.

 

Some even get their own show, tv or radio. They listen to someone for 1 minute, and then spend 20 minutes telling them what is wrong , and how to fix it.

 

I once had a girlfriend (really!!! I did!!!) who had a Bachelors degree in psychology. It turned out that she was schizophrenic. She had some grandiose delusions that I only found out about later in the relationship. That was my first experience with schizophrenia. My only comparison to her is from a move called ”A Beautiful Mind.”

Mentally ill people seem to be gravitate to “psychology.” I speculate that they recognize that something is wrong with them and they want more knowledge to cure themselves. Don’t get me wrong: I’m not saying that everyone with a degree is psychology is strange!!! Just a high percentage of them are strange.

Do criminals pursue degrees in criminal justice?

 

I don't think a B.A in Psych is a problem and is not necessarily anymore useful than any other degree. Graduate degrees aimed at licensure are another matter. Therapists with disorders tend to help mess others up. You end up with two dysfunctional people doing the dysfunctional two-step (at a hundred bucks an hour).

North

 

Please believe that I did not intend to offend you or anyone else. I do, however, believe that everyone carries baggage (is messed up) and that this is one of the primary motivating factors for people pursuing the study of psychology - - - they want to understand how/why people behave/think/feel the ways they do (including themselves). To borrow an idea from Jung, you may not be all that aware of your "shadow" but that doesn't mean that it doesn't exist. Every one has problems and most of these problems have an unconscious component. This is what makes people messed up. I know that you said that you entered the house through the "cognitive psychology" door but let's face it, once you're in the house it doesn't matter which door you used. Do you really think that because you are interested in cognitive psychology that somehow that means this doesn't apply to you? BTW, I was a "psych major"* and have been a psychotherapist for a dozen years. I know more than a little about what "average" (and even exceptional) people struggle with in their lives. Everyone has those dark corners where they don't like to look. This doesn't mean that they are somehow "bad" or even dysfunctional. Most people carry their baggage throughout their lives, not even thinking about the prospect of putting it down. Perhaps you are the exception to this rule. Perhaps you have no baggage and you totally control your life through your conscious mind. How nice for you.
Jack

 

I am really glad to see that with a single broad brush the members of this forum have managed to verbally diminish a single profession and attack people with disabilities at the same time. It is particularly heart warming to see that their comments are based on multiple studies with statistically based results to verify the voracity of their comments. I am also particularly gratified to see the factual basis of their allegations as the foundatons of their well thought out arguments. I am however surprised that they did not add ministers, social workers, case managers, marriage and family therapists, and rehabilitation counselors to the case presented. I am certain that none of us have ever experienced emotional diffilculties with business majors, teachers, lawyers, physicians, shopkeepers, engineers, accountants, politicians, writers, professors, poets, artists, actors, athletes, nurses, physical therapists, police officers, carpenters, landlords, electricians, plumbers or dentists.

 

obecve,

Whether people are right or wrong, the majority of them have drawn the same anecdotal conclusion. Most have attempted to paint their anecdotal conclusions in a light of humor.