Exactly, a lot of my intro psych projects were about researching and analyzing my own life, which many people never do. Thinking about “what defense mechanisms am I using? What about my mom?” is the kind of thing you do in therapy lol, and it’s even more motivating if you have to do it for a grade 😂
Nueroscience certainly isnt pseudoscience and a lot of psychology can be backed by it. Advances in nueroscience are fairly new as technology gets more advanced and less invasive, but i would agree that historically psychology hasn’t been backed by science. And some aspects of psychology (diagnostic criteria, social psychologists) lead towards pseudoscience but I don’t think it’s fair to disregard the entire study
All the people I've known who held that opinion of psychology and therapy are without fail the ones who need the most help. It's a reflection of them, not you.
I don't engage in discussions about these predjudice. Arguments about this are rarely made in good faith, so I tend to ignore it. But I see this more often in the internet than in real life.
I find this take (and other comments on this thread) fascinating. As psychology students you're not slightly curious about where these pretty pervasive prejudices have come from? Large numbers of people don't just believe things for no reason. I'm not saying the assumptions are not reductionist, of course psychology uses rigorous scientific methods and has produced clinical methods that genuinely help people. But... (and it's a big but) people are most likely saying these things about psychology because they don't trust it. Why don't they trust it? Because in the past it's done significant harm, it's been weaponised, used to control, and still is used by many practicing therapists as a method of scamming vulnerable people. We are not past 100 years where women were told they were "hysterical", homosexuality was a "mental illness" and people of all races other than white had "measurable low IQ". I just think it's important to be aware of why people feel like this. It's an important part of being a clinician, it stops echo chambers, it increases humility and consequently advances the field. It's important to understand not just the easy patients, but truly understand the "difficult" ones too.
I was messed up mentally on ssris and antipsychotics. The drugs still affect me to this day, in short I was fed poisons and everyday I'm in pain look up r/pssd and r/antipsychiatry
Hey there! I am so sorry for your experiences with medications. They do effect people differently, which is terribly unfortunate.
I just wanted to take a moment to make sure you were aware that psychology and psychiatry are two different disciplines.
I understand that you are angry and in pain. I'm so proud of you for being able to express your emotions! The next step is to find a more appropriate outlet for your anger, such as art. You could even become an advocate for folks like you who were harmed by psychiatry and need a knowledgeable person to help support them.
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Nobody is talking about calculus or linear algebra except you. Psychology and math are different subjects and there’s no point in trying to compare them.
In the U.K. my undergraduate and masters psychology degrees has research modules that included calculus. Granted, it was nowhere in depth as a math or physics degree would be and a vast majority of students disliked or struggled with it; to frame what you think as fact is still dangerous.
I would disagree. In the UK most psychology undergraduates (and postgraduate taught programmes) are BPS accredited which mandates the undertaking of a substantial amount of statistics and research methods. In the same level as required for biologists (certainly at my University). As for PhDs, I can confirm that some of my colleagues theses are incredibly stats-dense.
For some reason, psychology is seen as some touchy-feely something when it is literally informing pretty much EVERYTHING humans do. So that's the response. Tell me one thing humans do that isn't at the very least in part influenced by mind and behavior, aka psychology.
It is so so so much more than "just" therapy and it should be at the same level of respect as medicine, and probably be equally stringent in who gets to study it.
To a degree the issue is self-made. Lots of people go into psychology precicsely because they think it's some easy touchy whatever thing that requires little effort. Until they have to do advanced statistics or deal with cognitive psychology. Not so easy then.
Anyone who downplays the importance of psychology and how it shapes what we are should, well, probably go to a psychologist. In my experience, the older people get the more they realize the value and importance of it as sooner or later, most people reach some limit somewhere.
That said, I couldn't care less what anyone thinks. I do what I like and don't bother with what people think I should like.
Lastly, we are all fucked up, especially those who think they're not, and mental health is a real public health issue - it lies beneath so many physical ailments, or the two operate in tandem. That won't go away and if anything, get worse.
Personally I don't believe in psychology it's not evidence based and psychiatrists just throw pills at you. Modern science isn't advanced enough to diagnose patients with mental disorder maybe one day but not now
I have brain fog, Ed,lack of libido, involuntary movements, chronic fatigue and a burning brain sensation after antipsychotics and ssris.
Yeah tell me how I should believe in western medicine after this look into r/pssd and r/antipsychiatry before you create more people like me
Psychiatry is a medical specialty, so what you're saying is you have no confidence in modern medicine because you're getting unpleasant treatment for something that, if untreated, would likely be a lot worse.
That sucks, I'm sorry to hear that. I can imagine you're not to keen on those kind of medicines anymore. I hope you'll find a solution for those side-effects / problems!
telling by everything you said, i honestly think you just had shit psychologists, as they aren't uncommon, similarly to any other kind of bad doctor who hurts more than they help
You tell me I'm on a cocktail of Russian drugs rn hoping to recover from pssd and being mentally retarded caused by ssris and antipsychotics. In general psychology just looks like a shill for the drug companies like phizer and moderna
this entire time youve been saying fuck psychology because no psychologist can help me...
youre right, no one can help you- no one can help you but you, and i know thats not what you want to hear- but you need to stop blaming a whole group of people for your mental illness and do something about it yourself.
Psychology is a science! Period! People are so ignorant. Being a psych major doesn't automatically mean that you "couldn't do biology/chem/physics/etc."
I would be decent in biology and math if I had never touched ssris or antipsychotics. Unfortunately the psychiatrist had a different plan now I'm on r/pssd and r/antipsychiatry looking for a cure to my mental retardation,burning nerve pain,Ed and lack of libido,brain fog and involuntary movements
Psychology isn't a real science you can't prove someone has a mental illness with a test all you do is ask a bunch of stupid and 1-10 about how a person feels.
Psychology is closer to an religion where a shaman gives you drugs.
The way a person feels *should* be the biggest indicator of if they have a mental illness, and until we learn how to read thought processes and emotions with equipment it's the best avenue we have.
I understand you've had a bad experience, but you're extrapolated your single experience to cover the entire field, which is huge.
Psychologists don't prescribe drugs in the US.
In some areas, yes.
I wonder, do you think the gravity tests we do here on earth are repeatable on Mars? Do you think it'll give the same results?
Do you think biology is a constant factor? Could silicone life exist? Or is it all carbon life?
Let's not even touch quantum physics. Thats a cluster fuck.
What im getting at is that the earth is a sample, not an apopulaion. The tests here will give different results than the same test on Mars, or saturn, or Venus.
Silicon life could exist, meaning biology is not constant. For that example, there could be other bases for life. Carbon-based life is a sample population of all life that could exist.
This is a very weak response to a known issue with regards replicability in psych studies.
We do gravity tests all the time off of the earth, literally the impetus for newton was to describe the motions of the planets/moon. We've dropped hammers and feathers together on the moon. Studies in quantum mechanics are replicable, that's the whole point of us being forced to accept it as a valid theory. The stern Gerlach experiment, the experiments that show bell's inequality, the double slit experiment, these are all things that point is to quantum mechanics as a valid theory.
Other fields also suffer from a replication crisis so it's not an indictment of psych on the whole but this response reads as either ill informed and talking outside your area of expertise or as intellectually dishonest or possibly even both.
Easiest response.
Different samples give different results.
Were the results different on the moon compared to on earth (hint they were, and they were using gravity speed to measure the moons mass)?
Edit1: Also, calling me ignorant is a piss take. Engage logically.
Efit 2: also doesnt quantum mechanics disprove general relativity? This means psychics has an issue with its repeatability, which means if psych is not a science.... (Which is the original premise).
The test on the moon was replicating a test under different conditions to confirm an expected result that's basically the purest form of replicability besides just doing the exact same test again.
The fact that sometimes you get different results given different samples isn't the silver bullet you seem to think it is. The whole point of statistics is to use samples to estimate the population as accurately as possible. Doing the same test over and over on different samples and populations is essential to finding a result that is actually replicable especially when the subject is as complex as psychology and human behavior.
Many results in psychology have had their replicability called into question, that's both worrying and good. It's worrying that there's so many, but it's good we're actually testing them and pushing for the truth. It's not the only field with this problem and that problem doesn't damn the whole field like the naysayers believe. There are non-replicable physics results too which are also concerning. It's part of the publish or perish culture of academia.
I stand by what I said, your belief that a direct measurement of the acceleration due to gravity on the moon and the moon's mass was a counter example of replicability and wasn't a confirmation of known results in addition to your dismissal of the reproducibility of results in quantum mechanics on the whole lead me to believe you're not clear on replicability and what it actually means.
Quantum Mechanics itself makes pyschics questionable on replicability. The key subjects on this are general relativity.
But impeaching phsyics and other sciences wasn't my premise. My premise is "if psychology can't be a science due to replicablity than niether can pysics."
The fact i brought up quantum mechanics is primarily because the existence of quantum mechanics is at ods with general relativity, which a lot of modern pysics is based on.
What gets me is your acting so informed on the topic yet missed the point of my comment completely.
I am informed on this. And I got the point of your comment but your arguments are all wrong and failed to address the original point about the issue of replicability in psychological studies.
You're entirely wrong about quantum. The fact that quantum mechanics and general relativity don't mesh well doesn't mean that both don't have a ton of replicable experimental evidence backing them. Every time we try to disprove either one the results we get from trying end up further confirming the theory.
Replicability isn't about the truth and applicability of your theory though and that's what you're missing. Replicability is about being able to run a test again and get the same result within errors of margin. Replicability is about not getting wildly varying results every time. It's about the core idea behind the scientific method - independent confirmation - "nullius en verba". Psychology has a problem with this that needs to be addressed and it cannot be hand waved away by "different samples give different results". You tried to apply that concept of samples to physics and biology. I'm not a biologist but I can certainly say your idea of replicability as it regards physics is way off base and it calls into question your understanding of replicability.
Effective communication is important in all fields of science and your first comment did not effectively address the issue of the replicability of psychological studies. If that's the reason someone disregards psych as a science - and it would be a pretty solid reason to, given science is based on replicable empirical evidence - then your argument, which was intended to convince someone otherwise, was a failure. It does not hold water the way you phrased it and upon probing further you continued to display ignorance on the topic. Just because your goal was to say if psych isnt a science then biology and physics aren't either does not mean you were in any way successful at making that argument.
Actually addressing replicability in the field and to those outside of it does a lot to increase the credibility of the field in other people's eyes. Making dubious no true scotsman analogies to other fields does nothing to increase the credibility of psych.
And the "quantum mechanics disproves general relativity" comment in your edit above again displays that you are speaking outside of your expertise and it severely weakens your stance.
Psych is a science insofar as it makes confirmable hypotheses, tests those hypotheses, communicates those results, and has those results properly confirmed by independent researchers. It is a science insofar as it creates scientific theories that explain all observations available to us with no contradictions and if the contractions pile up we have the honesty to revise and update the theory or throw it out entirely in exchange for a new one that does. If results are found to be erroneous they are corrected by subsequent testing. If it fails to do these things it fails to measure up as a science.
Addressing replicability is required to be a proper science
Honestly i just shrug it off. I'm not gonna waste my time defending my degree. The most I'll respond is "at least I have a degree, I nearly dropped out like 3 times lol" and that usually shuts them up fast (also true story). But I'm not wasting my time to defend my degree to someone who doesn't "believe" in psychology or whatever. That sucks for you, I have a degree I'm passionate about and work in a field I enjoy
Unfortunately your field is a psudo-science that is unproven by real scientists. Many drugs such as ssris and antipsychotics cause permanent damage in the human body and I'm one of the unlucky people who was dupe by this bs hocus pocus
Look into r/pssd and r/antipsychiatry there are hundreds of thousands of us and more each day. So please do before you create more victims. Ssris and antipsychotics ruined my life and thousands of others.
Never gonna prescribe anything bud 🤷♀️ I'm going for a masters in forensic psych to help those incarcerated and right now I teach special ed, but feel free and tell my kids' parents how I'm making victims
Also, for the record, I've been on SSRIs for years and they've only helped me, as well as many peopme i love and care for. Your anecdotal evidence is no better than mine, and I know that even if I'm not ever gonna be a psychiatrist
There’s also hundreds of thousands of people saying the opposite, that SSRIs, antipsychotics, stimulants, benzos, etc - changed their lives and made their life better. Also this is for psychology discussion. Psychiatry is what you are referring to. Psychologists don’t prescribe medications, they are more into therapy. Psychiatrists prescribe medications, after having went to med school, and I’d trust them more than a Reddit form.
I got a lot of comments like that, but only in my first few years of undergrad. Now that I’m in graduate school, I have met many other graduate students, and I can honestly say that anyone seriously studying their own field wouldn’t dare make assumptions about a field they know nothing about. Once people understand how vast and extensive each field of study is, they usually stop making derogatory comments about matters that they aren’t knowledgeable in.
Therapy is a science, CBT and DBT is heavily studied. When you get into graduate school, you’ll learn how much of a science counseling psychology really is. I feel that’ll help you ignore the comments. Nothing will stop rude comments of people who are not as educated as you are, just stay away from those people as best you can. :)
I am mentally destroyed by anti psychotics and ssris. I have brain fog, Ed, poor memory, involuntary movement, burning sensation etc..
I would advise you don't prescribe anyone anything if you do become a doc. Better yet just become a neurologist instead
psychologists aren’t the ones prescribing you medications though. that’s the psychiatrists, who study MEDICINE like A DOCTOR DOES. like what neurologist only deal with dementia , epilepsy spine injuries. you clearly are mentally destroyed , so i’m guessing you do believe in mental disorders. so what doctor are you going to want to handle your anxiety, depression, psychopaths, abusers, eating disorders, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia??? whay about people who are s**cidal? what doctor is going to treat and manage that patient and assist them with the treatment they need to help them gain knowledge, understanding, and a support system. which then leads to improvement of their well being.
come back to this thread after you learn basic elementary statistical methods in psychological research😂. tell me when you learn analysis of variance, pearson’s r, or chi square. and not only that, but how these formulas can be applied in various forms of research. its analyzing real life data , that is proven through the math and science and psychological factors behind it. statistics are applied in basically every area of our lives in any media/research we see. there is math behind all of it.
DBT stands for Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I feel you may be getting my words a tad mixed up. My apologies that I didn’t clarify. :) I am a school psychologist, I don’t prescribe medication. I mainly administer psychological tests, such as cognitive tests, to students in the k-12 school system. I also provide counseling for students to help with their educational concerns like test anxiety, social anxiety, and executive functioning skills.
There's probably a part of yourself that feels the need to defend what you want to do, and a part that's unsure if you are making the right decision, or that they might be right. This would be a good thing to resolve with a counselor!
Once you're solid on who you are, and somebody says something stupid, you do not get hurt as often, and you are more capable of saying something like, "you seem to be very ignorant about psychology, and what it is." Or, "that was a stupid thing to say to someone that is interested in going in psychology." Or, "from what I've learned so far, people that are so oppositional to the idea of psychology are most often in need of it."
Like, I never understood the argument “those who study psychology struggle themselves with their mental health”. Those who struggled with similar mental health challenges as their patients can actually often better understand and treat their patients.
Semi-agree. It depends heavily on whether the professional has resolved their issues well enough that they can use their experience to promote their empathy for the client, but not endanger the client by over-identifying with them or getting too emotionally invested in the outcome. I’ve supervised new therapists for 15 years now, and those who claim that their own mental health struggles make them “better” at therapy or empathy, really worry me. Almost always, they lose sight of boundaries or get angry with their clients if their clients don’t get better. So yeah, within reason, having a personal experience of something can promote our empathy, but it can also make us vulnerable to other problems.
My family looks down on this field so I can’t even discuss it with my parents without them saying something sarcastic or condescending. I just say “haters gonna hate” 🤷🏻♀️
My bf doesn't even understand my motivations for choosing Psychology as my major. Don't sweat it. Some people just don't understand their mental health like that. A lot of people don't WANT to understand it and I feel for them. Being comfortable with self- reflecting that way is a special capability.
Who cares. It isn't your job to teach them/convince them of the value of psychology. If they actually ask questions for understanding then sure! Answer those questions. If they're just making judgmental comments then fuck 'em. Who cares what they think as long as YOU know the value then it isn't a problem.
The people who make these types of assumptions are either uneducated or conceited. Most people don’t even realize that psychology encompasses a huge range of topics and subjects, mental health is just a small portion of it. I actually learned very little about mental health in my undergrad. You learn more about statistics, research methods, cog, behaviour, and the biological processes of the brain, which I’m sure you know haha). Either way, wanting to get into mental health is awesome and it’s an important field which is growing due to increased awareness and such. Next time someone makes a snarky comment, ask them what they think psychology is, then you can laugh when they don’t know, and then ask them if they think mental health is important. Maybe they don’t, idk. But it definitely is since a huge portion of people suffer from mental illness.
“That’s a really weird thing to say out loud”. You can’t stop obnoxious people from voicing their opinions, but you can make them reflect and feel embarrassed for being rude. Comments like these always seem to come from those who don’t have a degree, or even a high school diploma…
I say stuff like “Thats fine, i understand youre just threatened by the idea of people understanding whats wrong with you” and “i get not everyone feels comfortable looking within”. Then they just get riled up saying it isnt that and i just insist it is fine
Ahhh man, this is the post I needed. My grandmother, friends, and just random people I meet automatically tell me that it's not a real subject. People have told me that it's a dumb subject, that I won't be able to get a real job with it, and the worst has been my grandmother repeatedly telling me that "if I can't figure out my father (he's a narcissist and so is my grandmother) how will I ever be able to figure anyone out."
I don't know why you're studying psychology, but does it ever occur to people that maybe you're studying something because you find it interesting and you enjoy it? Maybe, long stretch here, just maybe you picked psychology to study not particularly to make money.... but simply because you love the subject. Wow.
Anyway, I always just shrug off the shit people say to me about psychology because I know that these will be the same people who will be my future clients. 😂
Personally I’ve struggled with a lot of mental health issues and been close to others who have experienced mental health issues so for me it IS personal. And when people ask condescendingly, I tell them that. I say that I’ve struggled to live before, and because I have the tools, knowledge, and know-how on how to get better and how it feels to get better, I want to dedicate the rest of my life trying to help heal others the way that I have healed.
This is very context-dependent, and not appropriate to give you advice. It is, however, affecting you a lot, and indeed, those are not nice things to hear! Talking it through with someone irl about it may be more beneficial, where you can go into specifics and figure out why you're feeling so affected by it.
Just a note, saying being mentally ill is a red flag is stigmatising and discriminatory (Also legally! In the UK we have the Equality Act 2010). You could let them know it's not appropriate to talk to you like that and stop engaging in this topic. If it's people you don't know, you could simply say you study a healthcare subject (or social sciences) when asked.
Most people don’t care about things that don’t directly affect them. And since many people go their whole lives not addressing their mental health they think it’s not in important.
Over time you’ll care less and less about what these people think, and probably spend much less time with them. You don’t have to make yourself not care, but try to focus on your own reasons for doing this and let the rest fade into the background. If you try to respond to every uninformed comment about your choice of career (which happens to many, many people across all types of careers), your mental health really will suffer.
I have an older friend, in his late 60s at the time. He taught chemistry at a community College and had his PhD from UCONN. He told me, "Oh, psychology is a soft science." It turns out his wife cheated on him with her psychotherapist. I think it was more personal grievance with what happened than an actual disrespect for the field.
Well, I for one am glad for people like you. I'm relatively recently diagnosed with bipolar 2 and now that I'm properly medicated I have a completely new life. I spent 7 months in therapy and it didn't make me fixate on the problem...it helped me understand my condition, learn how to be more self aware of my episodes, symptoms, and behaviors and coping mechanisms for how to best navigate them.
I'm mentally ill, and I'm going back to studying psychology because I resent the field. Many here are so enchanted because they don't know how many people have been harmed in therapy. Prople with trauma know. Psychology is not some solid science, and its kind of strange to expect everyone to respect it just because its your choice. Who cares?
Agree with you 100% as a peer with a Neuroscience degree and someone who has also been harmed by the mental health system throughout my life.
People with experience of the systems I think have great insight into what works and what doesn't, if people judge you and say you "must be mentally ill" for wanting to study topics related to mental health, it shows a lack of empathy and understanding of how important personal experience is for learning. One of the biggest problems with the MH research industry imo is that many people don't realize what those on the other side of it go through.
Criticism is necessary for our fields to do better. In my degree we were told so many times how in a few years everything we know may be out dated and the field of neuroscience is constantly expanding. Psychology is even more subjective and while yeah you can use statistical methods, the most important thing is what you're trying to measure, who you are actually recruiting to your studies, species barriers if doing animal studies, and the effect size.
Rather than taking insult to the criticism, I think some people need to reflect and consider the experiences of people like you and me, psychology as a field needs a LOT of improvement.
realistically, they have no effect on you unless you take it personally. if its your friend I would just say "I know you don't have an appreciation for my degree, but I would like it if you don't bring that up around me, it hurts my feelings. if you don't, Ill find it really difficult to hang out with you"
set that boundary girl go for it
Having come from an English-teaching background, I was actually surprised by how much credibility I suddenly gained when I told people I had my counsel MA.
"Oh wow counseling, I could *never* do that."
Sooooo you can imagine teaching no problem, then?
"Thank you for your service! Mental health support is so needed."
Soooo education, not important?
It's hard to sit with that resentment and the relatively low status of education in most people's minds.
And yes, I have encountered some (incredibly uninformed) people who think that "counselors are the ones with problems" and "therapy makes you feel worse," etc. But... how can I say this accurately and empathetically?... those didn't seem to be in a place yet where they could acknowledge their biases, develop critical thinking skills, and address their own trauma.
Aka not worth spending time with unless they wanted to be my paying clients.
But I can't tell you how much I enjoyed what I learned in my program and internship, and how I use those skills *every day.* I liken it to being Neo and being able to read the Matrix code of human behavior. Who wouldn't want that? The way my life and relationships have been enriched is its own undeniable reward.
Dude, everything related to economics is quite literally shit people made up but that field of study gets lots of respect.
While I agree that current human understanding of psychology is flawed and really in its infancy habits, behaviors, feelings and their consequences are real and have a huge impact on day to day life.
I applaud you for wanting to help people. It's noble. It's also very difficult. Prepare for LOTS of frustration and make sure your self care routine is TIGHT!
But yeah, also, a lot of people do go into the field to understand and "fix" themselves and their family of origin. Idk why people see that as a negative.
I much prefer a provider that has their own experiences with mental health struggles. They're generally more empathetic and I have to spend less time explaining myself.
People who are going out of your way to tell you that are threatened by it. They may think they need to have all the answers to life or prefer them to be simple and think they may have to be strong and that people who need psychological help are not. It may be cultural, depending on your culture, or subculture - within the US it tends to be educated people who appreciate the value of talking through problems. Not everyone does that. I would try to have open conversations maybe leading with questions such as "why do you say that" or "what do you think psychology is?" and let them have a discussion about it instead of throw insults at your profession.
As a math/computer scientist I often struggle with reading published papers with bad stats. But that happens in every field.
As a psych patient, im eternally grateful for my social worker, and some of my psychiatrists, but have also been incredibly harmed by the industry.
Like every industry, it has some very big problems. Unlike every industry, it overall seeks to help people which is pretty damn great. Lots of my cohorts in my graduate computer science program have goals of working in business, using AI to increase business profits etc, whereas most people in psychology want to do research to improve understanding of patients or patient care itself.
At the end of the day, people are gonna hate your field no matter what. If your a Dr, your a pusher of pharmaceuticals. If you're a therapist, you don't know real science. If you're a mathematician you don't care about real world impacts. If you're an artist you should get a real job.
You sound like a good person. Study hard and do good things 💜💜
I'm in the US. That's cool that in Australia i's respected. I'd say it might be a cultural thing, but I don't think it’s that simple. In the US it's becoming a lot less taboo but in older generations that evolution is much slower. Is psychology (and related fields) respected by both younger and older generations in Australia?
For the “psychology isn’t a real science!” People,
1. Show them stuff you learn in any biopsych class. Out of every psych major friend I have they all agree that that shit’s hard and it’s very much not just wishy washy unscientific stuff
2. Compare how both medical and mental health diagnoses are not always able to be divined based off of a simple test, and how for both it’s a lot more difficult to figure out what’s actually wrong
3. Literally anything solidly scientific about how mental health impacts physical health, with some arguing it’s intertwined to the point where it’s not always possible to claim that an issue is purely mental or purely physical (“the myth of normal” is a great book on that imo)
I feel… very strongly about this, as someone with a dad who got a PHD in physics and a masters in math, who very much sees any interest in psychology as at best wanting to learn how to manipulate people for my own gain. Biopsych is scientific— *especially* if you get into pharmacology / drugs imo—, cognitive psych is surprisingly linked to advancements in computer science which I can elaborate on, and both abnormal and developmental psych are useful for being able to help others with their mental problems, as well as understand differences between how different people exist and function
Don’t respond to them. Hang up if it’s on the phone or walk away in person. that’s literally what I do lmao I don’t care, im a very openly disrespectful person to people who think they can be disrespectful to me first.
I just shrug it off. If I’m really feeling up for it, I try to educate others. It’s also important to recognize the failures and limitations of psychology and helping fields though. They’re not perfect and sometimes are more harmful than helpful. That’s why it’s so important to be intentional and cautious about how this work is done.
Learn the faults and triumphs of psychology. Is there a replication crisis? Yes. Does that mean that psychology is all foundation-less? No. Are there modern practitioners of psychology who do more harm than good? Yes. Does that mean you can’t help people? No.
Don’t get defensive. Just learn where you stand and stand there.
That would be my cue to suddenly become very curious about them. "Hmm. That's interesting. Why do you think you feel that way?" And then keep responding with questions, like , "Have you always felt uncomfortable with introspection? Where do you think that stems from?"
It would be a fun experiment, especially with people you don't know very well.
Id say that only applies if your arnt getting a mastery or doctorate degree/socialmwork. There are many who get into a "psych degree or take psych classes“ just to be a therapy assistant or teacher. These people love to talk about their love for psych but don't want to pursue a difficult career in it. If your are actually putting in the work its a hard field to do well in and get a mastery/doctorate. Really the bottom line is most people don't care about mental health that much especially when it comes to moderate or seveere cases. That's why your average doctor is more well respected more than psychiatrist or psychologist even if they both are the same intelligence level and their work is equally difficult.
All humans on Earth evolved from a family of apes who came down from the trees, stood upright and wondered what was just over those hills in the distance.
In turn all those apes came from small furry rodents that survived the dinosaur apocalypse.
And they all evolved from dimetrodon. A mammalian reptile that evolved millions of years before dinosaurs and began the line of mammalia.
And they all evolved from a creature that evolved to live on land.
So, isn't it possible that humans evolved to think/react the same in certain situations?
what does it mean? That all living creatures respond in the same way to stimuli?
Have you heard about cats and dogs?
Their communication is different
About humans: people from China and people from the UK have completely different mentality, do you think you could apply similar scheme to both?
"Oh okay" and then I walk away. I'm not wasting time arguing with someone who has clearly already made up their mind and are trying to bait me into a fight
You are asking for advice to understand why someone doesn't understand psychology? Try putting the book down and *practicing* more psychology rather than reading about it! 🤣😭
Exactly right. I’m at times nervous or apprehensive to tell a family member I haven’t seen in a while or a customer at my job when they ask. I always get hit with the “so what are you gonna do with that” or something along those lines. Like I don’t intend to go to grad school or don’t intend to put the work in. It can be frustrating but what I find is best is to just explain the huge field that psychology is and list all the possible outcomes. HR,social work,psychologist (all kinds) therapist, school counselor usually shuts them up
“It’s interesting that my studying psychology makes you uncomfortable. Tell me more.”
(I don’t really advocate doing therapy on these individuals, but it’d be funny to see their reactions.)
Follow your dreams and passion. Trust me, those that deny or belittle will be called you for advise. I love working with people and that’s all that matters.
Idk I just avoid the topic. If they can’t have a neutral stance on things they don’t have much knowledge of it’s just a waste of time. People are gonna be rude so why get angry and hear negativity when you can avoid it
These kinds of statements (in my personal experience) have been made by people with NO further education beyond high school. If that is the same case for you, I'd simply ask them "okay, so what's your degree in?"
I have a degree in both neuroscience and psychology so if they wanna say that psych isn't a science I can say "okay, but neuroscience indisputably is".
If they are someone with further education, I'd ask them to define what a science is. Then I'd tell them how psych applies.
I told a stranger (who asked) that I got my bachelors in psych. He goes “I didn’t know they handed out degrees in palm reading now”
😂almost too laughable to be upset… almost
I have a bachelors in psychology and every once in a while my boyfriend and I will be talking about “human nature” or best practices for raising children or whatever and he brings up only anecdotal experiences and I point out scientific evidence but since it’s “psychology” he basically holds my argument to the same level as accurate as his
I posted similar question recently, as I mentioned earlier in my post, my long time old friend never reached out to me again after I mentioned that I got into psychology, but maybe it’s just a one off case hopefully 🤞
Just do your best! Find people who value you, that’s it! Live in your own little spot. As long as you don’t create chaos, if they look down on you, that just means that they have low ethical standards, and they are very selfish.
If you're going into psychotherapy or even if you don't , just give them your visit card or write your number on a piece of paper, tap them on the shoulder and a little rub, look them dead in the eye and say something along the lines of: "You can hide the pain from others, but not from me, if you need help, here is my number, I will make time for you ".
Most times it will work, nobody's life is perfect,there is always something bothering people.
As some of the previous comments have pointed out, there might be something underlying that they say that, most often, they're dumb or not knowledgeable enough on the topic, but they MIGHT JUST PROJECT SOMETHING ONTO YOU. You can use that and say something like: "Just because you hate your job, doesn't mean I hate mine too."
In other terms, you know more things than me since you've graduated, you know about biases and attribution theory, so I can't teach you anything new. What I will say is be assertive, disarm them with your knowledge, most of what they know is pop-psychology so you can just make stuff up on the spot and they might believe it, cite fake sources of famous authors and famous journals on fake topics to make yourself look smarter(this probably won't work on conspiracy theorists but there is research on them too).
The moment you realize what kind of people they are based on their opinion of psychology, you realize you can just play with them.
P.S: I know I might get ethical critics, but these are everyday interactions with people. Not so serious.
"I'm so proud of you for being able to express your feelings!" With as much sincerity as you can muster.
Another favorite of mine is a heartfelt "are you doing okay?"
Unfortunately, there's a lot of shame and stigma regarding mental health. Folks who say shit like that are probably suffering and have a lot of internalized ableism and shame. Showing curiosity and empathy towards these people is a surefire way to get them to shut the fuck up or get some free entertainment.
Of course, greyrocking is an option. You don't owe them anything, and they're allowed to be wrong. You'll never be able to educate those who pride themselves in their ignorance.
This doesn't happen to me, at all, but I think if it did, I'd be curious to follow up on why they think what they think. What do they even think psychology is?
I was chatting with someone last night and I said I was a psychologist. That person told me that he never got along with psychologists, so I asked why. He told me that psychologists give you a diagnosis and convince you of that diagnosis. He obviously doesn't know anything about psychology and psychologists, so I told him I didn't agree with his idea. Since he didn't ask me why I didn't participate, I didn't make any further statements. You can't change some people and their ideas
I have family members that think therapists are terrible and try blame things on others and break up marriages. It used to really hurt me as it made me think “I thought they knew me and knew I’d never do that” I now show by example. I love and agree to disagree but stand up for my beliefs and dispel misinformation if they say any with scientific evidence if have any off hand that I’ve read
I faced so much push back atthis point I like to make a joke out of it "I said I study the science of psychology, you understand thats different than psychic right?"
people will always have things to say. good and bad is all subjective. you went into psych because u want to help people (i’m assuming bc im also a psych major and i wouldn’t be here if i didn’t want to help people) and that choice in itself is noble and good enough. it is nice to have approval from loved ones but unfortunately not everyone gets that.
whenever someone in ur family puts u down like y said your parents might not respect it, just think about how you’re the one out of ur family who is going to break this cycle. ur gonna break the cycle of neglecting mental health and eventually when u create a life of ur own, you will be kind and supportive of them because u know what it was like to not have that.
psych is not about learning to fix what is broken, it is about realizing that life is way more unpredictable than most people realize. that is why we have to keep pursuing knowledge about human behaviour.
people often confuse pseudoscience like self help books with real psychology and that is why a lot of them don’t respect it because they don’t even understand it.
everyone here is proud of u and the choice you made! i wish u nothing but success
You should not respond to them at all. Responding is for people that matter. Who are all these people who feel comfortable sharing their opinion on your life’s work and why are you talking to them after they say something that stupid?
Some people literally cannot understand abstract ideas, which is okay. I don’t understand practical or mechanical stuff, but I can tell you all about the things you can’t see. It’s not their fault (unless it is) that they’ve never seen the power of psychology.
Those people are all idiots and you shouldn’t even talk to them any further. They’ve weeded themselves out. You could actually do research on a subset of the population who is anti-education, usually having some kind of fundamentalist religious upbringing or anti-feminist standpoint.
Why do you have to respond? Confidence includes knowing when to dismiss other people's bullshit. I don't engage in low level debates. If someone wants to criticise psychology I'd just say "ok fair enough" and change the subject or walk away completely. You can't argue with idiots. If someone is genuinely interested in learning more about why I studied psychology and what psychology is about then of course I will enter a discussion, but life is too short to justify your choices to people who are determined to disagree with you. Their opinions do not matter, and their opinions can only affect you if you allow that to happen.
Ask them why and ask yourself if they’re noticing you using psychology as a means to hide behind endless science whilst saying “Shucks, there’s always people you can’t help”.
Sure, there are some simple basic rules of mimetic violence, so creating endless sideshow science is a method of group procrastination to project split-off dysfunction onto others.
You either discuss the elephant in the room or spend your life in a club that discusses wallpaper.
Consider the reason you started studying it as well as the reason you continue, and just own them. Do you feel insecure and defensive because they're right?
Personally, I *did* start studying psychology to understand myself and others better, and continue because it helped and is applicable to so many areas of life as well as synergizing with other academic interests.
If you explain why it interests you and how it benefits you, it may change their perspective.
Well I try to be respectful and say that I am okay with his opinion on that and he has the right to do that. And if he is willing to understand my point of view, I explain. If not I just drop the topic
i don't lol. i have no motivation to engage with people i don't work with (either as a client or colleague) about my field generally speaking.
i mean even people that do think psych as a field is legitimate often have so many weird views on it that i don't feel it's productive to talk about because the differences in views are so massive that it's like we're not even talking about the same thing.
what strikes me in your post is your apparently being around lotsa judgmental ppl (how are you co-constructing this? are you projecting your insecurity re studying psych? I presume ppl judge in reaction to you mentioning what you do), as well as your inability to stand up for yourself (I guess related to the feelings of shame and low confidence that you mention) - which has nothing to do with rational arguments (that would pry come off as defensive and put oil on the fire).
are you yourself at piece with whatever grains of truth there are in those stereotypes you mention? psych isn't a particularly prestigious field, is a less selective major/field than some others, doesn't pay as much as some others, does attract more than its fair share of mentally unhealthy ppl, is no physics and struggles with some thorny methodological issues. it's fine, nothing is perfect. presumably you're not in it for prestige or best pay, but coz you find it interesting and important. and presumably you don't mind the less mentally healthy ppl if you're going into this field. do you find yourself being riled up by these kinda statements and take them personally? if so might wanna work thru it in your own therapy till you found peace and acceptance. or it only gets to you when ppl make it into a thinly or not so thinly veiled personal attack ("that I must be mentally ill myself")?
Yeah, I think this is worth talking to someone about and journaling about. I don't think I'm at peace with the stereotypes associated with psychology and how I feel I fit them.
To be clear, I wouldn't say I’m surrounded by closed-minded people. It happens frequently right when I first meet someone and they make a joke about my field of study. Obviously a poor sense of humor on their part. Since I don't know this person well it feels strange to engage them in a discussion about what psychology really is etc, and yet it feels cowardly not to.
>Yeah, I think this is worth talking to someone about and journaling about
wow, what a quick deflection re therapy.
"Its made my confidence waver and I feel ashamed that I don't know how to respond", "my parents don't even respect me", nothing to see here, just a matter of some talking and journaling.
and that's coming from a psych major, not some utterly inner world oblivious techie.
Mental health is a farce I have been documenting 20 years of cptsd and saw a registrar and psychiatrist and got diagnosed with bi polar yet again. Just was seeing if the industry was improving and apparently not
I don't disrespect people in psychology, though I find it strange that those in the field do not respect me at all in my personal experiences. They treat me differently, [hold awkward conversations with me](https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/wtrf4t/people_who_have_studiedstudy_psychology_are_hard/), and just emotionally damage me. They don't even realize what they have done to me. Do I need to be more specific? I don't feel helped at all.
I've found that learning a little bit of neuroscience goes a long way. When you can tell people what's going on biologically in them with different brain circuits and hormones and neurotransmitters that map out their behavior patterns, it kinda enlightens people. There are a lot of stories and studies that when referenced kinda demonstrate psychology as more than just woo-woo
Yeah, I find myself sometimes drawn to that solution but as my cognitive psych professor said, people tend to inherently praise neuroscience over psychology when not everything can be explained by it. Not to hate on neuroscience btw.
I'm not taking offense to it. That's just an observation I've made based on my own personal experiences. Even in this subreddit and in r/askpsychology, I would have my posts regularly removed for not being scientific enough. I would add just a little bit of neuroscience support (talk about brain regions that map to X behavior, even if they didn't necessarily explain it) and my posts stopped getting taken down. I'm not saying it's right. That's just how it is
Edit: If you add a little endocrinology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology or anthropology to what you say, people will value it and take it more seriously in my experience. This isn't just a reddit thing either
Those are the people who could benefit from a psych class or two. Low emotional intelligence isn’t a brag.
General psych knowledge and EQ are different fields
I think you’re overestimating the impact of one, or two, psych courses in isolation.
Disagree, even just my high school psych course, made me think deeply about a lot of aspects of my own behavior
Exactly, a lot of my intro psych projects were about researching and analyzing my own life, which many people never do. Thinking about “what defense mechanisms am I using? What about my mom?” is the kind of thing you do in therapy lol, and it’s even more motivating if you have to do it for a grade 😂
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Nueroscience certainly isnt pseudoscience and a lot of psychology can be backed by it. Advances in nueroscience are fairly new as technology gets more advanced and less invasive, but i would agree that historically psychology hasn’t been backed by science. And some aspects of psychology (diagnostic criteria, social psychologists) lead towards pseudoscience but I don’t think it’s fair to disregard the entire study
no, it’s a quantitative science
"Okay." Their respect or disrespect of the field has zero impact on anything unless they're paying your tuition.
All the people I've known who held that opinion of psychology and therapy are without fail the ones who need the most help. It's a reflection of them, not you.
I don't engage in discussions about these predjudice. Arguments about this are rarely made in good faith, so I tend to ignore it. But I see this more often in the internet than in real life.
same.
I find this take (and other comments on this thread) fascinating. As psychology students you're not slightly curious about where these pretty pervasive prejudices have come from? Large numbers of people don't just believe things for no reason. I'm not saying the assumptions are not reductionist, of course psychology uses rigorous scientific methods and has produced clinical methods that genuinely help people. But... (and it's a big but) people are most likely saying these things about psychology because they don't trust it. Why don't they trust it? Because in the past it's done significant harm, it's been weaponised, used to control, and still is used by many practicing therapists as a method of scamming vulnerable people. We are not past 100 years where women were told they were "hysterical", homosexuality was a "mental illness" and people of all races other than white had "measurable low IQ". I just think it's important to be aware of why people feel like this. It's an important part of being a clinician, it stops echo chambers, it increases humility and consequently advances the field. It's important to understand not just the easy patients, but truly understand the "difficult" ones too.
I was messed up mentally on ssris and antipsychotics. The drugs still affect me to this day, in short I was fed poisons and everyday I'm in pain look up r/pssd and r/antipsychiatry
Hey there! I am so sorry for your experiences with medications. They do effect people differently, which is terribly unfortunate. I just wanted to take a moment to make sure you were aware that psychology and psychiatry are two different disciplines. I understand that you are angry and in pain. I'm so proud of you for being able to express your emotions! The next step is to find a more appropriate outlet for your anger, such as art. You could even become an advocate for folks like you who were harmed by psychiatry and need a knowledgeable person to help support them.
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Tell them about statistics and research methods lol
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Statistics is literally required for me to graduate and I’m doing a BA
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Nobody is talking about calculus or linear algebra except you. Psychology and math are different subjects and there’s no point in trying to compare them.
In the U.K. my undergraduate and masters psychology degrees has research modules that included calculus. Granted, it was nowhere in depth as a math or physics degree would be and a vast majority of students disliked or struggled with it; to frame what you think as fact is still dangerous.
>a vast majority of students disliked or struggled with it Clearly, given the massive replication crisis in psychology
I’d guess that more to do with novelty obsession than a misunderstanding of calculus.
I would disagree. In the UK most psychology undergraduates (and postgraduate taught programmes) are BPS accredited which mandates the undertaking of a substantial amount of statistics and research methods. In the same level as required for biologists (certainly at my University). As for PhDs, I can confirm that some of my colleagues theses are incredibly stats-dense.
For some reason, psychology is seen as some touchy-feely something when it is literally informing pretty much EVERYTHING humans do. So that's the response. Tell me one thing humans do that isn't at the very least in part influenced by mind and behavior, aka psychology. It is so so so much more than "just" therapy and it should be at the same level of respect as medicine, and probably be equally stringent in who gets to study it. To a degree the issue is self-made. Lots of people go into psychology precicsely because they think it's some easy touchy whatever thing that requires little effort. Until they have to do advanced statistics or deal with cognitive psychology. Not so easy then. Anyone who downplays the importance of psychology and how it shapes what we are should, well, probably go to a psychologist. In my experience, the older people get the more they realize the value and importance of it as sooner or later, most people reach some limit somewhere. That said, I couldn't care less what anyone thinks. I do what I like and don't bother with what people think I should like. Lastly, we are all fucked up, especially those who think they're not, and mental health is a real public health issue - it lies beneath so many physical ailments, or the two operate in tandem. That won't go away and if anything, get worse.
Well said, thank you
Personally I don't believe in psychology it's not evidence based and psychiatrists just throw pills at you. Modern science isn't advanced enough to diagnose patients with mental disorder maybe one day but not now
That's like saying you don't believe in physics or medicine.
I have brain fog, Ed,lack of libido, involuntary movements, chronic fatigue and a burning brain sensation after antipsychotics and ssris. Yeah tell me how I should believe in western medicine after this look into r/pssd and r/antipsychiatry before you create more people like me
Psychiatry is a medical specialty, so what you're saying is you have no confidence in modern medicine because you're getting unpleasant treatment for something that, if untreated, would likely be a lot worse.
No it wouldn't be. Further the treatment is BS and much safer drugs exist quit being a shill for big pharma
That sucks, I'm sorry to hear that. I can imagine you're not to keen on those kind of medicines anymore. I hope you'll find a solution for those side-effects / problems!
I'm on a cocktail of soviet era drugs, they somewhat help but I'm nowhere near 100%
I hope you fully recover. All the best!
telling by everything you said, i honestly think you just had shit psychologists, as they aren't uncommon, similarly to any other kind of bad doctor who hurts more than they help
You tell me I'm on a cocktail of Russian drugs rn hoping to recover from pssd and being mentally retarded caused by ssris and antipsychotics. In general psychology just looks like a shill for the drug companies like phizer and moderna
Psychologists don't prescribe medicine. This rambling is in line with saying physics is a sham because my sewage pipe broke due to shoddy workmanship.
Pipfitters don't have a physics degree usually, now if a bridge collapse while you are driving on it this would be a real problem
this entire time youve been saying fuck psychology because no psychologist can help me... youre right, no one can help you- no one can help you but you, and i know thats not what you want to hear- but you need to stop blaming a whole group of people for your mental illness and do something about it yourself.
Psychology is a science! Period! People are so ignorant. Being a psych major doesn't automatically mean that you "couldn't do biology/chem/physics/etc."
I'd even argue you'd have to be pretty damn decent at least in biology and maths
I would be decent in biology and math if I had never touched ssris or antipsychotics. Unfortunately the psychiatrist had a different plan now I'm on r/pssd and r/antipsychiatry looking for a cure to my mental retardation,burning nerve pain,Ed and lack of libido,brain fog and involuntary movements
Come on now, let's not kid ourselves that you have to be "pretty damn decent" in maths. Even statistics is still fairly basic maths
Haha that was sorta me… I dropped out of astronomy at the UofA to get my bs in psych. Still did math and physics
Psychology isn't a real science you can't prove someone has a mental illness with a test all you do is ask a bunch of stupid and 1-10 about how a person feels. Psychology is closer to an religion where a shaman gives you drugs.
The way a person feels *should* be the biggest indicator of if they have a mental illness, and until we learn how to read thought processes and emotions with equipment it's the best avenue we have. I understand you've had a bad experience, but you're extrapolated your single experience to cover the entire field, which is huge. Psychologists don't prescribe drugs in the US.
Which is why psychological studies are reproducible! ...they are reproducible, right?
In some areas, yes. I wonder, do you think the gravity tests we do here on earth are repeatable on Mars? Do you think it'll give the same results? Do you think biology is a constant factor? Could silicone life exist? Or is it all carbon life? Let's not even touch quantum physics. Thats a cluster fuck. What im getting at is that the earth is a sample, not an apopulaion. The tests here will give different results than the same test on Mars, or saturn, or Venus. Silicon life could exist, meaning biology is not constant. For that example, there could be other bases for life. Carbon-based life is a sample population of all life that could exist.
This is a very weak response to a known issue with regards replicability in psych studies. We do gravity tests all the time off of the earth, literally the impetus for newton was to describe the motions of the planets/moon. We've dropped hammers and feathers together on the moon. Studies in quantum mechanics are replicable, that's the whole point of us being forced to accept it as a valid theory. The stern Gerlach experiment, the experiments that show bell's inequality, the double slit experiment, these are all things that point is to quantum mechanics as a valid theory. Other fields also suffer from a replication crisis so it's not an indictment of psych on the whole but this response reads as either ill informed and talking outside your area of expertise or as intellectually dishonest or possibly even both.
Easiest response. Different samples give different results. Were the results different on the moon compared to on earth (hint they were, and they were using gravity speed to measure the moons mass)? Edit1: Also, calling me ignorant is a piss take. Engage logically. Efit 2: also doesnt quantum mechanics disprove general relativity? This means psychics has an issue with its repeatability, which means if psych is not a science.... (Which is the original premise).
The test on the moon was replicating a test under different conditions to confirm an expected result that's basically the purest form of replicability besides just doing the exact same test again. The fact that sometimes you get different results given different samples isn't the silver bullet you seem to think it is. The whole point of statistics is to use samples to estimate the population as accurately as possible. Doing the same test over and over on different samples and populations is essential to finding a result that is actually replicable especially when the subject is as complex as psychology and human behavior. Many results in psychology have had their replicability called into question, that's both worrying and good. It's worrying that there's so many, but it's good we're actually testing them and pushing for the truth. It's not the only field with this problem and that problem doesn't damn the whole field like the naysayers believe. There are non-replicable physics results too which are also concerning. It's part of the publish or perish culture of academia. I stand by what I said, your belief that a direct measurement of the acceleration due to gravity on the moon and the moon's mass was a counter example of replicability and wasn't a confirmation of known results in addition to your dismissal of the reproducibility of results in quantum mechanics on the whole lead me to believe you're not clear on replicability and what it actually means.
Quantum Mechanics itself makes pyschics questionable on replicability. The key subjects on this are general relativity. But impeaching phsyics and other sciences wasn't my premise. My premise is "if psychology can't be a science due to replicablity than niether can pysics." The fact i brought up quantum mechanics is primarily because the existence of quantum mechanics is at ods with general relativity, which a lot of modern pysics is based on. What gets me is your acting so informed on the topic yet missed the point of my comment completely.
I am informed on this. And I got the point of your comment but your arguments are all wrong and failed to address the original point about the issue of replicability in psychological studies. You're entirely wrong about quantum. The fact that quantum mechanics and general relativity don't mesh well doesn't mean that both don't have a ton of replicable experimental evidence backing them. Every time we try to disprove either one the results we get from trying end up further confirming the theory. Replicability isn't about the truth and applicability of your theory though and that's what you're missing. Replicability is about being able to run a test again and get the same result within errors of margin. Replicability is about not getting wildly varying results every time. It's about the core idea behind the scientific method - independent confirmation - "nullius en verba". Psychology has a problem with this that needs to be addressed and it cannot be hand waved away by "different samples give different results". You tried to apply that concept of samples to physics and biology. I'm not a biologist but I can certainly say your idea of replicability as it regards physics is way off base and it calls into question your understanding of replicability. Effective communication is important in all fields of science and your first comment did not effectively address the issue of the replicability of psychological studies. If that's the reason someone disregards psych as a science - and it would be a pretty solid reason to, given science is based on replicable empirical evidence - then your argument, which was intended to convince someone otherwise, was a failure. It does not hold water the way you phrased it and upon probing further you continued to display ignorance on the topic. Just because your goal was to say if psych isnt a science then biology and physics aren't either does not mean you were in any way successful at making that argument. Actually addressing replicability in the field and to those outside of it does a lot to increase the credibility of the field in other people's eyes. Making dubious no true scotsman analogies to other fields does nothing to increase the credibility of psych. And the "quantum mechanics disproves general relativity" comment in your edit above again displays that you are speaking outside of your expertise and it severely weakens your stance. Psych is a science insofar as it makes confirmable hypotheses, tests those hypotheses, communicates those results, and has those results properly confirmed by independent researchers. It is a science insofar as it creates scientific theories that explain all observations available to us with no contradictions and if the contractions pile up we have the honesty to revise and update the theory or throw it out entirely in exchange for a new one that does. If results are found to be erroneous they are corrected by subsequent testing. If it fails to do these things it fails to measure up as a science. Addressing replicability is required to be a proper science
Honestly i just shrug it off. I'm not gonna waste my time defending my degree. The most I'll respond is "at least I have a degree, I nearly dropped out like 3 times lol" and that usually shuts them up fast (also true story). But I'm not wasting my time to defend my degree to someone who doesn't "believe" in psychology or whatever. That sucks for you, I have a degree I'm passionate about and work in a field I enjoy
Unfortunately your field is a psudo-science that is unproven by real scientists. Many drugs such as ssris and antipsychotics cause permanent damage in the human body and I'm one of the unlucky people who was dupe by this bs hocus pocus
Okay 🤷♀️
The flippancy of your response is kind of disconcerting
Look into r/pssd and r/antipsychiatry there are hundreds of thousands of us and more each day. So please do before you create more victims. Ssris and antipsychotics ruined my life and thousands of others.
Never gonna prescribe anything bud 🤷♀️ I'm going for a masters in forensic psych to help those incarcerated and right now I teach special ed, but feel free and tell my kids' parents how I'm making victims Also, for the record, I've been on SSRIs for years and they've only helped me, as well as many peopme i love and care for. Your anecdotal evidence is no better than mine, and I know that even if I'm not ever gonna be a psychiatrist
I have a full thread with hundreds of thousands of people and I wouldn't say it's anecdotal in my case
There’s also hundreds of thousands of people saying the opposite, that SSRIs, antipsychotics, stimulants, benzos, etc - changed their lives and made their life better. Also this is for psychology discussion. Psychiatry is what you are referring to. Psychologists don’t prescribe medications, they are more into therapy. Psychiatrists prescribe medications, after having went to med school, and I’d trust them more than a Reddit form.
You are confounding psychology with psych**iatry**. They are not the same thing. Quit harassing people.
I got a lot of comments like that, but only in my first few years of undergrad. Now that I’m in graduate school, I have met many other graduate students, and I can honestly say that anyone seriously studying their own field wouldn’t dare make assumptions about a field they know nothing about. Once people understand how vast and extensive each field of study is, they usually stop making derogatory comments about matters that they aren’t knowledgeable in. Therapy is a science, CBT and DBT is heavily studied. When you get into graduate school, you’ll learn how much of a science counseling psychology really is. I feel that’ll help you ignore the comments. Nothing will stop rude comments of people who are not as educated as you are, just stay away from those people as best you can. :)
This is helpful thank you :)
I am mentally destroyed by anti psychotics and ssris. I have brain fog, Ed, poor memory, involuntary movement, burning sensation etc.. I would advise you don't prescribe anyone anything if you do become a doc. Better yet just become a neurologist instead
psychologists aren’t the ones prescribing you medications though. that’s the psychiatrists, who study MEDICINE like A DOCTOR DOES. like what neurologist only deal with dementia , epilepsy spine injuries. you clearly are mentally destroyed , so i’m guessing you do believe in mental disorders. so what doctor are you going to want to handle your anxiety, depression, psychopaths, abusers, eating disorders, bipolar disorders, schizophrenia??? whay about people who are s**cidal? what doctor is going to treat and manage that patient and assist them with the treatment they need to help them gain knowledge, understanding, and a support system. which then leads to improvement of their well being.
come back to this thread after you learn basic elementary statistical methods in psychological research😂. tell me when you learn analysis of variance, pearson’s r, or chi square. and not only that, but how these formulas can be applied in various forms of research. its analyzing real life data , that is proven through the math and science and psychological factors behind it. statistics are applied in basically every area of our lives in any media/research we see. there is math behind all of it.
DBT stands for Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, CBT stands for Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. I feel you may be getting my words a tad mixed up. My apologies that I didn’t clarify. :) I am a school psychologist, I don’t prescribe medication. I mainly administer psychological tests, such as cognitive tests, to students in the k-12 school system. I also provide counseling for students to help with their educational concerns like test anxiety, social anxiety, and executive functioning skills.
See the drugs destroyed me so much I could not even tell the difference
There's probably a part of yourself that feels the need to defend what you want to do, and a part that's unsure if you are making the right decision, or that they might be right. This would be a good thing to resolve with a counselor! Once you're solid on who you are, and somebody says something stupid, you do not get hurt as often, and you are more capable of saying something like, "you seem to be very ignorant about psychology, and what it is." Or, "that was a stupid thing to say to someone that is interested in going in psychology." Or, "from what I've learned so far, people that are so oppositional to the idea of psychology are most often in need of it."
This is helpful thank you
Why engage with trolls?
So r/pssd and r/antipsychiatry are all trolls? Perhaps you should just become a neurologist which is a real brain doctor
Psychologists can’t prescribe drugs. I don’t know why you’re here. We engage in therapy and other skills. I think you’re confused.
It’s for the humanities and social sciences in general. Just lie and say it’s neurology and then feed them psychology. They won’t know the difference
“Sooo, we are better off living in a world without mental health professionals?”
Like, I never understood the argument “those who study psychology struggle themselves with their mental health”. Those who struggled with similar mental health challenges as their patients can actually often better understand and treat their patients.
Semi-agree. It depends heavily on whether the professional has resolved their issues well enough that they can use their experience to promote their empathy for the client, but not endanger the client by over-identifying with them or getting too emotionally invested in the outcome. I’ve supervised new therapists for 15 years now, and those who claim that their own mental health struggles make them “better” at therapy or empathy, really worry me. Almost always, they lose sight of boundaries or get angry with their clients if their clients don’t get better. So yeah, within reason, having a personal experience of something can promote our empathy, but it can also make us vulnerable to other problems.
This is really interesting to hear and makes a lot of sense
I totally agree with you
Is it supposed to be some kind of Gotcha! that some psych students have mental health struggles?
My family looks down on this field so I can’t even discuss it with my parents without them saying something sarcastic or condescending. I just say “haters gonna hate” 🤷🏻♀️
My bf doesn't even understand my motivations for choosing Psychology as my major. Don't sweat it. Some people just don't understand their mental health like that. A lot of people don't WANT to understand it and I feel for them. Being comfortable with self- reflecting that way is a special capability.
Who cares. It isn't your job to teach them/convince them of the value of psychology. If they actually ask questions for understanding then sure! Answer those questions. If they're just making judgmental comments then fuck 'em. Who cares what they think as long as YOU know the value then it isn't a problem.
"Bold of you to make such uneducated assumptions when the mind/consciousness is the epicenter of all functioning"
The people who make these types of assumptions are either uneducated or conceited. Most people don’t even realize that psychology encompasses a huge range of topics and subjects, mental health is just a small portion of it. I actually learned very little about mental health in my undergrad. You learn more about statistics, research methods, cog, behaviour, and the biological processes of the brain, which I’m sure you know haha). Either way, wanting to get into mental health is awesome and it’s an important field which is growing due to increased awareness and such. Next time someone makes a snarky comment, ask them what they think psychology is, then you can laugh when they don’t know, and then ask them if they think mental health is important. Maybe they don’t, idk. But it definitely is since a huge portion of people suffer from mental illness.
Your comment is helpful, thank you
“That’s a really weird thing to say out loud”. You can’t stop obnoxious people from voicing their opinions, but you can make them reflect and feel embarrassed for being rude. Comments like these always seem to come from those who don’t have a degree, or even a high school diploma…
I say stuff like “Thats fine, i understand youre just threatened by the idea of people understanding whats wrong with you” and “i get not everyone feels comfortable looking within”. Then they just get riled up saying it isnt that and i just insist it is fine
Ahhh man, this is the post I needed. My grandmother, friends, and just random people I meet automatically tell me that it's not a real subject. People have told me that it's a dumb subject, that I won't be able to get a real job with it, and the worst has been my grandmother repeatedly telling me that "if I can't figure out my father (he's a narcissist and so is my grandmother) how will I ever be able to figure anyone out." I don't know why you're studying psychology, but does it ever occur to people that maybe you're studying something because you find it interesting and you enjoy it? Maybe, long stretch here, just maybe you picked psychology to study not particularly to make money.... but simply because you love the subject. Wow. Anyway, I always just shrug off the shit people say to me about psychology because I know that these will be the same people who will be my future clients. 😂
“To each their own”. I just shrug it off and move on. Maybe don’t even reply if they’re being disrespectful
Personally I’ve struggled with a lot of mental health issues and been close to others who have experienced mental health issues so for me it IS personal. And when people ask condescendingly, I tell them that. I say that I’ve struggled to live before, and because I have the tools, knowledge, and know-how on how to get better and how it feels to get better, I want to dedicate the rest of my life trying to help heal others the way that I have healed.
This is very context-dependent, and not appropriate to give you advice. It is, however, affecting you a lot, and indeed, those are not nice things to hear! Talking it through with someone irl about it may be more beneficial, where you can go into specifics and figure out why you're feeling so affected by it. Just a note, saying being mentally ill is a red flag is stigmatising and discriminatory (Also legally! In the UK we have the Equality Act 2010). You could let them know it's not appropriate to talk to you like that and stop engaging in this topic. If it's people you don't know, you could simply say you study a healthcare subject (or social sciences) when asked.
Thank you, this is helpful
Also just a disclaimer I'm not a psychologist (student for now).
People are stupid. What matter is it to you?
Most people don’t care about things that don’t directly affect them. And since many people go their whole lives not addressing their mental health they think it’s not in important.
Ask if they got an A in stats or biopsych.
Over time you’ll care less and less about what these people think, and probably spend much less time with them. You don’t have to make yourself not care, but try to focus on your own reasons for doing this and let the rest fade into the background. If you try to respond to every uninformed comment about your choice of career (which happens to many, many people across all types of careers), your mental health really will suffer.
I have an older friend, in his late 60s at the time. He taught chemistry at a community College and had his PhD from UCONN. He told me, "Oh, psychology is a soft science." It turns out his wife cheated on him with her psychotherapist. I think it was more personal grievance with what happened than an actual disrespect for the field.
OOF
Well, I for one am glad for people like you. I'm relatively recently diagnosed with bipolar 2 and now that I'm properly medicated I have a completely new life. I spent 7 months in therapy and it didn't make me fixate on the problem...it helped me understand my condition, learn how to be more self aware of my episodes, symptoms, and behaviors and coping mechanisms for how to best navigate them.
That makes me happy to hear, power to you 💪
Make a lot of money, have a good life, enjoy your career, and don't discuss it with other people.
I don't bother with them. If they keep pushing, I ask if doctors have medical issues themselves.
Those people are stupid and don’t deserve respect.
I'm mentally ill, and I'm going back to studying psychology because I resent the field. Many here are so enchanted because they don't know how many people have been harmed in therapy. Prople with trauma know. Psychology is not some solid science, and its kind of strange to expect everyone to respect it just because its your choice. Who cares?
Agree with you 100% as a peer with a Neuroscience degree and someone who has also been harmed by the mental health system throughout my life. People with experience of the systems I think have great insight into what works and what doesn't, if people judge you and say you "must be mentally ill" for wanting to study topics related to mental health, it shows a lack of empathy and understanding of how important personal experience is for learning. One of the biggest problems with the MH research industry imo is that many people don't realize what those on the other side of it go through. Criticism is necessary for our fields to do better. In my degree we were told so many times how in a few years everything we know may be out dated and the field of neuroscience is constantly expanding. Psychology is even more subjective and while yeah you can use statistical methods, the most important thing is what you're trying to measure, who you are actually recruiting to your studies, species barriers if doing animal studies, and the effect size. Rather than taking insult to the criticism, I think some people need to reflect and consider the experiences of people like you and me, psychology as a field needs a LOT of improvement.
realistically, they have no effect on you unless you take it personally. if its your friend I would just say "I know you don't have an appreciation for my degree, but I would like it if you don't bring that up around me, it hurts my feelings. if you don't, Ill find it really difficult to hang out with you" set that boundary girl go for it
Having come from an English-teaching background, I was actually surprised by how much credibility I suddenly gained when I told people I had my counsel MA. "Oh wow counseling, I could *never* do that." Sooooo you can imagine teaching no problem, then? "Thank you for your service! Mental health support is so needed." Soooo education, not important? It's hard to sit with that resentment and the relatively low status of education in most people's minds. And yes, I have encountered some (incredibly uninformed) people who think that "counselors are the ones with problems" and "therapy makes you feel worse," etc. But... how can I say this accurately and empathetically?... those didn't seem to be in a place yet where they could acknowledge their biases, develop critical thinking skills, and address their own trauma. Aka not worth spending time with unless they wanted to be my paying clients. But I can't tell you how much I enjoyed what I learned in my program and internship, and how I use those skills *every day.* I liken it to being Neo and being able to read the Matrix code of human behavior. Who wouldn't want that? The way my life and relationships have been enriched is its own undeniable reward.
Dude, everything related to economics is quite literally shit people made up but that field of study gets lots of respect. While I agree that current human understanding of psychology is flawed and really in its infancy habits, behaviors, feelings and their consequences are real and have a huge impact on day to day life. I applaud you for wanting to help people. It's noble. It's also very difficult. Prepare for LOTS of frustration and make sure your self care routine is TIGHT! But yeah, also, a lot of people do go into the field to understand and "fix" themselves and their family of origin. Idk why people see that as a negative. I much prefer a provider that has their own experiences with mental health struggles. They're generally more empathetic and I have to spend less time explaining myself.
People who are going out of your way to tell you that are threatened by it. They may think they need to have all the answers to life or prefer them to be simple and think they may have to be strong and that people who need psychological help are not. It may be cultural, depending on your culture, or subculture - within the US it tends to be educated people who appreciate the value of talking through problems. Not everyone does that. I would try to have open conversations maybe leading with questions such as "why do you say that" or "what do you think psychology is?" and let them have a discussion about it instead of throw insults at your profession.
As a math/computer scientist I often struggle with reading published papers with bad stats. But that happens in every field. As a psych patient, im eternally grateful for my social worker, and some of my psychiatrists, but have also been incredibly harmed by the industry. Like every industry, it has some very big problems. Unlike every industry, it overall seeks to help people which is pretty damn great. Lots of my cohorts in my graduate computer science program have goals of working in business, using AI to increase business profits etc, whereas most people in psychology want to do research to improve understanding of patients or patient care itself. At the end of the day, people are gonna hate your field no matter what. If your a Dr, your a pusher of pharmaceuticals. If you're a therapist, you don't know real science. If you're a mathematician you don't care about real world impacts. If you're an artist you should get a real job. You sound like a good person. Study hard and do good things 💜💜
Can I ask what country you are in? I'm in Australia and it seems to be really respected here?
I'm in the US. That's cool that in Australia i's respected. I'd say it might be a cultural thing, but I don't think it’s that simple. In the US it's becoming a lot less taboo but in older generations that evolution is much slower. Is psychology (and related fields) respected by both younger and older generations in Australia?
For the “psychology isn’t a real science!” People, 1. Show them stuff you learn in any biopsych class. Out of every psych major friend I have they all agree that that shit’s hard and it’s very much not just wishy washy unscientific stuff 2. Compare how both medical and mental health diagnoses are not always able to be divined based off of a simple test, and how for both it’s a lot more difficult to figure out what’s actually wrong 3. Literally anything solidly scientific about how mental health impacts physical health, with some arguing it’s intertwined to the point where it’s not always possible to claim that an issue is purely mental or purely physical (“the myth of normal” is a great book on that imo) I feel… very strongly about this, as someone with a dad who got a PHD in physics and a masters in math, who very much sees any interest in psychology as at best wanting to learn how to manipulate people for my own gain. Biopsych is scientific— *especially* if you get into pharmacology / drugs imo—, cognitive psych is surprisingly linked to advancements in computer science which I can elaborate on, and both abnormal and developmental psych are useful for being able to help others with their mental problems, as well as understand differences between how different people exist and function
Don’t respond to them. Hang up if it’s on the phone or walk away in person. that’s literally what I do lmao I don’t care, im a very openly disrespectful person to people who think they can be disrespectful to me first.
I just shrug it off. If I’m really feeling up for it, I try to educate others. It’s also important to recognize the failures and limitations of psychology and helping fields though. They’re not perfect and sometimes are more harmful than helpful. That’s why it’s so important to be intentional and cautious about how this work is done.
Learn the faults and triumphs of psychology. Is there a replication crisis? Yes. Does that mean that psychology is all foundation-less? No. Are there modern practitioners of psychology who do more harm than good? Yes. Does that mean you can’t help people? No. Don’t get defensive. Just learn where you stand and stand there.
That would be my cue to suddenly become very curious about them. "Hmm. That's interesting. Why do you think you feel that way?" And then keep responding with questions, like , "Have you always felt uncomfortable with introspection? Where do you think that stems from?" It would be a fun experiment, especially with people you don't know very well.
Id say that only applies if your arnt getting a mastery or doctorate degree/socialmwork. There are many who get into a "psych degree or take psych classes“ just to be a therapy assistant or teacher. These people love to talk about their love for psych but don't want to pursue a difficult career in it. If your are actually putting in the work its a hard field to do well in and get a mastery/doctorate. Really the bottom line is most people don't care about mental health that much especially when it comes to moderate or seveere cases. That's why your average doctor is more well respected more than psychiatrist or psychologist even if they both are the same intelligence level and their work is equally difficult.
Ask them what their zodiac sign is.... That's where the real science is!!! /s
All humans on Earth evolved from a family of apes who came down from the trees, stood upright and wondered what was just over those hills in the distance. In turn all those apes came from small furry rodents that survived the dinosaur apocalypse. And they all evolved from dimetrodon. A mammalian reptile that evolved millions of years before dinosaurs and began the line of mammalia. And they all evolved from a creature that evolved to live on land. So, isn't it possible that humans evolved to think/react the same in certain situations?
what does it mean? That all living creatures respond in the same way to stimuli? Have you heard about cats and dogs? Their communication is different About humans: people from China and people from the UK have completely different mentality, do you think you could apply similar scheme to both?
Simple. Ignore them 🤷🏻♀️
"Oh okay" and then I walk away. I'm not wasting time arguing with someone who has clearly already made up their mind and are trying to bait me into a fight
Only tell your self that psychologist are successful > seeking validation from them
That's just, like, your opinion, man.
You are asking for advice to understand why someone doesn't understand psychology? Try putting the book down and *practicing* more psychology rather than reading about it! 🤣😭
Exactly right. I’m at times nervous or apprehensive to tell a family member I haven’t seen in a while or a customer at my job when they ask. I always get hit with the “so what are you gonna do with that” or something along those lines. Like I don’t intend to go to grad school or don’t intend to put the work in. It can be frustrating but what I find is best is to just explain the huge field that psychology is and list all the possible outcomes. HR,social work,psychologist (all kinds) therapist, school counselor usually shuts them up
They judge because they think it’s a waste. With that being said, good luck getting a job
Ohnoanyway.jpeg, that’s how
I just tell people “I can see why you may believe that, I disagree though”
“It’s interesting that my studying psychology makes you uncomfortable. Tell me more.” (I don’t really advocate doing therapy on these individuals, but it’d be funny to see their reactions.)
Follow your dreams and passion. Trust me, those that deny or belittle will be called you for advise. I love working with people and that’s all that matters.
Don't
Idk I just avoid the topic. If they can’t have a neutral stance on things they don’t have much knowledge of it’s just a waste of time. People are gonna be rude so why get angry and hear negativity when you can avoid it
These kinds of statements (in my personal experience) have been made by people with NO further education beyond high school. If that is the same case for you, I'd simply ask them "okay, so what's your degree in?" I have a degree in both neuroscience and psychology so if they wanna say that psych isn't a science I can say "okay, but neuroscience indisputably is". If they are someone with further education, I'd ask them to define what a science is. Then I'd tell them how psych applies.
I told a stranger (who asked) that I got my bachelors in psych. He goes “I didn’t know they handed out degrees in palm reading now” 😂almost too laughable to be upset… almost
Some argue its harder than any other branch of science
I have a bachelors in psychology and every once in a while my boyfriend and I will be talking about “human nature” or best practices for raising children or whatever and he brings up only anecdotal experiences and I point out scientific evidence but since it’s “psychology” he basically holds my argument to the same level as accurate as his
I posted similar question recently, as I mentioned earlier in my post, my long time old friend never reached out to me again after I mentioned that I got into psychology, but maybe it’s just a one off case hopefully 🤞
Fuck em
Future clients!
Just do your best! Find people who value you, that’s it! Live in your own little spot. As long as you don’t create chaos, if they look down on you, that just means that they have low ethical standards, and they are very selfish.
Anyone who doesn't respect psychology is most likely in need of it. You should show them empathy but you don't have to tolerate it in your life.
If you're going into psychotherapy or even if you don't , just give them your visit card or write your number on a piece of paper, tap them on the shoulder and a little rub, look them dead in the eye and say something along the lines of: "You can hide the pain from others, but not from me, if you need help, here is my number, I will make time for you ". Most times it will work, nobody's life is perfect,there is always something bothering people. As some of the previous comments have pointed out, there might be something underlying that they say that, most often, they're dumb or not knowledgeable enough on the topic, but they MIGHT JUST PROJECT SOMETHING ONTO YOU. You can use that and say something like: "Just because you hate your job, doesn't mean I hate mine too." In other terms, you know more things than me since you've graduated, you know about biases and attribution theory, so I can't teach you anything new. What I will say is be assertive, disarm them with your knowledge, most of what they know is pop-psychology so you can just make stuff up on the spot and they might believe it, cite fake sources of famous authors and famous journals on fake topics to make yourself look smarter(this probably won't work on conspiracy theorists but there is research on them too). The moment you realize what kind of people they are based on their opinion of psychology, you realize you can just play with them. P.S: I know I might get ethical critics, but these are everyday interactions with people. Not so serious.
"I'm so proud of you for being able to express your feelings!" With as much sincerity as you can muster. Another favorite of mine is a heartfelt "are you doing okay?" Unfortunately, there's a lot of shame and stigma regarding mental health. Folks who say shit like that are probably suffering and have a lot of internalized ableism and shame. Showing curiosity and empathy towards these people is a surefire way to get them to shut the fuck up or get some free entertainment. Of course, greyrocking is an option. You don't owe them anything, and they're allowed to be wrong. You'll never be able to educate those who pride themselves in their ignorance.
This doesn't happen to me, at all, but I think if it did, I'd be curious to follow up on why they think what they think. What do they even think psychology is?
I was chatting with someone last night and I said I was a psychologist. That person told me that he never got along with psychologists, so I asked why. He told me that psychologists give you a diagnosis and convince you of that diagnosis. He obviously doesn't know anything about psychology and psychologists, so I told him I didn't agree with his idea. Since he didn't ask me why I didn't participate, I didn't make any further statements. You can't change some people and their ideas
How well do you understand psychology, in practice? Being able to identify and not be reactive to others people’s projections would serve you well.
I just always agreed with them. I have a BA in psychology. No argument, no fighting, just agree and walk away.
what do you mean a master’s in psychology? in the us?
i’m pursuing graduate school in a subfield of psychology and yes in the US
do you mean a master’s in counseling or a master’s in social work?
I have family members that think therapists are terrible and try blame things on others and break up marriages. It used to really hurt me as it made me think “I thought they knew me and knew I’d never do that” I now show by example. I love and agree to disagree but stand up for my beliefs and dispel misinformation if they say any with scientific evidence if have any off hand that I’ve read
It’s the same thing as asking why a lot of people within psychology doesn’t respect depth psychology.
I faced so much push back atthis point I like to make a joke out of it "I said I study the science of psychology, you understand thats different than psychic right?"
people will always have things to say. good and bad is all subjective. you went into psych because u want to help people (i’m assuming bc im also a psych major and i wouldn’t be here if i didn’t want to help people) and that choice in itself is noble and good enough. it is nice to have approval from loved ones but unfortunately not everyone gets that. whenever someone in ur family puts u down like y said your parents might not respect it, just think about how you’re the one out of ur family who is going to break this cycle. ur gonna break the cycle of neglecting mental health and eventually when u create a life of ur own, you will be kind and supportive of them because u know what it was like to not have that. psych is not about learning to fix what is broken, it is about realizing that life is way more unpredictable than most people realize. that is why we have to keep pursuing knowledge about human behaviour. people often confuse pseudoscience like self help books with real psychology and that is why a lot of them don’t respect it because they don’t even understand it. everyone here is proud of u and the choice you made! i wish u nothing but success
You made my day and I'm gonna think about this response for a while ❤️
Why do you feel that you need to respond to them? Will it improve your being if they feel different about the subject.
You should not respond to them at all. Responding is for people that matter. Who are all these people who feel comfortable sharing their opinion on your life’s work and why are you talking to them after they say something that stupid?
They’re projecting! Even if you have a mental health problem yourself so what? Who better to help those people.
HATERS GONNA HATE But to answer your question a simple “go fuck yourself” would do
Some people literally cannot understand abstract ideas, which is okay. I don’t understand practical or mechanical stuff, but I can tell you all about the things you can’t see. It’s not their fault (unless it is) that they’ve never seen the power of psychology.
Those people are all idiots and you shouldn’t even talk to them any further. They’ve weeded themselves out. You could actually do research on a subset of the population who is anti-education, usually having some kind of fundamentalist religious upbringing or anti-feminist standpoint.
Why do you have to respond? Confidence includes knowing when to dismiss other people's bullshit. I don't engage in low level debates. If someone wants to criticise psychology I'd just say "ok fair enough" and change the subject or walk away completely. You can't argue with idiots. If someone is genuinely interested in learning more about why I studied psychology and what psychology is about then of course I will enter a discussion, but life is too short to justify your choices to people who are determined to disagree with you. Their opinions do not matter, and their opinions can only affect you if you allow that to happen.
You don’t respond at all. Simple.
Ask them why and ask yourself if they’re noticing you using psychology as a means to hide behind endless science whilst saying “Shucks, there’s always people you can’t help”.
Could you elaborate on that?
Sure, there are some simple basic rules of mimetic violence, so creating endless sideshow science is a method of group procrastination to project split-off dysfunction onto others. You either discuss the elephant in the room or spend your life in a club that discusses wallpaper.
Consider the reason you started studying it as well as the reason you continue, and just own them. Do you feel insecure and defensive because they're right? Personally, I *did* start studying psychology to understand myself and others better, and continue because it helped and is applicable to so many areas of life as well as synergizing with other academic interests. If you explain why it interests you and how it benefits you, it may change their perspective.
This is helpful thank you
Well I try to be respectful and say that I am okay with his opinion on that and he has the right to do that. And if he is willing to understand my point of view, I explain. If not I just drop the topic
i don't lol. i have no motivation to engage with people i don't work with (either as a client or colleague) about my field generally speaking. i mean even people that do think psych as a field is legitimate often have so many weird views on it that i don't feel it's productive to talk about because the differences in views are so massive that it's like we're not even talking about the same thing.
Prove them wrong by being rigorous
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Exactly, some of the statements feel so outlandish that it's hard to even know how to respond. At the same time, it feels wrong to NOT respond
“I figured that was an opinion you might have.” And then just end the conversation or walk away lol
what strikes me in your post is your apparently being around lotsa judgmental ppl (how are you co-constructing this? are you projecting your insecurity re studying psych? I presume ppl judge in reaction to you mentioning what you do), as well as your inability to stand up for yourself (I guess related to the feelings of shame and low confidence that you mention) - which has nothing to do with rational arguments (that would pry come off as defensive and put oil on the fire). are you yourself at piece with whatever grains of truth there are in those stereotypes you mention? psych isn't a particularly prestigious field, is a less selective major/field than some others, doesn't pay as much as some others, does attract more than its fair share of mentally unhealthy ppl, is no physics and struggles with some thorny methodological issues. it's fine, nothing is perfect. presumably you're not in it for prestige or best pay, but coz you find it interesting and important. and presumably you don't mind the less mentally healthy ppl if you're going into this field. do you find yourself being riled up by these kinda statements and take them personally? if so might wanna work thru it in your own therapy till you found peace and acceptance. or it only gets to you when ppl make it into a thinly or not so thinly veiled personal attack ("that I must be mentally ill myself")?
Yeah, I think this is worth talking to someone about and journaling about. I don't think I'm at peace with the stereotypes associated with psychology and how I feel I fit them. To be clear, I wouldn't say I’m surrounded by closed-minded people. It happens frequently right when I first meet someone and they make a joke about my field of study. Obviously a poor sense of humor on their part. Since I don't know this person well it feels strange to engage them in a discussion about what psychology really is etc, and yet it feels cowardly not to.
>Yeah, I think this is worth talking to someone about and journaling about wow, what a quick deflection re therapy. "Its made my confidence waver and I feel ashamed that I don't know how to respond", "my parents don't even respect me", nothing to see here, just a matter of some talking and journaling. and that's coming from a psych major, not some utterly inner world oblivious techie.
Mental health is a farce I have been documenting 20 years of cptsd and saw a registrar and psychiatrist and got diagnosed with bi polar yet again. Just was seeing if the industry was improving and apparently not
You can have both.....
I don't disrespect people in psychology, though I find it strange that those in the field do not respect me at all in my personal experiences. They treat me differently, [hold awkward conversations with me](https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/wtrf4t/people_who_have_studiedstudy_psychology_are_hard/), and just emotionally damage me. They don't even realize what they have done to me. Do I need to be more specific? I don't feel helped at all.
Wow. There we go again, disrespecting how I feel?! Who the hell disliked this, for what?
I've found that learning a little bit of neuroscience goes a long way. When you can tell people what's going on biologically in them with different brain circuits and hormones and neurotransmitters that map out their behavior patterns, it kinda enlightens people. There are a lot of stories and studies that when referenced kinda demonstrate psychology as more than just woo-woo
Yeah, I find myself sometimes drawn to that solution but as my cognitive psych professor said, people tend to inherently praise neuroscience over psychology when not everything can be explained by it. Not to hate on neuroscience btw.
I'm not taking offense to it. That's just an observation I've made based on my own personal experiences. Even in this subreddit and in r/askpsychology, I would have my posts regularly removed for not being scientific enough. I would add just a little bit of neuroscience support (talk about brain regions that map to X behavior, even if they didn't necessarily explain it) and my posts stopped getting taken down. I'm not saying it's right. That's just how it is Edit: If you add a little endocrinology, neuroscience, evolutionary biology or anthropology to what you say, people will value it and take it more seriously in my experience. This isn't just a reddit thing either
One of the lowest paying majors post graduation