Why You Should Study Psychology.

WHY YOU SHOULD STUDY PSYCHOLOGY.

Among other reasons why you should study psychology, is first of all, for personality development, secondly as a foundation subject on which other disciplines will be built. Such other disciplines are Medicine, Nursing, Health and Social Care, Psychotherapy, Guidance and Counselling, Psychiatry, Hypnotism, Clinical Psychology, Sociology, Physiology, (Biological psychology), Leadership and Management, Anthropology etc.

The etymology of the word Psychology is from two Greek words Psykh and Logos where psykh means mind, spirit, consciousness or awareness and Logos means science of or study of. Hence Psykh -Logos is study of or science of mind, spirit, consciousness etc.

Basically we know that Human Being is made up of Mind and Body or spiritual and physical realities. We know more of the physical part of Human Person than we know the spiritual. Possibly, because the spiritual or the mind is hidden from us and we behold the physical or the body every moment of the day. Sometimes the sight of the Human Body (Homo Somaticus) influences us into thinking that we are only bodies.

However, the driving force, or the dynamo that keeps the body in form and motion is the mind or spirit. Removed from the body, the body becomes vegetative and withers away. The study of this driving force in us is what Psychology is all about.

In terms of personality development, Psychology helps us to look into ourselves reflectively and see ourselves as we are. It helps us to get rid of imaginative false personality and other false consciousness, which social environments and temporal conditions around us tend to impose on us. It opens our eyes to the unlimited freedom within the principles of self-determination, whereby we choose to be whatever we want be despite apparent oppositions. As a descendant of Philosophy, Psychology becomes an intellectual midwife that enables us to give birth to what is already in our head, but had been eclipsed by parasitical complexes.

Proper knowledge and use of applied psychology embeds our personality with shock absorber against stress and enables us to move ahead where many people would stop short.

As a foundation subject on which other disciplines will be built, Psychology is indispensable for Medical Professionals and for Health Care Careers Doctors and Nurses know the importance of removing adverse mental events for the success of the treatments of certain physical ailments. In the context of Health and Social Care, knowledge of Psychology is so important in the understanding of most of the behaviors of service users. In the same way, in Psychotherapy, the therapist guides the patient to use psychological enlightenments to solve his or her own problems. Psychotherapy aims to increase the individual`s sense of his/her own well-being. Similar principle operates in Guidance and Counselling. Psychiatry which is derived from two Greek words Psykh : Soul and I trikos, Iatry medical treatment is devoted to the study, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental disorders of various nature and levels.

In Clinical Psychology, science, theories and clinical knowledge are usually synthesized in order to understand, prevent and resolve psychologically-based distress and abnormalities and promote proper personality development. Hypnotism and Hypnotherapy are special forms of applied Psychology which, can be used sometimes, remotely, to influence or control some body or group of people for various reasons. Other disciplines like Sociology, Physiology, (Biological Psychology), Leadership and Management, Anthropology etc., have their own vast areas that require strong knowledge of Psychology.

Thus, there are many reasons why you should study Psychology.

Dr. Chin