"Psychologists are the enemies of the human race," my colleague psychiatrist mutters after talking to a new patient. And I agree with him. Because one of my jobs is a mental hospital. You read the cards - your heart bleeds. In the early stages of the disease, most of them went to psychological counseling, courses, groups, trainings for years. They were taught to "enjoy life" and how to "get rid of unnecessary fear and anxiety." The disease, meanwhile, progressed. And none of the group leaders or consulting psychologists saw that the person had a mental illness.
The problem with people with mental illness is that they don't understand what's going on with them. At the same time, the person feels that something is "wrong" with him and begins to seek help. After the Soviet era, the word "psychiatry" remains frightening, therefore, most often go to psychologists. The whole horror is that psychologists do not know this area at all and do not distinguish the norm from pathology. And the beauty of their position is that they are not responsible for anything (the doctor is on trial, the psychologist is not!).
I myself am a psychologist. And today I, like Pavlik Morozov, oppose the alma mater. As a partisan, I undermine the authority of the professional class. I have the right to do so. Because I know the true extent of the flawed psychological education. And the consequences of this.
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Many years ago, after graduating from college, I went to work at a clinical psychotherapy center. All around were psychiatrists and psychotherapists. In order to enter the work of the center, I asked to be present at the reception. After the first reception, she came out confused. The consultation was attended by a woman with a 6-year-old son. She complained that the child was restless, "with an awl in the ass." And the psychotherapist, instead of understanding the atmosphere of the family, asked questions about how the childbirth proceeded, how the boy eats, and how he sleeps … And then he sent the child for an encephalogram. And he explained to me: “This is intracranial pressure. It is necessary to treat the root cause, psychotherapy alone is not enough here."
And then he gave a short lecture, the essence of which was that a person, in addition to a soul, also has a body with a bunch of organs, diseases of which affect the psyche. For example, if the function of the thyroid gland is dysfunctional, a person becomes irritable, with this he will come to a psychologist. And by the word "laziness" people often call apathy, which can be caused by a dozen diseases. In these cases, without treatment of the underlying disease, the work of a psychologist or psychotherapist is meaningless. We did not go through this.
Pretty quickly I began to realize that I had a strange set of superficial, scattered, largely outdated knowledge. And a huge number of primitive schemes and clichés. I began to understand that I could not do anything. We were not given a craft.
After graduating from vocational school, an auto-locksmith not only knows where the engine is in the car, where the carburetor is, etc., but also knows how to fix it. A ballerina after graduating from a ballet school knows how to dance. And what can psychologists do? What kind of work are they being trained for?
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Our psychological "school" was famous when it was engaged in its own business - science. And crazy. fakies were originally called upon to train scientists. But few go to science today, perhaps because there is no way to feed. Most go to work with people - consult, lead groups. And this requires a fundamentally different set of professional knowledge, and a different level of responsibility.
Then, many years ago, I realized that I needed to retrain, asked for help. And they began to put my brains in place. It took a very long time before the vile feeling of helplessness went away. And when today I say: “I know, I can, I can,” this is not because of the education I received, but in spite of it …
I studied during the Soviet era. But over all these years, no clear requirements have been formed - what a psychologist should know and be able to do. There is no concept of moral and ethical standards, so “do no harm” does not apply to a psychologist.
The training programs for psychologists, in fact, have not changed, but the time has changed. After perestroika, the demand for specialists in this profile has grown sharply. Today, almost every humanitarian university produces them, in addition to this, a huge number of variegated courses. And the problems of the ever-increasing “caste” of “cannibals” and “soul-lovers” remained the same - incompetence, irresponsibility.
Thus, the Great Science of Psychology, which has numerous worthy offspring, has grown up an unlucky, illiterate and very impudent "daughter", whose name is Vulgar Popular Psychology … Her favorite pastime is to "hang noodles" and pass off speculations as reality.
There is reliable knowledge in psychology, that is, proven by scientific research. And there are a huge number of theories sucked from the finger. These myths are traded by the unlucky "daughter". How often do I feel embarrassed and ashamed when I hear comments and recommendations from psychologists on TV or stumble upon magazine articles of colleagues in the shop. Where do they get it? Let me give you one well-known example: "a child from an incomplete family is doomed to problems." Yes, there is no such data. There has been no serious scientific research on this topic! In the end, half of the world grew up in single-parent families, because each century could boast of a couple, C grade wars. By the way, and what, from complete families all leave without problems?
At the same time, the popularity of psychological services continues to grow. As the conquistadors rushed to conquer America 500 years ago, so the semi-literate tribe of psychologists rushed to conquer their piece in the market for life. The most interesting thing is that among them there are decent people, sincere, earnestly wanting to help you … It's a pity that for the most part they are incompetent.
It is difficult to imagine a newspaper or magazine without a psychologist's page. They give consultations on the radio and treats on television. Most talk shows ultimately boil down to a crude imitation of psychological help. And also a great many psychological trainings, courses and consultations, where you will receive wonderful recommendations: “how to live without internal conflicts” (it seems to me that it is easy - all you have to do is lose your conscience); “How to catch a peasant” (a small one can be done with a butterfly net, and a big one - with a trap); "How to love yourself" (oh, this is nothing but masturbation).
Condo advice regarding family relationships, most often comes down to teaching manipulations, such as: "you have to nod, but do it your own way." And the essence of the advice is that you can't trust your relatives, but you don't have to quarrel with them. Therefore, you need to be cunning and cleverly achieve your goal.
And what an abundance of psychological trainings! There is no deep study there and cannot be done in a short time. There is another purpose - money. Therefore, 30, 50, or even a hundred people can take part. I will reveal a professional secret - there can be no more than 12-15 people in a group. Working with the psyche and the conveyor belt are two incompatible things.
However, the people love trainings. They get hooked on trainings no worse than on soft drugs. Life doesn't change much. But the illusion of a speedy solution of problems is acquired. And there is someone to hang out with. It is not clear, however, what does psychology have to do with it - in translation "the science of the soul"?
What a soul there is! The psychologists trade in "happiness" is no worse than that of the sorcerers. It is not for nothing that trainings where people are "made successful" are in the greatest demand. When a person is said to be smart, or talented, or a high-class professional, this is understandable. And who is successful? Who has no intelligence, no talent, no professionalism - but was able to "cut" money?
The worst thing is that in our country, in order to conduct psychological trainings, no special knowledge is required. It turned out that this is a marvelous feeding trough, where you can work, relying on your own inventions, speculations, intuition, and everyday experience. In dentistry, it probably won't work, but in psychology it is possible. Therefore, there were "nuggets" from psychology.
At one of the psychological parties, I came across a similar "master". On the covers of his books is written "a famous psychologist", "the author of numerous bestsellers" and "the creator of a unique technique." After 5 minutes of conversation, it turned out that the uncle does not know elementary things, that his education is completely different, not only that over all these years of active "psychological activity", he has not acquired any knowledge of psychology.
In the psychiatric hospital where I work, one in five attended his trainings. These trainings "churn" emotions, which for the psyche of many people is both undesirable and simply dangerous. I tried to explain it to him. He was not at all embarrassed, not even interested. He raised his empty eyes at me and calmly replied: "While they are paying, let them walk."
It would be better if he went to the killers. Although he cannot earn as much as he has from psychology. Successful person!
Probably, one shouldn't scold the whole market of psychological services so indiscriminately. Of course, there are excellent, competent professionals who are responsible for their work. And when life confronts me with them, I am happily amazed and rush to be friends. It’s a pity, it’s rare, it happens very rarely …
***
No, I am by no means acting as a judge or savior of humanity. But for me, there is a living person behind every case of illiteracy and irresponsibility.
We have a young woman in the hospital. She wheezes because her larynx is burnt - the result of a failed suicide. And before that I went to N, to S for a long time, took trainings at the center "///" … Her mother, bewildered, tells me: “But she went to psychological classes all the time. What did we do wrong?”… And what can I answer her?
Author: Evgeniya Belyakova