Psychology – Myths and Truth

Not so many years have passed since the word “psychology” and the profession of psychologist became widely known in our country at all. Today psychological science is being mass-popularised. Nevertheless, there is a great deal of false information which most often devalues the full depth of the hard work of psychologists. Having read popular books such as “Psychoanalysis in Comics”, many people do not know or understand that everything is much more complicated and that psychology is, in fact, a science, and by no means as simple as it seems. Myths and misconceptions about the activity and personality of the psychologist are spread in our society almost more widely than the profession of psychologist or psychotherapist itself. A psychologist is also not quite what is shown in films, especially American ones. So let us dispel a number of myths about psychologists that exist in our modern society.

MYTH 1: A psychologist and a psychiatrist are essentially the same thing. A PSYCHIATRIST is a specialist in the diagnosis and treatment of mental disorders (illnesses). He or she mainly uses medication-based methods of treatment, as well as various types of psychotherapy. A psychiatrist works with mentally unwell people who have serious deviations in the psyche. Associations: pills, hospital ward, electroshock therapy, manic-depressive psychosis... A PSYCHOLOGIST is a specialist who has received a psychological education. Psychological education is not medical education, and therefore a psychologist (unlike a psychiatrist) has no right to prescribe medication. The area of application of his or her knowledge is psychological counselling of mentally healthy people. In what situations can a psychologist help? With difficulties in communication, decision-making and relationships; with stress and psychological trauma: divorce, the death of a loved one, physical or emotional abuse... A PSYCHOTHERAPIST is a specialist (psychologist) who most often provides help by non-pharmacological methods. Put simply, a psychologist-psychotherapist is a person who has mastered one of the branches of non-medical psychotherapy. Psychotherapists work both with mentally healthy people and with people in "borderline states" , that is, in states on the verge of health and illness (neuroses, depressions...) A psychotherapist uses certain psychotechniques to help the client solve his or her problem.

MYTH 2: A psychologist solves people’s problems for them. Not at all. A psychologist only creates the conditions in which a person turns out to be able to solve his or her own problem. It is worth adding here that a psychologist works only with a person who has personally asked for help. And he or she can help only if the client is ready to change himself or herself rather than the world around. A psychologist does not respond to requests such as: “Help me expose my husband”; “What should I do to make my daughter stop seeing that hooligan”; “Make my boss raise my salary”, etc. It is like in the joke: – I used to worry a lot about my big nose and freckles. – And now what, did you go to a plastic surgeon and have an operation? – No, I went to a psychologist – and stopped worrying about it. No operations needed. Try to change yourself.

MYTH 3: A psychologist sees right through people. There is an opinion that if a person is a psychologist, he or she knows almost all the secrets of existence and human nature and is capable of almost predicting the future. This is a greatly exaggerated view of things. In fact, a psychologist is able, to some extent, to predict the possible actions of a given person in a given situation. This requires more or less purposeful effort: determining the features of the person’s temperament and character, analysing the situation the person is in, events or situations from the past, etc.

MYTH 4: A psychologist possesses extraordinary abilities. Clairvoyance, opening the third eye, receiving information from space... None of the above has anything to do with the area of psychological knowledge, and is not among the disciplines a psychologist studies at university. Extraordinary abilities are studied by the science of parapsychology. The prefix "para" means "beside". This is the area around psychological knowledge. However, a psychologist himself or herself, like any person, may or may not believe in such phenomena. But if he or she practises them, he or she is engaged in parapsychology. Outside or instead of psychology proper. Or else is engaged in charlatanry. :) But that is, as they say, a completely different story.

MYTH 5: A psychologist can solve all problems. It is worth noting again that a psychologist does not solve clients’ problems but helps them find a way out themselves. The likelihood of solving a particular problem with the help of a psychologist depends on a multitude of factors. These include factors that depend on the psychologist, for example: - the level of his or her training (and it is not only a matter of how many universities and courses he or she has completed or books read, but how much of all that he or she has understood :) ); - his or her personal qualities important for professional activity (the ability to listen, the ability to sense the client’s emotional state, intuition, creativity...); and factors that depend on the client: - awareness of his or her responsibility for what is happening; - readiness to work together on the problem and readiness to work on oneself; - the degree of honesty and openness with the psychologist. The best results can be achieved when the client and the psychologist have managed to establish a trusting relationship, and both are focused on working on a particular problem. It is better when the client chooses his or her own psychologist. Productive work is impossible without mutual sympathy. At the same time, a psychologist has the right to refuse to counsel a particular client. There may be various reasons for this. For example, a psychologist cannot counsel a client if the client’s problem resembles the psychologist’s own problem (see myth No. 7). Or the psychologist does not specialise in the given subject (however professional one may be, it is quite difficult to cover the whole field of human problems). A psychologist may also refer a person to another specialist, be it a doctor, a psychiatrist or a colleague who works with similar issues.

MYTH 6: The services of a psychologist are for mentally unwell people. Seeking help from a psychologist is neither a sign of weakness nor a sign of mental ill health. As already noted, psychologists work with healthy people. However, from time to time all people need support and help from outside. In our culture the tradition of turning to psychologists has not yet taken root. Instead, it is customary to turn to friends for help or to drown problems in alcohol. One can often hear: "Am I a psycho or something, to go to psychologists?" The choice always belongs to the person. And a true psychologist does not impose his or her services. The initiative must always come from the person who wishes to receive a consultation.

MYTH 7: A psychologist cannot have problems of his or her own. If only! :) But psychologists are people too. Let us not forget that. To say that a psychologist cannot have personal problems is the same as saying that a general practitioner cannot catch a cold and a trauma surgeon cannot break a leg. Most often, a psychologist is able to solve his or her problems more effectively. But he or she can have them too, and even should have them, because people learn from mistakes. And, unfortunately, most often only from their own. Psychologists can also turn to their colleagues for help. And there is nothing shameful in that. After all, wisdom consists not so much in solving all problems on one’s own as in solving them in the best way and with the least cost to one’s nerves. Self-confidence is the ability both to provide help when you can help and to ask for it when you cannot manage on your own.

MYTH 8: Psychologists are tireless good-natured people, ready to help everyone, at any time, under any circumstances. Some people think that psychologists are a kind of messiah who feel a need to give their lives to serving people and to sacrifice themselves for the sake of everyone and everything. In fact, a psychologist is a profession. And although it involves providing support and help to people, a psychologist is by no means obliged to turn his or her professional activity into a way of life. A psychologist is not a person who will indulge every human whim and weakness, not one who will necessarily turn the other cheek. It is the psychologist who knows better than anyone that he or she has the right to be himself or herself, just like all other people.

MYTH 9: A psychologist can give such advice that will solve my problem at once. Psychologists do not give advice. Advice can be obtained anywhere; people will give you advice at any time, completely free of charge and with great pleasure. A professional psychologist will not advise you even for money. Advice is given from the position of the person advising you. As a rule, it implies that the person hands you a recipe based on his or her own judgements and personal experience. Advice most often hides, or directly states, the phrase “If I were you...”. The point is that advice is good for the one who gives it. That person finds it easy to follow, and that person has all the qualities needed to put this advice into practice. The person listening to the advice may not have any of this. That is why a psychologist does not give advice. Only the person himself or herself knows what is best for him or her. The psychologist only tries to help the person find this way out within himself or herself (thanks to the ability to formulate the right questions), to see it and to become aware of it.

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