Do you have confidence of the science of psychology?

Question

I have confidence in the science of psychology.
However, I do not have confidence in the business of psychology.

I think there's a pretty good chance that too many therapists are simply in it for making money, as opposed to practicing psychology out of an altruistic desire of genuinely helping people.

How many countless people could be helped if the business factor was not an issue? With rates usually around 100 dollars for a fifty-minute session, it's no wonder the world is going insane. Very few average people can afford that.

Answer 1

Very few average people can afford most kinds of health care when they have to pay for it out of their pocket. The problem is not so much with how much psychologists charge for an hour session as much as how in the United States there is a dearth of public funding for mental health services. Psychologists go to school for ten years or more in order to get the training required to get licensed. Compare their salaries to professions which require a similar amount of education. Physicians, dentist, lawyers, university professors - all make more money than the average psychologist. If you are looking for an occupation to make lots of money, psychology would be a poor choice. In my experience, most psychologists DO have a genuine calling for the field and a desire to understand and help people.

And to answer your question, yes, I have confidence in the science of psychology. Psychologists have the scientific skills to evaluate the treatment they provide and thanks to psychological research, there are clear treatments of choice which are evidenced based and which are shown to be highly effective. In many cases, more effective than, say, medication. But it's cheaper to prescribe a pill. But that's another story.

Answer 2

1) Psychologists may make a lot of money per hour, but they also spend 6 years getting a PhD. If psychologists were money grabbing jerks, it would be much more efficient for them to be come lawyers or businessmen (much more money and less preparation time).
2) Does enjoying the money that they earn necessarily make them bad at what they do? If they worked for free, why would that make them better at their jobs? If anything, it would reduce the quality of the pool. Like all professions (including medical doctors), there bad psychologists and good psychologists, and whether a psychologist is good or not has little to do with how much money those in the profession earn as a whole.
3) Not being able to afford a psychologist is the least of most people's worries. Like someone else mentioned, most people cannot even afford basic (physical) medical care because they don't have jobs with benefits and can't afford private insurance.
So yes, the world would probably be better if everyone could afford a psychologist, but the reason they can't has more to do with systematic problems in how we distribute medical care, not with individual psychologists' greed.

Answer 3

I have just as much confindence in psychology as I do any other science. Science is not perfect, as it is conceived by human thinking, therefore, even objectivity is subjective (read David Hume for more clarification).

The issue is not that people see dollar signs when they think of psychologists, the issue is that of the human being having an imperfect cognitive field to work with. Even people in the psychology field have mental quirks and "set beliefs" and human foibles. Again... it is the human that makes the science imperfect.

So, what I'm saying is that it's not the field I have doubts about, it is human limitations that can be distressing.

Here is the kicker though... even medical M.D.'s are human. The general public has become so "in awe" of physicians, putting them up on pedestals, and such professionals are no more "Godly" than the rest of us. They've spent years in training, and they have specialized knowledge, but that doesn't make then infalible.

This argument could be generalized to all people actually... it's not just "professionals" that have this human quirk. ;)

Answer 4

Ah yes! they should sacrifice their young adulthood to get advanced education, give up family life to take on crisis calls, listen to a plethora of disturbing scenarios and not expect to make a good living. Aren't you rather entitled? There are easier ways to make good money without making the sacrifices that mental health professionals have to. By the way, I assume you are average. there are many community mental health centers that have sliding fee scales. Also, you would be surprised how many people who practice psychology are not making near 100 dollars.

Answer 5

Psychology is not a science, as it is a social science. Did you not see what section you were in?

Answer 6

not really