During senior year of high school, I took AP psychology with the mentality of wanting to learn something mind opening and insightful. I walked into class and sat through a whole year waiting for my mind to be blown. The more I learned, however, the more it frustrated me.
In class, we would learn on and on about theories and parts of the brain and useless terminology. And, although it was helpful putting the name onto the item, I honestly don't believe this added to my life. Most of these terms would be items that I remember for a brief period of time or to pass a test and move on. What I wanted to know was something I could apply to my daily life or someway to understand or even help people.
Psychology tells you about general human characteristics. Yet, the world isn't that simple or unified. When you continue further in life, there will always be someone who is the exception. No matter how you try to analyze or diagnosis someone, there will always be that one person who doesn't fit the mold. And, even if you determine the name or the symptoms of something like a mental disorder, help doesn't even come easily.
For example, through the knowledge you collect from your psychology class, you are able to diagnose someone as having major depressive issues. It's an awesome start. And good job with those detective skills. However, the next step is the challenge. What do you do with that information? How do you help?
So what if you know what this type of disorder someone has. That is useless information. And, apparently, most things don't have a cure or a sure way to solve the problem unless it's a chemical imbalance. In that case, prescription drugs usually fix the problem. And for the majority of the outliers, no sure way can help you. And, as I mentioned above, everyone is different, and there are always exceptions.
As a result, you look at theories upon theories upon theories. One method suggests psychoanalytic help or biological help or group therapy. There's so much information and there are so many "right" answers. There are so many ways to help. But, there are only so many methods that "actually" help.
In our society, we believe that there is one universal cure for illness. For problems of the physical body, sometimes there is a treatment that is successful to the majority. But, for problems of mental illness, things become more subjective. There will always be that story in which someone finds their cure through the enlightening art of knitting. Some people find help in professionals, some people find help in oddities, and some people find help in friends and families. Yet, the assumption that more expensive treatments yield more effective results is utter nonsense. What works for someone doesn't make it the most effective way to help another.
Ultimately, I realize my hate of psychology stems from its amplification of how black and white the world is. There is no set way to help people or understand people through general terms, concepts, or diagrams. Oftentimes, the best way to understand others is through communication and personal experience. Nevertheless, this is not attempted often enough, making everything in the world more and more messy.
There is no "right way" as like everything other decision in this world. But, it comes down to knowing yourself or the individual in order to figure out what the best course of action is. Knowing psychology didn't seem like the answer to helping people. Communicating enough to understand the individual's intricacies was more of a clear path to helping others... as cliche as that sounds. However, that is something this modern world is lacking.
