Psychology

Psychology is at the most basic level the science of the mind. Psychologists try to figure out how the brain works, in connection with human behaviour, but have to rely on observations as they can’t take the brain out of the skull to examine it! Psychology has become an important way to deal with mental health, as over the decades practitioners have not only learned things about human behaviour, but have also developed ways to treat certain problems and conditions.

 

Treatment using psychology

 

If a doctor has decided that a patient suffering from mental health problems could benefit from psychological treatment, then there are various ways that they can be helped. Psychological treatment is often referred to as therapy, and involves the patient sitting or lying on a couch, and talking to their therapist or psychologist. By examining their behaviour and responses to certain events, the psychologist can work out the root cause of the mental health problem, and start to treat it. There are many tools that the psychologist can use to deal with mental health problems, such as group therapy, where people with similar problems get together to discuss them, or cognitive behavioural therapy, which involves trying to change the patient’s behaviour or response to certain stimuli. Psychological treatment can take many weeks, or even months, of sessions to work.

 

Different types of psychology

 

There are different branches of psychology that deal with different conditions, behaviours and mental health problems. Forensic psychologists work within the legal system, either treating prisoners or helping police to profile what traits a suspect may have. Neuropsychologists work with people who have suffered brain damage or strokes, assessing changes in behaviour and trying to rebuild normal behaviours. Evolutionary psychologists study the development of the brain and human characteristics through evolution, working out how certain behaviours have become normal over millions of years.

 

The beginnings of psychology

 

The father of psychology is Sigmund Freud, who in the early years of the twentieth century developed a new treatment for common mental health problems of the time, which were often summed up as one condition; hysteria. It was Freud who first treated patients through long sessions of talking and attempting to figure out what had caused the problem in the first place, in an attempt to eradicate it completely. He also used hypnotherapy to try and reveal hidden memories, and he was a true believer that the cause of all psychological problems or mental health conditions were rooted in events that had happened in childhood. He believed that by rooting out these problems and facing them, the hysteria or mental health condition could be treated. This is still the way that many modern psychologists and therapists work, even today.