Psychology remains an overlooked science

Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Given the stress of the city, many Jakartans find it necessary to have someone to whom they can talk and pour out their feelings and pent up frustrations. This person might be a friend, a family member or a professional.

"I used to have personal talks with a close friend. Sometime I would get advice, but in most cases I just shared my feelings," says Betty, 30, a resident of Tanjung Duren, in West Jakarta.

Sometimes, Betty said, she listens to other people share their feelings and personal experiences on radio call-in shows.

"I learn a lot about how people deal with their problems and find solutions for themselves. In most cases, my experiences are similar to theirs," she said.

The head of the University of Indonesia's Department of Psychology, Sarlito Wirawan Sarwono, said it was a shame so many people sought psychological advice from nonexperts.

"Many so-called serious counseling columns or programs in the media are hosted by presenters, artists or comedians who are only relying on their popularity, and their advice is in most cases wrong and misleading," Sarlito said in a speech last week to mark the 50 anniversary of the university's psychology department.

However, Sarlito praised the progress the general public had made when it came to the understanding of psychology.

"Lots of people can now recognize stress, frustration, insomnia, erectile dysfunction -- problems that require a helping hand from psychologists. The public has even become familiar with intellectual intelligence, emotional intelligence, as well as spiritual intelligence," Sarlito said.

However, he bemoaned the fact that this progress was not being matched by a similar progress in terms of the number of qualified psychology graduates.

"This situation has led to a shortage of qualified experts in psychology .... This has resulted in other professionals who have only a bit of training in psychology being enlisted to provide psychological services," he said.

Unqualified people providing poor services and neglecting ethics, Sarlito said, accounted for many incidents of malpractice, such as the results of psychological tests being leaked, unethical tests being given to kindergarten children, the poor screening of candidates for industrial purposes and the unauthorized counseling by nonexperts.

Sarlito said that all of this indicated that the public demand for psychology experts was growing rapidly.

"People are in dire need of services provided by experts in psychology," Sarlito said.

Marketing expert and scholar Rheinald Khasali also noted that the demand for psychology experts was on the rise.

"Unfortunately, many of the experts in psychology fail to meet public demand," Rheinald said in an interview to mark the psychology department's anniversary.

Rheinald used as an example the government's decision to increase public utility rates.

Psychologist must be more active in conducting research about the needs and demands of the people, so they can provide advice to the government about public policy, Rheinald said.

Wardani Soejono, an executive at a private firm, said the failings of psychologists might be related to their lack of multidisciplinary expertise.

She suggested that psychologists master other disciplines in order to be better qualified to help people.

"They must learn other scientific disciplines or they will go nowhere. For example, learn marketing," she said.

Despite Sarlito's assertion that the public has become more familiar with matters of psychology, many people still have false impressions about what the science is all about. This was confirmed in a film shown during the anniversary celebration for the University of Indonesia's Department of Psychology, in which average Jakartans were asked their thoughts on psychology.

"Psychology is related to mental disorders. If you go to a psychologist it means you are insane," said a motorcycle taxi driver.

And a top executive at a company in Jakarta had this to say about the subject: "Psychology is the science of how to read other people's minds."

The nearly 200 people gathered in Depok to mark the anniversary of the department broke into laughter when they heard these definitions of the science.

It was quite ironic, as they were celebrating the anniversary of the country's oldest department of psychology.

But the fact that these misunderstandings continue to linger would seem to imply that there is still much to do before the science of psychology comes into its own in this country.