Martin Seligman Video

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/mart ... ology.html

I was watching this video by Martin Seligman on the state of Psychology. Being a person who has had bad experiences with Psychologists, i don't agree with his assessment.

In this video i really took offense to what i see as a therapeutic, feelgood interpretation (what Psychologists excel at) of his profession, as opposed to the harsher truth.

I have been diagnosed with Borderline PD, so i am biased against a profession that has only recently made SOME progress with SOME of the symptoms that SOME of those diagnosed have. I do however feel the need to play devils advocate in a sense, because i don't feel Psychology is doing well even with it's professed strengths.

* In the linked video, Mr Seligman claimed a vast improvement in the past few decades in treating mental disorders. By his admission, Psychology started from having nearly a nil effect on mental illness, to being able to take pride in treating now slightly more than a dozen conditions. Even if Psychology has vastly improved in the past decades, so too have societal changes been in effect, such as less stigma attached to the mentally ill, changes to our (in Australia at least) values regarding the expression of emotions, less hang ups regarding sexuality, the list goes on. With the emotionally and intellectually healthier crop of people coming from the more fertile soil of society, coming to a profession forced to change with it's own admitted inadequacy, SOME improvement seems inevitable. With improvements starting from such a low starting point, ANY progress is bound to look impressive.

* I take issue with Mr Seligmans claim that personal choice and responsibility has in the past been eroded by Psychology. This is an INCREDIBLY complex issue, and while i agree that Psychology shouldn't be an enabler or apologist for bad behaviour, neither should it retreat from trying to understand the nature of choices and their consequences. Psychology runs the risk of becoming a closed off group of healthy people patting each other on the back for their virtues, while blocking out any views that challenge their self perceptions.

* Saying that Psychology should be now focusing on the minds of the healthy after making SOME inroads into mental illness is something i see as a CLASSIC example of a Psychologist putting positive spin on a less than favourable situation. The reason i believe that the focus is moving towards the healthy mind is that they CAN'T make any more progress with mental illness, as they would have to understand not only the disturbed mind but their OWN minds a lot better than what they are capable of doing at the moment. This is a further example of the dangerous path of becoming a closed group that i mentioned with personal choice and responsibility.

Psychologist seems to have become synonymous with Therapist nowadays. Psychology is a science, NOT a therapeutic movement.