I'm planning to study psychology after I'm finished in school and I have a problem.

I'm in my final year of IGCSE. I take the following subjects:

• Biology (Excellent)
  
• Physics (Good)
  
• History (Bad and far behind in coursework)
  
• Business (Excellent)
  
• Computer Studies (Good)
  
• Maths (Well but I have a few problem areas)
  
• English (Great but I work too slowly)
  
• Arabic (Well)

I have recently acquired a chemistry tutor to teach me chemistry extramurally. This will cut out between 3-4 hours a week out of my schedule depending on travel time.

Normally I wouldn't mind but I'm already taking a maths tutor who takes up 2 hours a week, I get a ton of homework, I need to finish my reading quota for English, I'm learning guitar, my parents are hounding me to take up more sports activities, I need to catch up in my coursework for history, and I need to improve my over-all effort grade.

I want to know if the chemistry will help me in my psychology studies or if would be better suited to just focusing on getting my grades up with my current subjects (specifically history).

Would you rather be a practicing psychologist or a pursue a career that is nondoctoral or research-based?
Chemistry, if you want to become a practicing psychologist (MD), is very important. Otherwise, it is less important, but still useful.

I'm not entirely sure yet. I'm just worried that I'll apply for a uni and be like "I took chemistry extramurally" and they'll be like "but your other subjects aren't good enough". Because, if I do something like fail history then my effort score will dive-bomb.

Effort scores are a rough estimate of how much effort the teachers think I'm putting in. I'm currently at about 4/7 when I need a 5/7 to be accepted for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Baccalaureate and even then I'm not guaranteed.

An M.D is not a Ph.D in psychology. You may be thinking of a psychiatrist versus a psychologist - a psychiatrist is able to write prescriptions, while a psychologist cannot but has much more interaction with clients due to engaging in helping the client deal with mental disorders.

Yugemos, if you want to become a psychologist (whether clinical or research) you really do not need chemistry terribly much (though Ph.D programs vary widely and some may in fact want you to take chemistry). If you want to become a psychiatrist, then chemistry is important (because you need to understand how certain medications can affect the brain and its neurotransmitters, etc).

If you want my opinion, I'd say skip the chemistry and concentrate more on your current studies - it is better to have higher grades in your current subjects than a wider-range of middling grades.

Could get a degree in Homeopathic medicine.

It's probably just as valid as clinical psychology. :shrug:

How cute. Go look at validity studies proving the usefulness of therapies like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy or modern psychodynamics - you won't find those for homeopathic medicine.

With CBT, i've read that something like 40% of people don't come back after the first session, and 60% don't make it to 12 sessions. I don't know what the improvement rate for those who stick to it is, but it's definitely not 100%.

Add that to the fact that even therapists admit that it's not their training and degree, it's 90% the therapists personality and CLICKING with a client.

Effort scores? That sounds pretty futile. What if its so easy you just blaze through all of the coursework with no effort?

No therapy has a 100% success rate. And I don't know where you are getting your statistics or your "facts" from, but what you seem to be implying - that psychotherapy is essentially useless - is negated by both clinical studies showing the efficacy of various psychotherapy methods as well as the hundreds of thousands of people (if not millions) that have positively benefited from psychotherapy.

And yes, it is a therapist's training and degree - the level of understanding between a therapist and their clients is vitally important, but it is no way accountable for 90% of anything.

Ah, but the pay is soooo much more...

Call me heartless, but that's what it all comes down to, if you ask me.

homeopathy doesn't work - there's noting in it (literally). Yes, you do need to "click" with your therapist, as much of it is centered around trust, but if you don't, you can get another therapist. The fact that people don't turn up (and I'd like to see the sources for your stats) is not indicative of efficacy of the treatment either. If I don't go to chemo, and my cancer develops further, that doesn't mean the chemo doesn't work. It means I didn't use the treatment.

I can't believe someone even tried to compare the two.

This is true, unfortunately. Provide someone with a potion that, a hundred years ago, had maybe an ounce of mercury in it back before it was diluted out 12C (mercury diluted to 1 part per 100, then a bit of that solution diluted again to 1 part per 100, etc, etc) and charge $1,000 for it (or less if you intend to mass market your "therapy"). Most homeopathic solutions nowadays are diluted to around 200C (or 10^-400) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeopathic_dilutions).

Yeah, that is rather heartless.

It has a positive effect on people's health, despite having no scientific value.

Psychotherapy has only helped people with a relatively normal psyche to begin with, it has done nothing for abnormal psychology and/or severe psychological problems.

You have absolutely no knowledge of the history or current practice of psychology, do you? I mean, seriously now. Making that kind of claim is just ridiculous. Psychology (and psychiatry) are used to treat people with depression, schizophrenia, and all sorts of other issues. There is a great deal of scientific value to both psychology and psychiatry, backed up by validity studies and case studies. If you actually start to provide studies that say that psychology is useless, instead of making baseless claims, then perhaps I'll start to believe you.

Disagree. My boyfriend is schizophrenic, and it has had a massive impact on his life. What do you mean "relatively normal psyche to begin with"? Because in my book, schizophrenia is quite a severe psychological problem. Yes, he is on meds, but the effect of CBT has been phenomenal in helping him come to terms with his illness and learning to cope and recognise signs of an oncoming psychotic episode/relapse. Meds don't do this. Placebo effects (which is what homeopathy is) doesn't do this either. What do you mean by "no scientific value"?

You can't just chuck meds at someone like him and expect a magical recovery and rehabilitation in society. Nor can you chuck sugar pills at him and expect any kind of result whatsoever.

Depression and schizophrenia are largely treatable because Psychiatry lucked out with finding antidepressants and mood stabilisers. Half the battle with depression can be just having the feeling that you are being taken seriously and your pain matters to someone, especially an authority figure such as a doctor or Psychologist.

I'm not saying that Psychotherapy is useless, but it's useless for serious personality disorders and major psychological disturbances.

What do you see as "major psychological disturbances" and where are your sources which show that psychotherapy is useless in these patients? Like I said before, drugs are only half the "cure" - psychotherapy helps the patient come to terms with - and even recognise the fact that they have an illness in the first place. Without that, the patient is very unlikely to take the meds in the first place.

[Edit] And I still don't see how you don't count schizophrenia as "serious" or "major".

No offence, but I have a hard time believing that you're even in post secondary if you have that stance.



This is just my take on things, from what I've read, taken in class and learned from others experiences. Depression treated with purely anti-depressants is proven to be relatively ineffective, most people need the combination of therapy and medication. I personally got over moderate-severe depression with only therapy, but it's different for everyone. Schizophrenia from what I've read needs that combination also, and many people find that the antipsychotics have horrendous side effects. I agree that used along it isn't much use for serious mental disorders, but it definatly plays a huge part in recovery combined with medication.

What in Ed Balls' name is an IGCSE?

Randall Munroe, is that you?

Complex PTSD, Borderline , Narcissistic and Antisocial Personality Disorder (all personality disorders really). Speak to people who work for community services, prison system or public housing to hear about the untreatable side of mental illness.



Who's Randall Munroe?

I'd also like to add that psychotherapy is also used to diagnose serious mental illnesses, which can then be used as a basis for medical treatment. Without that first diagnosis, you don't have much to go on.

Schizophrenia is a personality disorder. I just had a quick look on infotrac and there is a study which shows the benefits of using psychotherapy in prisons in order to help diagnose antisocial personality disorders. This then reduces risk and treatments can begin. My stepmum is a prison guard, and yes, there are people who will sadly remain "untreated" as you put it - like you've mentioned before, meds are a large part of treating mental illness, but that in no way lessens the effect that psychotherapy can have, both for the patients own benefit and for the safety of others.

[Edit] My boyfriend now works in an inpatient ward, where many patients have been for years and years, and may not ever leave. But there is no denying the effect that psychotherapy can have on their wellbeing. It might not "cure" them (he himself won't ever be completely "cured"), but it can reduce the risk of serious relapse, self harm, and harm to others.

Are you sure you didn't see Schizotypal or Schizoid PD?