• Question: what are the negatives of being a psychologist

    Asked by anon-340943 on 8 Nov 2022.
    • Photo: Jamie Murray

      Jamie Murray answered on 8 Nov 2022:

      Hi Kiera and Evie,

      Being a psychologist is proving to be really interesting and no two days are ever the same. I’m a Psychologist who works at a University but psychologists also work in lots of different non-academic areas, like the NHS or private businesses such as Meta, Microsoft, and even Adidas. So my experience is really only relatable to working within a University doing research.

      My main gripe was that it took ages to become a cognitive neuroscientist (my particular field of psychology). I had to complete an undergraduate degree (4 years of study in Scotland), and then a PhD (another 4 years). So it took me 8 years to be fully qualified. Often you will also need to complete a Master’s degree after your undergraduate studies and this can take another year. However, I would argue that this training is absolutely essential to become an independent researcher and I had the time and space to really develop my own research interests. I became interested in Psychology at High School and never thought of doing anything else. I love my Psychology job – I get to supervise and teach students everyday, have relative freedom in what I choose to research, and have time to do interesting things (such as speaking with High School students and being paid to visit other countries to present my research).

    • Photo: Fiona Ling

      Fiona Ling answered on 8 Nov 2022:

      Hi Kiera and Evie,

      I’d say the long training process, despite being very enjoyable, has made me hesitate to leave the profession and pursue a different career at this point of my life, as psychology is probably THE thing I know best. After ‘living with’ psychology for about 28 years (!), even though I still enjoy learning and debates in psychology, I’d like to do something different such as being a journalist or an interior designer. Now with my university students, I always encourage them to keep their options open, and learn and experience different fields of studies before they conclude a career is for them.

    • Photo: Liz Halstead

      Liz Halstead answered on 8 Nov 2022:

      Hi Kiera and Evie, great question. I think it depends on what you want to achieve being a Psychologist. I worked in a mental health unit and found it really disheartening to see the revolving door of adults who experienced addictions coming in and out. We would provide the care and treatment on the inside and then outside there wasn’t the support in place to set these individuals up for success. So they would go back to their friends, family, housing, many of these factors led them to the place they were in before treatment, and they would relapse.

      So, to me, the downside of being a psychologist is that we know what helps people and what we can do as psychologists to help provide better mental health outcomes, but society doesn’t always allow for this to happen. So you can’t fix it all, but you can certainly make a little difference in your own way.

    • Photo: Clare Ashton

      Clare Ashton answered on 8 Nov 2022:

      need to be resilient as generally work involves listening to other’s problems

    • Photo: Mhairi Bowe

      Mhairi Bowe answered on 10 Nov 2022:

      Sometimes it can be challenging exploring and communicating the experiences of others when they involve upsetting issues (trauma, anxiety, isolation, stigmatisation etc) but it is essential to help promote understanding and create awareness and potential solutions.

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