How do psychologists analyze people? 

The Psych Show Hi Dr.Mattu! How much talking/psychoanalysis do you do in sessions as compared to a Counseling Psychologist? Also, do most Clinical Psychologists specialize in something, and would that require more schooling (as you have done with body-repetitive behaviors)?

What do you mean by "analyze"? Are analysis and psychoanalysis the same thing? =)

Good question, Josué! I purposely ignored this issue in the video due to time. When the public asks about "analyzing", it usually means some version of "are you using your knowledge of psychology to interpret what I am doing/thinking/feeling right now". That's the question I answered in this video. When therapists refer to "analysis", it's usually a reference to psychoanalysis, a specific theoretical orientation within psychotherapy. Theoretical orientations (e.g. psychoanalysis and cognitive behavioral therapy) differ in what they conceptualize is the mechanism behind someone's problem, but the rest of the video should hold true - no therapist can read your mind and we only practice in collaboration with our patients after we have their permission. Thanks for watching and for commenting!

Thanks for your comment, Joanne. Psychoanalysis is a specific theoretical orientation. My training is in a different theoretical orientation, cognitive behavioral therapy. When I am doing therapy, I work with my patient to identify the mechanisms behind their problems and then develop skills to address those mechanisms. Sometimes this is done within my office, sometimes patients practice skills with my coworkers, and sometimes we go outside and practice skills outside of our clinic. This is a mixture of talking and doing. My degree is in clinical psychology. Counseling psychology is a different degree. There are a lot of aspects of our training that are similar and both degrees can lead you to become a licensed psychologist. However, the emphasis in our training is a little different. Here's an overview of that: www.div17.org/about-cp/counseling-vs-clinical-psychology/ When I'm working with graduate students, I encourage all of them to specialize in a growth area within psychology (e.g. child and adolescent care, geriatrics, diabetes and obesity, integrated primary care). At the same time, for some areas (e.g. rural populations) being a generalist and doing a little bit of everything is a speciality within itself.

The Psych Show Thank you so much Dr.Mattu!

I got the same thing as an undergrad psychology major. You know what though, having telepathy would make my job a lot easier...

that comment just made my day lol, good point though.

Me too have a degree in psychology but for some reasons I stopped my study if you guys can make a group of psychology students or psychologist you know I would like to be the part of that group think about it I want to know more about the psychology definitely after few years I will start my studies I want to learn all about Psychology

Shawnna Brooks 😂😂😂

Meanwhile when I tell people my specialty was in forensic mental health the first response is "oh, like CSI!"

Thoughts: am I analyzing? crap, did I just analyze myself? Wait, no I was just thinking about food and that one action technique I saw from a anime once. Wonder if I can do it? Someone: well? Me: _leaf hurricane!_

"I am now" has a lot more punch.

😂

Agreed!

Josué Cardona And there are many sick people out there.

@@narcismebelgie dann that sounded so bad for a second lol

Thanks for your comment! It's interesting how our experiences are so similar ("are you analyzing me?" and "sing something!"). I wonder if comedians get asked to "say something funny"? It must be a common type of question to get for people in service and performing roles. I've had a lot of experience in my clinical work of thinking I know what's going on for my patient, asking about it, and realizing I'm completely off. If my assumptions are so often off in treatment, then they're going to be FAR less accurate with people I meet in public. That's why it's become easy for me to resist drawing conclusions.

Hey didn't expect to see you here, I love your videos on theory.

@@drali I'm doing undergrad in Psychology rn and I'm constantly analysing why people are the way they are. I can't help but do it. What are your thoughts on this?

I hope you will achieve what you wanted brother/sister Inshallah

Glad you enjoyed the video! My guess is a lot of individuals in service fields get this question. Thanks for watching!

That is on my to do list :-)

@@drali have you done it yet ?

YES PLS DO

Alright, so. I have aphantsia. Meaning I don’t remember or even see the world how a majority of people seem to actually even see shadows.

Thanks for watching, Jules, and so glad it was helpful!

The Psych Show Yes it was. I love all the info you provide because there are just some things that I'm intensely curious about but since the psychologists I know are people who help treat me, they won't usually answer questions about themselves. You've helped me understand your profession and field so much, and I'm thankful for that.

That's why we do this! So glad to hear it is helpful!! It always makes our day to get feedback like this :-)

The Psych Show Keep going! You guys rock. I love how you normalize psychology related topics. I wish I was more up to date with all your latest videos. Sometimes I don't see it until a week or more later.

Thank you so much for kind words!

I'm also doing grade 10 and interested in psychology

Thanks for the praise Mahfuz! Are there any topics that you would like to see us cover?

The Psych Show uncanny valley. why we perceive some things or events as strange. Can you explain why we feel that something is off sometimes.

Thanks for the feedback! We haven't covered the uncanny valley on this channel, but Ali has discussed it on his blog: brainknowsbetter.com/news/2013/12/31/spike-jonzes-her-is-a-piercing-commentary-on-our-immediate-online-artificial-lives-non-spoiler-film-review

Just read the blog post. Did not know about "the uncanny valley" in AI. Freud first came up with his idea of repression in trying to understand horror or the uncanny. We talk about this in our Return of the Repressed episode. Love it when things come full circle! Thanks!

Thanks! A lot of the explanations in my videos are some mixture of what I learned from past mentors and what has come up in discussions with my patients.

Good point. I got asked this question a lot even when I was an undergrad student. I think the question comes from stereotypes about psychology and how the field works.

Great question! Taking care of yourself and coping with burnout is something I spend a lot of time talking to my colleagues and trainees about. I haven't made a video about this yet (indirectly spoke to it here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6o9P0qsj5-I.html) but I should do that. What I can tell you in a comment is it comes down to taking care of your own personal needs, finding good boundaries that work for you, learning how to be at work when you're at work and be at home when you're home, investing in something unrelated to your work (for me it's this channel), and asking for help from colleagues and friends when you need it.

Glad you enjoyed the video! There have been a bunch of times I've received the same comment, that psychology is not a science. There're a few ways I respond, depending on what the criticism is. The first is to better understand the criticism. Is it about methodology? About impact? About experimental control? Replication? My answer usually becomes some combination of our methods are rigorous, we are a hub science (www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/psychology-is-a-hub-science) *and* at the same time human behavior is complicated, many variables are involved which are difficult to control, and we are a young science.

I mean we conduct experiments and use evidence based on what we learn from said experiments just like any other scientific field. So that at least debunks the pseudoscience argument.

Some of the most effective treatments, like cognitive behavioral therapy or dialectical behavioral therapy, aren't mysterious. We're very open with our patients about what we are doing and how the treatment works. We're also trained to respond understand why people might want to present themselves in a specific way and what to do about it (e.g. "apparent competence").

Thanks so much for your feedback and for watching! This resource might be useful to you: psychlearningcurve.org/what-is-a-quality-masters-degree-program-in-psychology/. Also this one: www.apa.org/monitor/2016/06/datapoint.aspx. Best of luck with your studies!

I don't think there's anything bad about trying to understand others. At it's core it's about empathy and understanding, things that make us human.

Nice. That's the whole reason why the question sounds quite moralistic in the first place. It is somehow passive - aggressive and defensive. Reverse psychology which aims to limit your freedom to think. I think analyzing is not bad. It is the goals and the quality of knowledge it is based on that makes it bad. Sadly enough, if one doesn't possess high quality knowledge it is impossible to know or use that knowledge. So when people project their understanding about the analyzing, which in many cases is same as rumination, they are talking about totally different things than you are. Does this make any sense?

yeah how can we reduce them to a single word? ask the DSM...but you had better check back every year cause itll definitely change a LOT

That person can be described as a neurotic individual

This just sounds like someone who needs to work on anger management. Well.. I mean it could be a lot of things, but there hardly any information to work with.

Emotional dysregulation. Lacks emotional IQ. Lacks self-awareness. Lacks self-control. High trigger reactivity.

I LOVE Tobias Funke! He was the world's first analyst / therapist.

Thanks for watching!

It can be validating and also helps the person get insurance coverage. BUT a diagnosis is just the beginning of understanding their story. You have to talk about everything else I mention here, especially mechanisms.

Thanks so much for your kind comment!

Great question! Most PhD programs have deadlines in the fall or early winter. If you're going to be applying at the end of 2019, I would contact professors in the spring of 2019 and see if they are taking on new students in the next academic year.

Thank you Sir for your reply ..really appreciate 🙏

Also the fear i had was actually trauma from about couple weeks ago that happened in the car, it was similar to this.

You killed him

California.

Same

Yea please

Of course! In fact, if you have an interest in education and psychology you might want to consider school psychology. Many school psychologists practice like clinical psychologists but focus on school settings.

@@drali I am interested in applied behavior analysis and special education. Is it possible to get dual degrees?

You're right, we do all do aspects of this. It's a difficult issue to grapple with and is something I speak to in my video about unconscious bias: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-YOppO0RTHTI.html. The way we understand the world is through generalities and that applies to people too.

Sometimes this happens, but honestly what you see here on this channel is similar to what happens in my office. If people have important questions about me or my experiences as long as it is helpful for their treatment we'll talk about them.

@@drali Do you fear harsh criticism then? The comment I posted last week mysteriously vanished. Most scientists say they’d rather be proven wrong than proved right because they would have learned something. The psychologists I’ve met were too intently looking at others to consider that they themselves could ever be wrong.