In your opinion, what should be the main concern in studying Psychology? Why?

Studying psychology is difficult especially when these people around you look down on your degree and
see it as a ‘soft science’. Moreover, it’s hard to continue studying, knowing that people perceive
psychology degrees as a course with no direct future.
In fact, there are thousands of new graduates with AB/BS degrees in Psychology, and a lot of them don’t
utilize their psychology skills in the job market. Most psychology graduates are still struggling to find a
job and I think the reason why psychology is unemployable is not that a psychology degree is bad, but
because mental health isn’t a priority in our country, most Filipinos don’t prioritize or give importance to
mental health, and It’s because of the misconception of people about mental health. “Kaartehan lang
yan” “para yun lang affected ka na?” “Kinulang ata ng turnilyo ang utak”, this is how most Filipinos
perceived mental illnesses, and the worst part is how they treat mental patients condition as a joke. Is it
because we lack awareness? Or is it a Filipino toxic trait?
Here in the Philippines, Mentally Diagnosed Patients aren’t placed in a healing facility, they are jailed like
a criminal and locked up like an animal. This just gives the absurd ideation of the society about mentally
diagnosed patients; people think of them as a threat or danger. Your Millennial Psychologist founder,
Mx. Riyan Portuguez addressed this topic, Mx. Riyan mentioned at her webinar that only 3%- 5% of
mentally ill patients are considered aggressive or violent. In addition, most of the time the one who’s
sane is much more capable of violent acts. Most mentally ill patients are diagnosed because of their
childhood trauma that are caused mostly from their peers. On top of that, mentally unstable people in the
streets were smacked, cuffed, beat, and worst of all make fun of by society just because of their mental
disability.
It is not a secret that mental health in the Philippines isn’t a priority. Mental Illness is the 3rd most
common disability in the Philippines according to Martinez et al., (2020), and yet because of this stigma,
mental health has been neglected by the Philippine government and public sectors. Misconception about
mental health is indeed alarming, because of the perception of society about mental illness, many of the
people who need help are terrified to get diagnosed. For them, visiting a psychologist or psychiatrist is a
humiliation, so some of them self-diagnose themselves through the internet which isn’t helping, it can
trigger them more because of the misinterpretation they inquire from the Internet. This just shows how
important our role as psychology students is in society. Breaking the stigma around mental health and
psychology is what we should be concern about, and we can only fix this issue if we have the knowledge
and psychology skills. Because before we can educate other people, we must learn to educate
ourselves first.