Is pyscology really a science?

Question

i'm 16 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. i mean no disrespect to psychologists but it seems a lot like personal opinion. one person says this and another says this and a lot of symtoms mesh together i just want to here your opinion because obviously i'm not schizophrenic.

Answer 1

It really depends on who you ask. In psychology experiments and research is done therefore it could be considered a science. But it also deals with the mind which is not a tangible thing. How do you know that you don't have schizophrenia? There are several different forms of this mental illness and not all make the person appear "crazy" such as paranoid schizophrenics.

Answer 2

There are a lot of psychologists out there and not all learn the exact same thing.

I don't have schizophrenia because I never seen a psychologist before. If I seen one, I'm very prone to have a mental illness. Maybe as small as a cough, maybe as bad as a killer virus. So how serious you cannot control your mind?

I should random pick 100 people from the street and see how many of them got a diagnose from the psychologists? My guess is more than 50%. :P

Answer 3

Yes, it is. Because we don't rely on self-report. We do double blind, controlled, (often with placebo groups) experiments, we control order of presentation, randomise conditions and allocation of participants, we use as stringent a measure as we can, statistical analysis, and repeat experiements. We measure eye-movements or reaction times time-locked to milliseconds. When we can't be totally accurate, we use huge samples. Much like any medical experiment. Neuropsychology and biological psychology is very scientific. There are aspects of soft science to psychology as well (i.e. social psychology, humanism) but mostly it's a hard science.

As for diagnosis - even medical diagnosis are not totally accurate and can be affected by the doctors subjective understanding of the patients symptoms (my friend spent ages fighting with doctors over an incorrect diagnosis, she got furious). But psychology does have a set diagnosis aide (the DSM), it's not totally down to opinion. And there are universals. I have no idea whether it's obvious you are not schiozophrenic or not... sometimes the diagnosis is wrong. If you're worried, get a second opinion. Just like doctors. The therapist is only relying on his/her understanding of how you've described things to them, mistakes can happen.

Answer 4

I think it depends on how you got schizophrenia. There could be symptoms some psychologist didn't mention, so the other did. There could have been different reasons on why you got it, starting from the roots, and your personality.

Answer 5

its not

Answer 6

no one is free from preconceived ideas, make your own mind up about your mind  

Answer 7

Yes, psychology is a science. Although a lot of it may seem like personal opinion, the opinions given by psychologists are VERY backed up by scientific evidence and research.

Psychology actually goes deep into chemistry and the layout of the brain. So yes, it is very scientific.

Answer 8

Medicine is supposed to be a science but many stupid doctors do stupid things. In that science it is good to get a 2nd opinion.

A doctor told me that I had cancer. I said "I want a 2nd opinion." He said "OK, you are also ugly."

See page below to use psychology to your advantage and be happy. The guy who literally wrote the book on modern (abnormal) psychology (Seligman), now only addresses how people can be happier.