Anthony Zarb Dimech
Psychology as a science is a relatively new subject. Its roots may be traced back to more than 2,500 years ago when ancient Greek classical thought and philosophy developed through the great minds of thinkers and philosophers, notably Socrates, Plato and Aristotle as they sought to explore the 'psyche' or soul; what gives life to plants, animals and humans. This feature explores the early beginnings of psychology as a subject in Malta when it was introduced in the late 1970s up to its present day post-modern society. Both psychology and Maltese society face challenges as the demand for psychological services increases. The author is currently following a Lifelong Education course in Psychology under the lectureship of Mr Edward Wright.
Psychology was birthed as in independent discipline in its own right 250 years ago when the first psychological experiments was conducted by William James who founded a psychology lab at Harvard in 1875 and Wilhelm Wundt, who is credited with the first lab in 1879 at the University of Leipzig. From the 1920s onwards psychology became more and more of a scientific and independent discipline as it explored different ways to describe, explain, predict and influence human behaviour.
Many are familiar with the name of Sigmund Freud who explained personality through psycho-sexual development. Later on different schools of thought, perspectives and approaches were developed to explain the complexity of human behaviour from different angles.
Psychology is a subject which translates itself in practical terms into our daily lives as we relate with others (interpersonal relations), ourselves (intrapersonal relations) and on a spiritual level with God, assuming one is a believer.
A definition of psychology may be extracted from the Psychology Profession Act, 2004 regulating the profession in Malta defines psychology as follows:
"psychology" means the observation, description, evaluation, interpretation, research and, or modification of human behaviour by the application of psychological principles, methods or procedures for the purpose of preventing or eliminating symptomatic behaviour and of enhancing interpersonal relationships, work and life adjustments, personal effectiveness, learning, behavioural and, or mental health;
It was in the late 1970s that psychology was introduced in Malta by Rev. Alfred Darmanin (now professor) who specialised in organisation and group dynamics and organised courses for bank employees in the area of Small Group Dynamics. Group Dynamics, used in organisational psychology, which is a specialised branch of psychology is vital to help workers to express themselves on issues that otherwise would not be that easy to be brought into the open at their workplace. These courses were important to help employees come to terms with challenges at their workplace and also to improve their motivation, communications and team effort.
The subject was formally introduced in the University of Malta in the 1980s on a Degree level (B.A Hons.) which was later upgraded to a B.Sc in the subject. A Masters has been introduced in Malta for clinical, organisational, counselling and educational psychology. The Maltese Psychological Association, originally known as Association of Counselling and Clinical Psychologists was set up in 1992. The Association has grown steadily and changed its name to the Maltese Psychological Association (MPA). In 2000, MPA became a registered trade union.
The Department of Psychology at the University of Malta was officially set up within the Faculty of Arts in October 1988. It first offered a three year B.A. (Gen.) degree with Psychology as a main area followed by a four year Honours degree in Psychology. In 1992, the Department of Psychology was moved from the Faculty of Arts to the Faculty of Education, and it started offering the present B.Psy. (Hons). It continued offering the B.A. (General) in Psychology as well. The Department also offered the Programme for Inclusive Education which offers a Diploma in Inclusive Education on a regular basis. In 2003 a Master's degree in Psychology (M.Psy.) was started, offering three different streams: Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology and Educational Psychology. In 2009, a part-time B.A. course was offered one time only by the Department at the Gozo Campus.
Today, Intermediate Psychology is also a MATSEC subject which one can follow through the Lifelong Educational courses organised by the Ministry of Education and this year marks the third year since the subject was introduced in Malta. In Malta we have 6 specialisations of Psychology whilst abroad there are hundreds with whole universities catering for Psychology only and some specialising on just one aspect.
In spite of the professionalism of the psychology profession, many are those who erroneously believe that psychology is all about common sense and publish in local journals tests which they claim can reveal your personality or temperament and other matters concerning mental health and behaviour. Most of these are non-authoritative as they are not backed by scientific sources. One has to be aware of this 'pseudo' and 'pop' culture psychology because it is anything but the truth.
As the demand for psychologists in Malta is ever-increasing as more awareness of mental health and behavioural disorders come to light. A typical case is when one considers the size of the student population in Malta vis-à-vis the number of educational psychologists. There are only a few educational psychologists and their will have to increase to cater for the needs of thousands of school children in Church, Private and Government schools. Engaging qualified persons in the area of psychology can be very expensive. Just one illustration shows that a simple IQ test which may be administered only by a qualified educational psychologist can cost over €200. Psychologists are often members of panel groups when a new syllabus or new subject is being chosen for the school curriculum whether private, church or state schools.
Psychology's importance is not only limited to work and school but even when it comes to enacting laws that affect delicate issues that influence behaviour. When governments require advice on the likely impact of their new laws, they usually ask the economists and psychologists are sidelined. The Maltese parliament can learn quite a few lessons by engaging qualified psychologists to assess the content of legislation and how it affects certain categories of people.
Indeed people are benefitting from the work of psychologists as they are part of Malta's parliament sub-committees and their input in several legislation passed in the house such as those related to delicate issues; divorce and civil unions.
The importance of psychology in the area of public policy is being been underlined by the Association for Psychological Science (previously the American Psychological Society). This is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of scientific psychology and has representation at the national and international level.
In an article titled, 'Applying psychology to public policy' by David Halpern in the Presidential Column of the Association of Psychological Science Observer Vol. 27, No.1 January, 2014 we read, 'Psychologists have been less in demand. The reasons are understandable: Economists have seemed to offer relatively clear and well developed models for predicting behaviour, notably "expected utility theory." In contrast, the lessons from psychology have often seemed less clear-cut, no matter how interesting or suggestive they may have been'.
This situation is now changing. Officials are recognizing that their policies may stand or fall on social, cognitive, and emotional factors that economists have traditionally neglected. Given their position at the top table, it is perhaps unsurprising - if ironic - that economists themselves have communicated this point. Behavioural economics, essentially a combination of economics and psychology, has provided a new bridge between policymakers and psychological findings.
Behavioural economics has found a receptive audience in governments that, over recent decades, have increasingly been tasked with addressing such broad and complex social problems as obesity, climate change, and social exclusion. Many of these challenges are dependent on changes in the behaviour of individuals or groups. In this context, there is a real demand for approaches that can better explain observed behaviour.'
The above reveals the importance of psychology in assessing the implications of economic and social policy-making and high time that the Maltese parliamentarians take the subject to their heart before passing any new piece of legislation. The new law on gay couples adopting children and the rights of gay people seeking conversion therapy are just two cases in point where the work of expert psychologists on these matters cannot be overlooked.
On July 27, 2004, the Maltese Parliament passed a new law regulating the profession of psychology, thus making Malta the 16th EU country with legal regulation of psychology. It was significant that in the parliamentary debates, there was a wide appreciation of the growing need for psychological services.
Psychology in Malta has gone a long way since its early beginnings in the 1970s. In Malta, a psychologist exercising his/her profession of psychology can only do so by means of a warrant issued by the minister on the advice of the Malta Psychology Profession Board.
The standard of the profession in Malta is also very high with among other requirements such as the one where the applicant for a warrant must be in possession of a Masters degree in psychology and must satisfy the board that he/she has received adequate experience in the practice of the profession of psychology for an aggregate period of at least two years.
The Malta Psychology Profession Board is composed of seven members. Four appointed by the minister responsible for social policy including a chairperson with six years' practice in the profession, two psychologists, one of them in the public sector and a lawyer with five years' experience. Another two members would be nominated by associations registered with the board. The other member is nominated from the permanent academic staff responsible for psychology education and training at the university.
The main role of the board is to regulate the practice and the eligibility to practice the profession of psychology in Malta. That role includes establishing and, where necessary, assessing psychology standards as well as examining applications for warrants. The board would also make recommendations to the minister on a code of ethics, inquire into allegations of professional misconduct or incompetence.
The board can also recommend to the minister that a warrant may be suspended or cancelled, in which case the warrant holder may file an appeal in the courts.
A proper distinction between psychologists and psychotherapists is also required. A Bachelor's course was only an introduction for psychotherapists, but did not make graduates psychologists. This could have serious effects on patients who are not in a position to make the distinction. Clinical psychologists' patients usually had very serious problems, sometimes even bordering on the life-threatening, and the country needs to be very careful who could and should have the necessary warrants to do such work.
Malta's contribution to the psychology field has been significant through Edward de Bono (born 19 May 1933), Maltese physician, psychologist, author, inventor and consultant. He originated the term lateral thinking, wrote the book Six Thinking Hats and is a proponent of the teaching of thinking as a subject in schools. Edward De Bono, developed two different models regarding creative thinking called "lateral thinking" and "parallel thinking". De Bono developed his models over a number of years with his book, Mechanism of the Mind, published in 1969. This book contained a key insight upon which the lateral thinking model is based. Lateral thinking involves attempts to spark new thinking by disregarding established patterns. Lateral thinking is a method for escaping the brain's attempt to catalogue all perceptions in patterns, which is efficient but can limit creativity.
There is no doubt that the demand for services by psychologists in Malta is rising. Action needed to be taken to improve this situation, which stems from an acute shortage of psychologists and the increases in the population and the needs in addressing issues (marital and family breakdown, bullying, anti-social behaviour, addictions and other).
Perhaps, never before has the importance of psychology come to light as the western industrialised society struggles with the problems of the post-modernism and individualism. The world is faced by disasters today, both natural and man-made or a combination of the two. Such situations expose people into a lot of physical and psychological suffering. Challenges in normal life situations like relationships, mental disorders, bereavement and choosing career can affect anyone in the society. Psychologists are therefore needed to help people bounce back to their normal life functioning.
In writing this feature, I thank my Psychology lecturer Edward Wright for his feedback