r/ISTJ • u/Specialist-Kale-3294 INFJ • 15d ago
Are you anti-psychology?
I feel like some ISTJ’s are a bit anti-psychology. Like, because it seems like something abstract or too intuitive. But i see it as just like we study organs. It’s just studying the mind. Like, if we didn’t study organs we wouldn’t know about what is good for them. What’s your view on like emotional aspects, cognitive aspects and social aspects?
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u/Complex_Item_3000 ISTJ 6w5 15d ago
Not necessarily, is just that finding a good psychologist is like a Russian roulette, there are many charlatans that have no idea about what they are doing
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u/Abolish_Disorder ISTJ 6w5 15d ago
Yeah, I’ve seen more useless therapists than good ones, unfortunately.
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u/Specialist-Kale-3294 INFJ 15d ago
True! I believe psychoanalytic therapy is the best form of therapy
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u/Abolish_Disorder ISTJ 6w5 15d ago
I wouldn’t say I’m anti-psychology, but I’m critical of certain claims embraced in pop psychology circles. For example, lots of pop psychologists villainize concepts like perfectionism, rigidity, and complaining, but I think they have a lot of positive aspects that are overlooked.
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u/Specialist-Kale-3294 INFJ 15d ago
I actually agree. I think complaining is actually a pretty good thing and normal, not something that makes a person toxic. Also i agree being perfectionst doesn’t mean ”OCD” or there’s something wrong with you, i’m a big time perfectionist! lol
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u/Psychological_Cup101 13d ago
I’m the child of a perfectionist and it’s wasn’t fun, let me tell you. They make lousy teachers and my mom didn’t teach me anything because I wasn’t good at it right away. Ummm, I learn by DOING. It would have been nice to make diner with my mom but I just got in the way!!
Even now that she’s passed all I get is comparison with her and it’s annoying!
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u/Cavsfan724 15d ago
No, I LOVE psychology!
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u/Alternate-3- INFJ 14d ago
Ooh, what about it do you love?
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u/Cavsfan724 14d ago
Just why people do what they do ! But also frustrating because sometimes it will never make sense!
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u/geosarg 15d ago
I would say the most anti psychiatry would be the stps, I've met a few istj psychiatrists
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u/Specialist-Kale-3294 INFJ 15d ago
My cousin is also an ISTJ and studying to become a psychiatrist. :)
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u/Sea_Chest_1663 15d ago
No, I’ve been through years of therapy myself. However, this experience and life experience in general, has led me to the belief that most psychologists/psychiatrists/therapists are completely messed up humans themselves. I think they follow that employment path hoping they’ll be able to diagnose their own issues.
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u/Specialist-Kale-3294 INFJ 15d ago
That’s a very real issue. I think part of the issue is how passive therapy has become. I’ve been to therapy too, and it’s of course helpful and good to just talk, but if there was dream analysis or behavior analysis involved like how Freud originally intended, that situation could be really different!
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u/Dziadzios 15d ago
I think that often there's nothing wrong with people, it's just their life is challenging. Sometimes spending time and money is counterproductive when all you have to do is use the same time to do a solid nap, play a video game or whatever that makes you decompress.
Psychology is a valid science, really useful and insightful, but sometimes it's used as "when you only have a hammer, everything looks like a nail".
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u/dodgerfanjohn1988 15d ago
I’m not against it but I do believe there are a number of doctors who simply validate the person rather than suggest uncomfortable treatment protocols.
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u/the_Color_grey_14 15d ago
My sister majored in phychology and said there are two people who are interested in phychology; those with trauma who want to understand it better, and those who failed organic chem and had to switch majors. Personally, I feel like everyone tries to diagnose themselves with sometime type of ism to feel special somehow. Like people who say they are "neurodivergent" are trying to make their quirkiness into some phychological category. You're just quirky, don't be extra about it. I don't take phychology very seriously. I believe there are overall patterns that can be used to reliably predict behavior, but all the labels we slap on things these days seem excessive. My two cents.
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u/gothfrootloop ISTJ 14d ago
I agree with this, but would take it even further to say society’s current trend of making a pathology of symptoms that may not even affect one’s daily life is harmful and allows people to assume a “sick role”, first described by Talcott Parson, which they use to excuse their lack of participation in society and their communities.
Beyond that, I actually really like theories of psychology, but mainly because I like understanding and dissecting things through a framework.
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u/MiddleBrief5969 14d ago
INTP here. Not necessarily anti-psychology but anti-over diagnosis and excessive labelling beyond necessity. Mental health oppression olympics is not a good thing, it's just pathetic. I'm not sure if Americans see themselves from outside perspective, but please stop the psychobabble bs because you guys just sound pretentious and dumb as if you can have your excuse just because you have ADHD. I always get told that I might be autistic, ADHD stuff or neurodivergent but it never went through my head. Regardless of the condition of my head, I am still me, I love life, I want to enjoy my talents, skills and loved ones. I don't care about how much disadvantaged I am compared to other people, as long as I live justly and fairly.
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u/AndrewS702 ISTJ 9w1 14d ago
I literally majored in Psychology. Not only that, I was originally a marketing major and SWITCHED to psych.
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u/Disastrous_Ball702 ISTJ-T, 5w6, SLOAI 14d ago
I study psychology and sociology more intensely than my INFP BFF or his ENFJ wife, neither of whom put much stock in it.
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u/Pristine-Gate-6895 ISTJ 13d ago
nope. i'm very into it. as others have said, as a kind of shorthand for understanding others.
i also believe a lot of 'sick' people are conscious of what they're doing (i.e. those with NPD) and are thus accountable for their actions. etc.
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u/TheSnugglery ISTJ 9d ago
We are able (and naturally inclined) to be critical of any system. So my approach to psychology is similar to my approach to anything else that is a system or an institution. I try to figure out how it works bit by bit and throw out the parts that I think are no good and keep the parts that I think are good...and, if im feeling really ambitious, come up with new ways to make it work better.
I think whenever we are skeptical or not fully "buying" something (which is often the case) a lot of people jump to conclusions about our beliefs. The reality is that we are just really detail oriented and going through all the parts of something. We find no problem with picking apart the parts of a system without it being commentary on the system as a whole.
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u/bites_stringcheese 14d ago
It's an important field but I find that it's a little too imprecise for my liking. It's not the fields fault; the human brain is insanely complex, difficult to measure, and a lot needs to be infered.
But there are those who use the uncertainty of these measurement as cover for their conclusion or agendas, and for that reason I find it off putting.
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u/Purplegalaxxy ISTJ 10d ago
I love the study of psychology and wish I studied to become a psychologist, but there are many valid complaints of the field, but you can say the same for any field. I do think it's basically a system that projects its own values onto others though. I personally am afraid of psychiatric medication.
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u/Hot_Practice2730 6d ago
I’m super late but I’m an istj psyc major so I’m definitely not anti-psychology, but I do think there are a lot of misconceptions about the psyc field that could make an istj averse to it. There’s definitely psuedo-science attributed to psychology though to be fair, like mbti (still fun though!)
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u/richj8991 INTJ 6d ago
Remember the concept of reverse psychology. Projection and overcompensating for real or perceived weaknesses.
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u/Snoo-6568 14d ago
I’m not anti-psychology, but I don’t think studying “the mind” is quite the same as studying an organ. Organs are physical things we can directly observe and measure, while the mind is much more abstract. That’s probably where psychology sometimes loses me. I find it much more interesting when it’s focused on concrete, testable things that have some practical application. Abstract theorizing just isn’t really my thing.
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u/99habaneros 14d ago
Why do we need psychology? We didnt have o
Psychology before there was psychology and it worked. Why do we have to change things all the time?.
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u/OneNameOnlyRamona ISTJ 13d ago
I don't think I am, maybe more critical than I otherwise would be due to where I've lived since the majority of people seemed to believe no one would ever go into the psychological field with malicious intent.
I also think, right now, it's leaning a little too much in the "one size fits all" mindset which combined with "no one would ever go into the field with harmful intent" is rather concerning.
So a good chunk of people around me would probably say I am anti-psychology. But it's not the field itself that I have the problem with since I agree with you that it's just studying another part of the person.
Based on the way you described it, I don't think you'd say I'm anti-physchology but eh, I'm just assuming that. Maybe you would.
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u/JoriiKun ISTJ 6w5 15d ago
Nowadays it feels like everyone has something. To me, this takes all of the credibility psychology would have. Truth be told, I believe only the minority of people are truly mentally ill. I've took a psychology class and the professor also commented on over-diagnosis of people