| Psychology is a subsystem within a larger socially, | | | | being any help for our people to discover the self and |
| politically and historically constructed reality. This is at | | | | the world. For decades, masses have been left out in |
| least my understanding of psychology. | | | | my mind and still today, psychology only appeals to the |
| In my mind we need a psychology for us Iranian that | | | | intellectual, rational, and upper social class groups. |
| enables us comprehend our everyday life, behaviours, | | | | Today, however, we Iranian have come to a point that |
| thoughts, and emotions. Every culture has their own | | | | we realize the urgency of finding the truth about who |
| cultural psychology to define the most significant | | | | we are and how we do what we do. Reason being |
| aspect of mental health within their communities. | | | | could be the huge pressure that many of us feel. The |
| I appreciate Western psychology and the mainstream | | | | stress of losing our homes due to the forced migration, |
| psychology for their hard work in generating | | | | the Diaspora, the separation, and the nostalgia we deal |
| knowledge about human mind. Adding the cultural, | | | | with every single day. |
| social, political, and spiritual realities that every | | | | We need to learn how to tackle all the pressure at |
| community deal with, we may try to understand our | | | | once. Mental health and emotion regulation issues |
| multicultural and multifaceted human mind. | | | | among us most certainly are pertinent to our living |
| Mainstream psychology has found a variety of tools in | | | | conditions. We just need to have proper tools to find |
| measuring and explaining human mind; still, this umbrella | | | | out. We need an all-included psychology that is easy to |
| does not cover all of our heads. | | | | understand. |
| I suggest that in our Iranian way of understanding | | | | Psychology as a medical model is used within the |
| psychology, we have failed at least in our early | | | | status quo of our Iranian life; however we learn to |
| attempts up to now, to understand our own mind. To | | | | appreciate and to comprehend a scientific model of |
| be brief, we do not talk about the obvious reasons, the | | | | body-mind-soul. Using my own critical eyes, I will argue |
| forces behind this huge wall where knowing the self | | | | that critical psychology is missing to explain and |
| can become dangerous for those who oppress us. | | | | explore the hard concepts of psychology within the |
| First of all historically, we have been dealing with | | | | framework of people's everyday life. |
| external factors that are prohibiting us to enjoy our | | | | Individuals and families around the world should be able |
| peace of mind, not talking about the hardships in our | | | | to view the functions of psychology and to be able to |
| mind. Psychology was never explained to us properly. | | | | utilize the information to the bettering of their lives. |
| Now it is time. The heavy Freudian language can not | | | | When it comes to us, the Iranian population, we could |
| capture the reality of our life back in Iran or assist us in | | | | acknowledge that; the established objective and |
| understanding our own mind. As much as we Iranian | | | | scientific models in Europe also arrived at the door of |
| used to study Freud (those of us who studied | | | | the institutionalized form of diagnosis and treatment for |
| psychology), we never knew about Adler. | | | | mental dysfunction in our home country. |
| The Adlerian Individual psychology explains neurosis | | | | We Iranian remember that "crazy" people would get |
| pertinent to the sense of not belonging and not being | | | | into mental hospital and they would receive electric |
| accounted for in our ecological world. | | | | shock and medications to become "normal" again. |
| We Iranian know how it feels to not belong, at least | | | | Many of those experiences left scars in our collective |
| not be part of what we wish to be, the development | | | | embodied soul, to not trust psychologists. If we ask |
| of our own home country. We Iranian know how it is | | | | most Iranians what they think of psychologists, you will |
| to not really feel the sense of belonging, because we | | | | hear this answer: they are crazy themselves! |
| have been forced to live with the concept of | | | | This answer does not come out of a vacuum and it |
| dislocation, a constant battle that we can not win. This | | | | has a rationale. People have been mistreated by |
| is what most Iranian talk about, day after day. | | | | psychologists who have perpetuated the status quo; |
| In my work as a counsellor, I meet people who feel | | | | meaning oppression. We move around and we carry |
| they are isolated and unloved. We continue to | | | | our superstitious beliefs with us. People need |
| immigrate as a group of people, however silently, | | | | explanations, explorations, and healthy talk about |
| without any noise. We lack resources to help mental | | | | psychology. |
| health issues that many of us carry with us. | | | | If you are a mental health worker in Iran or anywhere |
| Psychology is still not there for us, very distant, very | | | | working with this population, try to break down the |
| hard to grasp. Or maybe our psychologists in this filed | | | | concepts into tangible and useful ideas people can |
| fail to explain the concepts to the public. | | | | take home. Psychology should become culturally |
| The specialized, complicated, and discursive language | | | | adjusted and personally suitable for each one of our |
| that is used in psychology does maintain a privileged | | | | needs. |
| power position for the professional psychology without | | | | |