Before getting into 'why choose psychology?', it is important that we have a proper grasp on why choose, well, anything at all. What should be the criteria that dictate our choice of careers or professions, or in this case, the core subject of your academic course? This in itself is a topic pregnant with much disagreements and debates for a whole article to be written about it. And probably, a small two page article wouldn't suffice to explain the intricacies of the process. But here, I'm letting you skip the heavy weight-lifting and just presenting the major points of this recurrently written about issue on the basis of my own readings and analysis.

The first thing, which is often overlooked in many of the write-ups that address the topic is, if you have an interest (if not ardent passion) towards that field or subject. This should be your primary concern when selecting a subject- obviously some subjects are inherently more interesting by nature as compared to others, which we'll get to later; but a lot of this is based on the student. The second criterion, I would say is- what one expects after taking up the course and whether taking up this course actually leads to the expected results. And the third and last criterion in my opinion is what the course and the resulting profession holds for the students and scholars in the future, which is more or less an extension of the second point mentioned above. With that out of the way, let us get to the specifics of 'why choose Psychology?'.

In the academic arena, psychology is basically a course that at its core is an exploration of oneself. This instantly makes everything about psychology more interesting and enticing. After all, what is more interesting than learning why we behave the way we do? This particular characteristic of psychology makes it all the more easy to love. It isn't just about a momentary interest- psychology has more than ample topics and enough depth to them to keep you engaged for a lifetime. As simple as it sounds, the subject being so damn interesting is the first reason I'd state for the query- 'why choose psychology'.

Going into the more career related aspects, psychology has much in store for its students. Psychology students can opt to go to a lot of different fields and play a lot of different roles after their coursework in psychology ranging from traditional counselors and clinical practitioners to HR consultants and researchers in multiple areas. And with psychology being a common member in a lot of up and coming interdisciplinary fields, students have a rich variety of options to choose from as far as their careers are concerned. Psychology is also a rewarding field in the sense that it can help you contribute to the society at large in a way that the results are quite evident. If you are in it for social service, you won't be disappointed.

Last but not the least, even if psychology is a rewarding academic subject to choose at present, is there any guarantee that it would be so after a couple of years? Well, statistically speaking, yes there is. In the larger cosmos of scientific fields, psychology is a very young discipline. Even when some of the other 'more popular' scientific streams face the issues of lack of inspiration and suspicions of saturation, psychology is still at its growth with a lot more to explore. This means that the future is full of bright opportunities for students who aspire to be psychologists. In the Indian context, it is also important to note that psychology, more specifically, treatment of mental issues was so much underdeveloped owing to the social taboo associated with it. But with people being more aware of the importance of mental health and more embracing of people who are challenged by psychological disorders, there is still a lot of scope in the health sector for budding psychologists. And of course, psychology is one such subject that is sure to be relevant infinitely, or at least until there are still humans left to learn the subject.

So, there it is... Answer to 'why choose psychology?' in a nutshell. You can always get more information regarding this field via internet or RUFA’s upcoming blogs and students who currently pursuing a course in psychology and the professionals to their experience. I hope the article managed to spark a little something in you that would tempt you to seriously consider psychology as an academic course and career - the world is in-fact, in dire need of more of us.

Author:

JZL
(Ph.D. research scholar,Psychology,IIT Delhi)