Is Psychology a Useless Major in this Economy?
Let’s start with my bias in the room as a mental health therapist with double taught psychological degrees (B.S. and M.A.) and one research degree (Ph.D.) centered on therapists & mental health & trauma: if there was ever someone in the world to write to who values psychology as a field of study, you’ve found them.
Before I understood the intrinsic value of the field, part of my draw to it was the versatility. I remember going to this career fair put on by a community college in the town I went to high school in and picking up this folder about psychology that had these staggered cards inside about different routes psychology as a major could take you: industrial-organizational psychology, sports psychology, forensics psychology, military psychology, clinical psychology, and so on.
I remember a small feeling of ‘yes’ when I saw all the options in that folder because I wanted a major, a path, a career, that was open to opportunities and adaptable to the changing world we are in. Did I not understand at the time that each of those paths required specialization and training and specific pathways? No.
But at the time of picking a major, all I was interested in was following that small feeling of ‘yes’. I was burning myself out in high school trying to get into colleges and I was anxious about everything, that I knew I had to at least like or be interested in my major to survive the coursework of college.
And so my advice is to start there: with your ‘why’ for choosing psychology. Why has your heart been set on it?
Is it set enough to take neurobiology courses, physiology courses, and psychopharmacology courses?
Is it set enough to navigate a state-by-state license for the rest of your life (as it looks like policy around mental health professionals getting a national license is not on the horizon anymore)?
Is it set enough to take listening skills classes and cultural biases classes and go to therapy while going to school (there are some countries and programs that require that)?
If the answers are yes, yes, yes, then silence the noise of culture about psychology.
Psychology, whether people value it or not, is the study of the brain, behavior, and the conditions of being alive.
What colors to paint your kitchen walls? That knowledge is built based on psychological research.
How do you say sorry to someone you’ve hurt? That knowledge is built based on psychological research.
What logo or slogan is best for getting people to purchase your product? That knowledge is built based on psychological research.
How much exercise and sleep is needed in a day? That knowledge is built based on psychological research.
So whether or not people think a college major is useful or worthwhile matters very little when the world is built around the findings from this field.
It is useful, and people pay for that knowledge, experience, and expertise.
As for how quickly the world is changing with social media, AI, self-proclaimed experts, my thoughts on that is that mental health professionals are not only going to be needed more and sought after more, but that there are roles in technology, in leadership, in entrepreneurship, in entertainment, more than ever before.
You can consult on mental health representations in film/tv, you can be a sensitivity reader for books, you can be a data annotator for LLMs, you can be a safety manager for social media platforms, you can start a business (and not just private practice but a product business), you can be leadership consultant for how to lead, and so on.
Most of these jobs are fairly new in the grand scheme of what work could look like for someone who trained as a mental health professional, and that will only keep changing.
The world will see the consequences of AI companions being released to twelve year olds. The world will see the mental health consequences of these mass layoffs because people are trying to offload to LLM systems. The world will continue to feel the lack of social skills and empathy from folks who spend more time on media apps.
And who will be there to support people unpacking these impacts, asking for help themselves when they’re in too deep, wanting to exist in the human world more: mental health professionals.
We will be central to change and recovery. We can be central to the building of this new world too if we’re existing in these intersections of these fields, we will be the safety net for individuals, families, communities, businesses.
We live in a world that was not created for human wellbeing, for connection, for love, for community, for an expansive view of mental health where people feel all their feelings, have language for ruptures and repairs, or practice self-trust and self-compassion. And unfortunately, I think we’re in for a long walk down this road, in this direction.
Which may be good for job security, yes. But I also think it opens us up as mental health professionals to see how many different fields, sectors, roles we can occupy and make a difference.
So, on the record, my perspective on the matter of psychology is a major that teaches you about human relationships, cognitions, behaviors, internal and external experiences, and mental health is an important and valuable major to choose in this economy.
I will be gone for a two week summer hiatus so I’ll write to you all again in August,
Dr. Sydney Conroy
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