Psychology

Over the past several decades, a change has been seen in the field of psychology as interest in community psychology continues to grow internationally. This is due to the growing dissatisfaction of clinical psychologists toward traditional psychology as they observe that it focuses more on the individual and fails to consider the surrounding factors affecting the mental health of an individual.

In this paper, the concept and application of community psychology is discussed. This essay will also address other psychological and sociological concepts that affect the community psychological approach.

Part I
According to Orford (2008), community psychology can be described as a psychological approach that deals with the social context of peoples lives. In order to have a better understanding of the concept of community psychology, it is first necessary to differentiate it from traditional and mainstream psychology.

Some of the similarities between community and traditional psychology include its aim to promote human welfare, the orientation toward preventive measures, and taking a group or systems approach to understanding human behavior. One glaring difference is that community psychology is more concerned with the relationship between social systems and individual well-being in the community context.

Furthermore, Orford (2008) states in his book that community psychology is marginally different from traditional psychological approaches because of the questions it is interested in asking and finding answers to. One of the key aspects of community psychology that was mentioned in the book is its aim of finding ways to help people combat inequality and injustice. Unlike other psychological and sociological studies, it is not focused on simply analyzing power and the way it is exercised, rather it is oriented toward helping people resist oppression and the struggle to create a better world.

Another notable aspect of community psychology is its emphasis on prevention, intervention and policy change at a non-individual level, rather than focusing on personal treatment. Orford (2008) explains it further by stating that

In order to promote individual and collective health and well-being and to reduce distress and difficulties, it is necessary to promote change in the social, economic and environmental arrangements that give rise to such problems (xiii).

The field of psychology as a whole has been receiving a lot of criticism for the past several years, mostly from psychologists themselves, as they find that psychology has taken a highly individualistic route and neglecting whole domains of its legitimate subject matter. Duncan et al. (2007) posits that what gave rise to the emergence of community psychology is the dissatisfaction found in mainstream psychology, particularly its inability, neglect or disregard to adequately address the growing psychosocial needs of marginalized communities and groups. In the case of traditional psychology, it has been observed that it is geared more towards mainstream, individual-oriented models of conceptualizing and understanding human behavior.

To further illustrate how community psychology is different from traditional psychology, a comparison is provided based on several factors. In terms of theory philosophy, clinical health psychology is oriented towards the biopsychosocial model, where health is the product of a combination of factors such as biological, behavioral and social. Meanwhile, community health psychology operates under the social and economic model, which indicates that changes are needed at both individual and systems levels. In terms of values, clinical psychology focuses on the use of ethical intervention to achieve its goal of increasing or maintaining the autonomy of the individual, while community psychology values applies social action to create or increase the autonomy of disadvantaged and oppressed people. Another difference between the two is their focus as clinical psychology deals with physical illness and dysfunction, while community psychology is concerned toward physical and mental health promotion (Orford, 2008).

Another psychological theory that is closely allied with community psychology is critical psychology. Fox et al. (2009) defines it as a psychological theory that focuses on social justice and human wellbeing by advocating not just minor reform but fundamentally different social structures that can lead to it. Basically, it imagines and explores alternatives with the aim of making psychology perform better.

Orford (2008) explains it further by stating that the focus of critical psychology is the need to engage in social action. This is done by observing values such as the promotion of social justice, freedom and emancipation exposing and working to eliminate oppression and placing emphasis on the interests of the poor, oppressed and disenfranchised.

Community psychology and critical psychology are similar in that they challenged traditional and mainstream psychology assumptions and methods toward human wellbeing. Fox et al. (2009) lists several concerns related to traditional and mainstream psychology that are addressed by critical psychology. The first is that mainstream and traditional psychology focuses on the individual rather than the group and larger society, resulting in the overemphasizing of individualistic values. This perspective also hinders the realization of mutuality and community and, at the same time, strengthens unjust institutions. Another concern is that the underlying assumptions and institutional allegiances of mainstream psychology negatively affects the members of powerless and marginalized groups as it causes the facilitation of inequality and oppression. 

In order to further understand the core concepts and values of community psychology and critical psychology, let us consider the scenario below

A young Pakistani woman living in Great Britain in her early twenties is suffering from serious bouts of depression. She may even be suicidal.  She is married and has two children. Her husband, an unskilled laborer is unemployed and she, herself, has just lost her minimal wage job, perhaps due to the depression. Her husband maintains that she was a victim of racism.

Based on the scenario above, I will now discuss how traditional and community psychology practitioners will act in order to help the woman. Traditional psychologists will most likely focus on the self, illustrating the individualistic bias of psychology. Psychoanalytic theories will be applied to treat the depression of the woman, placing emphasis on the individuals personality and failing to consider the social contexts.  Basically, the psychotherapy treatment for the womans ill-health condition will be based on the idea that the individual is suffering from some disorder or defect that lends itself to individual cure or correction (Orford, 2008). Meanwhile, community psychology practitioners will focus on prevention, specifically, the general enhancement or promotion of health or well-being (15).

The community psychology prevention plan would include a wellness enhancement program designed to prevent similar cases from occurring. Community psychology would also look into the social context and implement programs that would address the living and working conditions of immigrant families and how they are coping. Interventions targeting the poor and unemployed in the community will also be the central focus.

Part II
The following is a discussion of some of the key concepts or values integral to a community psychology perspective.

Prevention deals with the identification of ways to minimize or prevent the problem from ever occurring. Rather than relying on reactionary responses, particularly on individual illness, the goal of prevention is to lessen the demand for treatment. This addresses the communitys concern for those who may otherwise not have the resources or access to such treatment.

Social justice is another core value of community psychology. It deals with the rights all persons are entitled. This is applied towards those who may be marginalized. Basically, it allows privileges in order to effect change and aims toward a more equitable allocation of resources.

Indigenous resources deals with focusing on placing value and collaborating with the expertise within a community. Indigenous people are always overlooked even though they have always existed in a community. Using them as a resource to answer the question of why their existence works and what strengths they can impart are important from a community psychology perspective.

Another key concept of community psychology is citizen participation. The idea behind this is that community members themselves are more aware of their own situation. It follows that they should be a part of the design, implementation and evaluation of any community intervention. Their expertise can have an impact on the efforts of community psychologists to effect change in the community.

These key aspects or values of community psychology can be related to the notions of social construction and power. In order to attain an effective community intervention, collaboration is needed. Social construction, which can be described as the ways in which phenomena are socially constructed, can be connected to community psychology values in that it puts into effect the efforts for social change. Society has the power to effect change and in order to bring that into realization, a sharing of power is needed which can be expressed by involving all members of a community to address and act on the concerns of the community.

These values can help community psychology practitioners in relating to the woman mentioned in the scenario earlier. Community psychologists can trace whether this is a common occurrence in the community and thus implement an effective community intervention program that will address the health and wellbeing of powerless and marginalized groups. Community psychologists can also collaborate with community members to improve the living conditions within the community thus preventing the occurrence of ill conditions among members.

The scenario discussed above shows that social factors affect the health and wellbeing of community members. Being a Pakistani woman, gender, race and social class come into play resulting in oppression and injustice. It is a community psychologists task to address these issues that affect the health of the Pakistani woman and prevent it from happening to others who find themselves in a somewhat similar position.

Part III
The aspect of area has a major influence on the health and well being of an individual. Biases on social position, gender, race, social and economic class are present in every community. An individual that is exposed to this kind of community and has experienced prejudice from any of the factors mentioned above will inevitably cause ill health on the individual. The concept of area in this case would include the neighborhood, the workplace and other venues of social interactions.

By living in Great Britain, the Pakistani woman will undoubtedly experience prejudice based on her and her familys race alone. This is due to the political and economic conflict that her homeland is experiencing with other nations. People would associate this conflict with her and her family resulting in racial prejudice and oppression. Her lack of education and skill incompetency is another mark against her. The familys social class and position is also looked upon and found wanting. All these factors takes a heavy toll on the womans health and well being resulting in the feeling of depression and the development of suicidal tendencies. The area in which she circulates has a hand in what she has become. The core values of community psychology are needed at this point in order to make the community intervention effective.

Part IV
According to Field (2008), the central thesis of the theory of social capital is that relationships matter. This means that if people work together, they can accomplish and achieve things with ease. The important factor here is to make connections with one another, and ensure that the connections remain over time. This supports the central idea of social capital which is positioning social networks as a valuable asset.

Social cohesion uses networks as a basis due to the fact that they have the capability to make people cooperate with one another for the purpose of mutual advantage. Social capital can be viewed from various perspectives, namely, sociological, economic and political.

The concept of social capital and social capital theory can be applied to the case of the Pakistani woman in the scenario above. In the scenario, it is evident that, due to the factors that were held against her, there wasnt any social connection that was made. The only connection she has formed is with her family and that is not enough. Social networks have not been formed due to the prejudice against her and her family. The social support that was supposed to have been formed from her interactions at her former workplace and also with her neighborhood is non-existent resulting in the development of ill-health conditions in the Pakistani woman. Community psychologists need to encourage the formation of social capital, particularly in communities that are culturally diverse, as part of their community intervention program.