The Sunday Mail
Mertha Mo Nyamande
PSYCHOLOGY is the leading field in all things human; our thoughts, emotions and behaviours that lead to whatever successes or failures in life.
However, there has been little effort and courage from the fraternity to step out and help the public understand the activities leading to menacing outcomes like violence, murders and sexual abuse.
We can also talk about the rampant drug and alcohol abuse, promiscuity and rise in sex work, among other social ills.
We have often offered traditional or religious explanations to all these issues.
This article seeks to challenge both the fraternity and major organisations to address these issues without hiding behind the struggling economy.
The economy is made weak or strong by activities of the people. Governments are also made up of and led by people.
That said, there is psychology wherever there is a human being; doing good, bad or mediocre.
For a better appreciation of the issues, we need to understand the human being behind it all — the psychology.
The social ills noted above have been on a gradual rise globally over a long period.
What we have not done as a society has been to try and understand why. As a result, years later, we are now wondering why things have become so bad.
We have often attributed the occurrences to the mystical aspect; we, therefore, sought resolutions beyond ourselves.
It is important to note that these are not deliberate choices; the actions are driven by underlying and unresolved subconscious emotional issues.
Psychology, therefore, provides simpler explanations and solutions.
It always looks at the trajectory of things in a scientific manner to explain where they are headed and where they are coming from. This is done using various theories, including Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis and Erik Erikson’s social learning.
As a race, we have not paid enough attention to how our societies and cultures are evolving.
There is need to understand the role of social engineering, where we make conscious efforts to direct society to where we need it to go. The strongest component in this is to ensure that the individual who forms this change is informed and takes pride in their role.
However, the problem is that we lack a focused vision of what our future should look like so that we plan for it.
Whatever visions we may have for our families or communities can be written on a board for all to appreciate and have a shared responsibility towards it.
The other problem we face in attempts to achieve such models is the paranoia that the next person wants my power and, as such, we isolate ourselves in our vulnerable spaces. We fail to realise that the power is better utilised when we work on things together, equally contributing.
The genesis of all the ills cited above are similar, if not the same. When we study the individuals, we see that they almost have unresolved traumas of different types, nature and degree.
Traumas are in two forms — physical and psychological. The physical can cause the psychological and vice versa.
Whenever someone gets physically injured, the wound creates a scar on the flesh. It also leaves an invisible scar on the mind.
If the physical injury is not cared for well, it can become infected and cause bigger problems in the long run, notwithstanding the pain and distress. Similarly, a scar on the mind can make one vulnerable to physical harm, and can also get worse in time if not addressed.
So, what we see in these social ills are predispositions to unresolved psychological wounds that cause them to respond to situations in the way their unconscious minds tell them to.
A lot of our violence is learnt from our role models, usually our parents and significant others, as well as from a wide range of frustrations, especially from our losses.
Sexual deviance and aspects of key populations are easily understood from Freud’s theory of psychosexual analysis and various other concepts.
We need to do more as a people to understand the unresolved traumas we have or that we see in each other for the betterment of the collective human experience.
Insight Wellbeing runs trauma-informed care workshops in this regard. The forthcoming workshop will run from April 21 to 23 in Harare. You can get in touch with us for more details.
Mertha Mo Nyamande is a psychotherapist. He can be contacted on: [email protected] or @ www.i-wellbeing.weebly.com
