Psychology has always been my passion. Understanding how the human mind works and what motivates our actions is fascinating to me. It is amazing to me how much psychology has evolved over time. In the past, people with mental illnesses were often locked up and had to undergo torturous "treatments," today, we have much more advanced knowledge of mental illness and understand how to help people who have these conditions. Our treatment of mental illness is deeply effected by religion. Mental illness is approached very differently in places where people believe that the spiritual world dictates our psychological well-being.
Since religion is also a topic that I am very interested in, I am going to write about the connection between psychology and religion. I am planning to look into a general history of both, and study how different places in the world handle the treatment of people with psychological disorders, as well as what their religious beliefs and practices are. It is my hope to develop a greater understanding of how different religions impact us as individuals, and as groups, based on the effect it has on our views and implementation of psychological treatment.
Jenny
ReplyDeleteI love the topic choice! I too have always had a fascination with psychology and plan on further investigating that in college. As for religion, I have never really had a strong draw to it, but I can definitely appreciate the connection that it could potentially have with the world of psych. One's psychological tendencies could certainly influence what belief system they have an interest in. I'm not positive, but you may be able to dig up something from the AP text that relates in some manner to one's beliefs as a product of their psychological profile. Also, seeing as this is your broad topic, you could potentially focus on an individual who's beliefs lead them to a major psychological breakthrough; just like in the movie we watched in AP Psych (Awakenings I believe it was called?). Whatever approach you decide on, I'm sure your paper will be a hit.
Good luck!
I have to agree with Delany, psychology is definitely a fascinating field of study in which I hope to largely incorporate into my degree in college. I come from a religious background and still am a practicing Christian. My questions for you on how you'd incorporate the two includes: Would you incorporate any biases that could pop-up in the practice of psychology along with religion? Would you possibly go off of any personal experiences in your research? (I know it is a research paper, but I just was curious.) Do you think you'll run into any ritualistic practices as you do your research for psychological treatments across the world and how religion is incorporated into it? And my last question: Are you planning to focus on a select group of religious groups or will it vary as you find your information?
ReplyDeleteOverall, I'm very curious on how your paper will end up and I would love to read it, if you don't mind! Good luck!
Jenny,
ReplyDeleteWhat a good choice of a research topic,I find it to be very interesting, especially the things you can learn! Are you going to focus more on the history of psychological disorder treatments in religion, or are you going to focus on how each religion looks at the treatment of them? I think it would be really interesting to compare and contrast how religions across the globe define a psychological disorder and how the go about treating them. Good luck with the research!