Dr Shahieda Jansen and Neziswa Titi Women are patriarchal. We know this from various sources and interpersonal engagements where we had been corrected by women to “remember our place” or understand that when a man violates a woman she should accept that is how men are. But what about women who work against other women’s […]
psychology
Posted inHealth, Media
‘Media must be thanked for helping us bear witness to the Esidimeni tragedy’
With the rest of the nation, The Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) followed the Life Esidimeni arbitration hearings with great interest. Considering the death toll is now believed to be over 140 and some patients still unaccounted for, these are indeed sad days in our country. At the same time it is gratifying to […]
Posted inEquality, Health, News/Politics
‘A turning point for psychology in Africa’
The Pan-African Psychology Union (Papu) and the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) will host the first-ever continental psychology congress from September 18 to 21 at the International Convention Centre in Durban, South Africa. “This convening of psychology leaders marks a turning point for the African continent, as a critical hub of psychological thinking and […]
Posted inGeneral, Health
Theoretical psychology in Tokyo
Tokyo is a wonderful city. It is also beyond huge. I thought that Seoul in Korea was huge, with its 16 million inhabitants in the greater metropolitan area, but the equivalent metropolitan area of Tokyo packs approximately 40 million people (a UN report of 2014 put it at 38 million). From the viewing deck of […]
Posted inEnvironment, General, Health, Lifestyle
Creating social capital for mental health: A case study of the Durban advocacy walk
By Suntosh R Pillay On October 15, the Durban community will meet at the North Beach amphitheatre and ‘Step up for Mental Health’. This will be a mass community initiative for Mental Health Awareness Month, organised by the KZN Mental Health Advocacy Group, of which PsySSA KZN is a partner. It is community and social […]
Posted inEnvironment, Health
Harm reduction versus abstinence: experts debate drug laws
By Ian Broughton A protest march during SA Drug Policy Week in Cape Town. (File photo: Ashraf Hendricks) South African drug policy is rooted in racism and class discrimination. This was the view expressed by Dr Ethan Nadelmann at the opening of SA Drug Policy Week in Cape Town earlier this month. Nadelmann is the […]
Posted inHealth, Lifestyle
At age 55 I began to hear voices: My journey into and out of madness
by Greg Shankland It was while living in New York City at age 55 that I suddenly began to hear voices, out of the blue. How did a smart, accomplished businessman succumb to fear and paranoia, to mania and unusual beliefs, so suddenly and so quickly? Importantly, how did I break through it? The first […]
Posted inEnvironment, Health, Lifestyle
Single vs two-parent families: A Western Cape study of well-being
by Dr Eugene Lee Davids Several theories exist within the field of psychology. These theories act as lenses to make sense of the world we live in and are important in understanding our interactions within the world as human beings. In South Africa, a country rich in diversity, a theoretical framework that I find very […]
Posted inEquality, General
Personality differences across the world
When you travel a lot, as we do, to different parts of the world, encountering people from widely divergent cultures, one might think that you would also come across personalities widely different from those you find in your own culture. However, experience has taught me that this is not the case, and that the divergences […]
Posted inEquality, Health, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Grand racism vs petty racism
By Sduduzo Mncwabe In South Africa racism and psychology had a difficult marriage consummated by Professor Hendrik Verwoerd in 1948 and dissolved by Professor Sathasivan “Saths” Cooper and company when the Psychological Society of South Africa (PsySSA) was founded in 1994. As a profession we have gone from having “one of our own” construct the […]
Posted inEquality, Health, Lifestyle
Urgently rethinking mental health in South Africa
As troops of psychologists flocked into Joburg last month, Emperors Palace morphed into a marketplace of ideas. My everyday work context is a busy public hospital setting, so as I prepared for this annual congress, mental health was on my mind. And it still is, because October is mental health month, and Saturday was World […]
Posted inMedia, Tech
The illusions of Facebook
At the recent South African Communication Association conference at the Afda campus in Cape Town I was astonished at the level of naïveté about the use of Facebook on the part of academics and students alike. On the one hand there were those who regard it as a mere tool for communicating with friends and […]