Flipping the world of psychology

Steve has lunch with a psychologist friend.

Steve: You know, Bob: Things have certainly changed in our business since I was in practice 25 years ago.

Bob: Really? How so?

Steve: Back when I was in the business, we helped crazy people adjust to a sane world. Today, we help sane people adjust to a crazy world. I recall what my psychiatrist partner once said about our professions.

Bob: What was that?

Steve: Psychiatry and psychology are the only medically related fields where we vote on whether something is a disease or not.

Bob: Ha! I guess that’s true. And as the culture changes, so does what we call “abnormal.” I’m getting some pretty strange requests for testing these days as well. Somebody wanted me to do a psychometric report on a twoyear-old!

Steve: Good luck with that one.

Bob: And a client got upset because I said her high school daughter’s fifthgrade reading level was in the “normal” range.

Steve: So, what was the problem? Was it the COVID lockdown?

Bob: No! The kid’s IQ is barely 80. So, the girl’s doing quite well for her ability.

Steve: Ah! You said that dirty word “IQ.” Don’t you know those tests are sexist, racist, elitist and a lot of other nasty words you can think of ?

Bob: Maybe so, but they’re still pretty good predictors of academic success.

Steve: I donno, Bob. In these times of equity, you may be putting your practice at risk. Today, we often don’t separate people because of ability or lack of it. We simply lower standards so everyone can succeed. Don’t you think that makes for a more equitable society?

Bob: No, I think that’s crazy. Today, while the Russians, Chinese and others are plotting our demise, we focus on so-called “systemic” racism and genderdiscriminating pronouns. Whom do you think is going to win that battle? Duh!

Steve: I saw Supreme Court Justice Sonya Sotomayor speak to a group of “woke” young lawyers and law students. While she agrees with many of their political positions, the justice believes those who can only see their own points-of-view are counterproductive.

Bob: So, what’s the point?

Steve: Well, I think she has a solution on how we can return to a sane world. We need to look beyond our political positions and understand the human side of people we disagree with. To the surprise of her audience, she mentioned what a decent person Justice Clarence Thomas is. He’s the only justice who knows the names of everyone who works in the SCOTUS building, as well as the names of their family members.

The real surprise came when she also told the group they needed to study religion — not necessarily to make them religious but to understand the beliefs and values of others. If you’re ignorant of this, you can’t communicate with people outside your own circle.

She said the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg was very good at bringing justices together on a human level. Despite their political differences, Ginsberg and the late Justice Antonin Scalia were the best of friends.

Bob: So, what did you conclude from all that?

Steve: I guess this is why I’m not practicing psychotherapy anymore and have switched my interests to law.

Bob: What?? Why would you do a thing like that?

Steve: Well, ask yourself: Whose methods work better on intolerant people? Yours, mine or Sotomayor’s?

Bob: Hummm, you may have a point, Steve. Oh, Miss? Check please.