Psychologists seek to understand and explain thoughts, emotions, feelings, and behavior.
Clinical psychologists assess, diagnose, and treat mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders. Clinical psychologists help people deal with problems ranging from short-term personal issues to severe, chronic conditions.
Below is the List Of Clinical Psychologists In Ghana
Clinical psychology in Ghana
Although a handful work within it, clinical psychologists are not officially recognized by the Ghanaian healthcare system – the (stalled) Psychologists Act seeks to rectify this. There is an MPhil course at the University of Ghana, Legon, and clinical psychology is primarily an academic concern.
Interestingly, some people working in the field are doctors who have retrained to address the psychology shortfall. MPhil graduates are finding work but in nontraditional settings, such as NGOs, the police force, and the military.
Despite this situation, demand for clinical psychology is growing, especially from affluent, outward-looking Ghanaians who are familiar with Western cultural mores.
However, many Ghanaians remain uninformed. I have been regarded variously with puzzlement, disapproval, or the deference usually reserved for a doctor.
The flipside of professional freedom is a lack of established protocol and structures, which can be daunting. Services are often presided over by paterfamilias through whom everything is relayed, and hierarchy is felt keenly. Ghanaian professional culture is bureaucratic and it’s often difficult to get things done. There is also a seeming insouciance that tips into the irksome and absurd when engagements start hours after schedule due to ‘Ghana time’.
A small group of psychologists and organizations, such as the WHO, are raising public understanding of psychological distress and the importance of addressing it. Much of this work falls under the rubric of stress-diathesis or the ‘biopsychosocial’ approach. People are becoming aware of the deleterious effects of chronic stress and are sympathetic to those who suffer. However, there is a sharp divide between stress-related illness and sheer ‘lunacy’. The term ‘lunatic’ is reserved for those who evince the more severe forms of psychological disorder.
People experiencing, for example, psychosis – more specifically, poor people experiencing psychosis – are perhaps the most marginalized group in society; shunned by their families and, sometimes, psychologists, keen to avoid the stigma. Patients want to be seen by those who deal with the stressed, not the insane.
This area is the preserve of psychiatry and the Western medical model.
Many Ghanaians achieve health through indigenous healing methods. Some of these are questionable, but something is felt to be working. Perhaps the common, nonspecific factors that have an important, if undervalued, role in effective psychological therapy are at play here too.
There is an opportunity to tease these out and start to frame psychology in Ghanaian terms. Instead of being a bearer of outside invention, I feel that I could be a part of Ghanaian psychology becoming more culturally appropriate.
The extended family is still the most important functional component of Ghanaian society. So much of what we call health- or social care falls within the remit of the family, and clinical work has to be relational and systemic almost by default.