Why the time to elevate the field of psychology has come?

If I tell you that I see a pattern between the following incidents, what would your reaction be? the great Simone Biles pulling out in the middle of Olympics, crafty Ben Stokes taking a long break from the game of cricket which not long ago had put him on the verge of Botham-like folklore, the next-big-thing on the tennis circuit Naomi Osaka breaking down in the middle of a tournament, and a high school teen going on a shooting rampage in Michigan killing several of his school mates.

While it is easy to find the correlation between the first three examples, and any person following sporting world will be able to call out that all these sporting greats cited mental health issues for a brief hiatus that they have chosen to take, but how do they relate to the school shootings such as in Michigan? For an argument can be made that unlike in the prior three cases where it was the burden of expectations over a long period of time that caused the breakdown, vicious act of violence such as mass shootings involving school kids happen in a sudden spurt of emotional rage.

The answer lies in the understanding of what goes within the gray matter of individuals that causes them to respond to situations. In the last decade, many celebrities including Lady Gaga, Deepika Padukone and George Michael have spoken about mental health issues which led to their individual struggles. Furthermore, depression is now widely recognized as a clinical condition for which medical treatment is available just like for any other illness. While this recognition of the importance of mental health is very encouraging, it is still very retrospective in nature. So, can something be done proactively? Can individuals be trained to realize that the emotions they undergo or the actions they take is a result of brain activity on which they can have a certain degree of control, and that if recognized early enough, an individual can insert a pause or delay on an action which can potentially be detrimental to their well-being and the well-being others around them? In short, can people, especially young kids, be trained in preventive measures related to mind just as they are trained in preventive measures such as CPR?

The field of Psychology (especially social psychology) and Cognitive Neuroscience has the potential to deal with the questions posed above. While these subjects have helped unravel the mysteries behind human behavior for decades now, they are still mostly restricted to the higher education, and by and large dealt-with by people pursuing professional career. Unfortunately, basic education system does not include psychology and neuroscience as a subject of education in the same way as it includes subjects such as mathematics, science, physical education or even history, geography, music, art etc. Perhaps the time has now come to change this.

Why do I assert so strongly in favor of bringing psychology and neuroscience in the mainstream of our education system? The answer lies in the way how humans interpret and respond to emotional triggers. When we look at simple addition of two numbers, we quickly jump to an answer because our mind has been trained to understand number and operative functions. Can our mind then be not trained to understand brain activity leading to an emotional discharge?

This is where Psychology and Neuroscience should be used. If introduced at the right time in the education system, these subjects can help individuals (especially young kids) understand the intricacies behind behaviorism – individual as well as group. Understand of behaviorism becomes even more important in case of kids who graduate from one stage to the other (such as pre-teen to teen) where they are often subjected to new and unexpected triggers, which they have never experienced before. These triggers come in various forms such as bullying at familiar or unfamiliar premises, heartbreak in relationship, groupism, favoritism etc. Kids often struggle to deal with emotions lead by these triggers because they are not trained to handle these emotions on their own. What results is in a gradual meltdown having a spiraling effect. Netflix series ’13 Reasons Why’ depicts the quagmire kids can get subjected to and their actions in the absences of timely help.

Can all incidents involving young kids in acts of violence be avoided then? The answer is Probably No. However, with the right education and awareness, which should start by bringing psychology and neuroscience in the mainstream of education, has the potential to help kids deal with emotions, which are otherwise foreign to them. For in my view, with every such incident, the loss is much more than just the innocent lives lost.