Psychology is Political
Political: Relating to the government or public affairs of a country
Something I've been seeing a lot these past few years is dismissive reactions to psychologists raising social issues as we try to advocate for access and inclusion on behalf of our clients. We might be scoffed at or hear that we should care for our clients and do our jobs without "making things political".
People who make these comments conveniently disregard that the daily lives of all human beings living in societies are consistently influenced by politics. In Australia, policies around migration (caps, offshore processing, health and character tests exempt from anti-discrimination laws, the policy that you may never settle permanently if you arrived by boat without a visa) affect human beings who migrate as well as their loved ones and the communities they settle in. Changes to the NDIS (budget cuts, limits on who is considered "disabled enough" to access the scheme) affect human beings with all kinds of disabilities. Policies around gender-affirming care and when someone can or cannot access puberty blockers and hormone replacement therapy affect human beings who do not identify with the sex they were assigned at birth, as well as human beings with precocious puberty, intersex differences, or who experience menopause.
Living in a society means being governed by those in authority positions who develop policies that decide how resources are divided, how people and corporations are taxed to ensure public facilities like schools and hospitals can be maintained, and how global concerns like climate change are responded to. No single field or human functions separately from the political; the availability of university funding (e.g., grants to support cancer research or vaccine development), access to such things as free school lunches in public education, and inclusion of people living with disabilities are all influenced by the priorities of those in power, which are driven by political beliefs.
Subsequent policies will inevitably affect human beings, regardless of the political belief system that influenced the policy. Difficulties incorporating expertise from those with lived experience and scientific knowledge and compromising between competing views and demands can lead to policies that negatively affect some people’s lives while (usually) uplifting select others. It does not matter if your political views are liberal, socialist, or anything in between or outside of these philosophies; policies can affect your life and livelihood if you happen to be part of the target demographic for said policies.
If you have been adversely affected by a policy, you may subsequently be more likely to experience psychological distress and seek out psychological services. If the policy is in your favour, you may subsequently be less likely to experience psychological distress and need support (unless your loved ones are negatively impacted). Human beings, unless they've managed to go completely "off the grid", live in systems and are perpetually influenced by them. As psychology studies the psyche of humans and as humans live in systems called societies which are embedded in politics, psychology is inherently political regardless of any individual psychologist's political beliefs or lack thereof.
