It could be argued that the mental health field does not borrow enough insight from social psychology. I mean we are social creatures, right? And so many of the things we help clients with are social in nature. Or at the least, we have high impacts on clients’ social world. Luckily, there’s a great training by Philip Zimbardo that provides insights from that perspective.
Dr. Zimbardo is one of the giants of social psychology. He has dedicated his career to understanding contexts that influence maladaptive behaviors. A shining career, at that. You may remember him from such controversial hits as the Stanford prison experiment.
Now going strong in his 90’s, Philip Zimbardo has teamed up with Concept to produce an interesting training. It provides therapist resources on resilience, awareness of self and others in social context, and social enhancement in multiple life spheres.
Pros: This training provides a rich foundation in fundamental and cutting-edge social concepts. This information comes from a tradition led by some of the most creative researchers in all of behavioral science. This perspective can be invaluable for therapist resources and concepts overall.
Many would argue that a different perspective than usual can only be a good thing for learning. Like a musician understanding different styles of music! And let’s be real: learning from one of the largest figures in all of psychological study, if controversial, is a pretty cool opportunity.
Limits: This is not a clinical or therapy training. It does boast an ability to impart information about social justice and the role of unjust forces on individuals. As a social psychologist, Dr. Zimbardo does not have a psychotherapy / counseling training (he is very open about this). So the training itself notes that it does not train on how to promote those forces when conducting therapy with clients.
This training provides a unique opportunity to build knowledge from an area of study that is “sister” to the mental health field. Not to mention from a giant with in-depth understanding of how context can lead humans to engage in behaviors that may not make sense to most others.
