Is It Worth Studying Psychology Only For Your Improvement?

[IndependantKouhai]

Those who studied psychology, do you think it helps with your growing, self-actualizing? Or is it almost useless?

I'm thinking of studying psychology, but the problem is I don't see myself being a psychologist, I would only consider on studying there if the information I got would benefit me on my self-discovery journey. Since in my country the education is basically free, I don't mind studying something only for the purpose to benefit myself and not seek a career path from it. The problem is I believe that everything that could benefit me there, could be learned through voluntary reading and as I will progress deeper I will end up learning most of it anyways, plus I am afraid that the knowledge gotten from there isn't going to be useful later on. What do you guys think ?

[Martin123]

@IndependantKouhai No, it is not self-improvement oriented in that sense.

[Shin]

You wouldn't be able to learn exactly what you want, and the student life could distract you.

Huge waste of time if you don't want to get a degree and exercice the function later (if you're sure).

Just buy the right books, study the shit out of them, use the knowledge in real life to confirm if it's bullshit or not, then rinse and repeat.

[Alicja_]

I guess it depends. I suspect that many people start studing psychology as a way to gain more self-understanding, especially if they themselves have some sort of mental issues. 

Through theory they learn different coping mechanisms. They better up themselves and become experts on helping themselves and then others. In theory, at least. And only if they have passion for it.

I guess there is no good answer to your question. Some people'll tell you that psychology sucks while others find a lot of value in it. Do some research. Find a university where they have the course. Maybe check out what exactly is taught there, whether the topics/content seem interesting/useful to you. 

 

 

[Leo Gura]

Your strategy is rather shallow and short-sighted.

Why not find your life purpose and study that?

[Hunter Arrington]

3 hours ago, IndependantKouhai said:

Those who studied psychology, do you think it helps with your growing, self-actualizing? Or is it almost useless?

I'm thinking of studying psychology, but the problem is I don't see myself being a psychologist, I would only consider on studying there if the information I got would benefit me on my self-discovery journey. Since in my country the education is basically free, I don't mind studying something only for the purpose to benefit myself and not seek a career path from it. The problem is I believe that everything that could benefit me there, could be learned through voluntary reading and as I will progress deeper I will end up learning most of it anyways, plus I am afraid that the knowledge gotten from there isn't going to be useful later on. What do you guys think ?

Study lots and lots of material may be the best option before committing for sure for sure on something. Leo does a good job at exposing us to what's our their. Wikipedia is great too!:) 

[onilsson]

For self-exploration and personal development alone I really don't think that formal education is your best bet to be honest.

Keep at it in your own way. Have your vision and direction for yourself figured out before you commit to such a lenghty thing.
Maybe read up on the courses you would take. Go talk to current psychologists. Find out how does a day for a psychologist look like. 
I did this.

But before that: Self-actualize

If you have that luxuary. Do that first. Highly recommended

I will enroll in the psychologist programme within a few weeks, I can give you an update about how it is later

Btw are you Scandinavian??

[NEYi]

I'll tell my story, how I got into psychology. 
From deepest childhood I been in situations wehere people seemed illogical, sometimes angry for no reason, didn't valued attention or help I been giving them, reacted completely negatively to extremely fascinating things, were continuing doing stuff in wrong ways even after mentioning problems and proposing  better tatctics/strategies, hating me for questioning things...
I didn't knew what was going on, it just seemed normal that humans can sometimes go crazy and there's nothing I can do.
I just chose not to hang with people that much, being on my own and it kinda worked for teens and earliest twenties.
Then I started a business. Bam. Chatting with people wasn't something I could do or not – it was vital, and when it comes to people paying you for anything – that's were they start showing their true faces, they completely stop caring about what I'll think about them, they start being themselves.
Man, people go so irresponsible, so ungrateful, so unappreciative, so impatient, so frustrated it's almost impossible for healthy psyche to deal with...
It was really hard to deal first, but I kept going. Then it was normal, a thing to deal with if I want to make any money.
Then I started  to see patterns. In this case people illogically react  this way, in other cases they react that way, also illogically.
I started googling some of those cases and found info on a thing called defence mechanisms: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defence_mechanisms
I immediately spotted plenty of cases I been familiar with for decades, started noticing people falling into psychological defence on a day by day basis, remembered times when I was into defence mode myself. Discovering it was really big and from that moment I started reading books on psychology.
Basically, this discipline is a bunch of observations, like in which illogical mode human goes in that or another circumstance.
If you're going to deal with people anywhere during your lifetime – you'll need to know at least basics, otherwise your life can be really miserable from not understanding what's going on every time something goes wrong.
P.S. I don't recommend formal education though, especially the free one. I currently live in a socialist country and oh boy, free education is just crap.
Your choice though, If you're curious about whether to chose psychology as something to learn in college/university – it's not necessary, online info and several books will be enough for getting practical results.

[IndependantKouhai]

7 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

Your strategy is rather shallow and short-sighted.

Why not find your life purpose and study that?

 

Yes, I have noticed that  Still trying to find that life purpose, although I don't stress myself too much about it, focusing on developing myself and hoping something will come up. I have some ideas in my mind, although they are not easily reachable and attainable.