So I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten…Joel 2:25-27

Times of pursuing the bottle neck system of registration in psychology caused the discipline of psychology to suffer loss especially in the socio-economic areas of life in Zimbabwe. Whilst administrators enjoyed the privilege of being a few as registered psychologists and making it difficult for others to register and practice as psychologists, psychology in general suffered.  Gaps within various fields in which the occupation was supposed to take were done by other fields which had seen the need and could not wait for a discipline in the dungeons of making sure only a few practice. As administrators in psychology have been in much ado with petty pursuits other disciplines were taking over roles which psychologists should have taken in the employment sector. The takeover has made diverse organizations to comfortably work even without having skills of psychologists in their structures. The paper will limit itself only to four areas of psychological occupation which have been taken over by other occupations in life. Domains in which occupation of psychologists have been taken over includes but not limited to, family therapy, learning disabilities and difficulties, human resources and mental health clinics.

Whilst psychology in Zimbabwe was engaged in ensuring that only a handful find space to practice as registered psychologist, events of time continued and overtook the discipline. Families realized spontaneously that even in a time of family crises which might require services of a psychologist they could move on and deal with the crisis in the absence of a psychologist. These decisions were spontaneously reached on two main factors, first is the absence of psychologists as they remained too few to serve the general populace. The second factor arises from the first and it is that, given the scarcity of psychologists to offer help in times of family crisis people’s lives would still need to continue. People realized that they could in the absence of a psychologist get help or support from diverse institutions which includes religious institutions from Pastors, ‘Masowe leaders’ and traditional family systems such as ‘Tete’(Aunt) especially for marital issues. The role of ‘tete’ (Aunt) evolved and flourished in the absence of psychologists with magazines in Zimbabwe having special sections were inquiries were made and the ‘Aunt’ would respond. Marital and sexual dysfunctions though they are purely psychological issues, in the absence of a big and stronger representative of psychologists the herbalists provided services. The popular herbs they provide include ‘vhuka vhuka’, ‘Mushonga wemusana’ though their efficacy is highly questionable they have stayed longer on the market. It is the conviction of this paper that in the absence of psychologists people have adapted to use alternative help though the help is questionable.

The absence of psychologists in Zimbabwe has also affected help in areas of those in need of mental rehabilitation services. Scores of persons suffering from psychotic states are only maintained on neuroleptic drugs without alternative help of psychologists. The absence of psychologists is even believed to have necessitated the prominence of the psychiatric nurse in the (Zimbabwe) Mental Health Act of 1996. Psychiatric annexes at various hospitals operate without the psychologists in Zimbabwe and just to mention a few Mutoko hospital, Masvingo general hospital and Ngomahuru psychiatric hospital the second largest referral center operates without a psychologist. It is in the scarcity of psychologists that other practitioners have taken over the role of psychologists. Nurses, General Practitioners have taken to task providing services to persons requiring psychological therapy. The discipline of social work in Zimbabwe seeing this gap in psychological help has evolved and now has a registration category in clinical social work which is registered via Allied Health Professional Council Zimbabwe (AHPCZ). As psychology is fixated at being a few small group of registered psychologists other professions are filling its gap in Zimbabwe which might prove difficult to reclaim and justify.

Psychologists are under-represented in occupational settings with other discipline such as human resources trying to fill the void created by the under-representation. Psychology in occupational settings is known as psychology of work. In Zimbabwe due to absence of registered psychologists owing to parochial interests which were done by limiting psychology graduates who finally register as psychologist, the field of human resources collaborating with other professional groupings such as Institute of People Management Zimbabwe (IPMZ) has been filling this gap. Persons who graduated as Human resources graduates have been doing the work of Industrial or Occupational psychologists when psychology professionals are busy ensuring that persons who have chosen paths to practice psychology do not practice.

In educational psychology the story has been the same like in other sister disciplines of psychological praxis. Educational Psychologists remain few and under-represented in terms of numbers with many districts and a number of schools which educate persons living with learning difficulties and disabilities in Zimbabwe operating without registered educational psychologists. A discipline such as special education has risen to the occasion coming up with interventions to help group of persons which psychologists in the area of education should have helped. Psychologists who became encapsulated in gate keeping and playing politics of exclusion did not realize that while their parochial interests were being fulfilled the discipline of psychology in Zimbabwe was losing its domain in various socio-economic settings.

In conclusion now that we have a new council for the term of five years (2020-2025), the question before the council member in psychology is what then needs to be done to put psychology at its glory position?  

Prosper K Mushauri

Coordinator

Society of Zambezi Psychology(SZP)