Human Behavior Science and the Complexity of Social Problems in Indonesia

Media has pretty much bombarding us with news on aggressive, violent crime. Not just that it followed with the reportedly increasing high numbers of people with mental illness that received no treatment (data11, data22) but also high numbers of complex social problems, as what the Social Ministry, Salim Segaf Al Jufri stated3 on ASEAN social Cultural Community (ASCC) Council Meeting in Semarang, Monday, October 10, 2011. In some areas in Indonesia, as we, citizen of Indonesia, might already know, some of the mentally ill people are being locked and chained down, hidden from the sight of society. Some others might walk amongst us, hidden in a luxurious case, or surprisingly, one day just pop them self-up with explosives. What Im trying to say is, it would so much be understandable; decades ago, to hear the ill-mannered treatment of the mentally ill. As according to history of mental illness, people used to drill a hole in the head of the mentally ill people (trepanation)4. They think these people were possessed by evil demeanors. Similar thing applies here. Well, not the drilling of the forehead, and not decades ago, but being locked and chained down, as what the local newspaper reported just recently5, is very concerning. As most developing countries, mental health issue was never really that popular. There are too many bigger issues crawling on our feet, absorbing most of our attention. Furthermore, given the fact of a disaster prone country, overstimulated stressor of city living, complex modern social live, the high rates of crimes or even suicide bombers. Basically, its a dog eat dog world, which of course the many symptoms of mental illness is just one cause. Not that I imply the many symptoms of mental illness occurring would be the cause of all aggressive, violent crimes, or by far creates social complexity. Even though, I wouldnt so much be surprised if some of it were done by the mentally ill people. As shown by a study, mentally ill people involved in the abuse of drugs are more prone of aggressive, violent crimes6. The growing concern is, considering most people with no knowledge of human behavior might miss spotting the mentally ill, might also missed spotting the occurring symptoms of mentally ill people. If
1

Anna, Lusia Kus. (2011, September, 29). KOMPAS. Kecemasan dan Depresi Mencapai 11,6%. Retrieved September, 29, 2011 from http://health.kompas.com/read/2011/09/29/07021233/Kecemasan.dan.Depresi.Capai.11.6.Persen
2

Rulistia, Novia. D. (2011, October, 11). Jakarta Post. Jakarta. Mentally Ill Jakartans Growing in Number. Retrieved October, 11, 2011 from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/10/11/mentally-ill-jakartans-growing-number.html
3

Media Indonesia. (2011, October, 10, 2011). Media Indonesia. Masalah Sosial Indonesia terkomplesk di ASEAN. Retrieved October, 10, 2011 from http://mediaindonesia.com/index.php/read/2011/10/10/266994/293/14/Masalah_Sosial_Indonesia_Terkompleks_di_ASEAN
4

Brothwell, Don R. (1963). Digging up Bones; the Excavation, Treatment and Study of Human Skeletal Remains. London: British Museum (Natural History). pp. 126. OCLC 14615536
5

Suryanto (2011, October, 10). AntaraNews. Penderita Sakit Jiwa Jangan Dipasung. Retrieved October, 10, 2011 from http://www.antaranews.com/berita/279128/penderita-sakit-jiwa-jangan-dipasung
6

Arkowitz, Hal. Lilienfeld, Scott o. (2011, July/August). Deranged and Dangerous. Scientific American Mind. p.64

this were the case, they might also missed spotting a potent mentally ill people, pulling an extremely dangerous crime, starting chaos, such as suicide bombers. Not to mention the dramatic situation where justice is blind, country is in chaos, country leaders is busy throwing pebbles saving their own ass, the small number of suppose to be human behavior expert is busy trying to make a living, ignoring whats going around and what they can actually do to make a difference. The lack of knowledge of mental illness is a big disadvantage. The spreading stereotype of mental health professional and institution has pretty much affecting the true perspective to the importance of recognizing the symptoms and get faster help. Going further, on the other way around, having experts on human behavior either on law enforcement, or media, might help spotting or at the least analyze what might lead to bigger, unwanted complexity of social problems, crimes or disasters. Furthermore, is how to cope with the problem, give society the right information or better, makes society understand the work of mental health professional/institution. Having the low down of living in a disaster prone country with high rates of depression and mental illness that is getting no treatment is just too much of big risk to not getting any attention. Unfortunately, as again, we might all already have in our mind; there is a big treatment gap existing between professional care facilitations and the mentally ill7. Might just be because the field itself is not much of a popular field; Might just be because what can behavior expert do is not really well understood. Why apply for psychology major? Psychology is not rocket science; everyone can be a psychologist to knit up broken soul as long as they understand human. And anyway, what kind of work later in the future youll get for studying psychology? Most would just say, youll just end up working as testers or trainers, and that is just so boring (on the pit of my tummy I have fear, some might also say, studying psychology would make you a mind reader or a palmistry). So, entering psychology major is a waste of money and time? Really? Seriously? Im going to tell you this, psychology rocks. You can literally enter many field of work; anything that has anything to do with human is your expertise. From opening your own elite consultant office, to as what I have mentioned previously, a right hand for law enforcement. Be creative. It is too bad that not much recognize the many advantages they can get them self into, regrettably, even most of those who study psychology, plus not many work force understand the advantage of having behavior experts. So what I can suggest, at least for the time being is for media to help society understand better the true function of mental care professional/institution. It is also important to understand the benefit society can procure and how social psychologist/social science can help you gain more solution dealing with the many complexity of social problems. Might also need government to stop treating psychology differ from other so scientific subjects such as math, or physics; instead start give social science ways to expand the skill such us include psychology as a field in scientific competitions, or make a social solution

National Geographic Indonesia. (2011. September, 13). Masalah Kesehatan Mental di Indonesia Memprihatinkan. Retrieved September, 13, 2011, from http://nationalgeographic.co.id/lihat/berita/1974/masalah-kesehatan-mental-di-indonesia-memprihatinkan

writing completion, etc. There are many ways you can add up to include psychology as a scientific based social problems solution8.

Media Indonesia. (2011, October, 09). Media Indonesia. Ilmuwan Sosial Harus Mampu Selesaikan Masalah Kemasyarakatan. Retrieved October, 09, 2011 from http://m.mediaindonesia.com/index.php/read/2011/10/09/266703/293/14/_Ilmuwan_Sosial_Harus_Mampu_Selesaikan_Masalah_Kemasyara katan