ABSTRACT OF PROFESSOR HELEN O.OSINOWO'S INAUGURAL LECTURE
ABSTRACT
It is evident that amongst the established disciplines in academia, jurisprudence and healthcare in Nigeria, Psychology is a baby and in the Nigerian milieu, its growth and development has been turbulent over these past few years because of the Nigerian factor as will be made evident in our discourse. In the more advanced and better organised countries, the discipline of Psychology came of age over a century ago and has been contributing in no small measure to the understanding and development of health and the criminal justice systems to mention but a few areas. Psychology is the scientific study of (human and animal) behaviour and mental processes especially in a given context.
The Promising Baby Called Clinical Psychology
Clinical psychology is the application of psychological knowledge and skills, research and intervention techniques to health and illness, particularly as related to mental health. The American Psychological Association (APA, 1991), defines Clinical Psychology as “a clinical discipline that involves the provision of assessment, diagnostic, treatment plan, treatment, prevention, and consultative services. The primary activities of clinical psychologists are psychological testing and evaluation, formulation/diagnosis of psychological distress, psychotherapy, and research to discover ways to improve well-being, teaching and consultation. Clinical psychology has several sub-specialties such as Clinical child and adolescent psychology Clinical adult psychology, Clinical health psychology, Clinical geriatric psychology, Clinical learning disabilities, Substance use, Paediatrics and Clinical forensic psychology. Clinical psychologist function in a variety of settings including hospitals (family medicine, dentistry, surgery, medicine, ophthalmology and mental health), independent practices, schools, units of employee assistance programmes and in trauma and disaster management agencies.
Clinical Psychologists as members of the health care team believe in the Bio-Psychosocial model of prevention and treatment which has been hitherto neglected by orthodox health care systems. Psychologists are able to offer clinical assessment and psychotherapeutic interventions in mental illness, chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension, oncology, depression, stress associated with pregnancy, menopause, surgical illnesses such as prostatic hypertrophy and cancer, cerebral palsy, learning disabilities, epilepsy, sexual dysfunction and many other conditions.
In criminal justice system, there are many diverse areas that the psychologists can perform their clinical duties. The psychologist can perform expert witness role in the legal system (covering both adult and juvenile justice) and provide psychological care for inmates with behavioural problems in the juvenile and adult correctional facilities. Clinical psychologists extend this same roles to agents of the criminal justice system (police, judiciary and prison staff) The functions and contributions of clinical psychologists to the health and criminal justice systems are crucial to improving the quality of life and psychological well-being of individuals experiencing turbulence in specific areas of their lives. The Inaugural lecturer therefore recommends that the Federal and State government as a matter of urgency should include the profession of psychology in the scheme of service, increase the number of psychologists employed in hospitals, prisons, human resources departments, motivate and grant the Nigerian Psychological Association (NPA) their Professional Council which will regulate the activities of the profession.