Israel

 Israel: The History, Current Teaching, Research, and Practice of Psychology

Israel began to see a huge need for psychologists after World War II. During the 1940’s and 1950’s many refugees from concentration camps immigrated to Israel. The trauma that these individuals went through generated a great need for professional psychological help. Israel did not offer advanced psychology degrees; therefore, those in search of a degree had to venture outside of the country. The majority of those who earned a PhD received their degree from the United States (Sexton, 1992).

Israel saw a need for military psychologist due to the high immigration and wide variety of people living in the country. Military psychologists help to organize units so that problems pertaining to training, selection, morale, and prejudice could be avoided. Also, rehabilitation psychologists were needed to help the soldiers returning from combat. Their services were also needed by the physically handicapped, many of which became that way after war. Other branches developed with time as the need arose (Sexton, 1992).

In 1977, a law was passed due to lobbying done by the IPA (Israel Psychological Association), which regulated the profession of psychology. The IPA was created in 1950. At that time there were very few psychologists in Israel. Currently, 2,300 people are members of the IPA. 90 percent of the members of the IPA are psychologists in Israel (Sexton, 1992).

Psychology is a well respected occupation in Israel. It has the most student interest and enrolment. Israel also has the highest number of psychologists in the world. Over half of the psychologists in Israel are Clinical or school psychologists. The remaining psychologists work in the military, rehabilitation center, vocational guidance, or industrial psychology. The majority of clinical psychologist work for the Ministry of Health or the Labor Union’s Sick Fund. Private practice is usually done in addition to a regular job. People tend to respect clinical psychologist who use psychoanalytic approaches, Gestalt therapy, biofeedback techniques, behavior therapy, and individual as well as family therapy. Most emphasize individual treatment first, and then a community approach is taken. Educational psychologists work for government run child guidance centers. The Ministry of Education and Culture help to provide for and organize these centers. Individual treatment has been given less emphasis and community work with teachers and administrators has been highlighted. Military psychologists are concerned with the mental health of the soldiers as well as certain organizational issues (Sexton, 1992).

As mentioned above, psychology keeps growing within universities. Psychology degrees (BA) are given by all of the major universities (there are six) in Israel. Four universities offer master’s degree programs. Only three universities offer doctoral degree programs. A select few are accepted to pursue a psychology degree each year because the demand is so high. Only 100 are accepted to each of the six universities per year to pursue a BA in psychology. This number drops significantly for those applying for a master’s degree. Two of the universities accept 60 applicants, one university accepts 30, and the fourth accepts only 20. Those pursuing a doctorate have very small chance or getting accepted because only 20 students are accepted each year into the programs. The amount of time spent getting a degree is even more shocking than the small numbers of those accepted. To earn a MA it takes 7-8 years. If you go on to earn your PhD it takes an additional 5-6 years. Each university also has an entire library devoted to psychology, which obviously get used quite often (Sexton, 1992).

Research in the field of psychology is supported by public funds. Most of the research conducted in this field is done so by the students and professors at the universities. Most of the research conducted deals with basic issues and answers basic questions, but is can be easily applied and usually emphasized applied and collectively significant aspects. Much research is done to provide information on ethnic assimilation within school systems, religious relations with the non-religious, psychological consequences produced from the Holocaust, parenting techniques, and more. Israel also has six other institutes that deal with research outside of the universities. Each of the six institutes focus on specific topics to research that deal with particular types of psychology. For example, the Psychological Research Division of the Social Science Department conducts research that deals with military psychology (Sexton, 1992).

The teaching, research, and practice is continually improving and growing in interest in Israel and can be expected to continue to flourish in contribute greatly to our future knowledge in the area (Sexton, 1992).

Famous Jewish psychologists include, Albert Bernstein, Aaron Beck was the founder of cognitive therapy, and Sigmund Freud was the founder of psychoanalysis. Others include Haim Ginott who was a child psychologist, Gerry Leisman, David Navon, and Erich Neumann who contributed to developmental psychology (List of Israelis, 2010).   Sources:  Sexton, V., & Hogan, J. (1992). Israel. //International Psychology: Views from around the World// (pp. 240-248). Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press.

List of Israelis - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. (n.d.). //Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia//. Retrieved February 16, 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Israelis#Social_sciences