Introduction
The future of professional psychology is clouded by challenges despite many efforts to reduce them. In particular, special social groups such as elderly and Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Transgender (LGBT) community pose a myriad of future challenges due to various factors.
The Future of Professional Psychology
At the outset, the number of people above 65 years in the United States is likely to double by the year 2030 according to Census Bureau (Nelson, 2005). Moreover, American Psychological Association estimates that over fifty percent of elderly people who suffer from mental disorders do not either access or afford mental health services (Nelson, 2005).
Therefore, the field of psychology does not only face the current challenge of enhancing accessibility of services but also the high number of elderly it will have to contend with in future.
Second, it is important to highlight that elderly face insurmountable barriers to mental health services that range from financial costs of treatment to shortage of practitioners and professionals (Nelson, 2005). It is therefore critical for the entire field of psychology to nurture new professionals in order to address the challenge.
Lewis & Marshall (2012) assert that LGBT community also presents many future challenges to the field of professional psychology. The fact that issues relating to social diversity continue to elicit emotions in many regions across the world is an indicator of an imminent challenge (Lewis & Marshall, 2012).
The rationale is that the special group suffers from emotional and psychological effects of discrimination along their sexual orientations. Therefore, issues of diversity that LGBT community face will continue to typify the field of professional psychology even in the future.
Besides, the field of professional psychology faces the challenge of changing the society’s attitudes towards homosexuality and bisexuality. Until social institutions appreciate the fact that a particular sexual orientation is not pervasion or a mental disorder, the field of professional psychology faces a momentous challenge regarding LGBT community.
References
Lewis, M. & Marshall, I. (2012). LGBT Psychology: Research Perspectives and People of African Descent. New York: McGraw Hill.
Nelson, T. (2005). Ageism: Prejudice Against Our Feared Future Self. Journal of Social Sciences, 61(2), 207-221.