Strong Opposition of Mental Health Associations to the Parliament’s Proposal
Elimination of Specialists
From the highest responsible authority to small but influential positions, this is the current fate of a country where the leader was supposed to go to Qom to teach, so that suit-wearing professionals could take over the country’s affairs. However, things did not turn out as expected, and the clergy became the country’s decision-makers. This interference has gone so far that now clergymen are supposed to delve into the rules of Freud and Jung, and with the parliament’s proposal, clergymen will also receive licenses for counseling services. Mohammad Hatami, the head of the National Organization for Psychology, who is remembered as the censor of the state broadcasting in the 1980s, welcomed this parliamentary proposal and told the Hawzah News Agency that licenses from the National Organization for Psychology have been issued to 100 scholars from the seminary, who happen to be good psychologists and counselors. These statements are made while Reza Pourhasan, the head of the Faculty of Psychology, criticized the parliament’s proposal in a letter to Qalibaf, stating that this proposal is illogical and immature.
This proposal is illogical and immature.
روانشناسی ضمن انتقاد از طرح مجلس خطاب به قالیباف
Opposition from Health and Mental Health Associations
Additionally, the heads of six mental health associations criticized a proposal from some members of parliament in a letter to the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. They expressed their concerns about the addition of a new clause to the law of the National Organization for Psychology and the independence of the seminary management center in granting counseling licenses with a religious and Islamic approach, and they requested its removal from the parliament’s agenda.
Clergy Presence in All Professions
This is not the only organization where the Islamic Republic seeks to create jobs for them. Previously, many people had expressed dissatisfaction with the presence of clergymen in schools and sports. All this is happening while in March 2019, the Al-Zahra Counseling Unit was established as one of the first psychology centers initiated by clergymen. This essentially means that the country’s revolutionaries do not believe in following the legal process. Of course, there are those on the other side of the issue who strongly oppose this parliamentary proposal. Hojatoleslam Alamzadeh, the Deputy of Refinement, wrote in this regard that someone who wants to give nutritional advice should have studied nutrition, and someone who wants to provide legal advice should be proficient in law. Therefore, it cannot be expected that graduates of theology give legal or ethical advice, nor can graduates of psychology become real estate or nutrition advisors.
Someone who wants to give nutritional advice should have studied nutrition, and someone who wants to provide legal advice should be proficient in law.
حجت الاسلام عالمزاده معاون تهذیبEveryone is made for a specific task.
The presence of psychologist consultants in seminaries and guiding students in clerical matters is as inappropriate as the presence of law specialists in psychological matters, based on personal experiences and under the pretext of general knowledge. A seminary advisor, whom we refer to as a guiding mentor, should be able to stabilize the clerical identity in the seminary and in interaction with the student, transfer the values and honors of the clergy, clarify the missions and tasks of the seminary, and make the student believe in and firmly follow the glorious path of clerical studies. In contrast, specialists in psychological counseling have not received specialized training for these tasks and have no input in them. The entry of such a person into this field is an unqualified, discretionary entrance, at best based on personal experiences in the world of clerical studies, which may not even succeed. Following the discussion of such issues, the ‘I am a Psychologist’ campaign opposing the entry of clergymen into counseling gained significant traction on social media.
