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Psychologists study the human mind. A psychologist looks at human mental processes and how these processes affect the individual’s behavior. A practicing psychologist goes through approximately five to seven years of school after receiving a bachelor’s degree to obtain a PhD. A Master’s degree is required to work within the field of psychology. However, a person needs a doctorate to perform psychology services without supervision.
Psychologists work at many different places such as schools, hospitals, research firms, businesses and government agencies. There are also many different types of psychologists, including developmental, social, research, industrial, school and clinical psychologists. Depending on what area of psychology you want to go into, it can be an easy field for a vegan to work in - or it can be very difficult, and you will be faced with ethical situations on a daily basis.
Here are some of the pros and cons of being a vegan psychologist:
Pros
- An individual possessing an understanding of human psychology can benefit activist organizations hoping to influence others. You may use your knowledge to volunteer on communications campaigns for vegan or animal-rights nonprofits.
- A counseling psychologist is able to help others deal with everyday stresses or difficult mental and emotional issues.
- Because research psychology can involve animal experiments, there is a need for vegan psychologists to enter the field and change this unethical standard.
- Although you are not an animal behaviorist, as a psychologist you could write about animal emotions and the similar mental capacities of humans and non-human animals.
Cons
- Some types of psychologists do research at colleges and private research centers. Their jobs involve studying behavior using human beings and sometimes using animals, such as mice and monkeys. Often this animal research inflicts pain and torment on the research animals being used.
- You will have to work in a field where colleagues discuss animal research studies and consider them applicable to humans.
- In most states, psychologists cannot prescribe medications. However, in a few states it is permitted, and you may have to prescribe a medicine that contains animal ingredients.
