Fiji: Behind the Paradise...
 
By Rachel Anderson
For J-term in 2005, I decided to take Gender and Communication in Fiji, a study abroad course offered here at Gustavus. Everyone hears Fiji and instantly imagines beautiful beaches, tropical weather and a paradise full of sunshine and relaxation. However, behind this slanted portrait exists a country with many issues, be it political, economic, racial, etc. Being a psychology major, I had the most interest in learning about Fiji’s mental health care system.
The J-term class itself came about after a rather startling journal article printed in 1998 by Anne Becker, director of research at the Harvard Eating Disorders Center, assistant professor of medical anthropology at HMS, and assistant professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital. She documented Fijian women in 1995, when television media first was introduced to the islands, and 1998, after television had been there for 38 months. Her results clearly showed an increase in body image dissatisfaction. While only 3 percent of girls reported vomiting after eating in 1995, the number rose to 15 percent in 1998. In addition, 74% reported feeling “too fat,” and 62% had admitted to dieting in the last month, a number which paralleled – or even exceeded – American statistics for teenage girls at the time.
While abroad, I decided (along with two other students) to visit St. Giles Psychiatric Hospital, the only mental health hospital on both the mainland and surrounding islands. I interviewed Dr. Narayan, one of the two psychiatrists at St. Giles. From him, I learned about the dire state of mental health care in Fiji. For example, the signing in/signing out procedures are outdated and unfair. If you are checked into the mental hospital, only a family member can sign you out, even if the doctor believes you to be fully recovered and able to leave. However, a substantial stigma still exists among the Fijian people against the mentally ill. Often times, family members don’t want their mentally ill family member back, so they choose to never come sign them out. One man has been there for 40 years because his family never came to pick him up! Patients could try to escape, but their family has denied them, and most employers refuse to hire a former mental patient. Therefore, most feel like they are “stuck” at St. Giles.
Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT, or shock therapy) and medication are the top methods of treatment. I was stunned when Dr. Narayan openly invited me and my fellow students to watch shock therapy on a patient with schizophrenia. We went, and they gave us “front row” viewing. I stood, literally, two feet from the patient while it was administered! All the nurses gathered around, too, as if it were a live entertainment show. It concerned me that these professionals were not only watching in amusement, but talking and gossiping during the procedure.
Counseling, or any form of psychosocial therapy, is very minimal. Dr. Narayan stated that they believe medication and ECT are the most important – and most effective – forms of therapy. While he agrees that counseling can help some patients, he expressed little faith that it would substantially help his patients. This was disheartening to hear, as I am big proponent of psychosocial therapy and its benefits.
They do not view eating disorders as a mental illness. They refer to it as “going thin,” and those who show symptoms of an eating disorder are brought to the general hospital, not St. Giles. The basic belief is that an eating disorder is a physical problem, and the main goal is merely to get the person to eat more. It saddened me to hear this, as I well know that an eating disorder is a very serious, very legitimate mental illness that needs to be treated with mental health professionals, not just general doctors.
While the state of mental health in Fiji leaves much to be desired, I was pleased to see the positive side of Fiji as well. They are extremely generous, gracious people who are in love with their culture and each other. I had a wonderful experience at Fiji and encourage everyone to study abroad if they can! You won’t regret it, and it’s worth every penny.
Conferences and Upcoming Events
Be on the lookout for several upcoming conferences where you can present psychology research papers (great for your resume and also lots of FUN). Here are some links and dates to keep in mind (yes, similar to last month, but still important for those who need to know):
University of Minnesota Research Experience for Undergraduates In the Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences
Application Date: TBA
This intensive ten-week program is open to up to 24 undergraduates who plan to or are considering research oriented graduate studies in the behavioral sciences, cognitive sciences, and mental health. The University of Minnesota offers students an ideal opportunity to explore their future options in an intellectually challenging and socially rewarding context.
Please contact your advisor for more information.
National Conference on Undergraduate Research (NCUR)
Minnesota Undergraduate Psychological Conference (MUPC)
The 41st annual MUPC will be held at The University of St. Thomas in St. Paul on Saturday, April 22, 2006.
Things for Psych Majors to Watch for:
- Internships for the summer: Contact Dr. Martin for this. There are many available, and the career center can help as well.
- Psi Chi monthly events! Each month, Psi Chi will have events open to all Psych majors or students taking psych classes (and friends!). Come and have fun (and often FREE FOOD)!
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Psychology Student of the Week!
(Students honored for their incredible excellence in psychology for a particular week)
January 2nd-6th
Name: Justin King
Year in School: Junior
Plans after Gustavus: I’m planning on going to grad school for criminal psychology, but I’m not exactly sure yet.
Favorite Psychology Course and Why: Developmental and Cognitive psych have been two of my favorite classes. Both classes were really interesting.
Favorite Professor and Why: I have liked all of my professors, however I really enjoyed Kruger for Stats I, he was always available to get extra help so it was easier to understand the material. And he made stats as fun as it could be.
Best Psychology Related Memory: I enjoyed the Stats II research project a lot. I thought that it was fun and interesting to do your own research.
Do you have any Advice or Suggestion to other Psychology Majors for making the most out of your Psychology Career at Gustavus: Get involved with research because it’s fun and interesting. Also, get to know your professors well; they will help you whenever you need it.
January 9th-13th
Name: Kristin Welsh
Year in School: Senior
Plans after Gustavus: Attending Graduate school for Counseling Psychology
Favorite Psychology Course and Why: I loved Developmental Psychology with Professor Rudek. I work with kids during the summers and I thought it was very interesting to learn about the growing process and why they can act as crazy as they do.
Favorite Professor and Why: Professor Wotton – I had her for Stats II and she is also my advisor. She has been really helpful and easy to talk to with class work, helping me with my schedules, and working with me on research.
Best Psychology Related Memory: I remember taking Abnormal Psych when it was taught on Tuesday nights from 6-9pm. Right before class, Leslie, Dave, and I would each get a cup of coffee. Then during our break we would run back and get even more. It was really hard sitting through class buzzed off caffeine…
Do you Have any Advice or Suggestion to other Psychology Majors for making the Most out of your Psychology Career at Gustavus: I know everyone says this but you need to get to know your professors and work with them, whether it is working in the department or doing research with then! They are all helpful and fun to hang out with.
January 16th-20th
Name: Rachel Elvebak
Year in School: Junior
Plans after Gustavus: I would love to go to medical school at the U of M in the cities. I want to be a family practice physician but psychiatry is also a pretty exciting possibility.
Favorite Psychology Course and Why: I took developmental psychology with Dr. Martin and loved it. After that class I knew I wanted to be a psychology major. Stats II was difficult of course but I liked the opportunity to explore and be creative.
Favorite Professor and Why: I have to say Dr. Martin. He gets to know his students, takes the time to listen, and gives great advice.
Best Psychology Related Memory: Probably all the crazy times spent in Dr. Ohnesorge’s Statistics II class. He’s a pretty hilarious, creative guy and it was so funny (and a little scary) never knowing what would happen next in that class. A few of us went to the Minnesota Undergraduate Psychology Conference in Bemidji to present our research and that was really fun.
Do you Have any Advice or Suggestion to other Psychology Majors for making the Most out of your Psychology Career at Gustavus: The best advice I can give is to be engaged in all your classes, take good notes, study as you go, and ask questions whenever you are confused. The more you learn the more you’ll love this major.
Look out! You could be the next Psychology Student of the Week!
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Former Student Updates
Tera Brown
It’s hard to believe that it has already been almost 2 years since I graduated from Gustavus! I have such fond memories of my time there and, if anything, my appreciation for my former home on the hill has increased even more with time. After graduating, I went straight into a Masters program in Industrial/Organizational Psychology at Minnesota State University, Mankato. I was lucky to get into a well known Masters program that was not too far down the road.
I/O psychology is psychology applied to the workplace. Its focus is on topics such as employee selection, person-job fit, performance appraisals, employee satisfaction and motivation, organizational change, training, etc. The I/O program at MSU is very applied, so I was able to learn a variety of business skills very quickly. The program is set up so that students in their first semester go through an initiation phase where they are placed in 2-3 person teams and faced with a variety of different competitive consulting projects. One of the projects, for example, is called the consulting challenge. This is a three day event where students are put into teams of 3 and presented with a problem that a large company is facing. The students have 2 days to research the company and its problem(s) and come up with a proposed solution. On the third day, they present their solution to the executives of the company. The executives evaluate each of the presentations and chose a “winning” solution/presentation. These types of projects although nerve racking, have been wonderful experiences for me. They have helped me to learn to work quickly and effectively with others, polish my presentation skills, and quickly become very knowledgeable on a variety of topics including: employee engagement, selection, performance appraisal systems, and leadership.
Graduate school has also helped me to find a healthy balance between school work and fun/personal life. Unlike college, there never becomes a point where you are all done with your work. Unfortunately for many, this results in work all the time. I’m lucky to have chosen a very social graduate program where networking, meeting with collogues, and developing general business social skills is viewed as just as important as learning the material. This joint focus forced me to perfect the balance of determining the highest quality of work that I can complete and still finish everything on time, while still attending all the expected activities (and being a perfectionist, this was not an easy task J). I think that this experience has adequately prepared me for balancing work/personal life in the future.
People with a Masters degree in I/O tend to take one of three career paths: Consulting, Human Resources, or Market Research. I have chosen to start my career in the Human Resources path. I’m excited to be starting a job as a recruiter for Weis Builders in January (Weis Builders is a general contractor located in the Twin Cities). I have had internships with Weis Builders in the past, so I am fortunate to know that I’ll be working for a company that I will enjoy. The recruiters at Weis Builders are involved in every aspect of Human Resources so I am very excited to bring some of the skills that I have learned in graduate school to the workplace. I’m still unsure what my long term career goals are, but I’m happy to have chosen a degree that allows me a variety of options.
[Tera Brown is a 2004 Gustavus graduate]
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Nicole Fuerstenberg
Leaving college life and entering the career world has been a significant transition point in my life. According to what I learned in Dr. Ackil’s special topics class, “Remember Our Past,” I am confident that I will remember this transition quite vividly in years to come, as it has been filled with emotion (mostly positive)! Besides using psychology knowledge to deal with change and transition in general, how in the heck am I applying what I learned through my experiences as a Psychology Honors and Criminal Justice double major to my career?
Well, I must admit that I used to think the phrase “psychology can be applied to every job” was bogus. I never really thought that I would apply my psychology to my career as much as I really do! In fact, I have found that employment at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans as a Sales Desk Assistant involves psychology daily. Working for the small department within Thrivent called Product Sales Consulting, I have the chance to work with various individuals within and outside of my department. My position, taken at large, consists of assisting the Director of Sales, Sales Desk Managers, and the Sales Desk. Psychology plays a critical role in my job everyday, as I have to recognize different learning and personality styles when interacting with others. At the least, my psychology classes taught me how to build rapport with various types of people, that everyone has different preferences in life, people learn in various ways, and use “short-cuts” when making decisions. Also, I learned through my psychology courses that two people will interpret an identical piece of information in a different way based on their personal, previous experiences and schemas. Knowing this type of information is essential when communicating with others; I need to constantly be aware that there is potential for my message to alter during encoding. Thus, I must speak clear, direct, and descriptive in order to specify exactly what I am communicating.
I have also been a participant in applied psychology at Thrivent. As one example, within my first month of work, my team went through a team building exercise, where we took the Myers-Briggs personality type indicator. We learned what our preferences were and discussed how we can learn to work with people based on knowing what they prefer and how they ‘work.’ It was interesting to observe how my team reacted when presented with the Myers-Briggs results, as the majority had never been pre-exposed to the information. Having personally learned about this information made the exercise especially fun, as it was interesting to a watch previously learned theory apply in a real-life setting!
Taking psychology courses at Gustavus has provided me with a ‘crutch’ to my development after merely six months of employment. After completing my own independent research project and honor’s thesis at Gustavus, it became apparent to me that I have an interest in analytical tasks and have learned to trust my own senses when analyzing data. I currently work with various databases and run reports that are tied to the sales desk’s variable compensation. I have been able to think critically about the data and have noticed errors with the data on occasion. Being able to pay attention to this kind of detail has helped me gain involvement in other analytical tasks while promoting my professional development.
To the end, I graduated from college at the end of May 2005 and started my career at Thrivent Financial for Lutherans about one and one-half weeks later. Reflecting back about six months ago, I would never have thought that my psychology education would help me out immensely in my career! Thus, whatever path you choose in life, please know that the education and knowledge that you have gained will be utilized – if you choose to use it! Note, however, that there is a difference between using your psychology in college and in your career. In your career you will not utilize your psychology ‘skills’ by studying for extensive exams and writing papers; instead, you must decide for yourself which pieces of learned information you want to apply to your new experiences in life. This may sound cliché, but it is most certainly true – life during and after college depends on what you do for yourself. Best wishes to your prosperous futures!
[Nicole Fuerstenberg is a 2005 Gustavus graduate and former Psi Chi President]
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New Joke...
Two elderly couples were enjoying friendly conversation when one of the men
asked the other, "Fred, how was the memory clinic you went to last month?"
"Outstanding," Fred replied. "They taught us all the latest psychological
techniques - visualization, association - it made a huge difference for me."
"That's great! What was the name of the clinic?"
Fred went blank. He thought and thought, but couldn't remember. Then a smile
broke across his face and he asked, "What do you call that red flower with the
long stem and thorns?"
"You mean a rose?"
"Yes, that's it!" He turned to his wife. . ."Rose, what was the name of that
clinic?"
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