Use of Indian Knowledge System to Train Clinical Psychologists

Each individual has been touched or sometimes configured by the interventions of the universe. The frustrations and disparity that comes with facing the uncertainty that life throws at us are known to us all. But when the same is faced by a scholar in the psychology field, does that make them ‘not normal,’ or does that give them a unique understanding of human emotions? The question arises: should the psychology students be encouraged to process their own traumas before entering the field? A ‘therapist for a therapist’ is not merely a suggestion but a much-needed thing to understand that all individuals, especially psychology students and practitioners, need a safe space. The research aims to address how Childhood or Adolescent Sexual Abuse (CASA) in psychology students affects their self-acceptance, personal growth, and overall empathy. A target population consisting of psychology students currently enrolled in Bachelors’ and Masters’, programs was studied using the tools: Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ) and Ryff Scales of Psychological Well-Being (RWB). Comparing the 54 participants with a history of CASA to 42 participants without the history, and the subset of participants with a history of CASA, comparing participants with disclosed trauma to participants with undisclosed trauma, the data resulted in higher empathy in participants with the history of CASA and lower well-being, self-acceptance, and personal growth in the subset of participants with undisclosed trauma. The research appears to make a case for role of trauma in more empathy and psychological relief and personal development that can stem from disclosing hidden traumas.