History Of Psychology In Pakistan:

At the time of independence (1947) only two colleges taught psychology: 1) The Government College, Lahore, where psychology, was as a common practice until the 1960s was taught as part of the philosophy syllabus. 2) Forman Christian College, Lahore. The first independent psychology department was founded at Karachi University with Qazi Muhammad Aslam, whose academic background was in philosophy. Psychology achieved independent status at the Government College, Lahore (University of the Punjab) in 1962, with Dr. Muhammad Ajmal as its first chair. The psychology department at the University of Sindh became independent in 1960, with Dr. Raffia Hasan as chair. Syed Muliammad Hafez Zaidi observed in Frontiers of Psychological Research in Pakistan (Karachi, Pakistan, 1975) that the tradition was for philosophy teachers to become psychologists. This resulted in the adoption of traditional indigenous psychology that was also oriented toward philosophy. Hafez Zaidi wrote two articles on the early days of Pakistani psychology (American Psychologist, 1959, 14, 532-536; Psycho logia, 1958, I, 187190) Then Psychologists were feeling the need of having their organization, the idea which matured in 1964 in the form of Pakistan Psychological Association. Another landmark in the history of Psychology is that the National Institute of Psychology, Islamabad came into existence in 1978. The advanced Centers of Clinical Psychology at the Universities of the Punjab and Karachi in 1984 are the outcome of the President (M.Zia-ulHaq) of Pakistans keen interest in Psychology.

Present Situation:
Currently 49 universities of Pakistan are teaching BS Psychology, 20 universities of Pakistan are teaching MS/M.Phil Psychology and 14 universities are teaching Doctorate Psychology. Some universities are teaching all of these courses but I have counted them separately. It can be estimated that nearly 60,000 students are studying psychology in Pakistan. Clinical Psychologists in Pakistan are approx 300. There are many other psychologists who are doing jobs in social welfare sector, educational sector, doing research or doing their private practices. The current problem of developing Psychology in Pakistan is that most of the people take

Psychology degree from Pakistan and go abroad due to increasing demands of psychologists in Western countries. There are many known Pakistani psychologists which are working abroad and serving humanity. Today there are three Psychology journals of Pakistan: 1) The Pakistan Journal of Psychological Research (PJPR), 2) The Pakistan Journal of Psychology (PJP), and 3) The Journal of Behavioral Sciences (JBS). These journals publish the research articles of Pakistani Psychologists. The best research articles on psychology are written by the students of Quaid-eAzam University Islamabad and University of Karachi. The ranking of Psychologists in the world depends on years of education, experience and research. This is the reason that being a Psychologist you can discover many new aspects of human behavior and about life too. Psychology also effects our mind but the ratio of effected Psychologists is very minor so that it is neglected. Now a days the field of Psychology is developing in Pakistan due to increasing cases of mental patients. It has been estimated that there are 14 million mental health patients in Pakistan, the majority of which are women. In Pakistan 6000-8000 people commit suicide(does not include suicide bombers) every year and the trend is increasing. Major mental disorders in Pakistan are depression (6%), schizophrenia (1.5%) and epilepsy (1-2%). To treat these mental patients there are many Fountain houses, Mental health hospitals and Mental care clinics in Pakistan.

Future Of Psychology In Pakistan:

Psychology future in Pakistan is very good and there are many options available for psychologists in Pakistan. Students with Masters in Psychology are usually employed, depending upon their specialization, by multinationals, health and education sectors. In multinationals they are employed in research, human resources and training. In health sector they are employed as clinical psychologist, psychometric, addiction and family counselor and education sector employed them as school psychologist, guidance counselor and teacher. Beside that many students opt for teaching profession (psychology) in public and private institutions. A bright fortune can be predicted from the fact that the younger generation is taking keen interest in its development. Some young Psychologists have

gone so far as to bring psychologists of all Eastern countries together in the form of Asian Psychological Association. An ad-hoc committee, to consider the possibility of this organization is formed and the spade work has already been done. Another significant to be noted is that the Psychologists, especially the younger ones are fully participating in the organizations like Psychiatric Association Islamic Conference on Mental Health etc. All these activities and the numbers of researches the departments of Pakistani Universities are producing nearly prove the old prediction that the this century is going to be that of Psychology.