PYC4811 Art2

Community psychology:
Panic or panacea

Mohammed Seedcit, Nico Cloete, & Ian Shochct
Box 25298
Ferreirastown
2048

The litany o f pseu doscientific justifications fo r oppression aside, this elite
(professionals) remembers the oppressed only when "the natives" are restive and violence is in the air, when smoldering rage and fire can no longer be contained within the bodies and neighborhoods o f the oppressed. It is then that they rush like firemen to put out or contain what threatens the prevailing structure o f privilege and dominance. But once the oppressed arc pacificd’ with violence, the threat o f violence, d r u g s o r som e reforms, this elite, with the exception o f a few whose concern with social justice is genuine, rushes back to its accustomed comforts and amnesia (Bullion, 19S5; pp. 271 - 272).

The growing social upheaval and intensifying tensions in South Africa have by th e ir very n a tu r e ev o k ed c o n c e rn and p an ic am o n g m e n ta l h ealth professionals. In an attempt to alleviate the concomittant anxiety and appear to be more responsive to the majority, many psychologists have boarded the com m unity psychology w agon to cross the g re a t divide b etw een the co m fo rta b le consultancy room and th e m asses. In assessing w h eth er community psychology is the appropriate vehicle for crossing the rubicon, we will start with an overview of different models of com m unity psychology focusing on their different conceptualizations of mental illness and how each model sees the role of the psychologist in the context of psycho-social change.
The community psychology movement developed in the U.S.A. during an era when there was growing concern about both the lack of resources and

Psychology in society, 1988,11, 39 - 54

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treatm ent facilities and the impact of social systems on the human psyche.
Psychologists and other helping professionals began to take note of the effects of social variables like poverty and alienation on mental

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