Brylle Deeiah D.

Tumarong

BS Psychology IV

Enhancing my confidence

In the class where I was able to enhance my confidence, in the class where I was able to
share my ideas and opinions to certain issues and in the class where I’ve learned a lot. The first
issue that we tackled was the APA’s involvement in Thecias torture program in which we were
asked if we agreed upon involvement and we were also asked “to torture or not to torture”. In my
own opinion, I say no to the involvement of APA because the field of psychology must not be
part of torturing someone. It is supposed to help every individual and understand the reason
behind their wrong doings. If help is the reason why the APA was involved then there must be
other way that they can help instead of being part of the torture.

I know that one of the reasons is it will help them to get information but to torture someone is
an unethically wrong doing. Torture has been a legitimate tool for interrogation for some
country, some came up with the concept of torture warrants, which would work much the way
search warrants do now, requiring judicial oversight in which torture would be allowed, but
brought within the confines of the legal system. Some facts show that using torture as a tool for
interrogation also helps but in my own understanding not all the time it does help because if we
come to think about it, yes definitely torture is a great way to get what you want to hear but no
way to get the truth. It is a convenient tool for masochists and other abusers, not a tool for
responsible interrogation. In addition, I've heard many experts familiar with interrogation
techniques simply say: torture does not work. The information gathered is questionable at best
and while the torture remains illegal, any so-called evidence gained cannot be used in court, so it
is useless. Therefore, let's not lower our human rights standards, especially when the results are
unreliable, but more importantly inhumane.

In this class, I was able to distinguish what is really my stand with this issue. I realized
that even if someone deserved to be tortured, which many who are illegally tortured do not,
nobody has the right to deliberately harm another human being with the intention of causing the
maximum physical and emotional pain. That is the most twisted, sadistic, cruel behavior
imaginable and it is as inhumane as our rivals. In one of the article that I read, a popular "YES"
commentator had the audacity to state: "Give them a little electrical motivation, or water
boarding, nothing that is permanent just momentary pain…" And if we come to think about the
meaning of waterboarding it literally means drowning someone to death and then bringing them
back to life a moment later. You are physiologically drowning them over and over and over
again, killing them over and over and over again, and this is not only physically traumatizing but
emotionally destroying. It is one of the most extreme forms of torture known. In my own
opinion, before you make uneducated claims trivializing the cruelty, sadism and inhumane
treatment you support, at least try to even vaguely comprehend the magnitude of its impact on
the human body and psyche. This is why I say no to the involvement of APA and why I say not
to torture because they didn’t just violate the basic human rights but they physically traumatize
and emotionally destroying those who are victim of torture. Despite of too numerous reasons for
forbidding torture, both practical and moral, for me it all comes down to this. I don't want to be
tortured and I don't want others to be tortured in the name of ideologies like "the greater good",
or "the ends justify the means". No amount of lives saved is worth our humanity.

The second issue is the ISIS, the world’s most committed and fanatical radical
organization that has only recently gone by its current name, after the unrecognized Islamic State
in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) was proclaimed in April last year. At first glance, the actions of the
self-described Islamic State seem more than a little baffling even when viewed through the logic
of a terrorist organization, they appear self-destructive. ISIS has done its best to taunt much
greater powers, to provoke and pressure world leaders to launch a war against them. They seem
determined to stir fury in democratic countries and create support for a grand international
coalition, stoking the public's determination to back military action to destroy the terrorist group.
The recent ISIS attacks in France, the downing of a Russian plane in Egypt, believed by Russia
and others to be an ISIS operation, and the bombings in Turkey aim to achieve short, medium
and long-term objectives, from creating fear, boosting its image and enhancing recruiting to
triggering a much wider, cataclysmic war. All of these things are all done by the ISIS which I
find their acts of violence deplorable. Growing up seeing domestic violence as part of our living
gave me a lot of negativities in life. I am traumatized, very anxious and tend to blame myself all
the time. When we talk about ISIS in the class, I couldn’t control myself but to tell my opinions
about it. I know for a fact that violence has been part for an individual or a group to gain power
and to get what they want but I still believe that violence should not be a way to gain anything. It
is just so horrible and disappointing because this Islamic group had to do such acts just to build
an Islamic State and to capture and govern territory, to gain power and to recruit. What I mean is,
do they have to do all of those things? In where they have to kill and if not they give a trauma to
those who are victims? It is just so sad that we people that created by God as one are fighting for
those things. If they do want to own a land, to invest, want to gain power and popularity then
why not do something good? If and only if they realize that not all the time violence is the
solution instead they are even creating worst problem behind those acts. As we tackled about it
and had a debate in a class, I had more understanding about it. I realize that we should not judge
them directly instead we should learn to understand them and what were there reasons for doing
it. Despite of all of this, I still do not agree on what they are doing. Why? Just simply because I
don’t want to be the victim of violence no more and I don’t want that the future generation would
enact and follow it just to gain what they want.

And the last issue that we tackled was the need of mental health law in our country. I
believe that every Filipino should be entitled to mental health programs and services. Mental
health problems in the country has long been dismissed and not given any priority at all and it is
very alarming that many youth today are contemplating on hurting themselves and ending their
lives, when they should be planning for their future. There are a lot of people who are hurting
themselves and the list goes on and on. The media will continue to report the fatalities and
government agencies will again be pointing fingers at each other. The Filipino people will
continue with their lives, continuing to bear the emotional and psychological burden not just on
their shoulders but also in their worn out minds.

Our country is one of the left countries who don’t even have a law of mental health and it
is a sad reality because that is one of the most important laws that the government should give an
attention. They spend millions and billions for the never-ending investigations on pork barrel
scams, ill-gotten wealth, multi-million infrastructure projects gone wrong etc, and these drag on
for years yet still remains unsolved. This, while more and more Filipinos become oppressed,
repressed, and distressed. No wonder the Earth Institute of Columbia University revealed in the
2012 World Happiness Report that the Philippines only ranked 103rd among 155 countries and is
considered to be one of the least happy countries in Southeast Asia.
 In the class, we also tackled what were the different issues concerning the mental health
and these are the lack of facilities, the inadequate numbers of helping professionals to meet the
mental health needs of the 100 million Filipinos, the life after mental, the stereotyping of the
mental cases, the need of psychosocial support of the Mental Health workers and so on. We were
given task to make a two year program in one of the issues and as we go through I realized that is
so easy to say that we should solve it but is very hard to do so. But there is one thing that I think
it could really help a lot and that is having a mental health law in our country. Actually there are
a lot of laws that were being passed but were not given attention and just recently there is another
Mental Health Act of 2015 which aims to protect the rights of people with mental disorders and
disabilities by putting in place an official body that will oversee the policies and programs that
need to be developed to prevent and treat mental illnesses. This act would rest assured, ensure
Filipinos’ attain a better quality of life, provide the direction for a coherent, rational and unified
response to the nation’s mental health problems, concerns and efforts and will not just help those
individuals who have mental health problems but this will goes to everyone. As we talk about
this issue in the class, I’ve learned and I’ve realized that if we continue to just shrug our
shoulders and dismiss this issue, the Philippines will remain a third world country plagued not
just by corruption but with corrupted minds from the lack of awareness and services that will
cater to the mental, emotional and psychological well-being of its people.

Therefore for the whole discussion that we had about the different issues, I learned how
to express and share my ideas and opinions, I was able to overcome my fears and boost up my
confidence, I learned what would be my stand for the certain issues and what are my bases for it
and you just don’t directly take a side but balance and measure what weighs more. I learned to
understand not just the issues but the people who keep on doing it as well as the victims. I
learned that even though torture is a tool for interrogation and a great way to get what you want
to hear but no way to get the truth. Next is, violence is not always the solution and not a good
way to gain power because whatever it takes violence is violence which means to harm someone
and violate the human rights of an individual. I also gain insights on how badly we need a mental
health law in our country in which we really have to invest in mental health to invest in national
development. If we want to raise mind strong Filipinos, we need to raise the nation's competency
and resilience while fostering hope and optimism and strengthening the holistic wellness of the
Filipinos by having a law of mental health in the Philippines.