Reporting on research : reflecting on and mirroring the psychological state of our nation

Abstract

When I conducted my usual thematic analysis of the articles due to appear in this issue of the SAJP, certain themes emerged, enabling me to group particular articles together in terms of five main themes: Evolving racial attitudes in South African society ; The value of and need for psychotherapy ; Aspects of help-seeking behaviour in student populations ; Counselling needs in South African schools ; Assessment as a multi-faceted aspect of psychological intervention. These themes show that psychological research does, indeed, reflect what is happening in the broader society. That is to say, reported research replicates what is happening in real life, which is as it should be: theory should follow practice and not the other way round (Savickas, 2011).