Yep. It depends on how you define "science". If science means having a central corpus of theory that defines the field, informs research in the field, and regulates practice, as is true for physics, biology and every other scientific field, then psychology isn't a science.

If instead "scientific" means white lab coats and clipboards, and endless papers that are never replicated and that contradict each other, then psychology is a science.

If "scientific" means ignoring a field's reduction to practice, so that theory never informs clinical practice and anything goes in clinics, then yes, psychology is a science.

> ... Models of mental illness (depression, autism, schizophrenia etc) ...

Interesting you should mention autism. There is no clear definition of autism, no known cause, no clear diagnostic criteria, and no treatment. But that doesn't mean that psychologists don't diagnose and treat it -- of course they do. They just don't have any science to back up their practice.

Occasionally, an entire autism-spectrum disorder is simply abandoned, as is happening right now with Asperger's Syndrome. The reason? Clinical psychologists got carried away and began diagnosing nearly everyone who showed any apparent symptoms.

It's the same with depression -- a recent meta-analysis discovered that depression drugs don't actually work for most patients, and all the "evidence" that supports depression medications was cooked by vested interests.

As to schizophrenia, it's not a mental illness, it's a physical illness with genetic roots, an ailment that manifests severe psychological symptoms. Psychologists are reduced to treating the symptoms.

In medicine, if a "doctor" doesn't pay attention to medical research and evidence-based practice, he isn't allowed to practice because he represents a threat to public safety. In psychology, this simply isn't true. Professional organizations have repeatedly ruled that certain therapeutic practices are unscientific and invalid, and clinicians simply ignore them (examples include Facilitated Communications and Recovered Memory Therapy).

Medicine became respectable by stopping all unscientific clinical practice, and now any "doctor" who fails to meet present evidentiary standards is breaking the law. Psychology has yet to begin this process, and clinical practice is out of control.

Psychology have two choices:

1. Make clinical psychologists adopt evidence-based practice.

2. Make clinical psychologists stop calling themselves "psychologists."

There is no third choice.

> There's too much to mention really, and its an extremely important and relevant field.

It is a field that you do not understand.

More here: http://arachnoid.com/trouble_with_psychology