Psyche was a Greek goddess who represented the soul. She was often represented by a butterfly. The word “psyche” means “soul,” “mind,” or “spirit.” Psychology is thus the study of the soul.
We can see that psychology has gotten a long way from its roots, its original purpose. Psychology has always struggled with its image as a “soft” science. Research psychologists have gone overboard to make sure their studies follow the letter of scientific research law. But because the nature of their work is in the realm of the subjective, the human psyche, this has always been nearly impossible.
With the advent of imaging technology such as Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), the Video MRI, and other technologies, psychologists and neuroscientists have been able to map many brain functions. The field of neuroscience is trying to bring psychology down to the level of chemicals and synapses. Geneticists study behavior at the genetic level, even claiming to have found a suicide gene and other behavioral genetic markers.
For the student of psychology, this seems to have gotten far afield from the study of the soul. Even the mind is a suspicious area of study for the modern psychologist. As with many other disciplines, the study of psychology has become one of memorizing the history and theories of psychology without much training in the art of thinking for oneself.
One of the ironies of education is that the great thinkers usually have their outside-the-box theories codified and frozen by their followers. These followers then teach these insights as born-again fundamentalists. I have seen graduate students in psychology at conferences spouting stuff they had learned from books or from their professors, as if they were brilliant budding psychologists. Yet, they didn’t have a single original thought in their heads.
In the field of psychology we need those who are going to become excellent therapists and work toward the healing of the wounded spirit. We need researchers who will do work that will lead to a fuller understanding of the human psyche. We need those who will delve into the causes and cures of mental illness.
But I’m not sure that the labeling used in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DMS IV) is really very helpful. As soon as you begin labeling or putting your clients or patients into boxes, you may actually be harming the soul. Labeling an illness doesn’t necessarily help in dealing with it. A courageous therapist will sit before another human being in distress and allow them to identify their distress and not feel the need to put them in a box in order to be able to address their issues.
There is a Catch 22 for students who wish to pursue psychology in the form of therapy, whether a Ph.D., Marriage and Family Counselor, Professional Licensed Counselor or other. In order for a therapist to receive insurance for their work, they are required to come up with a diagnosis from the DMS IV. But everything in the DMS IV is some kind of mental illness. If your client simply has a spiritual crisis, a disease of the soul not listed in the manual, you cannot treat them and receive insurance. The problem for the client is that they have to be labeled for life with a mental illness if they want to use their insurance.
The student of psychology who wants to seriously study the psyche or treat illnesses of the psyche may have to go outside of psychology in order to do so. One of the most exciting areas of modern study is what might be called consciousness studies. In this field, various theories of psychology are fair game as are scientific studies of the brain. But the focus is on the fundamental self, human consciousness and self-consciousness.
Because psychology is by its very nature a subjective field, the field of consciousness studies accepts that subjectivity and goes with it. Studying consciousness sometimes comes down to the self, studying the self. In consciousness studies, altered states of consciousness are part of that exploration. These would include dreams, meditation, drug induced states, altered states from dancing, chanting, or drumming, sensory deprivation, and many others.
Until academic psychology has the courage to get back to the study of the psyche and stop worrying about the label of “soft” science, psychology will plug along with its own version of arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. There is no higher calling today than the study of the psyche, an investigation into the origins of consciousness itself. But we may have to look elsewhere than modern academia.
