The Wisdom of the Psyche

I believe the psyche is always working on our behalf, whether through its protective mechanisms that help us maintain stability, or its distressing symptoms that drive us towards change.  In my view, psychotherapy is at its best when it aims to understand and work cooperatively with the endogenous healing mechanisms of the psyche, without overly interfering.  

My career began at a state psychiatric hospital where I cared for adults with severe mood disorders, psychotic conditions, trauma and dissociative experiences, personality disorders, and neuropsychological issues.  It was a period of learning and insights into what is healing, and what is not, and offered a greater appreciation of the psyche than I feel would have been possible through outpatient work alone. 

My special interest in understanding psychotic states made me wonder how they compared to other altered states of consciousness commonly considered to be healing (i.e. dreaming, shamanic states, and psychedelic induced).  This became the subject of my dissertation, and ultimately, the foundation of my respect for the psyche’s ability to heal itself if sufficient conditions can be provided.

While healing is a process of becoming whole, it is also one that is inherently disruptive regardless of the form it takes.  Even when change is strongly desired and actively pursued, it is never easy to give up long established ways of being.  We need our defenses, our coping mechanisms which hold us together.  However, when they become too rigid, overused, or excessively clung to, problems inevitably emerge in the form of various symptoms, either in ourselves, or in our lives.  As our distress grows, a new way of being in the world becomes summoned.

From this perspective, good therapy is not simply about applying the latest technique to resolve specific complaints or symptoms, though this too has its place.  But what if the very symptoms causing distress or impairment also have some adaptive function?  What if those most troublesome also serve some purpose, making them difficult to vanquish? This is what makes the practice of psychotherapy complex, a bit tricky, and why it will always be as much of an art as a science.

Today, with the greater focus on more reductionistic treatment, it can be easy to overlook all that therapy has to offer. My lifelong interest in Jungian concepts and ideas allows me to draw from many sources of human wisdom, including that which can be found in the realm of archetypes, mythology, fairy tales, rituals, and spirituality. 

 As a clinical psychologist, I have also provided psychological testing and comprehensive assessments in a variety of settings, addressing questions of differential diagnoses, cognitive and emotional functioning, dangerousness, competency, and offering guidance to other clinicians on therapeutic approach.  While testing is no longer an active part of my practice, I am grateful for the deeper understanding it provided of personality and psychological defenses, and the broader conceptual framework from which to conduct psychotherapy.  In my view, there are many approaches to therapy that can be effective, and many different types of good therapists, but it is always the psyche itself which knows best how to heal.