Divergent Pathways

I find it frightening that at some point in my proposed psychology career, I am expected to adopt a therapeutic approach as my own. The more I travel the mostly uncharted world of human behaviours and cognitions, the more I find elements of myself down wildly different pathways; and to combine those elements into a theoretical whole is daunting. This is confounded by the expectation of adherence to one major school of thought. After all, a psychologist who says ‘oh, I do a bit of this and that depending on the client’s situation’ does sound rather flaky, uncertain and probably unreliable doesn’t he?

I think it was Kahlil Gibran who once said, “Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul. If either be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas. For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to it’s own destruction.” I think the man had a point.

Psychology straddles that line between an art and a science, and almost as always I find myself falling on the ‘art’ side of the divide. I feel drawn towards a quasi-existentialist cum humanistic self-empowerment approach to therapy. I suppose you could call me an Alderian. However, in this seemingly ‘science-and-rationality-is-king’ world, techniques like cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) are becoming increasingly popular. Don’t get me wrong, I like CBT and it’s theoretical grounding, but then again, I don’t want to be another ‘worker’ on the psychological assistance ‘assembly line’ which I feel the discipline is in danger of becoming.

Similarly, the neurobiological approach is fascinating and simplistic, which is great, and I appreciate the insights that it gives, although I fervently believe that man is not reducible to neurochemical levels or brain physiology, and is more than the mere sum of his biology. To top this off, my thesis is in a non-clinical field: social psychology and inter-group prejudice. Good going on trying to sort out what you want to do, Chris.

Most specialise in a specific area and thrive in it. I on the other hand, seem to want to do a bit of everything. Back in the day, that specialisation was film and television production (my second choice after print journalism, which I have many people to ‘thank’ for forcing me off that path). Now that I’m looking down the barrel of another career path, I have another decision to make. I hate decisions when they relate to myself because I lose that sense of objectivity. Making decisions for things like youth ministry is easy; just do what’s best for everyone within the framework of spiritual and community growth.

‘They’ say follow your heart. But the ‘powers that be’ don’t really recognise an ‘art approach’ as being as valid as a ‘science approach’. It’s a sign of the times we live in, that man prefers to put his trust in cold logic than the human heart. Some try to rationalise love, or God, or anything which we experience in a myriad of different ways. I find it sad that we as people seem to want to block out the experiential and focus on the cognitive. Except maybe sex. React on a physiological level, react on a cognitive level, and completely give the heart a miss. Equilibrium! How easy it is to forget.

It’s truly pervasive, the constructed reality in which we find ourselves.