Two psychologists bump into each other in the street. The
first one says,
"You're fine, how am I?"
How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb?
Only one, but the light must really want to change.
All very amusing and useful examples of how psychology has
slipped into everyday life to the point where familiarity
has perhaps bred contempt. Many people express dismay at
the degree to which psychology has become a part of our
everyday lives. Whether this is the launch of latest
two-part psychological thriller on television or the
reports of football managers engaged in 'psychological'
mind-games, the view is that psychology is in some ways
frivolous and certainly not as important as 'proper'
science.
Can we challenge this view? Can we look at the effect
psychology has had on the study of say, personality
disorder and discover a legitimate and meaningful
contribution?
First let's consider what we mean by psychology. Psychology
has been defined as 'the scientific study of behaviour and
experience' (Hardy & Heyes, 1979). The use of the word
scientific in that definition implies that psychologists do
more than simply think about behaviour and its causes.
Psychologists observe behaviour and make hypotheses about
what causes or affects it. They then test those guesses by
undertaking further observation, asking questions or
performing experiments. Where this kind of scientific
rigour is apparent in the field, we might expect some
useful insight into so called abnormal behaviour in others.
Consider firstly the condition known as Multiple
Personality; whose suffers can sometimes develop as many as
17 discrete personalities. Thigpen & Cleckley (1954) were
one of the first to recognise the unique dynamics of this
disorderin their treatment of Eve White; who also
encompassed Eve Black and Eve Grey.Further work by other
psychologists has uncovered that the origins of this
condition seem to lie in the experience of some emotional
trauma at around the age of five. The theory is that
suffers create a kind of fugue state in order to withstand
the trauma and may continue to use this tactic until the
alternative personality actually takes root. Treatment is
slow and difficult,but without the psychological
perspective we can expect that sufferers of this condition
would have been incarcerated, outcast or submitted for
endless exorcisms.
Much work has also been done around the possible causes of
Antisocial Personality; sufferers of which condition are
more commonly known as psychopaths or sociopaths.
Chrisianses (1977) proposes a genetic cause. He looked at
over 400 pairs of twins and found concordance in 69% of the
MZ ones compared with only 33% for the DZ twins. Lykken
(1957) created a mental maze, where subjects learn to press
a correct sequence of levers, receiving shocks when the
wrong one is selected. He found that sociopaths made more
errors leading to shocks than 'normals' suggesting a
Neurochemical cause, i.e. an inability to learn from
painful experience. There are many other examples and many
other possible causes but each presents an opportunity for
treatment. Without these insights there would be no
possibility for treatment and imprisonment would be the
only option.
There is little doubt that we need to be wary of the cult
of pop psychology. But real psychology is different. It is
scientific in approach and rigorous in execution. It seeks
to deal with effect as well as cause and, certainly in the
case of personality disorder, offers genuine hope to
sufferers and their families that their condition might be
treated sympathetically even if not cured.
----------------------------------------------------
Matt Somers is a coaching practitioner of many years'
experience. He works with a host of clients in North East
England where his firm is based and throughout the UK and
Europe. Matt understands that people are working with their
true potential locked away. He shows how coaching provides
a simple yet elegant key to this lock. For a bumper load of
coaching tips and tricks - including FREE resources - visit
http://www.mattsomers.com
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