John Mace | Causism Theory
Written by John Mace
A History and Critique of Mental Health Treatments
What would cause a client, admittedly at the time a very happy one, to write to me with these words? “You are 100 years ahead of your time…” Well the answer is in this article.
The term Mental Health is so named because the word “mental” is a derivative of the word “mind”, which psychology recognises as the source of emotional disorders. Actually, emotional disorders can have a physical origin such as brain damage, either inherent or accidental, but this demarcation is ignored and all associated disorders are placed under the one more convenient adjective, “mental”.
Since the beginning of recorded history, the existence of the human spirit, the Psyche of Greek and Latin, has been given tacit recognition as an integral part of the human life, but it was left unexamined and placed under the heading of religion, the Gods or the supernatural, with no emphasis on human behaviour.
Today there are many modalities dedicated to human improvement but the best known are Psychology and Psychiatry. However, neither of these modalities has been built around the human psyche, but rely on and operate around human behaviour. Discussions between practitioner and client, plus narrative involving self-disclosure by the client, form a major element in all of these modalities.
Psychology is the creation of Wilhelm Wundt and it is his work that gave us the current concept of Mental Health, although it appears that he did not coin this term, it is generally attributed to one of his students, an American named Baldwin.
Wilhelm Wundt, 1832 -1920 was educated as a physician at Heidelberg University, Humboldt University of Berlin, and the University of Tubingen. Working to improve the life of individuals and recognislng the inability to see the psyche, he decided to work with what could be observed and assessed, namely human behaviour. Strangely, although the human psyche plays no part in his concept of mental health, the word ‘psyche’ is the basis of the two words Psychiatry and Psychology. This means that both these terms are a complete misnomer when associated with studies of human behaviour.
However, funded by wealthy Americans such as Rothschild, Wundt’s psychology was soon established in America and spread through western civilisation. To day it is even protected by legislation in some countries, such as Australia. To say it has a stranglehold on mental health therapies is an understatement.
All conventional therapies revolve around the functioning of the mind, but what is interesting are the various definitions of that entity. The two-volume World Book Dictionary lists 17 definitions of the mind. Here are some of them. 1. That which thinks, feels or writes wills. 6.Mental or physical activity in general as opposed to matter. 11. The thinking and feeling activity. 16. Psychology. The organized total of all the conscious experience of the individual. 17. (In the belief of Christian Scientists) GOD.
This dictionary describes psychology as science of the mind. For a so-called science of the mind, the expression “The mind boggles” is very appropriate especially as the same dictionary defines a science thus, “Knowledge of facts and laws arranged in an orderly system.”
The highly regarded American Heritage Dictionary has nearly as many definitions and the first reads, “The human consciousness that originates in the brain…..” Its many definitions use the possessive pronouns, Mine, Your, His etc, which only confuses the issue, for who or what is the possessor? There is only one possible answer, the invisible human spirit!
To add to the confusion about terminology, the English language uses the term Mind, Body and Spirit, but when translated into German you get Body, Spirit, Psyche, because there is no German word for mind!
The World Book Dictionary defines LIFE as: Quality that people animal and plants have that rocks, dirt and minerals lack. Life is shown by growing and producing.
What Psychology and Psychiatry have never addressed is the basic cause behind individual human behaviour, for after all nothing happens without some element causing the activity. That element is obviously a life force, which I have named a Human Energy Unit. The lack of a responsible causative element is reminiscent of Topsy the enchanting young child in the classic American novel, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. When queried about her birth she naively replied, “I wasn’t born…I just grew!”
Copyright © John Mace. July 27th 2015 / All Rights Reserved
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International MEM Website at www.maceenergymethod.com
International Association Of Causism™ Practitioners – IACP at http://theiacp.weebly.com
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