Psychology

An exploration of what psychology has really done for humanity, and the realization that perhaps our own unhappiness is born from our suppression of our own minds

The profession of the psychologist has always made me laugh. Psychologists, psychiatrists, and neurosurgeons- they spend their professional life trying to figure out how the human mind works. All those tests and all those theories, trenches of research notes and hypothesis, the years spent trying to get a degree, everything… I personally believe it is taking us backwards. We know less about the human mind then when we started. We understand almost nothing. Our equations and theories get us nowhere.

 

Argue against me if you wish, I welcome the change from the docile behavior of the general population. Bring up the wars made against depression, disorders, and the bounds made in medication during the last few decades. Cite your important journals and newspaper articles. Bring in your professors and scientists.

 

Then allow me to ask them all a question.

 

If we know so much about the human mind why is humanity so damn unhappy?

 

As of February 6, 2010, if you Google suicide in the news you’ll have article upon article that talks about the rising amount of suicides in the world. Everywhere is affected by this pandemic from Ireland to India, all the way to the bubble-encircled United States. I may not be a world-class psychologist, but I am pretty sure that happy people don’t kill themselves. Then, for the people not committing suicide you have plenty of homicides, AA meetings, and a huge rise in the hiring of therapists.

 

Nothing we do seems to make a dent in the unhappiness of the world.

 

The study of human behavior and mind predates the first civilization. We’ve always been curious as to why we do certain things, or think certain dangerous thoughts. Yet in all this time we have gathered no gains in understanding how to make ourselves happy.

 

Oh, humanity has tried of course.

 

From the afterlife of ancient Egypt, to the materialism of modern America, we have tried. Success has eluded us for millennia. To me that is a clue that maybe we are moving in the wrong direction. We are walking down a road that is just getting more and more depressing. Rising suicide rates, depression, homicide, even the current state of politics. Something is obviously wrong.

 

On the bright side, there’s still hope. Every individual can find happiness. We can solve all these problems that are leading to the genocide of races, discrimination against differences, and the unhappiness of every individual that exists in this bog of a planet.

 

It’s just going to be hard- never impossible, though highly improbable.

 

This doesn’t mean that it was all a waste. A countless amount of information has been documented by those psychologists, psychiatrists, and other mind-oriented professions, and could be put to use in a way that truly benefits the world. It’s just the current way that it is being used that makes the last few millennia pointless. All those drugs catering toward depression, bipolar disorder, and other mental “ailments” just drives us further and further away from conquering those disorders. The drugs suppress them, and when you take away the drugs all you have left is an overflow and caged mentality. This worsens the human condition rather then helping it.

 

Let’s start by changing direction. The work of psychology from the last several millennia doesn’t have to be done in vain. Within those studies of the human brain there are useful idealisms. For instance- instinct. Instead of getting all worked up about hiding our animalistic qualities, let them breathe.

 

I’m not saying that we should let them destroy our minds. Insanity, while it’s certainly a component to be embraced, should not run the world (Of course, the general view of “insanity” is a topic in and of itself, to be addressed later). We’ve studied primeval action and mindset enough to understand how to control it and work with it to improve our own minds. The problem is that we’ve spent so long hiding instinct that part of us thinks it is like an abused dog, it either would rather stay hidden or it’s going to lash out.

 

Who knows what it will do? That’s a risk I’m willing to take; however, for hidden within the corners of our minds are things that are becoming dreadfully hard to find.

 

Love, passion, anger, impulse, and awareness are all connected to our restricted instinct. Look at the animals around you. They love without restriction, but are also passionate without fear. They do not hide fear or anger beneath easily broken shells, waiting for these emotions to build up to a raging fire. They are aware, for the most part, more aware then humanity. And they act on impulse, when the impulse is strong enough.

 

A good deal of humanity is unable to do all of these things. Many of us cannot love, because we are afraid of heartbreak, of letting our souls intertwine with the soul of another. We do not understand that there are varying levels of love, from the love of a fellow man to the love of a soul mate. Not to mention our abuse of love, which is a mirror of our inability to truly love. Google divorce rates, and they are rising just as much as suicide rates. Or just pick up a tabloid magazine and notice the classic heart torn down the middle photo of married couples.

 

Neither can we let loose our passion, and I am not just talking about sex, though that is a central idea that needs to be addressed. I’m talking about the passion with which we view our own lives. How many people wake up in the morning and think “I hate my life” or arrive at work and just know that they are not doing what they want to do for the rest of their lives? How many people are stuck in schedules that they look at without energy in their eyes? How many people are just bored?

 

Passion can, of course, also include things such as intercourse and intimacy. Yielding to passion doesn’t mean go out and do every person that you can. It means, if you meet someone and find yourself attracted to them in that way (and they have the same pure attraction to you), then why deny your own instincts. Just keep a responsible head on your shoulders, and take the idea of “pure” emotion in stride. If you find someone “hot” it isn’t passion, it’s admiration. Passion is the temporary stirring of the soul, the gut feeling of lust, and it is important that true passion can turn into some form of love. It may be that passion won’t even lead to sex. It can lead to something as simple as a hug, to something as wild as a relationship. Two people may be passionate about each other and just spend their time talking, opening themselves in a way that is every bit as close as sex. So no, don’t sleep around, but don’t deny the stirring of your soul either. If we deny passion, then we loose part of our ability to love. They are interconnected.

 

And then there’s anger. People are afraid of anger just as much as they are afraid of love. Anger can open us up to destruction- in Star Wars terms it is the path to the Dark Side. We become so afraid of being angry that we restrain it, letting it build and corrupt our souls. That is the type of anger that the world has come to know. It is damning. That is the type of anger that we have come to fear. And because we fear it, because we try to trap it, it grows.

 

Anger isn’t evil. It doesn’t create evil people. It is an emotion, inescapable. In all forms, irritability, annoyance, rage- it simply is. Therefore, we should let it be. Trapping it like an animal restricts our own souls, because anger is as much of a part of our soul as love, passion, and instinct are. So stop trying to be angry, embrace it- let it out when it comes, then let it go. When we can do this we won’t have any fear of being consumed by it.

 

Impulse and awareness speak for themselves. Our gut feeling is usually right when it is in collaboration with our conscience, even if society tells us no. Humans created society- they should not let themselves be controlled by it. In order to not be controlled by our own creation, we need to be aware. We need to be aware of ourselves, our siblings, our world- without awareness we are puppets. Without impulse we cannot be aware, because impulse is curiosity- among other things.

 

So, does my laughter at psychologists seem so outlandish now? Where has psychoanalysis put us, besides putting us behind the starting line? I am no psychologist, but I understand myself. I don’t need to know why I feel these emotions. I don’t need to know how I think and function. The important thing is that I do feel, think, and function.

 

We don’t need people with degrees telling us that we do.