All Healing Involves Regression

Dr. Gayle Civish has been bringing the spiritual perspective into her psychological practice for over 20 years. After all, the field of psychology is named for the study of the psyche, Greek for “soul”. However, with the rise of the scientific method and psychology’s need to be considered a natural science, the interest in subjective experience waned. Supposedly the spiritual dimension had no discernable or predictable effects upon human behavior. Psychologists shrunk their purview to fit the rigors of method. Even though William James, the father of psychology, was open to exploring the expanse of human experience and focused his classic The Varieties of Religious Experience upon these kinds of phenomena, psychology rejected this openness, opting for the control required for predictability. So now the field of psychology is accepted into the sciences, but she is an abridged version of herself.

Psychology must return to her vibrant past to restore herself to full expression, to heal. Only then can she mature. So it is with us all. We have left parts of ourselves behind. We have denied our experiences, distorted our truths and shut out the inner voice that directs us. We have meandered away or run from our true self expression and path of development. All for good reasons at the time, we built a protective shell that keeps us safe, but unintegrated. The restoration of the soul is the path to healing. It is the birthright of psychology to aid in this process of reclamation. Together we can discover and remember how much more there is to our human nature.