I present this very brief story of the development of psychology because it has been basic to my own progress and understanding of life. I believe the science has made a tremendous contribution to the evaluation of ourselves, perhaps as great as any other modem influence. In part it also explains the rapid cultural changes which affect the world society and gives reason and perspective to our thinking.

I regard this chapter as an interlude. If you are fed up with psychology and it bores you, or if you know it all, skip this chapter and start right into the next but don't do any more skipping after that. The concepts are built progressively upon facts, so that skimming through would prevent full understanding.

Hippocrates, the father of medicine, was born on the island of Cos off the coast of Asia Minor about the year 460 B.C. He is best known for the Hippocratic Oath which some universities required graduating doctors to swear. "Whatsoever house I enter, there will I go for the benefit of the sick." etc. etc. Hippocrates classified mental disorders into three categories;

mania, melancholia and hysteria. His description revealed many of the classical symptoms which are recognised today. He argued that mental illness should not be attributed to supernatural powers but to natural causes.

With such a good start, we would have expected the understanding of the human psyche to progress. It was not to be. After the second century B.C. the wisdom of the great Greek thinkers and philosophers seemed to disappear and primitive thinking and superstition re-emerge and persist in the case of mental disorder, for an incredible period of two thousand years up to the eighteenth century. Mental disorder was not thought to be a sickness hut demon possession.

About 1778 a Frenchman, Dr Phillippe Pinel appeared on the scene. He was appointed medical director of the Paris asylum for the insane. He was considered the leading world authority on mental disorders.

At that time all the mentally ill in the Paris region were screened at a hospital in the centre of the city. No difference was made between the insane, epileptics and mentally retarded; they were all admitted. The treatment consisted of cold baths, bleeding and purges. If a patient showed no improvement within a few weeks he was sent to an asylum on the outskirts of the city- Here the sufferers were often chained in humid, rat infested cells, often below ground level. Patients were sometimes left naked and filthy and slept on straw. The sad part is that there was no treatment or hope for them. They were merely shut away from the rest of society.

Pinel must have arrived as an angel of mercy among unbelievable misery. He introduced a series of reforms which by many are considered the beginning of the understanding of mental disorders. He has therefore been called the father of psychology.

Chains and shackles were removed. Patients were provided with sunny rooms and permitted to the hospital grounds. The result of the reforms which Pinel instigated placed France in the forefront for treatment for mental disorder. In 1798 Pinel published his thesis "Philosophical Nosoiogie" in which he proposed four types of mental illness—mania, melancholia, dementia and idiocy.

Amazing, amazing! After two thousand years of superstition and religious fear, man is back to a scientific definition of mental disorder.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century, J.F. Herbart, a German philosopher, distinguished three degrees of consciousness: 1. Ideas which were central to the attention, 2. those on the margin and 3. those which had been completely repressed or thrust out of the conscious mind but still existed and were capable of returning if the idea which thrust them out should sufficiently awaken. Here we have an early concept of the conscious and unconscious mind. It was to become and indeed remain one of the greatest bridges in understanding the human personality.

From very little understanding of the human mind, enlightenment has come, slowly at first but with increasing momentum.

Another important step came In the early nineteenth century from quite a different source, namely entertainment. Abbe Faria brought to Europe from India the art of hypnotism, although it had not yet received that name. He passed the art on to Franz Mesmer who made it prominent. Mesmer opened a clinic in Paris and started to treat all kinds of diseases. It became known in Europe as Mesmerism after its practitioner. Mesmerism acted as a great stimulus to scientific study, and was used experimentally by many doctors. Prominent in this study was Dr. Braid who coined the name Hypnotism. It was found that hypnotised subjects could remember long forgotten and even deeply repressed experiences, recount them in extensive detail and still maintain amnesia for them at the ordinary level of consciousness.

The importance of the unconscious mind was realised by Dr. Jean Charcot, a specialist in Paris towards the end of the nineteenth century. The most distinguished of his pupils, was a physician trained in biological medicine, Dr. Sigmund Freud, who was to exercise a profound influence on the treatment of emotional distress.

Freud was determined to investigate emotional problems from a psychological point of view and received encouragement from Charcot- However, the decisive point came when an outstanding physician Dr. Josh Breuer told Freud of an extraordinary experiment he had conducted. He had cured symptoms of hysteria by getting the patient to recall under hypnosis the circumstances of their origin and by expressing the emotions accompanying them.

After his return to Vienna , Freud suggested to Breuer that they should publish the case together with some others Freud had in the meantime treated by the same method. This book "Studien uber Hysteric", published 1895, was the starting point of what was later to become known as psychoanalysis-Freud soon found that he could get better results by using a method devised by himself, which he called free association. Thereby he could bring the forgotten incident and the accompanying emotion back into the conscious mind. He discontinued the use of hypnosis completely from his practice. Free association has remained a basic tool of Freudian psychoanalytic system to this day.

In 1897 Freud embarked on an analysis or his own unconscious mind. From this pioneering experience has grown the demand that students of psychoanalysis undergo as part of their training, a personal analysis conducted by an experienced psychoanalyse. The experience gives the future therapist an insight into the human psyche which can greatly enhance book learning

Freud made a tremendous impact on the treatment of emotional disorders. He was a brilliant researcher and a prolific recorder of his findings. He was read and talked about throughout the entire developed world.

Many of Freud's ideas are already over three quarters of a century old. He did not have all the facts or the back up of the hundreds of dedicated men and women who have since spent lifetimes on research. Of course he made mistakes. The science has grown away from many, but not all, of his hypotheses. He was, however, a prime mover in the understanding of the mind and stimulated and inspired exploration into the mechanism of personality. Freud saw it as the task of the psychoanaiyst to make the unconscious, conscious.

Freud set about classifying his observations of the thoughts and emotions of his patients. He uncovered the unconscious traumas or emotional shocks and disharmonies which gave rise to nervous distress suffered by the individual. He discovered that these emotional shocks tended to be rejected and repressed and would thereby sink into the unconscious mind. They would, however, continue to cause anxiety, hysteria or depression. By helping the patient to recall these formerly unconscious incidents together with the attendant emotion, and dealing with them, the symptoms could be resolved.

Freud developed his theory of the personality, dividing it into the 'id' (it, in German), the 'ego' and the 'superego'. Briefly the id is the unconscious driving force, the ego, the actively conscious self, and the superego that part acquired from outside influences imposed by society or religion.

Dreams, sex drives, fantasies, repressions, sublimation, resistance and other reactions were all investigated by Freud. As a result a vast amount of new data was accumulated- As the years have passed, his views have been tested, modified, rejected or added to by many capable psychologists. Psychoanalysis became a respected treatment for the emotionally distressed. Literally millions of people have availed themselves of one or more of its variant presentations.

Some Other Forms of Psychological Research

One of the most famous early researchers was a Russian, Dr. Ivan Pavlov. He was a biologist working around the turn of the century on the problems of digestive juices. He was using dogs, and was feeding them by the injection of meat juices into the mouth and measuring the amount of saliva response. A bell would sound and the dogs would be fed. As the pairing of the bell and the food continued, he discovered a change in the dogs' behaviour- The dogs would salivate on the ringing of the bell only. Thus was established what has become known as classical conditioning whereby certain stimuli create an apparently unattached response.

Since Pavlov there have been many thousands of carefully recorded experiments of stimuli and responses using rats, dogs, monkeys, cats, birds and other animals. The experimenters' purpose and methods have varied tremendously, from studying fear and the learning process, to creating aggression by the surgical implantation of electrical stimulators in a carefully defined area of the brain. Experiments to find out what happens when a baby monkey is deprived of mother love. How do rats behave when crowded into a confined space? What happens under stress and fear? How do genetics affect tolerance and ability, and so on? We could continue on and on. The comparison, observation and testing of animals under all sorts of conditions and of people of all classes and races continues at an ever growing pace.

So extensive has been the research, so vast the data collected that researchers have had to specialise in particular aspects. Each researcher contributes in his own way to the growing general knowledge, although often in disagreement with other researchers and sometimes sharply so. This young science has made a tremendous contribution to the knowledge and understanding of the most interesting and complex of all animals, man.

1 would like to look at some approaches which, although considered to be clinical, could be defined as assaults on the brain. I would like to state here that the opinions I express about what I term assaults upon the brain are my own, and may be hotly opposed by sections of the medical profession. The comments do not apply to the seriously psychotic or insane. My personal inclination is to trust the delicate physical structure of the body and brain and not to attack it with gross manipulations. A study of the work and books of Glen Doman who specialises in the treatment of brain damaged children should convince most of us of the tremendous potential of the human brain. Even when damaged it seems to have remarkable powers of retraining.

Surgery:

There are, of course, very many occasions when brain surgery is vital to the health of the patient. Surgery after injury, to remove a tumour or to relieve pressures, are vital to the continued life and well-being of a 5(ifferer. Such surgery is not aimed specically at changing behaviour.

Surgery, however, has been extensively tried as a means of controlling behaviour. Dr. Egas Moniz, of Lima , South America , pioneered an operation which he called lobotomy. It consisted of cutting nerve fibres leading to the frontal lobes of the brain. Patients selected were those showing among other disorders, persistent depression, obsessions or aggressiveness.

The operation went out of fashion and was discontinued in New Zealand . Recently a modified form is reappearing on the world scene- Once brain surgery is performed there is no way of reversing the results and so far there are too many disastrous case histories on record. Dr. A.K. Ommaya, Research Director, U.S. National Institute of Neurological Diseases, seated, "Every part of the brain requires the other part to function-"

Electroshock:

Another assault technique used exclusively to modify behaviour is shock treatment. It is still used exten- sivety throughout the world. Developed in Rome by Drs. Corletti and Bini it is called electroconvulsive treatment and is exactly what it says. The passage of an alternating current through the brain causing convulsive seizures.

Both surgical and electric shock treatment have been criticised and rejected by many psychotherapists. There is no doubt that immediate symptoms have often been relieved but the side and long-term effects are open to controversy. Shock treatment in England and the U.S.A. is declining rapidly. There are thought to be better ways of dealing with the difficulties in most cases.

Drugs:

We all take some drugs even if it is only a cup of tea

or coffee. For our physical needs we are glad of modem drugs when we have a tooth extracted or develop a serious infection. Recently I have had a small operation and am very grateful for the drugs which made it possible. The antiseptics to cleanse the area, the anaesthetic to put me to sleep, the antibiotics to check infection, the pain killers and the pills to encourage restful sleep- They were all used properly and were of tremendous benefit.

When drugs are used solely as a means of controlling behaviour, they could be considered as physical assaults upon the brain. When used professionally they can be considered as aids to recovery. Certain drugs are widely used in psychotherapeutic clinics, few therapists reject them outright. They do ease stress at least temporarily. It is reasonably argued, however, that drugs reduce neurotic symptoms without finding the cause of the distress. Another difficulty is to get drugs to be selective enough. Side effects can be unacceptable and uncertain. Sir Randall Elliott, then President of New Zealand Medical Association, said over N.Z.B.C. Television in 1978, "There are no drugs which do not have side effects."

In this study we are not concerned with drugs used in the repair of the body. What concerns us are the soporific drugs such as Reserpine and Chlorpromazine discovered by Drs. Kline and Delay and there are new drugs appearing very frequendy. These drugs give relief from stress and sometimes may give time for the problem to work itself out. Some doctors persist in giving soporific drugs for long periods of time without any real attempt to find the cause of the maladjustment, possibly because there is a shortage of psycho-pathologists. Our national expenditure on drugs is astronomical and shows a heavy dependency. Too often the only answer offered by some doctors to complaints, is to increase the dosage or change the medication. Such an approach is like a man who is in need of a job getting drunk instead of looking for work. Alcohol may make him feet happier with the world but it is hardly the best way to find employment. Of course he could stumble on a drinking partner who will offer him a job.

I am not qualified co make personal judgements upon the dangers of certain drugs- From time to time health authorities, who are certainly qualified to make such judgements, issue danger warnings about products which have been used widely and sometimes for years. The fact that such drugs as thalidomide given to pregnant women can slip through and be widely used before the devastating side effects can be discerned and shock the world is indeed disquietening.

I am sceptical of drugs used over an extended period of time as the only means of modifying behaviour of

stressed people. Drugs are sold by private companies through general practitioners who use them in good faith but often with insufficient information- We have become far too trusting of the huge commercial drug companies, accepting in blind faith the 'latest' remedies as though they were the oracle of God.

While drugs do give temporary relief from stress and may help to cope in an emergency, they cannot cure anyone of psychological problems. I do not not believe that they are, or ever can be a substitute for mature personality adjustment or growth. At best they can only provide a patch up job, a poor substitute for a relaxed, thoughtful and ordered attitude to life acquired through the practise of mental hygiene.

It appears that different methods of assault on the brain follow fashions. The old type of lobotomy was popular thirty or forty years ago. This was followed by electroconvulsive treatment which swept the world, but is now declining. The present fashion is drugs alone or drugs in combination with other treatment.

In dealing with the delicate human brain we need to exercise extreme caution. As I see it, assault therapy should be used only as a very last resort, and even then with strict limitations. Not only is the personality disorder aimed at, depressed or stimulated, the natural balance of the personality can be disturbed.

A sobering picture is painted by Vance Packard in his book "The People Shapers." He follows in detail the experiments and practises of a wide variety of people manipulators. He points out the great danger of dehumanizing man by the powerful means which are now at our disposal. Packard ends his book by stating his personal response to the three years research under- taken and the information gathered. He states "My own thoughts are that high value should be placed on individuals who achieve (1) Responsible self direction, (2) Individual fulfillment, (3) The rearing of fine children, (4) Clearcut uniqueness as a person, (5) A spontaneous way of life, (6) A capacity for individual thinking."

We live in a 'press button* society where there is a demand by many for the immediate change of symptoms of all our emotional stresses by forceful means, be it pills, surgery or other manipulative techniques.

I believe we adopt forceful means at a risk to our personalities. I for one do not want to run that risk. I want to enjoy the full impact of living with all my mental and emotional assets intact. I would far rather send a friend of mine who was in need of help to a psychopathologist like the one Vance Packard tells us about, Dr. Peter Breggin "who believes that everyone has a potential to be free and self directed and who won't settle for anything less from his clients," He states "I never refer anyone for electric shock. I never hospitalise anyone or talk to the clients' relatives. If the person is suicidal or psychotic, I don't bring in the authorities. I treat each human being as a totally responsible person."

There are better ways of relieving stress than to resort to unnatural means. The human is not a machine to be manipulated and experimented with. He is a unique living creature capable of great enjoyment and personal expression. E strongly approve of the Peter Breggins and Vance Packards of this world who give importance to individuality, spontaneity and personal direction.

Behaviourism:

Another entirely different and widely accepted approach is the powerful school of thought pioneered by Dr. J.B. Watson, about 1915. It is called Behaviourism. Its language is understood in terms of conditioned and unconditioned stimuli and responses. An example is Pavlov's experiments with dogs, referred to earlier. Behaviourism is a manipulative technique.

The present day notable behaviourist is Dr. B.F. Skinner who with his team has made considerable progress- The impact of behaviourists' studies has been rapid and extensive. They are seen widely in education, industrial psychology, intelligence tests, training programmes and suitability analysis.

Behaviourists are interested in patterns of behaviour rather than personal histories. The method in good hands has been of practical benefit in helping retarded children who can respond to a large range of stimuli without recourse to reasoned application.

Behaviourists believe that because of the genes we inherit, the environment we have been raised in and the conditioning we have been subjected to, our responses to any given situation are predetermined. There is, in fact, no choice for us at all. Our responses wilt be exactly in line with our previous conditioning under the current setting.

Both Watson and Skinner would say that environment was by far the most important factor in our behaviour. Both these able men would support the idea of total determinism, with very little or no free will or choice left to the individual- The behaviourists' success is largely determined by the understanding and use of those qualities,There is no doubt that each of us is very largely the product of the kind of life we have been exposed to up to the current setting. It could be said that we are very unlikely to make a decision which is not directly the result of our past experiences. That is why education is so important for our cultural development. Understanding and enlightenment called learning can have a profound effect on the development of the human animal.

Behaviourists have been accused of dehumanising people. They pursue a form of manipulation which some regard with anxiety as having potential dangers including mass use as a political and social mover- Like every powerful means, it can be used either for good or evil. I feel that it has tremendous value in academic and educational fields and will contribute much more still to the understanding of mental health.

Synanon and Similar Approaches:

There are three among the many other groups of therapeutic treatment techniques which are worthy of special mention. They fall between the behaviourists' manipulation and the communication therapy which we will look at shortly. The first is similar to such groups as Synanon who have been successful in the treatment of drug and alcoholic abuse. The subject is taken out of ordinary circulation and placed in a special society where drugs are forbidden and he is then subjected to intense group therapy. The operators are themselves cured addicts. This is therapy directed towards a specific cure of a particular problem.

Transactional Therapy;

The second group relies on the cognitive analysis of actions and is a thinking process. Called Transactional Therapy it was originated by Dr. E. Beme and is presented in his book "Games People Play". The emphasis is on child, parent and adult patterns of behaviour. They seek to classify all human communication into infantile, authoritative or mature means of communication.

Quoting from "Games People Play" Berne has this to say: "The first rule of communication is that communication will proceed smoothly as long as transactions are complementary; and its corollary is that as long as transactions are complementary, communication can, in principle, proceed indefinitely. These rules are independent of the nature and content of the transactions; they are based entirely on the direction of the vectors involved. As long as the transactions are complementary, it is irrelevant to the rule whether two people are engaging in critical gossip (Parent-Parent), solving a problem (Adult-Adult), or playing together (Child-Child or Parent-Child).

The converse rule is that communication is broken off when a crossed transaction occurs. The most common crossed transaction, and the one which causes and always has caused most of the social difficulties in the world, whether in marriage, love, friendship, or work is the principle concern of psychotherapists and is typified by the classical transference reaction of psychoanalysis. The stimulus is Adult-Adult: e.g. 'Maybe we should find out why you've been drinking more lately,' or, 'Do you know where my cuff links are?' The appropriate Adult-Adult response in each case would be: 'Maybe we should. I'd certainly like to know!' or, 'On the desk.' If the respondent flares up, however, the responses will be something like 'You're always criticizing me, just like my father did,' or, 'You always blame me for everything.' These are both Child-Parent responses, and as the transactional diagram shows, the vectors cross- In such cases the Adult problems about drinking or cuff links must be suspended until the vectors can be realigned. This may take anywhere from several months in the drinking example to a few seconds in the case of the cufflinks."

A thorough understanding of Transactional Therapy can certainly prove of value to personal communication. I recommend the reading of this book.

Rational Emotive Therapy

The third therapy is "Rational Emotive Therapy" by Drs. Aibert Ellis and Robert Harper. It is also a thinking process. Not as interested in past history, it seeks to deal with present problems through rational thinking and self discipline.

I quote from "A New Guide To Rational Living". "People can live the most self-fulfilling, creative and emotionally satisfying lives by disciplining their thinking", and later "Feelings have valuable goals or purposes — usually your survival and happiness. When they help you achieve these goals, we call them appropriate feelings. When they serve to block your basic goals, we call them inappropriate. Rational Emotive Thinking shows you how to distinguish clearly between appropriate emotion such as your feeling real sorrow or an annoyance when you don't get what you want, and inappropriate or self-defeating emotions, such as your feeling depressed, self-downing, or enraged under the same conditions,

By the same token, Rational Emotive Thinking helps you discriminate between rational and irrational thinking. It holds that rational thinking normally leads to appropriate and irrational thinking to inappropriate emotion." This is another book worth reading,

Other Therapeutic Practices:

There are many concepts and techniques in dealing with stressed people. Confrontation therapies, Primal Scream therapies, group touching therapies, relaxation therapies, even religion, all have some enthusiastic followers. Perhaps the greatest benefit is that the subject has a desire for change and a willingness to get on with the job.

Communication Therapy:

Communication has always been a human way of relieving stress. Mankind has been sharing his problems with others for thousands of years. What we refer to specifically here, however, is a specialised and learned technique adopted by trained therapists in the treatment of emotionally stressed individuals. This scientific approach gained considerable strength through the work of Freud at the turn of the century and has since been extended and modified by many other therapists.

Communication Therapy covers a wide and most interesting group of psychopathology. It includes individual analysis, group therapy, guidance and marriage counseling groups. I have given it separate attention because it has a special significance to my own learning and experience.

In calling it the therapeutic communication approach I have placed heavy dependence on talking- The purpose of the therapist nevertheless is to get behind and below the mere words to the feelings and emotions which give rise to the problem. This is what Dr. J.A. Hadfield, late Director of Studies, Tavistock Clinic, London , called reductive analysis. It is when those feelings and hurts are quietly re-examined, not as incidents, but in reality and as affecting the real self that a new concept is formed. Only then will a new acceptance of the situation and a mature attitude arise almost automatically.

The effectiveness of different techniques varies tremendously according to the understanding and skill of the therapist. There are devoted and successful therapists in different schools of thought. There are even some who are highly skilled in human relationships who would not claim to be therapists at all. Unfortunately [here are also some book-taught psychologists who have little empathy or understanding of real human feeling. It is possible to gain University degrees in psychology and have all sorts of smart theories, without really understanding or being able to relieve the emotional hurts and stresses of a fellow human.

The object of psychotherapy should be to find out what are the emotional blockages preventing the free flow of life experiences. To look at the problems which caused the malfunction or tension in the personality, help the subject to rake a new attitude to life and build new concepts.

There are many approaches to communication therapy. The purely Freudian methods have been modified by European and American schools of thought. Dr. C.J- Schneider states "No single model of therapy. is complete enough to be the only useful way of look- at psychopathology. The trained observer of "svchopathology uses many different ideas when

thinking about the cases he sees."

With communication therapy the subject is able to uncover his emotions, anxieties, fears and stresses in a secure accepting atmosphere where he is listened to with understanding, sincerity and without criticism, or the fear that his confidences will be betrayed. For very many the experience is infinitely worthwhile. For many it becomes a dramatic start to a new and better life. One young lady said "It was the first time in all my life that someone really listened to me, I mean really listened." It is the listening, caring and understanding which helps the sufferer to cure himself.

The sufferer is a confused person, hurt and often afraid. He has the need to reorient ate himself. He is confused and needs the right kind of accepting, uncritical help where he can work toward his own recovery without fear of being betrayed or pressurised,

There is a strong self healing force within each one of us which can best be effective in an atomsphere of freedom, away from the demands which society seems to love to put on us.

By honestly facing the difficulties, and I mean honestly facing difficulties past and present, and looking at the emotions involved, the subject is given an opportunity of re-evaluating deep feelings. He can then make new adjustments of attitude to stressful situations. The subject is the one who does all the work but in an atmosphere where he does not feel at risk, where he can accept new concepts and attitudes.

Millions of people have now received some form of psychotherapy. Surprisingly, however, most people who enter therapy do not suffer from classical psychoactive disorders. They are what could be called ordinary people with inner conflicts.