In the previous blog, we discussed the work of Pierre Janet. He was the pioneer in the development of hypnotherapy and the first to document Multiple Personality Disorder. Since his death, he has been largely ignored. Recently, with the increased interest in multiple personalities, his work is beginning to be recognized by some. For most of the history of modern day psychology, he and his work have been conspicuously absent in the writings of leaders in the field.
Sigmund Freud (1859-1939) was a contemporary of Pierre Janet and was, at first, supportive of Janet’s work. Judith Herman quotes Freud from his work, The Origins of Psychoanalysis, Letters to Wilhelm Fliers, Drafts and Notes, 1887-1902. Freud says: “By the way, what have you got to say to the suggestion that the whole of my brand new theory of the primary origins of hysteria are already familiar and have been published a hundred times over though several centuries ago? Do you remember my always saying that the medieval theory of passion (demon possession [writer’s interpretation]), that is held by ecclesiastical courts, was identical with our theory of a foreign body and the splitting of consciousness? But why did the devil who took possession of the poor victims invariably commit misconduct with them, and in such horrible ways? Why were the confessions, extracted under torture, so very like what my patients tell me during psychological treatment?”
Freud believed in Janet’s writings and research. However, he abandoned his support of Janet under pressure exerted by his peers and elders in the psychological community. It was made clear to him that the popularity and acceptance of his work would suffer if he continued to embrace the validity and reality of the spiritual as a factor in psychological treatment.
The bias of the psychological community against spiritualism has and continues to be profound. I am defining spiritualism as: a voluntary acceptance of an individual of a bodiless being(s) which is external to the individual. This bodiless being is not part of the individual’s personality but a separate being functioning in and through a person. Their existence within is always dysfunctional and destructive to the person himself and to those around them.
The subjectivity required to incorporate the spiritual world as a factor in psychological problems is extremely disturbing to the present day psychological and medical communities. These communities have incorporated the scientific method as the basis for establishing truth. This requires great objectivity. This works well in the physical, material world and has been a great blessing to us all. However, when one accepts bodiless beings as real and present in human psychological behavior, the scientific method is inadequate. Why? The scientific method only works well in the material world. It does not work in the spiritual world. That requires revealed truth. Subjective interpretation based on revealed truth does not fit into the scientific method.
I understand the dilemma, but denial of the spiritual world is self-defeating and is not consistent with manifest reality. The material and spiritual world both exist and are an active part of our human condition. To deny the existence of the spirit world negates the experience and belief of the vast majority of humanity. However, that is exactly the past and present day stance of the majority of the psychological and scientific communities.
The psychological community has gotten by with this to this point in time. That, however, has not worked at all with Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), also called Dissociative Personality Disorder (DID). For over thirty years, the research groups using the scientific method have worked to develop treatment modalities for MPD. To date they have not succeeded. They still state in the official literature that there is no cure or effective therapy for MPD. Conversely, those who are incorporating spiritual therapies in their treatment report that help and even cure of this problem are possible and are taking place. I believe that it’s time, for the sake of many hurting people, that this sad state of affairs be brought to an end. I am in the group that believes that spiritual problems require spiritual answers, and material problems require material answers. It is not a question of either/or but both/and. May it soon be so!
