History of Psychology

Today I define the history of psychology. This data I collected from the different books and my teachers and other sources. Psychology is the very important subjects for the modern age and many kinds of Psychology blow.

1- Organizational Psychology
2- Psychopathology & Clinical Psychology
3- Developmental Psychology
4- Social Psychology
5- Educational Psychology

Definition of Psychology:

The word "psychology" is the combination of two terms - study (ology) and soul (psyche), or mind. The derivation of the word from Latin gives it this clear and obvious meaning.

The history of Psychology:

For thousands of years psychology existed under the name of philosophy. The Hindu Vedas contain the oldest record of man's examination of mind and spirit. In India all forms of Yoga, which are essentially psychology, are described as one of the six systems of philosophy. Sufi teachings, which again are chiefly psychological, are regarded as partly religious and partly metaphysical. In more modern times some version of these systems, still largely following in this same vein, can be found the subjects of Rosicrucianism, New Thought, Science of Mind, visualization techniques, practical magick, and Scientology.

If you found yourself flinching or reacting negatively to the mention of any of these subjects, such as Yoga, Rosicrucianism, Scientology, or any of the the many other alternative approaches to the mind and reality, realize this is not necessarily because there is anything actually strange or weird about these subjects. It is often largely because modern psychology, psychiatry and affiliated proponents of modern materialistic "science" have successfully applied black PR to them to such a large degree. In fact, they have covertly attacked these subjects for most of this century. An intelligent and objective look into any of these fields, although sometimes initially confusing largely due to the newness of the subject and difference in approach to reality will result in a widened understanding of yourself (and Man in general). Granted, you do need to and in fact you MUST weed out some of the nonsense often added to these subjects. Once you do take an honest look though it should become very obvious that modern western psychology has little to do with that incredible universe that exists a few inches behind your forehead. It must be mentioned that over time most of these subjects and fields (i.e. Scientology, Rosicrucianism, Transcendental Meditation, etc) have most definitely suffered from some combination of a) gross alterations introduced by self-appointed leaders following internal power struggles, b) manipulation of views and information by the more influential members, c) the sad tendency of some of the not-too-bright members to dictate changes not part of the original information, and d) the use of the subject and field to exert thought control and behavioral manipulation on its members. These faults are observably true and easily seen in the recent history of Scientology, though these faults exist in all to some degree. Lastly though, don't throw out the baby with the bathwater. While these all have serious flaws, don't use that as an excuse to dismiss everything about them outright without any serious examination. It takes careful and serious examination to separate the valuable from the invaluable - and there is often much of both to be found.



The mind has been examined, studied, drilled and "expanded", at times to the point of excruciating detail within many fields (i.e. Tibetan Buddhist Yogic practices). This is not to say that due to language barriers and the passage of time, that the information has not been lost to minor or major degrees or that these studies weren't without many errors, serious flaws, biases and differing opinions to start with. The point is not whether any of these are perfect studies (none are) or whether any of them have completed the task of researching the mind (none have), but that the possibility for such a study most surely exists, has been done before in various ways and to differing degrees, and that modern psychology (and psychiatry) has nothing to do with this field.

See The Errors of Modern Science and the Human Mind, which further discusses the many flaws found within the "modern scientific" view of Man and the human mind.

Depression

New psychological research from Concordia University has been performed to investigate the link between childhood stresses and later onset of mental illnesses such as bipolar disorder. The researchers discovered higher levels of Cortisol within test subjects from families with a history of mental disorders. However, researchers stated that the test subjects from “at risk” families might not go on to develop mood disorders of their own.

Does adolescent stress lead to mood disorders in adulthood?
Concordia researcher investigates the link between an early stressful environment, hormones and mental disorders such as depression or bipolar disorder

Stress may be more hazardous to our mental health than previously believed, according to new research from Concordia University. A series of studies from the institution have found there may be a link between the recent rise in depression rates and the increase of daily stress.

“Major depression has become one of the most pressing health issues in both developing and developed countries,” says principal researcher Mark Ellenbogen, a professor at the Concordia Centre for Research in Human Development and a Canada Research Chair in Developmental Psychopathology.

“What is especially alarming is that depression in young people is increasing in successive generations. People are suffering from depression earlier in life and more people are getting it. We want to know why and how. We believe that stress is a major contributor.”

From parent to child Ellenbogen and colleagues are particularly interested in the link between childhood stress and the development of clinical depression and bipolar disorder. His team is evaluating the stress of children who are living in families where one parent is affected by a mood disorder.

“Previous studies have shown that kids from at-risk families are at higher risk of having a psychiatric disorder in their lifetime,” says Ellenbogen. “We know that they’re not just inheriting these traits but they are also being raised in environment that is stressful, chaotic and lacking in structure. Our goal is to tease out how this type of environment influences these children’s mental health in adolescence and adulthood.”

Cortisol, the stress hormone To assess stress levels, Ellenbogen is measuring the levels of the stress hormone, cortisol present in the children’s saliva. Cortisol is a hormone that is produced by the body in response to stressful life events and challenges.

Ellenbogen’s recent findings have shown that the adolescent offspring of at-risk families have higher salivary cortisol levels than kids from families without disorders. What’s more, he found these elevated levels persist into young adulthood.“Although there may be many causes to the rise in cortisol, this increase may be in part due to exposure to family stress and parenting style,” says Ellenbogen. “We have not yet confirmed that these children then go on to develop mood disorders of their own. However, we have some exciting preliminary data showing that high cortisol levels in adolescences doubles your risk for developing a serious mood disorder in young adulthood.”

Contact: Sylvain-Jacques Desjardins
Source: Concordia University

Attention Deficit

Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorders (ADHD) affects about 5% of the population by conservative estimates and burdens adults as well as children. Various brain-scanning techniques including PET and SPECT scans indicate reduced metabolic activity in the frontal lobes. QEEG brainmaps also find a reduction in EEG activity in the frontal area of the brain. This excessive slow wave activity reduces the individual's ability to control and inhibit the brain and related nervous system activity. Impulsivity in motor and attentional centers of the brain results in impulsive behaviors and inappropriate responses to situations due to lost information during communications and general information gathering processes. Individuals are always trying to piece together what is going on after events and communications take place because they often lose key pieces of information. Consequently their performance suffers greatly in most contexts. They experience the world as overwhelming and over-critical of their actions. Children with ADD usually suffer from low self-esteem, anxiety, and often depression.

Picture Case Study: Ron was 14 years old and on 10mgs of Ritalin three times a day. Other medications had proven ineffective. He was acting out in class, oppositional with parents and teachers, forgetting books and assignments, having difficulty staying on task when reading, and suffering from comprehension and memory problems. He was also hanging around the kids who were in trouble at school all the time and his parents were concerned he would get into more trouble and become involved with drugs. Ron received 26 sessions of neurofeedback while his parents received training in parenting skills at the same time. His sessions included 8 sessions of alpha training to reduce his anxiety and oppositional nature followed by 18 sessions of beta training to increase the amount of activity and speed of processing in the frontal lobes. He was conditioned to increase beta while reading a textbook. By the fifth session Ron reported that his friends didn't like him anymore because he was different; too calm and unresponsive to their fooling around. He started hanging out with a nicer crowd of kids. His parents noticed changes in his behavior at home around the same time. By session 15 he was on 5mgs of Ritalin and his classroom behavior and schoolwork were improving. His anger and oppositional behavior had diminished to the point where it was no longer a problem. By session 24 he was off the Ritalin and a one year follow up found that he was still doing well and not on Ritalin.

Research: The research on ADHD is plentiful and well designed. Many group studies have been done and several clinics doing neurofeedback have large client databases to support their claims. The research indicates that neurofeedback is effective in 60-70% of cases. The milder the symptoms, the more effective it seems to be. Most cases require about 30 sessions of neurofeedback but difficult cases can require twice as many sessions. Few MDs, psychologists, and professional health people are aware of the existing studies or the clinical outcome studies of this intervention.