On a Unified Field Theory in Psychology

Toward the end of Albert Einstein’s career he was searching for a unified theory that would encompass and explain diverse aspects of the heavens, the planets, stars and space and time. In a way I feel we have backed into a unified field theory in psychology that explains quite diverse behaviors, disparate and seemingly unrelated symptoms and illnesses and deviations from normal over a wide expanse of human interaction.

It seems now that Primal Theory has made an important beginning step in this field theory. As it becomes refined it will apply more broadly to an ever-expanding human universe. It will show us how the various disciplines, biology, psychology and neurology intersect and interact. How certain psychologic states alter the neurology and vice versa. It will demystify the sudden emergence of such afflictions as deep depression and inexplicable panic attacks. It will clarify the origins of migraines and high blood pressure and help us understand the failure syndrome. It will make the relationship between high blood pressure and depression understandable, and help explain the onset of most serious ailments such as cancer and diabetes. It will help reduce the gap between awareness and consciousness and elucidate the role of awareness in psychotherapy. It will point the way to a proper therapy, taking into account the depth of the brain, its levels of consciousness and the key role interactions between and among brain structures play.

It should help prevent false routes, unscientific approaches to mental illness, and offer methods for measuring improvement in psychotherapy that does not rely only on patient reports. Whether implicitly or explicitly most of us professionals are looking for some unified notion of how it all fits together, some explanatory system that makes sense of what we do with patients. And helps us find a way to measure patients’ improvement that encompasses many different disciplines. It helps us break out of the narrow confinement of psychological theories that are studied apart from the human neurobiological systems.

It eliminates the need for insight therapy, so long the backbone of psychotherapy and avoids such drastic measures as electroshock therapy. It helps us understand the role of painkillers and tranquilizers in psychotherapy, when and how to use them, and why? It will stop the nonsense of rehab’s revolving doors, of anger and sex management and other unscientific approaches. It will help the therapist understand his or her role as a professional and not attempt to love neurosis away. Yes, warmth is necessary but it is not curative. Therapy is not do-gooder measures; it is verifiable science at work. We can check and measure each other’s work; we can see if this or that method is workable and measureable. We can finally help the patient get well; really well, not only in his mind but in his brain and body.