Ecopsychology

Ecopsychology is an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary field that focuses on the synthesis of ecology and psychology and the promotion of sustainability. It is distinguished from conventional psychology as it focuses on studying the emotional bond between humans and the Earth. Instead of examining personal pain solely in the context of individual or family pathology, it is analyzed in its wider connection to the more-than-human world. A central premise is that while the mind is shaped by the modern world, its underlying structure was created in a natural non-human environment. Ecopsychology seeks to expand and remedy the emotional connection between humans and nature, treating people psychologically by bringing them spiritually closer to nature.

History

Origins of ecopsychology

Sigmund Freud

In his 1929 book '' Civilization and Its Discontents'' ''("Das Unbehagen in der Kultur"),'' Sigmund Freud discussed the basic tensions between civilization and the individual. He recognized the interconnection between the internal world of the mind and the external world of the environment, stating:

Robert Greenway

Influenced by the philosophies of noted ecologists Walles T. Edmondson and Loren Eiseley, Robert Greenway began researching and developing a concept that he described as "a marriage" between psychology and ecology in the early 1960s. He theorized that "the mind is nature, and nature, the mind," and called its study ''psychoecology''. Greenway published his first essay on the topic at Brandeis University in 1963.

In 1969, he began teaching the subject at Sonoma State University. One of Greenway's students founded a psychoecology study group at University of California, Berkeley, which was joined by Theodore Roszak in the 1990s.

In the 1995 book ''Ecopsychology: Restoring the Earth, Healing the Mind'', Greenway wrote:

Theodore Roszak

Theodore Roszak is credited with coining the term "ecopsychology" in his 1992 book ''The Voice of the Earth'', although a group of psychologists and environmentalists, including Mary Gomes and Allen Kanner, were independently using the term at the same time. Roszak, Gomes and Kanner later expanded the idea in the 1995 anthology ''Ecopsychology''. Two other books were especially formative, Paul Shepard's 1982 volume, ''Nature and Madness'', which explored the effect that our diminishing engagement with nature had upon psychological development, and David Abram's 1996 ''The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World''. The latter was one of the first books to bring phenomenology fully to bear on ecological issues, looking closely at the cosmo-vision (or the traditional ecological knowledge systems) of diverse indigenous, oral cultures, and analyzing the curious effect that the advent of formal writing systems, like the phonetic alphabet, has had upon the human experience of the more-than-human natural world. Roszak mentions the biophilia hypothesis of biologist E.O. Wilson; that humans have an instinct to emotionally connect with nature.

Beliefs

Roszak states that an individual's connection to nature can improve their interpersonal relationships and emotional wellbeing. An integral part of this practice is treating patients outdoors. According to ecopsychology, humans are meant to take walks in parks. It considers the psyche of non-humans to be relevant. It examines why people continue environmentally damaging behaviour, and motivates them to adopt sustainability.

Fundamental principles

According to Roszak, some of the principles of ecopsychology are:

* "There is a synergistic interplay between planetary and personal well-being."
* "The core of the mind is the ecological unconscious."
* "The goal of ecopsychology is to awaken the inherent sense of environmental reciprocity that lies within the ecological unconscious."
* "The contents of the ecological unconscious represent ... the living record of evolution."
* "The crucial stage of development is the life of the child."
* "The ecological ego matures toward a sense of ethical responsibility with the planet."
* "Whatever contributes to small scale social forms and personal empowerment nourish the ecological ego."

See also

* Conservation psychology
* Eco-anxiety
* Ecological grief
* Ecospirituality
* Environmental psychology
* Exercise prescription
* Nature connectedness

References

Further reading

* M. Day. "Ecopsychology and the Restoration of Home"''.'' 1998. ''The Humanistic Psychologist''. Vol. 26. Issue 1-3.
* T. Roszak. ''The Voice of the Earth: An Exploration of Ecopsychology.'' 1993 Touchstone, New York.
* T. Roszak, M.E. Gomes, A.D. Kanner (Eds). ''Ecopsychology, restoring the earth healing the mind.'' 1995 Sierra Club Books, San Francisco.
* Renée G. Soule, "Ecopsychology" in Nigel Young (editor) ''The Oxford International Encyclopedia of Peace.'' 2010, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
* A. Fisher. ''Radical Ecopsychology: Psychology in the Service of Life''. 2013 Suny Press, Albany.
* J. Phoenix Smith, "Ecopsychology: Toward a New Story of Cultural and Racial Diversity" 2013. ''Journal of Ecopsychology''.Vol. 5. No.4.
* Matthew R. Jamnik, Faith Corbin, McKenna H. Grimm, and Riley Jo H. Hobbs,
Ecopsychology
in Dana S. Dunn (Ed.) ''Oxford Bibliographies in Psychology.'' 2024, Oxford University Press, Oxford. doi: 10.1093/obo/9780199828340-0328

External links

International Community for Ecopsychology

{{Environmental social science

Deep ecology
Environmental social science
Interdisciplinary branches of psychology

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