Eco-Depth Psychology and Psychotherapy

"A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feeling as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty."

-Albert Einstein

According to the Animistic and Shamanistic world view, human suffering is rooted in two sources: Soul Loss and Power Loss. The concept of Soul Loss captures with surprising precision that which we as modern psychotherapists understand to be "traumatization": an experiential part of oneself is "detached" in order to avoid experiencing the unbearable. It is worth noting that modern psychotherapists are very competent in treating trauma, i.e. soul loss, and the treatment results are good. It may be that we have learned to be even more skillful here than the healers of hunter-gatherer communities, who based on current anthropological knowledge (fortunately) did not come across such complex soul losses as the modern trauma development produces. 

Power Loss, on the other hand, refers to the breaking of connection - and connection in this context refers to both human relationships and the wider whole: the connection to a person's origin, the community, the nature into which he belongs, the mutual relationship between everything that exists. Here we find a big discrepancy between our ancestors' and modern Western understanding of humanity, and with it in psychotherapeutic treatment: our modern view is based on separateness and the well-being of the individual, and the person is also mainly treated alone and as an individual. Mental health problems are also seen as psychological, "from the neck up" problems of the individual, although this does not correspond to the fundamental nature of human. It could be said that people are often cared for without caring for their most important relationship - the relationship with nature, our environment and the other-than-human animals, all of which humans are and always have been an inseparable part. Treating Power Loss means restoring the connection to the true nature of Human, and for that purpose rebuilding our relationship with nature is vital. The approach of Eco-Depth Psychotherapy aims both to treat the broken connection and to strengthen the existing one.

According to the concept of Planetary Health, the health of the planet's biosphere and human health are interdependent. The concept of Planetary Mental Health, which serves as one framework for Eco-Depth Psychotherapy work, also naturally falls under the concept. Eco-Depth Psychotherapy has a close connection with Ecopsychology, Depth Psychology, Trans-species Psychology, Anthropology and several other humanistic disciplines. It also always has a spiritual dimension. Eco-Depth Psychotherapy is not a "technique", nor is it limited to just doing psychotherapy in a natural environment. It is a comprehensive change of perspective in healing work. In practice, Eco-Depth Psychotherapy can be carried out indoors as well as in a natural environment, in live meetings or via Zoom connection, in individual or group format.

You can find my international workshops and other offerings under the heading on the main menu.