Parapsychology and Psychoanalysis

The word “parapsychology” begins with the prefix “para-“ which means “beside.” Perhaps someday the subjects covered by those who study parapsychology will not be beside psychology, but will be part of psychology. But for now, they will need to be called “parapsychological.” I look for those areas where the two are indeed close.

Psychoanalysis offers insights but no proofs. Given a certain kind of illness, a psychiatrist can expect to find a certain kind of childhood, but given a certain childhood he still cannot be sure there will be a certain what, if any, illness will develop. Many times the corollary of a principal in the human sciences is not valid. Indeed if there were only one result for a child who has a certain childhood then the mental health profession would be helpless to provide even a hope for recovery.

The solutions to many problems in psychology are revealed when we look at the activity of the family. If we are to understand psychic sensations, parapsychologists must also look to the family of the psychic. Unfortunately, when studies of psychic events have been made this has not always been done. We can find great insights when we look at the psychic person’s family dynamics.

I would like to see parapsychology include more studies of the psychoanalysis of the psychic. How do they feel about their parents especially the parent of the opposite sex. For it seems that often when we study the relationship between the subjects and their parent we see some clues about the nature of the psychic’s ESP. There often seems to be a symbolic relationship between the parent relationship and the psychic phenomena. In the eyes of subjects, the psychic phenomenon seems to be acting like the parent-concept.

We could see that a certain psychic experience comes to those who had a certain childhood. But we can not say that this or that childhood will produce a psychic. We can only look for typical pattern in the lives and psychics. Those “one-way-proofs” don't satisfy everyone, nor should they, but they offer helpful hints at understanding the dynamics of a psychic’s mind.