Tuesday 10 May 2011

Post modernism and Post Modern psychology

 Post modernism has come to affect us in more ways than we can imagine. Often misunderstood as a nihilistic ideology post modern thought can be quite liberating. Post modern thinkers question long standing notions of identity, art and power. We are forced to evaluate the dichotomies in which have made us divide the world in black and white. However breaking these ideas can be difficult if not impossible to imagine.

Where does post-modern thought emerge from and more importantly when did it begin. Like its philosophy it is hard to point out one point of origin. Post-modern ideas have certainly broken our notions of certainty through a grand narrative and through a good theory of physics. Uncertainty becomes something to be embraced and not feared, it pulls us out of our smugness.

Post modern psychology, if it is possible to have a post modern psychology has to contend with the dichotomy of madness and sanity which are entranced in power and politics. It must question its long standing assumption of speaking the language of the natural sciences.

Psychology is a discipline that is obsessed with being an art which speaks the language of natural sciences and it fails to do both. As a result the psychology we have today fails to do both most research is just recycled common sense or prejudice.  Psychology today is a discipline that has tried to obliterate it past and presents itself as a universal discipline. It treats madness as though it always existed and it needs to be located within the individual. It claims to be apolitical and objective yet is the guiding force behind some of the most oppressive and exploitative polices we have today.

Post modern psychology requires a demise of the expert and the inclusion of the irrational. It requires us to break our ideas of benign therapists, of helping people in distress, of being able to prove things and create universal theories of what human and animal behaviour is.


These are just a few things I have written in a hurry so I have given some quick solutions, however I don’t think there can be any easy solutions when it comes to applying post modern thought. 




this is a link to a small talk a few of my friends had yesterday.
http://www.sendspace.com/file/2eyrxj

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