Caretaker of souls

A Jesuit once told me that the word "psychologist" is derived from the Greek word psyche, meaning "soul," and that the suffix, logist, indicated someone who is devoted to the care of the given concept.  Thus, he defined psychologist as "caretaker of souls."  I have come to see this as the simplest and best definition of the work I do.  And, I must admit, some of the parallels between my work and that of a priest are striking.

The most common of the duties of a psychologist is helping someone work through how they came to their state of distress and then helping that person find some degree of serenity.  Often that work leads to a belief that suffering is connected to wrong doing or a weakness.  Thus, some people ultimately hope to find forgiveness or absolution in their therapy.  While generally I try to help people find their own self-forgiveness,  I have recommended that some perform an act for the purpose of reconciliation and even employ the expression of positive affirmations.  This effectively transforms my office into a psychotherapeutic confessional.  To be certain the similarity ends here.   Where a priest can accomplish a similar function in one session, it often takes me much, much longer.

In these days of third-party payment, one of the classic duties of a psychologist has been waning but there are still some who are willing to pay out-of-pocket for this service -- making meaning out of life and its various experiences.  People come to therapy seeking guidance for getting perspective on their life and perhaps how it relates to something bigger.  Again, while I may be sought out as some sort of guru, I guide people in developing their own meaning and their own sense of connection to life.  I feel this function has some similarity to what a priest might try to accomplish through a sermon or pastoral work.

Finally, like a priest, I have a responsibility to care for people and not judge and/or abandon them.  Indeed, although possibly misguided, I feel it is my responsibility to care for as many souls as I can.  Currently, in my work at a state hospital, I have come to work with some of the most challenging people in my career.  Many of these people have histories where they have burned all their bridges to family and community and are now very alone and very distrustful of help.  And despite our ideals and the general battle against prejudice, they remain pariahs.  Evidence of this was in Monday's Buffalo News.  Its front page featured an article on plans to make the old Richardson Complex into a financial profit center.  There was no mention of the over 240 people currently residing on those grounds and the various mental health service buildings on those same grounds.   Nothing on their fate if said plans were to be realized.  This appears to me to betray society's true feelings -- that the mentally ill are a burden on society's progress and, as long as everyone is willing to be complicit, we are justified in pushing them away from the parkland and facility that was meant for their healing and into less trafficked areas of our community.  Social lepers, they live in a colony at the mercy of their unwilling host.  Like a missionary, I work with them, trying to help them find something of a satisfying life and, if not acceptance, then at least humane treatment.

It is my specific charge to be a caretaker of souls.  And while prejudice and stigma remain for those with mental health problems, I will have a job.  Often I like to imagine a world that did not need psychologists.  But I think that can only occur when all people believe that taking care of souls is part of their job too.