Ecotherapy for the Eco Soul

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There is an alternative: a stream of psychotherapy informed by an organic metaphor, a model that interprets psychotherapy in its original sense—tending to the soul, not fixing or changing it or reprogramming it, but paying attention to it. One thrilling branch of this smaller stream is the emerging field of ecopsychology. Ecopsychology places psyche in the context of the more-than-human world, meaning the complex, interconnected web of humans, animals, plants, rocks, oceans, and stars.

In the absence of soul and of connection we experience profound loneliness and emptiness. This emptiness in turn leads to cultural distress. This distress is transmitted through social and economic inequities, war, and other forms of violence, manifesting itself in a host of social and psychological disorders.

The most disturbing expression of this distress could be our accelerated war against the earth itself. This war’s most poignant symbol was the 1994 agreement in which the United States and the Russian Federation pledged to detarget one another’s cities and instead aim their nuclear-tipped intercontinental ballistic missiles at the fertile and biologically diverse Sargasso Sea.

It could be argued that our entire culture suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder, as evidenced by our distant and entitled relationship to the more-than-human world. Our economic system requires that this narcissistic wound continually be re-inflicted; we are bombarded by the message that we are not good enough and that if we buy this product or that experience we might become good enough. Of course, once we have the new car or dress or mate, we will still feel empty, further convincing us of our inadequacy and perpetuating the cycle.

Ecopsychology seeks to address the sources of our cultural madness and to reestablish the lost connection with the more-than-human world. Its intention is to reanimate the world, to restore its soul. To do this we must remember that we are not simply imperfect machines but beings in a world that is alive with mystery.

Ecopsychological therapy—instead of dwelling on the questions What do I need? and How can I get it?—asks What is my place in the world? Rather than deriving machinelike standards for optimal functioning, it asks: What human qualities does a healthy ecosystem require? Sustainability is a key concept, in the sense of both how we, as a species, can live sustainably on the earth, and how we, as individuals, can create sustainable lives and relationships.

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