Health professionals who diagnose physical ailments help us recover from disease in important ways. Health professionals who diagnose people needing psychiatric help often make a huge difference to their lives. Health professionals who diagnose emotional difficulties and apply psychologically based labels are in a much less certain arena. If I address ‘mind’ I am addressing connections which are woven tightly together. A diagnosis which has its foundation in the separation of mind, body, spirit and emotions assumes disintegration has occurred. How can there be disintegration when there is no separation? How can I make a diagnosis which addresses emotional forces within one person when those emotions are intricately bound to the emotions of another and to a spirit world woven into the world we call reality? Personal pain, described as emotional pain or trauma by European-based theorists, is not confined to the present moment and may exist on a timeline reaching deep into a timeless continuum. Associated events, relationships and formative intrusions may have happened to an historical figure in a cultural setting whose influence affects ‘the client’ in ways that remain in the shadows of anonymity. How can I form a diagnosis of human pain which sets it within a specific time frame or views it as existing only within the lifetime of one person? That which gives rise to personal pain or inhibition may not have a defined beginning. The idea that causes exist as separate entities is questionable within the context of life surrounded by constant ebb and flow. A diagnosis which postulates causes is likely to ignore the complexity of one life being a woven tapestry. To ask when pain began or when dis-ease was first formed is to ignore the interconnections scientists are examining and to reject the idea that there is a powerful collective unconscious.
