Ecopsychology is a branch of psychology that posits that health and wholeness require a balanced relationship with the ecological web we are embedded within.
Me and We:
One key shift of ecopsychology is the realization that we are both comprised of and part of an open, dynamic system. Psychiatrist Dr. Dan Siegel defines mind as an “embodied and relational process that regulates energy and information flow.” Rather than being a product of simply the brain’s activity, the mind emerges from the brain (which includes the nervous system distributed through the whole body) and also the communication patterns that occur within relationships. Science in the field of interpersonal neurobiology now supports that the mind arises from beyond the functioning of an isolated nervous system.
“The mind, beyond subjective experience and beyond conscious and non-conscious information processing, can be seen as a self-organizing, emergent process of a complex system. And that system is both within us and between us and others.” - Dan Siegel
A complex system is characterized by these three features: it is non-linear (small inputs lead to large and unpredictable results), it is open (influenced by things from outside of “itself”), and it is chaos-capable (meaning it can function in erratic, unpredictable ways at times).
Complexity theory also tells us that complex systems have emergent properties, new processes that arise from the systems’s elements that are more than the sum of it’s parts. For example, when each of a human’s organs are put together into the biological system, the human body has qualities and intelligence that is greater than just the capacities of each organ added together.
One of the emergent qualities of dynamic systems is that they are self-organizing, meaning that the system can regulate itself in a way that is harmonious, balanced, and developing towards greater levels of complexity.
Science shows us that the mind is embodied (in the brain/nervous system and cells) and relational (created through all our interactions).Thus, the self is also embodied and relational— it goes far beyond our own skin.
The Ecological Self:
It’s not just the mind that is an open, dynamic system, but it turns out the whole web of life the we participate within operates by the principles of open, dynamic systems. Our families and community, our social systems, and the ecological systems we are part of are all operating as deeply interconnected systems, nested within each other.
From here, we can understand the “ecological self,” an expanded sense of self that transcends the limits of the ego and encompasses greater and greater wholes. This identification involves a heightened sense of empathy and an expansion of our concern with non-human life and recognizes the intrinsic value and intelligence of all beings.
Through development towards the ecological self, we not only come to cognitively recognize our connection to all of life, but we come to feel our inherent belonging and compassion with all beings in our minds, bodies, and hearts.
The Ecological Unconscious:
Carl Jung told us, “Just as the body has its evolutionary history and shows clear traces of the various evolutionary stages, so does the psyche” (Roszak, 302). The collective unconscious, in Jungian psychology, is a reservoir for images from the ancestral past that are predispositions or potentialities for experiencing and responding to the world according to those images.
Ecopsychology posits that the collective unconscious at its deepest levels contains what is called theecological unconscious — the basic patterns and knowledge gathered from our own 14.7 billion year evolutionary path deeply interconnected with the earth, from molecules among star-dust, to single celled organisms, to homo sapiens walking the earth today. This ecological unconscious is accessible to us right now, if we learn to listen.
If we are born with the voice of the Earth sitting just below the surface of our waking consciousness, then turning a deaf ear or neglecting this voice would lead to a painful repression. In psychology, neurosis of this kind prevents psychological wellbeing. Reuniting with this aspect of our being leads to greater access to deep wells of energy and greater capacity for integration, and thereby, health.
As the ecological unconscious is regenerated, the individual finds a new sense of enchantment and wonder in the world. The ego transforms into an ecological ego, which has a sense of ethical responsibility to the planet and other people and weaves that responsibility into the the fabric of social relations and political decisions.
What’s amazing is that this integration on the level of the individual leads not only to improved personal health also to greater social harmony and ecologically responsible decisions as the individual develops compassion with other beings. Thus, personal transformation becomes a revolutionary act of social and environmental activism.
Shamanism and Ecopsychology
The original peoples from around the world considered health only accessible through balanced relationship with all beings and nature. I’m not advocating to “return to old ways,” as we live in different times and a very different world than our ancestors. However, there are lessons in these original cultures that can inform our modern day lives and guide us to generate new ways of living, that include our utilizing the technology available to us to leverage our work as well as drawing from and being responsible to our ecological surroundings.
The traditional cultures offer a holistic approach to health, healing, and living in balance grounded in loving kindness and presence. The most basic practice is respect and kindness to all living beings, human and non-human. Moreover, nature-based cultures also valued the connection with the archetypal realm, or “spirit-world,” the unseen dimensions of life that we can engage through imagination or dreamtime explorations. Through these explorations, many have found deep healing and connection to their own inner wisdom.
Some traditions utilize plant medicines such as ibogaine, ayahuasca, peyote, or psyilocibyn mushrooms to induce or accelerate healing processes, generate community coherence, or to connect with their own spiritual source. I have had the opportunity to work and study with curanderos in Amazonian Peru to learn about the healing potentials of ayahuasca and other jungle plants. During this study, I have experienced profound healing first hand and witnessed people cured of cancer, numerous physical ailments, addiction, eating disorders, depression, and the like.
I believe the perspectives and processes of the nature-based traditions can be folded into the western psychotherapeutic model for more effective and complete healing. Today we see the rise of ecotherapy, which integrates nature-based practices into counseling psychology to work with trauma through reconnection with the Earth alongside other modalities. Further, centers exist around the globe that utilize plant medicines alongside Western psychotherapy to heal addiction and PTSD with success rates far beyond mainstream contemporary modalities. Studies performed outside the United States in recent years have provided evidence to support the effectiveness of plant medicines for treating addiction, depression, and PTSD, and organizations such as MAPS and CPTR at CIIS are spearheading research and training in the medicinal use of entheogenic medicines.
One effect of plant-medicines includes an increase in ecological intelligence — a systemic intuition and empathy with other beings. With proper support and in combination with an ecotherapeutic process, plant medicines heal pathology, expand one’s worldview, support resilience, and develop a new sense of participation in the web of life.
Applied Ecopsychology
The brain, the immune system, our tissues, and every cell of our being is part of a living intelligent system. Just like the human body, our communities and the ecological system we are apart of also act as one body. With this, evolution is no longer a struggle, but a cooperative dance, in which creativity is the driving force. If we remember back far enough, we all derive from a common family.
The major problems of our time including energy, poverty, climate change, education, equity, are interconnected and interdependent. The underlying dilemma is that unlimited growth (linear thinking) clashes with the reality of how the dynamics of ecological systems work (requiring systemic thinking).
Ecopsychology offers a lens through which we may view the human psyche as an interconnected and interdependent relationship to all beings, human and otherwise, and all of nature. The field of ecopsychology is becoming more prominent in the face of our current realities — climate change, social inequality, economic crisis — and we begin to examine our behavior and perspectives in the context of our relationship with the environment.
Applied ecopsychology aims to heal our relationship with the natural world. Through reconnecting with the earth through the body, we find innate belonging, meaning, and soulful connection. Further, we discover new wells of vitality, creativity, and grounding in a fast-paced world.