Arthur J. Deikman
Encyclopedia
Arthur J. Deikman is a clinical professor of psychiatry
at the University of California, San Francisco
, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology
and Human Givens
. He is also a contributor to The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
.
as the son of a businessman and raised in Long Island
, Deikman studied physics
at Harvard University
. He then moved to mathematics
, and then to pre-med classes. He traces his choice of psychiatry to an encounter with a doctor who gave him a physical exam prior to his entry to Harvard Medical School
: "When I told him I liked Rilke and Yeats
, he told me I was going to be a psychiatrist. It gave me the most freedom. I could get research grants because anything could be considered part of the mind." On a two-month summer vacation which he spent camping alone in the Adirondacks, another experience occurred that was to determine the direction his life took: "I sat on a rock by a lake and tried to get closer to what I felt in music and poetry. After two weeks of that, colors became brighter. Something emanated from the sky and trees. I knew other people weren't experiencing it. This seemed very important."
Intrigued by this altered awareness, Deikman became a pioneering investigator of mystical states
in the 1950s and in the following decade created a humane form of psychotherapeutic treatment for patients suffering from psychosis
. He also became a student of zen
meditation
under Suzuki Roshi, of Sufism
under Idries Shah
, and explored the Human Potential Movement
with Esalen leaders George Leonard
and Michael Murphy
.
In the early 1970’s, Deikman famously identified the syndrome of "mystical psychosis
" to characterize first-person accounts of psychotic experiences that are strikingly similar to reports of mystical experiences. According to Deikman, psychotic experience need not be considered pathological, especially if consideration is given to the values and beliefs of the individual concerned. Deikman thought the mystical experience was brought about through a "deautomatization" or undoing of habitual psychological structures that organize, limit, select, and interpret perceptual stimuli, possible causes of such deautomatization including exposure to severe stress, substance abuse or withdrawal, and mood disorders.
Deikman took part in a one-year research seminar on new religious movements in order to gain a better understanding of the attraction these movements had exercised on many Americans in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1990, he wrote The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, which is used as part of the curriculum for the course "Cults and New Religious Movements" at St. Francis Xavier University
. It is a cited reference for the article "Self-Sealing Doctrines, the Misuse of Power, and Recovered Memory", by psychologist
Linda Riebel. It is a cited reference in the Encyclopedia of Psychology, and is quoted in the article on cult
s, where the article asserts that: "Certain types of political groups and terrorist organizations are still other examples of 'cults' that defy the common definition of the term." Deikman observed that "behavior similar to that which takes place in extreme cults takes place in all of us," and suggested that "the longing for parents persists into adulthood and results in cult behavior that pervades normal society."
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
at the University of California, San Francisco
University of California, San Francisco
The University of California, San Francisco is one of the world's leading centers of health sciences research, patient care, and education. UCSF's medical, pharmacy, dentistry, nursing, and graduate schools are among the top health science professional schools in the world...
, and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Journal of Humanistic Psychology
Journal of Humanistic Psychology is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of Psychology. The journal's editor is Kirk J. Schneider...
and Human Givens
Human Givens
Human Givens approach or Human Givens Psychotherapy is form of psychology and psychotherapy developed by Joe Griffin and Ivan Tyrrell introduced in their 2003 book Human Givens: A new approach to emotional health and clear thinking...
. He is also a contributor to The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease is a scholarly journal on psychopathology.Founded in 1874, it is the world's oldest independent scientific monthly in the field of human behavior. Articles cover theory, etiology, therapy, social impact of illness, and research methods.Editors:*1874-1881:...
.
Life and work
Born in New YorkNew York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
as the son of a businessman and raised in Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, Deikman studied physics
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
at Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
. He then moved to mathematics
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, and then to pre-med classes. He traces his choice of psychiatry to an encounter with a doctor who gave him a physical exam prior to his entry to Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School
Harvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
: "When I told him I liked Rilke and Yeats
Yeats
W. B. Yeats was an Irish poet and playwright.Yeats may also refer to:* Yeats ,* Yeats , an impact crater on Mercury* Yeats , an Irish thoroughbred racehorse-See also:...
, he told me I was going to be a psychiatrist. It gave me the most freedom. I could get research grants because anything could be considered part of the mind." On a two-month summer vacation which he spent camping alone in the Adirondacks, another experience occurred that was to determine the direction his life took: "I sat on a rock by a lake and tried to get closer to what I felt in music and poetry. After two weeks of that, colors became brighter. Something emanated from the sky and trees. I knew other people weren't experiencing it. This seemed very important."
Intrigued by this altered awareness, Deikman became a pioneering investigator of mystical states
Mysticism
Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...
in the 1950s and in the following decade created a humane form of psychotherapeutic treatment for patients suffering from psychosis
Psychosis
Psychosis means abnormal condition of the mind, and is a generic psychiatric term for a mental state often described as involving a "loss of contact with reality"...
. He also became a student of zen
Zen
Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
under Suzuki Roshi, of Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
under Idries Shah
Idries Shah
Idries Shah , also known as Idris Shah, né Sayed Idries el-Hashimi , was an author and teacher in the Sufi tradition who wrote over three dozen critically acclaimed books on topics ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies.Born in India, the descendant of a...
, and explored the Human Potential Movement
Human Potential Movement
The Human Potential Movement arose out of the social and intellectual milieu of the 1960s and formed around the concept of cultivating extraordinary potential that its advocates believed to lie largely untapped in all people...
with Esalen leaders George Leonard
George Leonard
George Leonard was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Norton, Massachusetts. Besides service on state court benches and in both houses of the state legislature, he represented Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives.-External links:*...
and Michael Murphy
Michael Murphy (author)
Michael Murphy is the co-founder of the Esalen Institute, a key figure in the Human Potential Movement and author of both fiction and non-fiction books on topics related to extraordinary human potential.- Biography :...
.
In the early 1970’s, Deikman famously identified the syndrome of "mystical psychosis
Mystical psychosis
Mystical psychosis is a term coined by Arthur J. Deikman in the early 1970’s to characterize first-person accounts of psychotic experiences that are strikingly similar to reports of mystical experiences...
" to characterize first-person accounts of psychotic experiences that are strikingly similar to reports of mystical experiences. According to Deikman, psychotic experience need not be considered pathological, especially if consideration is given to the values and beliefs of the individual concerned. Deikman thought the mystical experience was brought about through a "deautomatization" or undoing of habitual psychological structures that organize, limit, select, and interpret perceptual stimuli, possible causes of such deautomatization including exposure to severe stress, substance abuse or withdrawal, and mood disorders.
Deikman took part in a one-year research seminar on new religious movements in order to gain a better understanding of the attraction these movements had exercised on many Americans in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1990, he wrote The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, which is used as part of the curriculum for the course "Cults and New Religious Movements" at St. Francis Xavier University
St. Francis Xavier University
St. Francis Xavier University is a post-secondary institution located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. The school was founded in 1853, but did not offer degrees until 1868. The university has approximately 5000 students.-History:...
. It is a cited reference for the article "Self-Sealing Doctrines, the Misuse of Power, and Recovered Memory", by psychologist
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
Linda Riebel. It is a cited reference in the Encyclopedia of Psychology, and is quoted in the article on cult
Cult
The word cult in current popular usage usually refers to a group whose beliefs or practices are considered abnormal or bizarre. The word originally denoted a system of ritual practices...
s, where the article asserts that: "Certain types of political groups and terrorist organizations are still other examples of 'cults' that defy the common definition of the term." Deikman observed that "behavior similar to that which takes place in extreme cults takes place in all of us," and suggested that "the longing for parents persists into adulthood and results in cult behavior that pervades normal society."
Education
- Harvard CollegeHarvard CollegeHarvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
- Harvard Medical SchoolHarvard Medical SchoolHarvard Medical School is the graduate medical school of Harvard University. It is located in the Longwood Medical Area of the Mission Hill neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts....
- Board CertifiedAmerican Board of Psychiatry and NeurologyThe American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation that was founded in 1934 following conferences of committees appointed by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Neurological Association, and the then Section on Nervous and Mental Diseases of the American...
, PsychiatryPsychiatryPsychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, NeurologyNeurologyNeurology is a medical specialty dealing with disorders of the nervous system. Specifically, it deals with the diagnosis and treatment of all categories of disease involving the central, peripheral, and autonomic nervous systems, including their coverings, blood vessels, and all effector tissue,...
, American Board of Psychiatry and NeurologyAmerican Board of Psychiatry and NeurologyThe American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Inc. is a nonprofit corporation that was founded in 1934 following conferences of committees appointed by the American Psychiatric Association, the American Neurological Association, and the then Section on Nervous and Mental Diseases of the American...
Books
- Personal Freedom: On Finding Your Way to the Real World, 1976
- The Observing Self, 1983
- Evaluating Spiritual and Utopian Groups, 1988
- The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society, 1990
- Them and Us: Cult Thinking and the Terrorist Threat, 2003, excerpted
Articles
- Arthur Deikman on Mystic Experience, "Mystic Experience and Two Modes of Consciousness", adapted from the work of Arthur J. Deikman, M.D.
- Article, Journal of Consciousness StudiesJournal of Consciousness StudiesThe Journal of Consciousness Studies is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated entirely to the field of consciousness studies. It was previously edited by Joseph Goguen. It has been co-edited by the philosopher of mysticism, Robert K.C...
, 1996 - I = Awareness, Journal of Consciousness StudiesJournal of Consciousness StudiesThe Journal of Consciousness Studies is an interdisciplinary peer-reviewed academic journal dedicated entirely to the field of consciousness studies. It was previously edited by Joseph Goguen. It has been co-edited by the philosopher of mysticism, Robert K.C...
, 3 (4), pp. 350–6. - Spirituality Expands a Therapist's Horizons
- The Evaluation of Spiritual and Utopian Groups, Journal of Humanistic PsychologyJournal of Humanistic PsychologyJournal of Humanistic Psychology is a peer-reviewed academic journal that publishes papers in the field of Psychology. The journal's editor is Kirk J. Schneider...
, Vol. 23, No. 3, 8-18 (1983), Abstract - Treating Former Members of Cults
External links
- Dr. Arthur Deikman, author's personal website
- Interviewed at his home by DC on December 21, 1997, Crooked Cucumber
- The Human Givens Institute, "Exploring the Cult in Culture"
- Commentary on Deikman's Essays - "Deautomatization and the Mystic Experience", "Bimodal Consciousness and the Mystic Experience", Sandra Stahlman, 1992
- Demystifying cults: Psychiatrist analyzes why people join groups, Interview in the Marin Independent JournalMarin Independent JournalThe Marin Independent Journal is the main newspaper of Marin County, California. The paper is owned by California Newspapers Partnership which is in turn mostly owned by MediaNews Group.-History:...