From 1954 to 1964, a study followed 51 monks who went under psychoanalysis. The result? 2/3 of them left the monastery:
Of the original 60 monks taking part in this experiment, only 20 are still monks; and of the 40 who have left the monastery it is reported that “there are some who realized that they were really called to married life” (Lemercier, 1965).
As a response, the Pope banned psychoanalysis for priests and monks:
The Papal Court answered this “threat” the following decree: “You will not maintain in public or in private psychoanalytical theory or practice, under threat of suspension as a priest, and you are rigorously forbidden under threat of destitution to suggest to candidates for the monastery that they should undergo psychoanalysis” (Singleton, 1967).
Good ol’ Catholic Church, banning something that helps their psychotic clergy from dealing with their sexual repression.
(via)
I will forget for a moment that I doubt about the psychoanalysis’s scientific basis, and enjoy it:
“(2) There was a significantly higher incidence of both organic psychoses and sexual deviation in this sample.”[clergy vs. habitual patients]
Psychoanalysis as a scientific discipline is clear BS (a perfect example of a successful pseudoscience), but it makes you think and question things and this is what scares the Pope and his dogmatic minions.
Just because something is not a science doesn’t mean it’s useless :) Just an aside. Psychotherapy has been extremely helpful for me. But I think a lot depends on the therapist.
Robotic.
I don’t think that questioning is what scares the Church. More likely to be the simple fact that 40 prisests left. So, this “pseudoscience” obviuosly somehow worked pretty good with priestst :/
Yeah I’ve never been impressed with psychoanalysis either. However, I like that it made these monks quit! :)
I was very impressed with psychoanalysis when I was a teenager. Until I realized that what I considered it most valuable quality, the fact that it explains EVERYTHING, was, in fact, the proof that it was worthless… (The parallelism with religion (and the God hypothesis, that explains everything) is, here, quite obvious…)
Does naturalism explain everything?
I don’t know!
It’s strange… an explanation that explains everything is often wrong, yet the real explanation will explain everything.
Great assertions need great proofs!
well, it made the monks stop and think about their lives for a bit, with someone real actually listening to them, which is probably the main benefit of the process.
It’s ironic then isn’t it? Because the one possibly useful service that they provide to their parishioners, listening, is the thing they are denied. That’s just messed up. Anyone who is forced to listen to many peoples gripes and failings all day would be in desperate need of a shrink.
Well, we can’t either forget that someone thought those clergyman needed psychological aid. So, they aren’t a very representative sample.
And of course, they weren’t true christians.
Good ol’ Catholic Church, banning something that helps their psychotic clergy from dealing with their sexual repression.
Daniel, I agree with you about the latter statement — the sexual repression is a problem.
But ‘psychotic clergy’? Come on…. that’s an enormous generalization and I think unfounded.
I didn’t say all their clergy were psychotic. I just said they banned something that helped the ones who are psychotic from dealing with their issues. :)
Okay, I guess I misread you then.
As an aside, good ideas about the inqdequcies of psychoanalysis here. It’s definitely not a fix-all methodology.
Anyone know if this has been re-visited since the ’60′s? I suspect not, but maybe.
Anyone watch this on PBS?
http://www.inquisitionproductions.com/
Secret Files of the Inquisition tells a story of epic proportions and powerful themes of Holy Wars and Crusades, of torture and terror, of the struggle for human rights and dignity. Based on previously unreleased secret documents from European Archives including the Vatican, Secret Files of the Inquisition unveils the incredible true story of the Catholic Church’s 500 year struggle to remain the world’s only true Christian religion. For over half a millennium a system of mass terror reigned. Thousands were subject to secret courts, torture and punishment.
Filmed in High Definition, this production spans medieval France in Episode 1, 15th century Spain in Episode 2, Renaissance Italy in Episode 3 and mid-nineteenth century Europe in Episode 4.
The 4 x 60 mini-series reveals how the most powerful church on earth created the Inquisition to attack its enemies and preserve the unquestioned authority of the Pope. Historians, experts and Church authorities advise on the handling of this controversial subject matter.
Fascism at it’s finest. Notice the thought control.
Gag orders of some sort — attempts at control of people — not restricted to churches either:
You almost can’t find information about rBGH. Certainly you can’t tell which milk has it and which doesn’t from reading the package; it’s not allowed to be printed on there.
I think there was a gag order, or it’s being considered, to make it illegal to discuss food contamination — peoples might get all upset and not buy the food, and we can’t have the peoples troubling their little heads with that when we know better than they do what’s good for them. The food companies might lose business. Now that’s important. Much more so than people’s health.
Suppress free communication if it might harm government, church, or business.
Certainly you can’t tell which milk has it and which doesn’t from reading the package; it’s not allowed to be printed on there.
Really? Because down here in the south, the Publix chain actually *does* put that information on their store-brand milk. It’s the whole reason I buy it instead of organic milk – no hormones, but less expensive.
Reminds me of a study I read about in the newspaper many years ago. Quite a few priests, it seems, chose to become so because they felt it was more or less expected from them by their parents, particularly their mother. But I don’t have a reference to that particular survey.
interesting. the sexual repression part reminds of a quote. something like ‘that which you completely deny yourself, you are forever bound to’ I believe that’s why their sexuality gets corrupted into taking advantage of little boys. If you have everything in moderation you do not obsess on one particular thing. Because they deny themselves one of their most basic human desires, they inevitably bind themselves to their repression to the point of bastardization. I remember a story about monks wearing potatoe sacks as clothing so that they would itch and be uncomfortable all day long – for the honor and glory of god….I couldn’t understand how an all powerful god would care!