The word "psychology" is the combination of two terms - study (ology) and soul (psyche), or mind. The derivation of the word from Latin gives it this clear and obvious meaning:

The study of the soul or mind.

This meaning has been altered over the years until today, this is not what the word means at all. The subject of psychology, as studied in colleges and universities, currently has very little to do with the mind, and absolutely nothing to do with the soul or spirit.

It is important to understand that words and ideas are supposed to refer to something. "The large tree in the front yard" refers to an actual thing that can be seen, touched and experienced. "The man walking his little dog last night at sunset" refers to an actual event that can be seen, observed and experienced. The realm of mind is an actual realm that can be experienced, and at one time there were words that accurately referred to this realm.

Let's see what a few dictionaries have to say and how a word could alter and lose its true and actual meaning.

"Psyche" is defined as:

1. The spirit or soul.
2. The human mind.
3. In psychoanalysis, the mind functioning as the center of thought, emotion, and behavior.

And defining "soul", we have:

1. the spiritual or immortal elements in a person.
2. a person's mental or moral or emotional nature.

Most of us would agree we have a "psyche" per the above definitions in the sense of mind, thought, and emotions. Most would also agree they have a "soul" per the second definition above relating to man's mental, moral or emotional nature. We might all have different notions about what these ultimately are, but few could sanely disagree they exist.

The derivation of "psyche" comes from Latin and the Greek psukhe - breath, life, soul. To get a better "feel" for this term try to think of it as the invisible animating principle or entity that occupies, interacts with and directs the physical body.

We are not dealing with opinions or beliefs here. This is simply what the words and terms mean. Get clear on this first and understand what the words and terms mean, before you start getting into the opinions of others on the subject. If you choose to decide the "mind" refers to nothing real after understanding what the words and definitions mean, despite the fact that almost 10,000 years of thinking men have seriously and carefully looked into this subject, and after no real investigation on your own part, then that's your decision. Also, realize you will be basing this decision on "thinking" and "reason", both of which are only subsidiary to and part of any one mind, and neglecting to use a greater aspect of your mind - your personal awareness and direct observation. Basing a decision on what other people say about a mind involves only concepts and ideas about a mind. Observation involves experiencing the mind itself - your own mind. When it comes to minds there is only one mind any of us can directly observe or experience and that mind is our own. If you want to learn about minds, the only place to start is with your own. You cannot directly observe or experience the mind of another person, at least not without some extrasensory ability such as telepathy.

What is the Mind?

Originally, and for thousands of years, the subject of psychology involved the study of the human spirit, soul or mind. This involves things and functions not obviously visible to the physical senses. You can't see a mind with one's eyes. You can't "feel" a thought with one's hands. You can't place an emotion on a scale and weigh it. You can't detect imagination, even with sophisticated electronic detection devices. Just because some scientist's electronic device measures various electronic pulses or signals when you are asked to imagine something does not at all mean that they are "measuring imagination". What they are measuring is some brain reaction that occurs when you initiate an act of imagination. There is a relationship between the mind and the brain, but this relationship is almost completely unknown and not understood. The same is true for any chemical reactions or events that occur concurrent with imagination, thoughts or feelings. There is some relationship, but it is poorly understood. In fact, the entire framework of the relationship is poorly conceived. Modern "scientific" fields, since they haven't been able to study or detect these things with the physical senses or laboratory measuring devices have taken a drastic leap and declared that these things therefore don't exist. They have therefore asserted that these things don't deserve recognition, and should be ignored in any "legitimate" study of man, the mind, and human behavior. John Watson, a typical behavioral psychologist had this to say:

The extent to which most of us are shot through with a savage background is almost unbelievable.... One example of such a religious concept is that every individual has a soul which is separate and distinct from the body.... No one has ever touched a soul, or seen one in a test tube, or has in any way come into relationship with it as he has with the other objects of his daily experience ....

The behaviorist asks: Why don't we make what we can observe the real field of psychology? Let us limit ourselves to things that can be observed, and formulate laws concerning only those things. Now what can we observe? We can observe behavior - what the organism does or says. And let us point out at once: that saying is doing - that is, behaving. . . - John Watson, behaviorist

There is constant activity within each of our "invisible worlds". We are each in some way constantly analyzing problems, entertaining thoughts of tomorrow's occurrences, recalling yesterday's failures, wallowing in the sadness of a loss, concentrating on the creation of a musical composition, or day-dreaming. There are ever changing feelings and emotions about everything we experience, and an endless parade of judgments and commentary about what we see. Actually, for many of us, we have too much mind. It goes on and on and never seems to stop. It is a constant source of images, memories and ideas intruding themselves upon our awareness. Most of us can't control any of this and simply accept as inevitable this continual parade of images and ideas appearing across the landscape of our mind.

In a very real manner all problems with any mind, such as things psychiatry calls "depression", "anxiety", "compulsive disorder", "Attention Deficit Disorder" (ADD or ADHD), and even "suicidal ideation", are ultimately and solely uncontrollable aspects of one's own mind that intrude upon the person's awareness. It's not that these things don't exist in some way, but they don't exist in the way psychiatry understands and claims to solve them. A better way to handle these problems would be to assist the person to increase control over the content of their own mind. There are many ways to do this, although they have never been all pulled together, adequately investigated, codified and organized into a straight-forward workable compilation of methods. Modern "science" has simply discarded the notion of the mind, and from that point on, never bothered to investigate it closely with the aim to understand, solve or improve it.

First, this invisible world is totally real. It is not imaginary or a hallucination. My invisible world isn't directly real to you, and your invisible world isn't directly real to me, but they are each real nonetheless. The person who wants to argue this fact is simply a fool, dull, unable to comfortably observe his own mind (because it is possibly filled with degraded and nasty things), and probably addicted to the objects of physical sensation and perception to the exclusion of anything else (a modern materialist).

Second, this "invisible" world of mind involves many different aspects, functions and potentials. Imagination, attention, intellect, awareness, intention, reason, will, responsibility, memory, and many other things exist in each of us. They are a vital and important part of us. Some people might venture to say some of these things ARE us. There is much to each of these areas and a short essay cannot begin to even scratch the surface of their nature, functioning, possible development and capabilities. But they definitely do exist and deserve recognition and attention. Any subject calling itself "psychology" would have to address these things in detail. The failure of modern psychology and psychiatry to do so is glaringly apparent. These subjects now only address behavior, physiology, genetics and biochemistry, and the mind is of no real concern. That is a very sad comment on the current state of "modern psychology".

Question: What is a ghost?

Answer: A ghost - or spirit or apparition - is the energy, soul or personality of a person who has died and has somehow gotten stuck between this plane of existence and the next. Most researchers believe that these spirits do not know they are dead. Very often they have died under traumatic, unusual or highly emotional circumstances. Ghosts can be perceived by the living in a number of ways: through sight (apparitions), sound (voices), smell (frangrances and odors), touch - and sometimes they can just be sensed.

Question: What is a haunting?

Answer: A haunting is a kind of "recording" of a past event on an environment, such as a house, building or a battlefield. These recordings play back, over and over in a kind of loop - always the same, like a film or video. It is thought that the presence of certain people can trigger these recordings to play back. They are not ghosts capable of interacting with the living. It is not known how these recordings are made, but they are often associated with a traumatic or strongly emotional event.

Question: What is a poltergeist?

Answer: "Poltergeist" is a German word meaning "noisy spirit." Current research indicates, however, that poltergeist activity may have nothing to do with ghosts or spirits. Since the activity seems to center around an individual, it is believed that it is caused by the subconscious mind of that individual. It is, in effect, psychokinetic activity. The individual is often under emotional, psychological or physical stress (even going through puberty). Effects can include rappings on walls and floors, the physical movement of objects, effects on lights and other electric appliances - even the manifestation of physical phenomena.

Question: What is EVP (electronic voice phenomena)

Answer: EVP - or electronic voice phenomena - is a mysterious event in which human-sounding voices from an unknown source are heard on recording tape, in radio station noise and other electronic media. Most often, EVPs have been captured on audiotape. The mysterious voices are not heard at the time of recording; it is only when the tape is played back that the voices are heard. Sometimes amplification and noise filtering is required to hear the voices. Some EVP is more easily heard and understood than others. And they vary in gender (men and women), age (women and children), tone and emotion. They usually speak in single-words, phrases and short sentences. Sometimes they are just grunts, groans, growling and other vocal noises. EVP has been recorded speaking in various languages.

Definition

You may be hooked emotionally and psychologically. You may have a physical dependence, too. If you have a drug addiction, you have intense cravings for the drug. You want to use it again and again. When you stop taking it, you may have unpleasant physical reactions.

While not everyone who uses drugs becomes addicted, many people do. Drug addiction involves compulsively seeking to use a substance, regardless of the potentially negative social, psychological and physical consequences. Certain drugs are more likely to cause physical dependence than are others.

Breaking a drug addiction is difficult, but not impossible. Support from your doctor, family, friends and others who have a drug addiction, as well as inpatient or outpatient drug addiction treatment, may help you beat your drug dependence.

Drug addiction

Symptoms

General signs and symptoms
Addiction to any drug may include these general characteristics:

• Feeling that you need the drug regularly and, in some cases, many times a day
• Making certain that you maintain a supply of the drug
• Failing repeatedly in your attempts to stop using the drug
• Doing things to obtain the drug that you normally wouldn't do, such as stealing
• Feeling that you need the drug to deal with your problems
• Driving or doing other activities that place you and others at risk of physical harm when you're under the influence of the drug

The particular signs and symptoms of drug use and dependence vary depending on the type of drug.

Cannabis compounds: Signs and symptoms
Cannabis compounds are found in marijuana and hashish. Signs and symptoms of use and dependence on these drugs include:

• A heightened sense of visual, auditory and taste perception
• Poor memory
• Increased blood pressure and heart rate
• Red eyes
• Decreased coordination
• Difficulty concentrating
• Increased appetite
• Slowed reaction time
• Paranoid thinking

Central nervous system depressants: Signs and symptoms
Barbiturates and benzodiazepines are examples of central nervous system depressants. Phenobarbital, amobarbital (Amytal) and secobarbital (Seconal) are examples of barbiturates. Benzodiazepines include tranquilizers such as diazepam (Valium), alprazolam (Xanax), oxazepam (Serax), lorazepam (Ativan), clonazepam (Klonopin) and chlordiazepoxide (Librium).

Signs and symptoms of use and dependence on these drugs include:

• Drowsiness
• Slurred speech
• Lack of coordination
• Memory impairment
• Confusion
• Slowed breathing and decreased blood pressure
• Dizziness
• Depression

Central nervous system stimulants: Signs and symptoms
This class of drugs includes amphetamines, methamphetamine, cocaine and methylphenidate (Ritalin). Signs and symptoms of use and dependence on these drugs include:

• Euphoria
• Decreased appetite
• Rapid speech
• Irritability
• Restlessness
• Depression as the drug wears off
• Nasal congestion and damage to the mucous membrane of the nose in users who snort drugs
• Insomnia
• Weight loss
• Increased heart rate, blood pressure and temperature
• Paranoia

Designer drugs: Signs and symptoms
Synthetic compounds, such as Ecstasy, which has both amphetamine-like and hallucinogenic effects, are included in this category.

Signs and symptoms of using designer drugs vary depending on the drug. You might be able to tell that a family member or a friend is using or abusing a drug based on the physical and behavioral signs and symptoms associated with the drug.

For example, Ecstasy produces a mild hallucinogenic effect and a feeling of euphoria. It also causes an increased heart rate, overheating, high blood pressure, kidney and liver toxicity, and memory problems.

Hallucinogens: Signs and symptoms
Use of hallucinogens produces different signs and symptoms depending on the drug. The most common hallucinogens are LSD, phencyclidine (PCP) and ketamine (special K), a so-called "club drug."

Signs and symptoms of LSD use include:

• Hallucinations
• Greatly impaired perception of reality, for example, interpreting input from one of your senses as another, such as hearing colors
• Permanent mental changes in perception
• Rapid heart rate
• High blood pressure
• Tremors
• Flashbacks, a re-experience of the hallucinations — even years later

Signs and symptoms of PCP use include:

• Hallucinations
• Euphoria
• Delusions
• Panic
• Loss of appetite
• Depression
• Aggressive, possibly violent behavior

Signs and symptoms of ketamine use include:

• Increased heart rate
• Nausea and vomiting
• Numbness
• Impaired motor function
• Loss of memory

Inhalants: Signs and symptoms
The signs and symptoms of inhalant use vary depending on what substance is inhaled. Some commonly inhaled substances include glue, paint thinners, correction fluid, felt tip marker fluid, gasoline, cleaning fluids and household aerosol products.

When inhaled, these products can cause brief intoxication and a decreased feeling of inhibition. Long-term use may cause seizures and damage to the brain, liver and kidneys. Inhalant use can also cause death.

Opioids: Signs and symptoms
Opioids are narcotic, painkilling drugs produced naturally from opium or made synthetically. This class of drugs includes heroin, morphine, codeine, methadone and oxycodone (OxyContin).

Signs and symptoms of use and dependence on these drugs include:

• Reduced sense of pain
• Sedation
• Depression
• Confusion
• Constipation
• Slowed breathing
• Needle marks (if injecting drugs)