Reply To: Orthodox Jews and Psychology

1) I can easily prove the cause of an illness. Take a group of people with depression. Randomly divide them into two groups. Give on group a treatment and the other a placebo. If the experimental group shows more improvement, we can confidently say that the treatment had a direct effect on the illness. If the treatment is something physical (and not spiritual), we can say that the illness is physical in nature.

Of course, this wouldn’t tell you what about the treatment helped, but that the illness is physical.

2) You are right, I should have been more precise. Clinical psychology is about helping people with mental illnesses, just like an oncologist would help someone with cancer, or an accountant would help someone with their taxes. There is no heresy in a clinical psychology. It’s all about a professional in a specific field helping people who suffer from mental illnesses.