André J. Carroll’s Reviews > Soul Keeping: Caring For the Most Important Part of You > Status Update

The word psychologist comes from the Greek word psyche, which actually means "soul." That ought to be what psychology is about, apart from what anyone thinks about religion. Sigmund Freud wrote that "Treatment of the psyche means ... treatment of the soul. One could also understand it to mean treatment of sickness when it occurs in the life of the soul."
But psychology has focused on the self, and self carries a totally different connotation than soul. To focus on my soul means to look at my life under the care and connection of God. To focus on myself apart from God means losing awareness of what matters most.
The Journal of the American Medical Association cited a study that indicates that in the twentieth century, people who lived in each generation were three times more likely to experience depression than folks in the generation before them. Despite the rise of the mental health profession, people are becoming increasingly vulnerable to depression. Why? Martin Seligman, a brilliant psychologist with no religious ax to grind, has a theory that it's because we have replaced church, faith, and community with a tiny little unit that cannot bear the weight of meaning. That's the self. We're all about the self. We revolve our lives around ourselves.
Ironically, the more obsessed we are with our selves, the more
we neglect our souls.
All of our language reflects this. If you're empty, you need to fulfill yourself. If you're stressed, learn how to take care of yourself.
If you're on a job interview, you have to believe in yourself. If you're at the tattoo parlor, you must learn to express yourself. If someone dares to criticize you, you have to love yourself. If you're not getting your own way, you have to stand up for yourself. What should you do on a date? You ought to be yourself.

“But what if your self is a train wreck? What do you do then?”