Psychohistory

Psychohistory is a transdisciplinary field of knowledge that represents an amalgam of psychology, history, psychoanalysis, political psychology, anthropology, ethnology, and related social sciences, art, and humanities. Psychohistorians examine the "why's" of history, utilizing the bottom-up approach rather than starting with psychological theories. They combine the insights of psychodynamic psychology, especially psychoanalysis, with the research methodology of the social sciences and humanities, to understand the emotional origin of the behavior of individuals, groups and nations, past and present. Psychohistorians are interested in examining one's childhood, personality, family dynamics, as well as dreams, overcoming adversity, creativity, group and political affiliations. No single consensus definition exists within the field. Jacques Szaluta describes it as "the application of psychology, in its broadest sense, or psychoanalysis in a specific sense, to the study of the past." Henry Lawton characterizes it as "the interdisciplinary study of why man has acted as he has in history, prominently utilizing psychoanalytic principles," and notes that the field "is essentially interpretive" rather than narrative. Peter Loewenberg describes it as combining "historical analysis with social science models, humanistic sensibility, and psychodynamic theory and clinical insights to create a fuller, more rounded view of life in the past." Bruce Mazlish defines it as "the application of psychoanalytic concepts and theories to historical data and the re-examination of the psychoanalytic concepts and data in the light of historical methods." Scholars differ on whether psychohistory constitutes a distinct academic discipline or an interpretive method within conventional historical research. In his book, "The Making of Psychohistory: Origins, Controversies, and Pioneering Contributors," Paul Elovitz, a "big tent" psychohistorian and "an Eriksonian participant-observer and scholar of this valuable movement" provided his assessment of the field of psychohistory through the lens of his experiences since the late 1960's. He stated that "Thoughtful people do psychohistory whether or not...