The Original Buddhist Psychology by Beth Jacobs Ph.D

Author:Beth Jacobs, Ph.D.
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781623171315
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Published: 2017-04-21T04:00:00+00:00

Diagnostic Usefulness

The Abhidharma lists of unwholesome qualities may lack the economy and descriptive utility of the DSM. While they can feel unwieldy, this is in part because of the essential humanness and flexibility required to provide us all with a diagnosis in action. The subtleties can be felt. There is a difference in how speculative doubt feels as a hindrance than when it seems to be a defilement. As a hindrance it can make you wonder what you’re doing, and as a defilement it can seem that there is a cloud over every move you make. Like all the Causes of Suffering, it is a state that appears at different times and in different forms. If you don’t consider the power of speculative doubt, you might never notice its absence, how lit up the world seems when you can step back from arranging and capturing it.

The DSM makes the critical mistake of thinking some people have no diagnosis. There is also no description of the opposite of a symptom, a quality of seeking health. In Buddhist thought, we all suffer, and knowing the manner and material of suffering at any given moment is our best tool. There is also a prescription manual once the diagnosis is clear.

The evaluations in the Abhidharma are black and white in some ways, and subtle as shading in others. They are the results of a prescriptive grammar, the kind of personal and yet essentially human tool that is at the heart of Buddhist teaching.

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