Psychagogy

Within the ancient Greek tradition, psychagogy was considered the evocation of a soul from the nether world Hades. But later, its use was (metaphorically) extended to the art of benevolently guiding the soul (one's own or someone else's). While the former was based on conviction and persuasion (e.g. Clement of Alexandria), the latter involved rhetoric (Plato).

It is thought that the idea of psychagogy was taken up by the Apostle Paul of Tarsus and early Christian thinkers (e.g.Clement of Alexandria). However, psychagogy in Early Christianity took on a flavor of its own, differing slightly from the form of psychagogy that was familiar to the ancient Greeks. In the early Christian sense, however, a positive psychagogy of one's own soul was a character treat which each Christian was encouraged to possess. Paul wrote letters to new members of the Christian faith, often encouraging them toward virtue and to become mature and complete.

Psychagogy maintained its association with ethical and moral self-improvement, and during the 1920s psychagogic methods were assimilated into the work of hypnosis, psychoanalysis, and psychotherapy. The International Institute for Psychagogy and Psychotherapy was founded in 1924 by Charles Baudouin, a Swiss psychoanalyst. In turn, psychagogy was influenced by other psychological fields such as social psychology, developmental psychology, and depth psychology. Due to the additional effect of special education and social work on the field during the 1950s and 1960s, psychagogy and its practitioners found their way to the specialized role of working with emotionally disturbed adolescents. In 1955, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) was developed by Albert Ellis, an American psychologist. Heavily influenced by psychagogic methods, REBT is an evidence-based psychotherapy that promotes goal achievement and well-being by first resolving negative emotions and behaviors.[3] The term psychagogy fell out of use during the 1970s and 1980s.[1]

Although the term itself is no longer common, psychagogy's influence on modern-day psychology can be seen mostly within the context of pastoral counseling [2] and cognitive behavioral therapy. Similar to psychagogues, pastoral counselors and practitioners of CBT exhibit the same kind of care, gentleness, and encouragement in the interest of helping their patients to alter maladaptive thoughts and behaviors (or in other words, changing negative patterns of thinking and behaving to more positive ways of thinking and behaving in response to a given stimulus).