Frank A. Gerbode, M.D.
  and the Genesis
  of Metapsychology

The Background of Metapsychology

"I may use the name metapsychology for any psychology that leads behind consciousness," wrote Sigmund Freud nearly a century ago. In his system of psychoanalysis, Freud had incorporated the concept of abreaction, or "the talking cure", from his own mentor Josef Breuer. It was based on a recalling or re-experiencing of those stressful or disturbing situations or events which precipitated a neurosis. Freud noted that the key to a recent disturbance lay in an earlier, similar trauma - sometimes an entire "chain" of traumatic incidents. This is the foundation for the theory and procedures developed by Frank A. Gerbode, M.D., which are part of the subject of metapsychology.

About Frank A. Gerbode, M.D.

Portrait of Frank Gerbode, M.D. Dr. Gerbode is an Honors graduate of Stanford University who later pursued graduate studies in philosophy at Cambridge University in England. He received his medical degree from Yale University, and completed a psychiatric residency at Stanford University Medical Center in the early 1970s. Gerbode is the author of numerous papers and articles, which have been published in the Journal of Neurochemistry, the International Journal of Neuropharmacology, the Journal of Rational Emotive and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, IRM Newsletter and elsewhere. He teaches and lectures internationally, and is the author of Beyond Psychology: An Introduction to Metapsychology, published in 1988.

Early Influences in the Development of Metapsychology

In addition to Breuer and Freud, Gerbode credits Carl RogersĖ "client-centered" approach to therapy, and the gradient repetitive procedures of "desensitization" developed from the behavior therapy of Joseph Wolpe, as instrumental in his formulation of metapsychological procedures. Various alternative techniques, including Gestalt Therapy, Cognitive Therapy, Dianetic Therapy, and Rational Emotive Therapy contributed materially to the subject of metapsychology.

Dr. Gerbode was also strongly influenced by the ideas of the Hungarian psychiatrist Thomas Szasz, who objected to the labeling of people as "mentally ill" simply because they were undergoing cognitive or emotional disturbances. For this same reason, metapsychology rejects the traditional forms of diagnosis and the "healer/patient" medical model, choosing to call its procedures viewing rather than "therapy". In addition to removing any stigma from the practice of viewing, this nonevaluative, non-judgmental approach to mental exploration returns appropriate dignity to the one who is doing the real work- the viewer.

In 1986, Dr. Gerbode founded the Institute for Research in Metapsychology and the Center for Applied Metapsychology in Palo Alto, California. Subsequently, Centers have been opened throughout the United States, Europe, and Australia by those trained in the technical procedures of metapsychology.

How to contact Gerbode

He can be reached by email to frank@metapsy.org

737 Addison St
Palo Alto, CA 94301
USA

Work: 415-327-0921
Fax: 415-568-0709