Theme 3: dynamics of human psychology

This chapter introduces the third theme of the Atlas, the dynamics of human psychology. There is no defined field of study called complex psychology. There are only somewhat different areas of research that could be connected - although, there is the whisper of a theoretical framework, namely dynamical systems theory. This lack of explicit awareness and synthesis puts the study of psychological complexity at a disadvantage because most psychologists and complexity scientists draw on only parts of the field. Our tour seeks to remedy this problem by taking readers on a journey through this research and synthesizing them into a working complex psychology. We begin in this chapter with a quick history and review of the major topics: Human Psychology as Dynamical System (Ch 13), Psychopathology of Mental Disorders (Ch 14), Healing and the Therapeutic Process (Ch 15), Mindfulness, Imagination and Creativity (Ch 16).