Psychopathology & HealingIn the Birthchart

Glenn Perry

What is a Mental Disorder?

• Clinically significant behavioral pattern– with painful symptoms (distress)

– with impairment in functioning (disability)

– inflexible (redundant, rigid, fixed)

• Not a discrete entity– overlaps with other disorders (like planets)

– health/pathology is a continuum of functionality/dysfunctionality

Why Diagnosis?

• Because categories exist– clusters of specific symptoms

• Provide common language– for practice and research

– for building bridges with psychotherapists

• Aversion to “typing”– people are not disorders or signs

– story as alternative metaphor

What Causes It?

• Primary vs. secondary causes – signs as needs & developmental stages

– early childhood experiences

• Based on frustration of basic needs– constitutes an avoidance strategy

– leads to overcompensation & instability

• Deficiency based– betrayal and constriction of the self

– conflict is basis of all pathology

Causes of Repression

• Psychological trauma– abuse (acute or chronic pain)

• Lack of support or modeling– neglect, abandonment

• Internalization of negative messages– denyal or repression of basic need

• Grim, unconscious, pathogenic belief– predict pain to self or other

Astro-Psychopathology

• Each sign/planet has its own pathology– distress & impairment

• Etiology of condition– correlates to actual experiences

– beware of psuedoexplanations and dormitive principles

• Aspect can be a pathogenic belief– repression and overcompensation

Psychopathology

Aries/Mars Antisocial Personality

Taurus/Venus Borderline Personality

Gemini/Mercury Learning Disorder

Cancer/Moon Histrionic Personality

Leo/Sun Narcissistic Personality

Virgo/Mercury Obsessive-Compulsive

Psychopathology

Libra/Venus Dependent Personality

Scorpio/Pluto Paranoid Personality

Sagittarius/Jupiter Manic Syndrome

Capricorn/Saturn Dysthymic Disorder

Aquarius/Uranus Schizoid Personality

Pisces/Neptune Schizophrenia

Using Horoscope in Diagnosis

• Listening for symptoms– where is distress and impairment?

• Checking for astrological correlations– translate content into process

• Analogues and prototypes– repetition compulsion

• Formulating an interpretation– connecting the present to the past

Challenges & Wounds

• Singleton or stellium

• Hard aspects to Saturn.– sense of inadequacy/inferiority

• Hard aspects to an outer planet.– guilt, repression, sacrifice

• Focal planet of T-Square or Yod.– planet tends to overfunction

• Planets in 8th or 12th houses.– wounded healers & buried treasures

An Astropathogenic Compound

• Yod or T-Square involving outer planet(s) and/or Saturn

• Involving 8th or 12th houses

• Focal planet in Scorpio or Pisces

• Focal planet is a singleton

• A formula for disaster?

Superior & Inferior Functions

• Superior function is path of least resistance.– what is most natural. Gifts.

• Inferior (or missing) function is a potential shadow, or weakness.– primitive, undeveloped, problematic

– can erupt chthonically from underworld

– may result in overcompensation

Singleton Planets

• One of a kind phenomenon, e.g.,– only planet in an element

– only planet in an orientation

• Tend to overfunction in a primitive, unconscious manner.– may manifest as extreme behavior

– agitated, perturbed, unstable

– may lead to great creativity

Inferior Fire

• Spiritless, low energy, sucking ghosts.

• Lack of zeal, courage, vitality.

• May erupt as irrational rage, reckless action, manic behavior, arrogance.

• Irrational grandiose love.

• The incendiary -- Joan D’Arc, Patrick Henry, George Patton, Khrushchev, Manson

Inferior Earth

• Concerns about money and security.

• Concerns about body and pleasure.

• Fears about success, adequacy, work, responsibility, practicality.

• May erupt as self-criticism, depression, coldness, or overcompensation.

• Swaggart, Arnold, Sensual Masseuse, Marilyn , Carnegie, Adele Davis

Inferior Air

• Concerns about intelligence, learning, communication, relationships.

• Finding the right words, seeing clearly, having a proper perspective.

• May erupt as “ah ha’s!” Revelations, disturbing insights and perceptions.

• William F. Buckley, Hesse, Shaw, Wells, Hellen Keller.

Inferior Water

• Concerns about feelings, emotional connection, empathy and compassion.

• Erupt in crying jags, overemotional, overwhelming feelings, loss of control.

• Beethoven, Van Gogh, Hitler, Shelly, Virginia Wolf, Johnny Weismuller and Mark Spitz.

Stelliums

• Intense, concentrated energy– assertive, spontaneous, potent

• Singleminded focus– lop sided, one-dimensional quality

• Lack of objectivity– narrow, egocentric, blind spot

• Check out planetary ruler– agent of the stellium

Hard Aspects to Saturn

• Fear of inadequacy & deficiency– never good enough, inferiority complex

– never enough, chronic sense of lack

• Tendency toward overcompensation– ambitious, craving for success

– eventual accomplishment and authority

• Sense of failure and guilt– despair, defeat, depression

Hard Aspect to Outer Planet

• Lack of differentiation/integration– inner planet overwhelmed by collective

• Outer planet impingement– appropriates the function of inner planet

• Confusion of stages– inner planet must altruize, sacrifice, or transform

– of suffer shock, guilt, or shame

T-Squares

• Unbalanced but dynamic structure– focal planet acts like a singleton

– control and containment are keys

• Concentrated energy to produce...– inhibition with stimulation

– pressure cooker, struggle, challenge

• Outlet point may be antidote– watch transits, synastry

– can be a moderating influence

Yod - The Finger of God

• Point of healing and adjustment– fix and regenerate that planet

• Point of subliminal tension– problem, dilemma, crisis, wound

• Sense of mission– fate, destiny, ultimate purpose

• Planets in sextile are cohorts– collaborate to fix/heal focal planet

Planets in 8th or 12th

• 8th House is area of shadows/wounds– approach to transformation/healing

– that which needs transformation/healing

– what we may fear and avoid

• 12th house is area of sacrifice– what we may feel guilty about

– what is sacrificed to the collective

– approach to a spiritual ideal

For Further Information on Tapes, Articles, or Books

Contact: Glenn Perry

360 Quietwood Drive, San Rafael, CA USA

Phone: 415-479-5812

FAX: 415.499.1553

E-Mail: aaperry@comcast.net