Threesology Research Journal

Despite attempts in psychiatry to adopt an integrative biopsychosocial model, social scientists have observed that psychiatrists continue to operate according to a mind-brain dichotomy in ways that are often covert and unacknowledged and suggest that the same intuitive cognitive schemas that people use to make judgments of responsibility lead to dualistic reasoning among clinicians. The goal of this study was to confirm these observations.

...A less obvious quality is also crucial for this work, a skill we therapists use dozens of times each session. It's the ability to hold the tension between two (or more) competing forces and discern when to lean toward one or the other. I can't think of another term that fully captures this quality, so I'm going to do the cocky thing and coin my own: dichotomastery.

This pull between opposing forces is everywhere in therapy. Do we rely on theory or go with our gut? Charge for a missed session or let it slide? Give a hug or refrain? Share the interpretation or wait until next session? Gratify the client's wants or help him meet his own needs? Dichotomastery is holding this tension and deciding if and when to let the teeter-totter dip in one direction or the other. It's a characteristic that combines strength, discernment, resilience and wisdom. The best therapists are able to master the many dichotomies inherent to therapy, including:

• Objectivity/Subjectivity
• Emotion/Reason
• Firm/Pliable Boundaries
• Business/Personal
• Self/Other
• Knowing/Not Knowing
• Clinical judgement and critical thinking
• Dfferentiation and the Whole object

And to the previous two examples (which are an illustrated dichotomy), let me add: What is Dichotomous Thinking? by Kristalyn Salters-Pedneault, PhD.

So once again we see another dichotomy in Psychology by the Negative and Positive connotations related to the word "Dichotomy", though words such as duality and even patterns-of-two could be used so long as the reader, in this context, acknowledged an understanding of how they are being used as alternative descriptions.

The problem, as I see it, pertains to the lack of an awareness of the idea involving "Trichotomy". It is not on the radar or field of even the most astute peripheral vision of most psychologists, therapists, counselors, and psychology educators, as far as I have been able to discover. When the word "Trichotomy" and any associated idea is absent from the online APA dictionary (American Psychological Association), it is not far-fetched to consider something is amiss.... particularly when there are many existing three-part ideas, behaviors, and dreams... not to mention a slew of three-part abbreviations in use: Category:English three-letter abbreviations.

While Freud did introduce the 3-part concept of the Id- Ego- Superego, he was referencing his own model of his consciousness transitioning into a realm that, (want for a better descriptive,) we might say is a 3rd level... as long as the use of such does not include the notion of an infinity of levels and it does include the view that it represents an imposed limitation of human cognitive growth due to the incremental deterioration of the environment which requires it as a survival mechanism. In other words, though human physiology may be capable of going beyond a "third", it can not do so because of the requirements for survival on Earth. To do so may be like a trial and error effect of human physiology "testing the waters" to see if the environment has changed enough to make such a transition out of a third to make it a viable physiological construct. In fact, those experiencing an orientation with a preference for dichotomization may be the victims of the environment which continues to be reinforced by human institutions whose niche's were long ago carved out by circumstances favoring dichotomous orientations, even though we see examples of human consciousness trying to get out of the confinement by projecting this desire into a myriad of formulations of triads, triangles, trinities, triunities, triples, etc... Expressions thought to express some value beyond the "three" do not appear to last long and typically become subdivided and sub-contracted into smaller valuations.

The APA doesn't even have a reference to the 3rd planet Earth as having an impact on the psychology of a person nor the 3 main planetary objects that can be called a Triplex; Sun- Earth - Moon. This is not Astrology, just common sense. Changes in any one of three affect people. So has the recurring three-part repetition of anatomical features: List of Three's in Anatomy by Dr. John McNulty and associates. Indeed, when we can see the highly visible changes in humans brought about by the effects of (3 copies of 1 chromosome) called a Trisomy, it is not an indication that we must reference the "3" as being bad, but as a signpost. Trisomy continues to crop up as if genetics is trying to move into a 3rd state of development but is being blocked from doing so, and the detour leads to malformations instead of constructive formations.

Millions of people throughout the world are using different types of 3-patterned signposts which collectively represent an underlying recurrence of cognitive activity that is both personal and very often socially collaborative and instructive. Some examples are:

• Cosmological achievement placements: (Hell- Purgatory- Heaven)...
• Pathways and ritualized observances: (multiple examples in Buddhism)...
• Vocal Chants: (such as the well known Hindu A-U-M: OM)...
• 3-fingered expressions: (when writing, eating, signaling with 3 fingers... or the 3rd-middle finger)...
• Hierarchical divisions: (Executive- Legislative- Judicial; lower-middle-upper classes; Manager- Assistant manager- 3rd man)...
• etc...

The point is that the presence of the "3" however labeled, conjectured, contemplated, or constructed with or without a formal acknowledgement by a person or group, can create conditions which may produce troubling circumstances whose complexity increases when faced by similarly unacknowledged circumstances requiring acceptance of a socially demanding environment focused on a required competency of duality. If we assume that the mental state of many people has an active orientation to function with a trichotomous orientation but are being shoe-horned into accepting the social "conspiracy" of using a dichotomous orientation from birth, a long series of compensatory efforts to deal with the situation may spill over into self-defeating, self-debilitating occurrences being interpreted from the perspective of those whose ideology does not have the understanding, much less word for the feature of Trichotomization which multiple people have the ability to move into as a functional person, but can develop all sorts of enigmatic issues due to their attempts at coping with the strains created by the competitions between a dichotomous and trichotomous mental functionality.

While many people may have a dormant model of a trichotomous mindset, there is no telling when or how it may emerge in the given situation an individual finds themselves in. If it is religion, they become aware of the binary orientation (heaven/hell, good/bad, saintly/evil, etc..), but find they can no longer continue to live in such a constraining perspective of reality. And yet, there is no standard by which they can move successfully and emotionally stable into an increasing "other" orientation, whether they personally want to describe it as a trichotomous one or not. Dichotomously oriented teachers, preachers, psychologists, counselors, police officers, coaches, parents, etc., can not appropriately assist them. Neither can the charlatans who read this and seek to exploit others to create a means to manipulate and control for whatever reason (money, sex, property, slavery, indentured servitude, patriotism, etc..).

If we dive deeper into biology and genetics, (not to mention multiple other subjects), we see the recurring use of a "3" value. And yes, if you look for such examples you can find them, but such finds are not due to imaginative recreations to fulfill some numerological scheme related to a supposed all-encompassing cosmology. There is no intended metaphysics being executed from an over-active imagination. We can find other patterns as well, and they are typically associated to or with a "3" value. However, what I want to describe is a different perspective of using the same information millions of people have looked at, but not recognized a specific pattern which we can relate to an environmentally influenced evolutionary trek of human cognition, whose multiple expressions from culture to culture and their respective time periods is quite suggestive that the human mind coupled to a "like-minded" consciousness has a potential to proceed on a recognizable 1-2-3 maturational development sequence, further suggesting that what we have recognized in the development of numbers exhibited by a generally described 3-part "One-Two-Many" profile, is but one of several exhibitions of the potential the human brain's course of receptivity to its environment can and does proceed along.

However, as noted by Anthropologists who have studied the development of enumeration among different cultures both past and present, it is obvious that what we today describe as a number and an associated quantity are not to be hastily applied to past or even present primitive cultures... whether or not the word "primitive" is liked by the reader. Yes, it is fully recognized that the presumed primitive can have qualities which exceed the knowledge and ability of many people in so-called modern and advanced society. Nonetheless, a 1-part then a 2-part then a 3-part labeling system comes into affect. Unless by some way of mutation in a person's primitive brain, the "3" position can not be reached without a precursor such as "2" and it by a precursor such as "1". And it matters not if they referenced a realization of quantitative difference with a vocabulary such as "ugh", "ogg", and some "nasal snort", there was a pairing of sorts, even if the overall recognition of differences can only be defined in terms of a type of subitizing or other such claim of instinctiveness like a spider knowing the distance between one branch and another to thread a web. Even though geometry fits well into the present discussion, I will leave if for a future inclusion.

Later on... a conscious acknowledgement of quantity paired to a sound, symbol or other reference, did occur to the developing human brain. Granted these were baby steps along the road to present day mathematics, but the age of mathematics has blinded most people to the fact that the physiology of humans remains in a primitive state of receptivity to environmental phenomena. The same floor plan of using a triplet code in genetics remains, despite the flourishing of millions of species. And the 3 germ layers (Ectoderm-Endoderm-Mesoderm) remain as well. No less, the presence of a single-stranded RNA, Double- stranded DNA and triple strands in Protein;, not to mention collagen as a specific protein playing a valuable part. And thought comparative anatomists have focused on a label such as the Pentadacyl limb to describe similar structures in multiple vertebrates, it could also be referenced as a 1-2-many expression, with a further application to Sociology:

Every profession, recreational past-time, or entertainment diversion/distraction... whether for a short, inter-mediate or long involvement, has its own brand of Numerology. No matter the profession or expertise of a given subject's players, they all engage in what can be viewed and described as Numerology. Some models are whimsical, others offering curious comparisons, and still others providing insightful discoveries. I am of course using the word "Numerology" in a positive sense of accepting it as a model of thinking that... apparently, all humans engage in at one time or another... and not necessarily with numbers. I am not using it in the oft' described way of labeling repetition (with or without numbers) in a Negative way to manipulate thinking or behavior associated with a given model of thinking.

While the presence of a repeating pattern of one or more numbers may at sometime influence a person to think of the word "Numerology", if one were to substitute a number with a similar pattern of only words, colors, symbols, sounds, smells, etc., the idea of Numerology might never come up. Instead, depending on the subject, repetition might be viewed and defined by using other words such as reverberation, echo, undulation, cadence, wave/wavicle, radiation, ripple, etc., or even be called a memory. Memories are repetitions, just as is a recurring bit of music which may stubbornly re-occur in one's head to great annoyance, causing a person to engage in one or another attempts to rid themselves of it. Then again, it may be their favorite bit of music and cause them to try and keep it present... to the annoyance of others who see their behavioral repetitions as being suggestive of a characteristic craziness or even mental illness... depending on those involved and how involved a person is in a given repetition.

Permit me a moment's digression...

Metaphysically speaking (unless you prefer metaphor), the idea of time repeating itself (as defined by repetitions of historical events occurring in an individual's life or the life of a larger context such as a culture or several nations... if not all then some specific respects), let us ask if time is a type of expressed Numerology only if we apply numbers to it, or... not. If the negative view of Numerology is to be used by those holding a dominant consciousness of dichotomy, then it will be difficult for them to see Numerological instances in a positive manner, much less allow for the broader definition of Numerology to include many or all forms of repetition. If time does repeat as described by the supposed circularity of seasons and re-emergence of life, then the duality of time's "beginning to its end" scenario (described as an Arrow)... needs to be revised. Is it an Arrow like a wave pattern that is similar to that seen in alternating current? And can this currency of current alternate with a model of direct current under given situations? Is there an identifiable periodicity to this?

Repetition is a fact of life. We humans even have the notion that history repeats itself and that if we had a time machine we could go back or forward in time. However, such ideas and portrayals do not typically engage in representing an understanding of the seemingly non-repetitive movement of the Earth in a moving solar system in a galaxy that is also moving through one of the three mathematically idealized Universe geometries (Flat, Spherical, Saddle-shaped). In other words, there is no mention of memory and time machine traveling having to deal with moving concentricities over time. Nor do such ideas speak of the possibility that we not only inhabit three dimensions, but the three descriptive Universe geometries, because they very much look like a collected-together illustration of a type of three dimensions themselves. The idea of "length, width, and height" as the three values representing the 3rd dimension in which we live.. thus creating what can be described as a 3 in 1 ratio of explanation; also appears to be the case when we view the 3 possible geometries of the Universe. They in fact may the description of 3 values of 1 Universe. This "3 to 1 ratio" can also be seen in Mendelian genetics, the place value system of numbers (ones-tens-hundreds... thousands), the Christian idea of the Trinity (3 persons in 1 godhead), and multiple other scenarios if we permit ourselves the discretion to think creatively instead of being creatively discrete.

Words are sometimes used in place of number such as the obvious "one" for the quantity 1 or or illustrated by a scratch on a stone. However, someone could use the words singularity, whole, endless, consummate and others to represent a single point... which also is one. The same goes for the use of the words many, more, much, heap, pile, several, some, a lot, etc., that could be used to describe more than one, but have been found (by me) to often mean 3 or more. Hence, let me reference the three-part phrase of "one-two-many" as a general reference to early attempts by primitive peoples when developing a number/quantity sequence, typically by the use of a pairing method. The use of "two" is quite old, and is reflected in biology, physiology, as well as numerous types of ideology, such as Mathematics, Criminology, and Psychology.

It is of interest to point out that while biology uses a dominant "Bi"-nomial system of classification, with a later added-on third naming convention sometimes used, we can find very important instances of development proceeding along a 1-2-3 maturational developmental sequence, with the "1" sometimes having to be inferred because of its absence from readily observable instances; such as in the case of a one germ layer expression, though life forms with two and 3 germ layers are numerous and readily available... such as all animal life forms from earth worms to humans having three germ layers. Yet, the cell still divides along an exponential pathway of "twoness" or doubling. In this example, the different enumerations have a secured place of appearaning as an understood count which can be measured. However, this is not to suggest the sequence always occurs in this same manner everywhere all the time. But the regularity occurs enough of the time to suggest it has some value for survival.

With respect to Psychology, as an ideology, there can be seen a recurrent usage of patterns-of-two that we might call dualities or dichotomies. Interestingly, we can not say the same for the presence of the ideas to be distinguished as patterns-of-three, trialities, or trichotomies. While the words themselves may be unfamiliar to the reader, their appearance in the present context is readily understood as a different count... from 2 items to 3 items. But there is a problem with the presence of "twos" in Psychology in the form of what is termed dichotomies. The only way to get at the problem is to first identify not only that it exists but how it exists as a problem. While many older psychologists recognize the issue with some astute perception, younger people having an interest may be introduced to the presence of dualities, but not that it poses a very huge problem as a tell-tale sign of mental illness.

Psychology can be Psychoanalyzed if it is viewed as a representative model of multiple people, out of which Psychology came to life. In the present era one might think of a group of scientists having participated in creating a viable test tube infant. As the infant grows up, it develops a collection of ideas which have since branched off like offspring pursuing their own life interests, yet all of them nonetheless embrace basic elements, such as formative ideas which owe their influence from beliefs and ideas which occurred long before the discipline of Psychology became known and eventually taught in classrooms. Like the early formative years of Sociology exhibiting the hubris that by understanding society humanity could greatly improve upon it, such was the case for early proponents of Psychology who insisted that by studying the mind, human thinking (and thus behaving) could be improved. But Psychology and Sociology not alone in its pursuit of some ideal, whereby less then ideal situations can be improved upon by the efforts of Psychology and Sociology, as well as Medicine (which includes Dentistry), judicial interventions, legislated guidelines, Education, etc... Multiple other subjects have expressed similar models of ambition. And like religion which has influenced all ideologies in some manner, we customarily find the values of distinctive contrasts being submitted for appraisal. For example:

• In Religion we find Heaven/Hell, Sacred/Profane, Good/Evil, etc...
• In Sociology we find Rich/Poor, Public/Private, Literate/Illiterate, etc...
• In Psychology we find Nature/Nurture, Sane/Insane, Emotional/Mental, etc...
• In Philosophy we find Body/Mind, True/False, Material/Immaterial, etc...
• In Physics we find Wave/Particle, Macroscopic/Submicroscopic, Static/Dynamic, etc...
• In Chemistry we find Natural/Artificial, Organic/Inorganic, Discovery by Theory/Discovery by Serendipity, etc...
• etc...

Patterns-of-two abound in all subjects just as we can find patterns-of-three, and yet Psychology has not moved collectively into assigning its profession as an exercise in perpetrating and perpetuating duality itself. In other words, much like Psychology, we do not see "Patterns-of-two/Patterns-of-Three" as a part of any subject's list of dualities, though the contrast is noted in musical arrangements, even if its usage as a representative cognitive pattern to be found in other subjects is not acknowledged by those involved in a serious study of music. In other words, Musicians do not tend to be broadly philosophical to the extent I am describing here.