Santa Barbara Doctor and Artist Collaborate on New Book

Doctor James Broderick has been a fixture in the local mental-health landscape for decades as the one-time Santa Barbara County Director of Alcohol, Drug, and Mental Health Services; offering therapeutic treatment in private practice; and passing on knowledge as a professor at Pacifica Graduate Institute for 17 years. In teaching a required course for clinical psychologists, History and Systems of Psychology, he struggled to find a resonating textbook—so he wrote his own: History of Psychology Through Symbols Volumes 1 and 2, with 250 digital collage illustrations created in collaboration with Santa Barbara–based artist Danuta Bennett. Despite their label as “textbooks” (based on usage in his course), Broderick calls these volumes an accessible, “intellectually stimulating read” versus a “how-to” psychology book.”

The artist, Bennett, is a founder of Santa Barbara’s Aeolian Center, where she devised a series of continuing education seminars and workshops at the juncture where art meets psychology. Bennett’s rendering of the symbols uses shapes and images common to our unconscious archetypes as a starting point for reader engagement with the textual material. “I use collage because I want to create something new of those existing images, to add to that collective visual idea we have inside of us. I want it to be a stopping place, not the final destination,” she explains. “I want people to see it and say, we don’t have to be rigid to the original versions … we can look beyond them.”

The history of psychology is complex, and directly tied to basic human rights and dignity. History of Psychology Through Symbols discusses various schools of thought throughout the ages, including current movements within the field. “I speak a lot about psychedelics,” says Broderick. “We’re seeing a lot of efficacy with psychedelics with a transdiagnostic impact, that it’s affecting a lot of systems in the brain, as opposed to antipsychotics and antidepressants, which affect only one.” 

The included political and socioeconomic context of this history provides readers with a deeper understanding of the obstacles and prevailing wisdom of the time, even our current mental health crisis. “I make an appeal in the book to rethink community mental health,” says Broderick. “Just because you have a mental health issue doesn’t mean that you’re not going to be a productive person forever.”

Broderick and Bennett hope the books will inspire people to examine themselves and their community in relation to mental wellness. Broderick notes that in our fast-paced world, he hopes this book will create a stimulating environment to think at a deeper level. Again at the crossroads of art and self-reflection, Bennett invites readers to also consider the symbols on a more honest and personal level. “Art is expression,” she says, “for exploring your mind and your emotions.” 

History of Psychology Through Symbols offers beauty, knowledge, and wisdom to readers interested in art, history, and psychology. Books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, directly from the publisher (Routledge), and at the book’s website: psychologyandsymbols.com.

Author and artist will celebrate the publication on September 12 at 6 p.m. at the Voice Gallery in La Cumbre Plaza. Join the party for a multimedia presentation and a Maria McCall interview with Broderick and Bennett, as well as a short, lively discussion about the book’s concepts.