Customer Reviews

Signs of Mental Illness: An Astrological and Psychiatric Breakthrough

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It's always interesting to read crossover books by authors of one or more contrasting professions. Currently on my reading table, I have the book written by a psychotherapist who dabbles in astrology (Mitchell Gibson--Signs of Mental Illness) and a book written by an astrologer who obtained a degree in psychology (Greg Bogart--Therapeutic Astology). Many authors and philosophers, since the days of Dane Rudyhar and Carl Jung, have tried their hand in legitimating astrology with psychology, often with variable results. So let the buyer beware.

In the case of Gibson's book, one must declare his approach too scientific and yet not scientific enough. He talks about control groups, planetary indices of all kinds with authority, but he formulates his findings (and the tell-tale markers of mental illness)on a very limited number of birthcharts per category. (The categories he defines in this work are depression, anxiety, addictive disorders, schizophrenia and ADHD.) The markers in themselves are a very fascinating part of his work, but with the limited empirical evidence used, the list of markers are not comprehensive. I, for example, have not seen any Mars-Pluto aspect among the list of markers cited in this study.

Conveniently, Gibson downplays--in the name of SCIENCE, I suppose--the intuitive, mystical side of astrology, as well as some of its most historical features (i.e., the house system, the four primary angles, the impact of timely transits and progressions, T-squares, yods, and grand crosses, the position of Chiron or the nodes, etc.).

Furthermore, Gibson's approach to astrological aspects is confusing and outdated to the practicing astrologer. I've learned, some years back, to treat oppositions with less fatalism . I was told that with some adjustment and compromise, these aspects can be made to support and complement each another. For Gibson's thesis, oppositions are still dogmatically viewed as negative across the board. Authors Bil Tirney and Liz Greene has in their own books successfully updated the reputation on the Greater Malefic, Saturn, casting the old devil as a mystical "guardian planet" of sorts. Gibson maintains that any relationship to Saturn is still negative, no further discussion thank you. Finally, trines, sextiles and many conjunctions--long revered by many as positive, easy-going aspects in astrology--are considered markers for mental illness, according to Gibson's model. One can sense that Gibson is misusing astrology in a strange, opportunistic way. At one point, I was almost forced to cry out, "Are we still using the same planets and methodologies?" This study is much less of a marriage as it is a possible reimaging of the astrology-psychology union.

The graphs, which Gibson offers in his book, highlights the planets in their declinations and longitudes(the zodiac positions, which historically provided the data critical to the construction of traditional horoscopes, are curiously muted here--Gemini, for example, has been reduced [uncited] to a few degrees on the chart). Unarguably, these graphs are very original and ground breaking because they expose mysterious planetary relationships, in the form of elevations, parallels, contraparallels and eclipses. There's some merit in this. Yet,when I tried to apply the graphing procedures to my own data (and to a friend's, who has had a string of major depressions and addictions in her life), I wasn't able to "find" enough markers or planetary relationships to warrant her (or my) inclinations towards ANY erratic behavior. (Again, the list of markers and empirical sample was not large enough. Meanwhile, studying the subject's natal house positions, zodiac signs and angles, even transits and progressions could have vividly offered more telling markers--all of which were excluded from this book!) Ultimately, I find the charts themselves hard to interpret and have (except in the case of one example) no accompanying data tables to confirm their chart position. One can't tell if Uranus is hidek or exdek, simply by reading its location between +20 degrees and +25 degrees. And the resulting interpretation of these relationships, based on chart visualization, were ambiguous or went undiagnosed.

Perhaps this method of determining mental illness patterns using astrological precepts works best with extreme cases. If it could only predict the mental inclinations of such a limited section of birthcharts, then this document should be made more technical and upgraded to the medical, scientific community--who, of course, would unanimously brand it ancedotal, not supportable and a superstitious fantasy. In its current popular/self help edition, however, "Signs of Mental Illness" fails to offer clear, consistent, comprehensive information for me to keep in my library.

This is a wonderful book, based on the principles of the Magi Society (look for their books !). This sounds like (near-)scientific astrology. Far more medical doctors should learn astrology and write their findings down. If they would bring all this knowledge together, well it would be astonishing to see astrology grow in a scientific way. Mitchell Gibson has studied more than 400 charts and has found statistic significant signatures for some sorts of mental illnesses. This is a brilliant work that any serious astrologer should read. I hope that some computerprograms will incorporate his findings in their astrological software to make this knowledge available so that one can do the tedious calculations in a minute.

An astrologer friend of mine recommended this book to me. I have suffered from depression for years and I was glad to see a psychiatrist who has the guts to write about astrology and mental illness for the general public. I have read some of these reviews before I bought the book and they only made me want to read it for myself. This book is a brilliant new approach to mental health and astrology. It is different in that he doesn't use the traditional astrology stuff we all know and love, but aren't we allowed to grow and learn! I called Dr. Gibson and talked to him on the phone. He is approachable, friendly, and smart, real smart. He made me feel better about my illness and he gave me some real insight on depression from a spiritual point of view. You really got to read this book with an open mind, and if you do you will grow a lot in your understanding of how the planets affect our brains...

Thanks Dr. Gibson!!

I've studied astrology for 20 years and have a tough time making heads or tails of Dr. Gibson's system. The biggest problem is that he gives no real standard for the various disorders such as anxiety, depression, etc. He merely lists a number of indicator aspects (ones virtually everyone has a few of), but doesn't say how many factors are necessary for a strong disposition to the ailment. Instead, he merely gives a few case studies.

His concept is interesting, but needs to be fleshed out. I'd say this book is a good first draft, but much more research and explanation needs to be given for the general public.

While his credentials are promising, he is too disjointed in his presentation for this book to be immediately useful. He jumps from the first few chapters defending astrology in psyciatry and briefly describing the the planets (which would be for complete neophytes to the art), to then presenting very complicated terms and formulas (which would not be understood at all by those same newbies, and only maybe could be understood by an intermediate in astrology). He then skips several crucial steps that would have helped us understand what he was doing, and jumps right in to an example without ever helping us with the formulas. A dozen more pages in the book would have probably avoided this dizzying confusion. He doesnt explain why he limited his study to only the Ptolemaic aspects between planets or why he is steadfast on his use of the "good" or "bad" planets/aspects. It appears he came by this information statistically, but he does not explain any of his methodology, so it is easy to wonder if he was as truly scientific in his process as he claims to be. After spending a few head dizzying hours reading his examples, reading between the lines, and trying to figure out the formulas (I do have a background in engineering, so that does help), it does start to come together. He doesnt speak of the orbs he used, which can vary so much from one astrologer to the next that this alone could make a significant difference in the results. He did say he gives a blanket 2.5 degree orb to parallels and contra's, which according to Rob Hands methodology is way too wide and a misuse in that application, (but to repeat his process you kindof need to follow the same protocol he used). He does limit it to the illnesses listed in the description, so if you have a different illness to diagnose, forget it. ie: if your client appears to have severe depression, but doesnt fit his profile for this, you wont be able to compare their profile to bipolar disorder, because it isnt in the book. So far, I have been able to obtain results consistent with his for the one ADHD chart I used it on, and the markers were pretty amazing. More applications of the formula may lead to further understanding. In summary, get a translator to help you figure out what he is talking about and how to use it.

I am a scientist. I loved the scientific approach this doctor used to study astrology. He may be onto something but traditional astrologers will have a hard time with this because it is so new and different from their conservative mindset. Imagine that! I highly recommend this book.

This is refreshing to see someone from the medical profession to reawakening some astonishing fact about astrology.Not enough detail. The technique used on the declinations is to much to be desired.

When I read the other reviews, I wondered if these people read the same book I did. I thought this book was difficult to understand, and, from my views of astrology, narrow-viewed. It places planets in the old black and white catagories of "good and bad" aspects. Also, I tested my family's charts for these aspects of mental illness. There were very few aspects as described in this book, yet one person in my family has ADHD, and three have been diagnosed with related disorders (Tourette's Syndrome). Something's a little off here...

Dr. Gibson never ceases to amaze me. He is a genius, and that is an understatement. I have read all of Dr. Gibson's books as well as own all of his software, and his meditation CD's. All of which are superb. You have done it yet again Dr. Gibson, I recommend all of Dr. Gibson's work to everyone I know.

After reading Dr. Gibson's book, I began to realize that something new and wonderful had been added to the lexicon of astrology and medicine. Seeing that these two sciences are over 2000 years old individually, I was impressed that Gibson was able to accomplish this feat within a short space of just over 200 pages. The basic premise that mankind and indeed all of reality is affected by a hidden order of forces which is only reflected in the movement of the stars and planets is groundbreaking. In testing this theory, Gibson applies a synthesis of astrology and behavioral science into an astonishly clear and eye-opening new technique which utilizes declinations and longitudinal aspects. He calls this technique "Modern Astrology". This work is sure to create quite a stir within both the astrological and medical fields and quite possibly, terms such grand elevation, binary eclipse, Hidek, and planetary index are likely to become very familiar phrases.<P! > The book was informative and very thought provoking. The fact that a psychiatrist came up with a way to plumb the depths of a portion of the birth chart which most astrologers eagerly avoid is a little surprising and perhaps somewhat disconcerting. In a word, the book is brilliant. We may never look at major depression, schizophrenia, addictions, anxiety disorders, or attention deficit disorders in the same way again.