Signs of Mental Ilness: An Astrological and Psychiatric Breakthrough

Signs of Mental Health
An Astrological and Psychiatric Breakthrough
© 1998 Mitchell E. Gibson, M. D.
Llewellyn Publications; St. Paul, MN
ISBN: 1-56718-362-6

Jacket Blurb:

The Next Revolution in Astrology

Introducing a provocative breakthrough in the sciences of astrology and psychiatry

Psychiatrist Mitchell E. Gibson, M.D., demonstrates new astrological techniques for predicting mental illness, based on his study of more than 400 astrological birth charts and the use of scientific research models.

The average person’s birth chart, for example, contains about three marker aspects for depression. The birth chart of someone with major depression contains an average of 10. Princess Diana had 10 marker aspects in her chart.

Other famous cases highlighted in this book include Mike Wallace, Howard Hughes, Adolph Hitler, Charles Dickens and Edgar Allen Poe.

All the patients depicted in Dr. Gibson’s study were diagnosed according to DSM-IV, the gold standard of psychiatric diagnostic criteria. The diagnostic groups represented include (1) major depression, (2) anxiety, (3) addictive disorder, (4) schizophrenia, and (5) attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Even with no previous astrological experience, you will learn how to spot the indicators for mental illness though [sic] the declinations and multiple planet aspects that form the basis of this pioneering work.

====================================================================

Kat’s Book Nook Reviews

Wow. I was really psyched (no pun intended) when I first read the jacket blurb for Signs of Mental Health on Amazon and couldn’t wait to read the book. I’m an empathic transformational relationship astrologer working towards my PsyD in counseling psychology and have been focusing mainly on astro-psychology or astrology with a psychological bent; therefore, I believed this book would be just the ticket.

Boy, was I wrong! What can I say about this book? It was virtually incomprehensible.

There was very little organization or coherency that was immediately discernable. Further, instead of presenting the material in a more generic way so that it could be applied to anyone, the author uses anonymous case studies. Case studies are fine as additional examples. However, I don’t necessarily need to know what the markers were for each individual case study. In fact, in the long run, case studies are virtually useless when attempting to understand markers for a wide spectrum of the population. I want to know what the overall markers are for ANY client. Give me a table that shows the specific markers and longitudinal and declinational aspects between signs and I will be quite happy, thank you very much!

Further, I’m quite familiar with the MAGI Society, to which he refers. I have all of their books as well as their ephemeris. And while I believe that they, too, could do with a bit more organization of subject matter (excuse me; I suppose that’s my Mercury in Virgo speaking there), at least their definitions were comprehensible and their tables and generically applied criterion helped tremendously.

Case in point re: the good doctor’s definition of ‘elevation’ on page 29 (this is not a MAGI Society term, to my knowledge): “Specific aspects and/or declinational positions that affect the basic expression of a planet’s energies. Elevations may be positive or negative, depending on the planet’s position and/or the planet(s) it interacts with [sic].” Since ‘elevation’ seems to be Dr. Gibson’s basal terminology utilized in the various astrological declinational descriptors, one would think that he would have spent just a bit more time explaining exactly what his idea of ‘elevation’ actually is.

To what does ‘elevation’ refer? Is it a location? I get that they can be both positive and negative, and that ‘they affect the basic expression of a planet’s energies,’ but somehow, ‘specific aspect’ doesn’t quite clarify things enough. Looking at his version of the declinational chart, I thought, “Ok, well… maybe the ‘elevation’ is referring to the planets as they appear above or north of the ecliptic.” But then later, on page 61 he refers to a Grand Elevation of Mars which appears at -20 BELOW or south of the ecliptic. So now I’m back at square one and still stumped. What does he mean by ‘elevation’? Could it be that anything below the ecliptic and farther away from the base line is considered (by Dr. Gibson) to be elevated? Probably. But he doesn’t elucidate this fact, if that is, indeed, the case.

I realize that everyone processes information in different ways. And I also understand that – according to Dr. Gibson, himself – he’s a genius (he was/is a member of MENSA). Therefore, he probably thinks far above the average individual. But, let’s be honest here: it’s not that difficult to write in such a way that the material is understandable and coherent (I’ve recently had to be reminded of that myself).

What does this have to do with my review of this book? I am more than capable of understanding extremely technical information. But the information presented here is far from organized or useful.

I’m not sure to what the other readers who thought he was brilliant were referring. Maybe they know him personally and he’s informed them of something he’s not sharing with the rest of us. However, after reading all of the reviews for this book on Amazon.com, I'd have to say that the only individuals who gave him anything other than 1 star were obviously those who have little true knowledge of astrology. Most everyone else with even an average amount of astrological knowledge found this book just as difficult to understand as I did.

Regardless, in my opinion Dr. Gibson is little better than the scientists and academicians who proclaim astrology to be a pseudo-science without accurately and thoroughly studying, testing and making an attempt to understand it. He’s taken a complex subject and rendered it even more incomprehensible (if that’s possible), by over-analyzing some aspects and under-explaining others.

Being an astrologer-cum-psychologist, I’d have to say that this book is anything but a breakthrough into either astrology or psychiatry.

Copyright © 2007 Kat Starwolf All Rights Reserved