“I don’t know what it means not to have deep feelings. I even fully feel what it means to feel nothing.” I recently came across this quote, and it struck me so deeply that I don’t know how many minutes I sat staring at a blank wall. I took a screenshot, saved it, liked it, reposted it. It still wasn’t enough. I shared it on my story. I didn’t know which corner of my heart to wrap it around and protect…
In these days when I’m worn out from making decisions, from feeling, from understanding—days when I’m suffering from what could be called awareness poisoning—a tiny sentence felt like pure healing for my soul. But what was it that touched me so much? Was it being understood, or understanding? The presence of others who share the same feelings? Or simply becoming aware?
The Language of Emotions and Self-Reflection
Emotions, feelings, and deeply meaningful connections have always been important to me since the day I can remember myself. To remain still for hours within a fleeting moment, to breathe in the air down to my bones, to let the wind caress my skin, to watch my thoughts drift away… I have always been someone in love with myself, at peace with myself, someone who enjoys self-dates.
After a long day, I had to make time to listen to myself—sometimes half an hour, sometimes an hour. What did I experience today? How do I feel? Am I swept away by society’s opinions? What does my body, my soul need—rest, or to be cared for?
Writing, Art, and the Healing of the Soul
When I cannot share my feelings, writing—keeping a journal—feels like medicine. Unspoken emotions find their place in art, for describing feelings only with words would be too shallow. From theatre to cinema, from cinema to painting, to music, to dance… all of them are a chain of healing for the soul.
At this point, I want to continue with one of my favorite quotes:
“A human being cannot be grasped solely by reason; they also long to be understood through intuition, sensation, imagery, and aesthetics. Literature gives voice to inner conflicts, quests for identity, fractures, and loneliness. Sometimes a fictional character tells us more than a theory. Painting and sculpture embody emotions and images where words fall short. Music touches directly upon the source of feelings, creating a field of meaning without words. Theatre offers the chance to look at oneself from the outside, to recognize oneself in another. All these forms of expression are different languages of human experience.
For this reason, when psychology engages with art and literature, it can understand not only the measurable but also the felt and lived aspects of being human. A psychology that excludes art cannot perceive the human capacity to transcend nature. Studying psychology is not only about knowing psychology; it is about being able to listen to other fields of interest, recognizing what one does not know, and daring to converse with other disciplines. Sometimes reaching the human being happens through a novel character, sometimes through the silence of a painting, sometimes through the shift of a chord.”
These lines, written by my professor Ahmet Tosun, are worthy of underlining every single word.
Interdisciplinary Psychology and Scientific Grounding
Crozier and Cooper’s (2008) study further grounds our topic on a scientific basis. Let us now examine the aim and findings of their article together. The article discusses how psychology is taught in higher education and, in particular, its “relationship with other disciplines.”
Based on Radford’s (2008) observations, while statistics and genetics hold a strong place in psychology curricula, fields such as anthropology, sociology, history, geography, and political science—disciplines that approach human behavior from different perspectives—are rarely included (Radford, 2008, as cited in Crozier & Cooper, 2008, p. 11).
Crozier and Cooper (2008), drawing on their experiences of teaching psychology as a psychosocial science, argue that students should be exposed to neighboring disciplines in order to grasp human behavior in a broader context.
Findings
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Lack of interdisciplinary interaction: Psychology programs mostly focus on their own “core areas,” with limited intersection with neighboring social sciences (Crozier & Cooper, 2008, pp. 11–12).
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Practical examples: At the University of East Anglia, elective courses informed by different disciplines were added to the psychology program on topics such as crime, family, childhood, self, and mental health. These courses were met with great interest by students and created opportunities for interdisciplinary thinking (Crozier & Cooper, 2008, p. 12).
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Benefits: Students learn about the research methods of different disciplines, evaluate psychology more critically, view real-life problems in a multidimensional way, contribute to applied psychology, and adapt more easily to interdisciplinary work environments after graduation (Crozier & Cooper, 2008, pp. 12–13).
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Risks: The difficulty of adding new fields to an already dense curriculum, the risk of superficial learning, oversimplification of concepts, and potential confusion for students (Crozier & Cooper, 2008, p. 13).
Conclusion: Literature, Psychology, and Healing
Crozier and Cooper (2008) emphasize that not all psychology departments need to be the same; however, students should be offered opportunities to explore disciplines related to psychology. They argue that this will enrich both students’ academic development and their professional skills. With careful planning and integration, interdisciplinary psychology education can add significant value to psychology programs (p. 13).
A tiny quote, and see how far it has taken us… I still don’t fully know why it resonated with me so deeply, but I do know that what I felt—and the healing power of literature—was real.
Stay with literature!