Clearly, “Doctor” is a rich, multi-level word with a long history. This leaves it an influential, complex, and controversial term. This essay focuses on the latter issue—how the term “Doctor” relates to regulating services provided to patients and clients in a society. However, we begin by considering the broader context in which the professions and, specifically, the term “Doctor” operates. We turn first to the two worlds introduced by Mircea Eliade. They are the sacred and the profane. A second distinction is presented by C. P. Snow: the cultures of science and the humanities. These worlds and cultures pull the term “Doctor” in different directions, leading to a dynamic and sometimes elusive use of the term “Doctor” when assigned to someone in the field of professional psychology.
Context I: The Sacred and Profane Nature of the Professions
In seeking to understand the importance and power associated with the “doctor” title, especially in human service fields, we must look beyond the world of reason and objectivity. We must rest our lens to view a domain where measures are not quickly taken. Still, highly influential forces reign supreme, especially when considerations are being given to cultural differences. Specifically, this is a domain identified by Mircea Eliade (1959), a noted religious historian, as Sacred. By contrast, Eliade identified a prevalent domain in contemporary life worldwide. This is the Profane. Eliade suggests that we live in a world that is both profane (secular) and sacred. It is a world that is divided into two realities (Eliade, 1959, pp. 10-11)
“The sacred exists in a realm that “manifests itself as a reality of a wholly different order from ‘natural’ realities. . . Man becomes aware of the sacred because it manifests itself, shows itself, as something wholly different from the profane. . . .. [It is] a reality that does not belong to our world, in objects that are an integral part of our natural ‘profane’ world.”
For Eliade, the sacred domain shows itself through what he calls “hierophanies.” These are objects (e.g. sacred stones), living entities (e.g. sacred trees) or the inspired creations of human beings (e.g. sacred ceremonies). Each hierophany is an “irruption of the sacred that results in detaching a territory from the surrounding cosmic milieu and making it qualitatively different.” (Eliade, 1959, p. 26). In sum, human beings can be identified as not only homo sapiens (imbued with a search for knowledge) but also homo religious (imbued with a search for spiritual enlightenment).
With Eliade’s lens in place, we can begin to view dynamics associated with membership in a specific profession, specific membership in the profession called psychology, and even more specific membership in an exclusive club that entitles one to be called a “Doctor.” We propose that viewing these memberships as sacred and profane in nature yields important insights regarding the power, opportunities and challenges associated with each. We also propose that the professions, playing such an important role throughout the 21st century world, are “sacred” in many ways. At the same time, they operate in a “profane” and decidedly secular world of regulations, restrictions and money.
Professions as Sacred
There are at least major ways in which professional acts can be considered “sacred.” The sacred nation of professions can be found in transformative outcomes which emerge from skillful and experienced engagement in professional actions. There is also the matter of professionals being proactive. As active agents for change and improvement and as members of a society who “profess” their commitment to positive outcomes under a strict code of ethics, professionals are regarded at a level that transcends secular everyday life.
