Thank you for raising this topic.
I often thought of exactly this question. Not because I came up with it myself but once listened to a lecture of Alan Watts.
When he talked about C. G. Jung (when I remember correctly), Western psychology and Eastern approach he said a sentence which never left me. It was like: "Psychotherapy is more like an art, not a science". I felt an immediate response within myself which said: "Yes".
Why? In therapy there is more than science in the room. As Psychology is interested in the behaviour of humans, the causes of disease and the methods of treatment the therapist himself needs in addition something which science cannot deliver. He needs to be an artist who "dances" with the client . A good therapist is a practitioner who picks his methods like a painter the right canvas, brush and colors in resonance with whom he is working. ... As I myself was on the clients side I was sensing, what Watts meant by that.
In addition to your fascinating article and the impressive examples you gave I thought it would be nice to mention a quality which probably cannot be measured by science.
As I am a fan of combining disciplines and "marry" them my statement is:
Yes, Psychology is a science as well as it is an Art :)
Happy New Year to you!
Thank you for these beautiful, beautiful words @erh.germany. I feel that add so much to this debate!
So, stealing the above sentence from you :D
Happy 2018. all the best to you and your family.
:) go ahead - all the best for you, too.