Journal of Psychology and Psychiatry

DESCRIPTION

Research shows that a currently unidentified single factor commonly known as general factor p can account for the liability to psychopathology, comorbidity among psychopathologies, and the persistence and severity of psychopathology. Here, we present a qualitative assessment of a psychospiritual hypothesis of this prevalent psychopathology element as a lack of knowledge regarding the functioning of the human psychospiritual system (HPS) by Sydney Banks. Fifty-six participants reported at least one psychopathology diagnosis and that they were assisted to fully recover and live generally in mental health via exposure to a psychospiritual understanding commonly known in the literature as the Three Principles. Two overarching themes and six subthemes were identified across these participants’ experience of recovery. Specifically, within the first theme, the participants described the efficacy of the interventions they used before exposure to the Three Principles. In the second theme, participants described what they believed assisted them to fully recover and access improved mental health via exposure to the Three Principles. The findings offer strong support for this psychospiritual theory of p and suggest that exposure to the Three Principles understanding can serve as a prevention and remediation for a wide array of psychopathologies. This study is the first qualitive study to test (citation removed for blinding) psychospiritual theory of the common factor that crosses multiple psychopathologies (i.e., general factor p) as an insufficient understanding of how the human psychospiritual system works as envisioned by Sydney Banks. The study’s findings offer strong support for this theory of p, as well as the process proposed by these researchers from their view of p to psychopathology. The findings also support these researchers’ speculation of factor U as a sufficient understanding of the way the human psychospiritual system works and that factor U can be gained and when it is, it can serve as a remediation for the ill-effects of this psychospiritual understanding of p.

CONCLUSION

This exploratory qualitative study provides preliminary yet compelling evidence that many diverse psychological disorders may share a single underlying driver: an incomplete grasp of the human psychospiritual system. Drawing on the lived accounts of 56 previously diagnosed individuals, we found that sustained engagement with the Three Principles framework— Sydney Banks’s articulation of how thought, consciousness, and mind co create moment to moment experience—was associated with profound, lasting improvements across a spectrum of psychopathologies. Participants consistently reported that earlier treatments offered only partial or temporary relief, whereas the insights they gained through the Three Principles felt causal, transformative, and self-sustaining. Their narratives align with the proposed “factor p” hypothesis: when people misunderstand the nature of their own psychological functioning, distress proliferates and co occurs. Conversely, the emergence of “factor U”—a clarified, experiential understanding of this functioning—appeared to neutralize that vulnerability, promoting resilience and well-being instead.