When the Law Lost Its Soul: How an Ignorance of Childhood Trauma Is Making Lawyers Sick & How Psychospiritual Awareness Can Heal the Profession
- olivierbranford
- Oct 19
- 100 min read
Updated: 14 minutes ago
A manifesto for awakening within the legal profession: A clarion call for those who live by their ‘brilliant’ intellect to expand their consciousness into very real unlimited brilliance and to transform self-serving into Self-led-service, by taking their very own 'Hero's Journey' and rediscovering their Soul. This is the essential path to the treasures of Truth, awareness, healing, and well-being.
Note to the reader: If you have an interest in mental illness and in particular how this is most frequently a symptom of its root cause of childhood Trauma: Or how childhood Trauma manifests in, and is largely misunderstood and unacknowledged by, the ‘great professions’ (in particular medicine and law) and in those they are meant to serve, then this article is for you. In other words this article is for everyone.
You are all very welcome here. I wondered when you would arrive. Get ready for an immersive experience. Open your mind and your heart. Or rather, ‘get out of your mind’ and fall into the embrace and guidance of your heart. Get ready for your very own ‘Hero’s Journey’. This is the true path to expanding your consciousness, to achieving limitless brilliance and well-being, and perhaps even to begin the salvation of humanity, one person at a time, through compassionate self-less Soul-led service. For this is how we will change the world.
This manifesto is for every one of you, especially for all those, and you are legion, who are quietly suffering in the chambers of the legal profession and in the chambers of your heart: For judges, for lawyers, and for law students. Widespread understanding and awareness is long, very long, overdue. It is the synthesis of the teachings of our most illumined scientists, greatest philosophers, sages, spiritual masters, childhood Trauma-informed psychiatrists, positive ‘Fourth Force’ awakened psychologists, psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, and enlightened scholars from yet further disciplines. They will be joining us on your journey.
Do read and share this article with anyone that it might serve: You may well save a life, including your own. It is in your personal power. You may have forgotten who you really are and why you are here. How would you answer the question “Who are you?” Most commonly people give the first answer as their profession. Yet you are infinitely more than a human DOing. You are a great human BEing. This is a gentle reminder. You are your own saviour. But we all need a guide if we want to avoid taking wrong turns at the forks in the road or making slow progress. I will also gently signpost you to resources that you might find useful on your journey. We all need someone who has walked the path. We need wounded healers. We can’t find wisdom in a lecture or book. I myself have a psychospiritual coach. I will never judge you. I have ultimate compassion for you. I have walked your path. I am not trying to change you. I'm trying to free your mind. But I can only show you the door. You're the one that has to walk through it. Let’s turn your hidden wounds into wisdom and your pain into purpose and personal power. All is well; it is in fact glorious. You are a miracle worker. You don’t believe me yet? Then let’s dive in shall we?
Summary
Here is what this article covers, why it matters, and what I propose:
There is a growing mental health crisis within the legal profession: One that mirrors the crisis already occurring in the medical profession. I believe, alongside a number of revered world expert revolutionary visionaries, that childhood Trauma (also known as Adverse Childhood Experiences), is a major, yet often hidden, contributor to this suffering. Its pervasive impact remains largely unacknowledged, leading to deep emotional pain for many lawyers who enter the profession with a genuine desire to serve justice and humanity. Without understanding, acknowledging, and addressing the effects of childhood Trauma, law students, judges, lawyers and their clients will continue to experience unnecessary distress.
In this article, I connect my own lived experience of recovery and healing with the challenges facing the legal world. My hope and vision is to offer a compassionate perspective at a pivotal moment of reckoning. The legal profession stands at a crossroads: It must evolve, or risk losing its Soul. We all depend on lawyers to uphold higher principles of Truth, wisdom, and clarity. We must therefore do everything possible to support their well-being and help restore meaning and purpose to their work.
A Trauma-informed, compassion-based shift is urgently needed. I believe that psychospirituality (as I have described in my previous writing) can serve as a powerful complement to traditional medical approaches, enhancing healing for those who currently suffer in silence. It has done so for me, and while personal experience cannot replace professional care, I have found such approaches to be profoundly restorative.
I write as a wounded healer, hoping to shine a light for those who struggle, and to invite a more humane, Soul-conscious approach to law and justice. My intention is to contribute with humility, integrity, vulnerability, opennes, authenticity, and insight to a conversation that is now long overdue.
A psychospiritual approach to mental health in the legal profession invites a shift from the shiny illusions of self-serving ego-driven striving to the quiet depths of Soul-centred awareness and self-less service. This, in essence, reflects the entire Hero’s Journey: The spiritual path of awakening, healing, and returning to wholeness.
Author’s Note:
In this article, I capitalise ‘Soul’, ‘real Self’, and ‘true Self’ to signify the higher, authentic Self: The essence of who you truly are. Lowercase ‘self’ or ‘ego’ refers to the illusory ‘false self’: The ordinary, ego-driven aspects of personality, also known as the persona, or social mask, that we wear. This distinction is important for understanding the psychospiritual approach I explore in this piece. When I refer to Truth with a capital ‘T’, I mean higher Truth, unfiltered by the fearful perception of the ego.
I am not religious. Please don’t be put off reading this article because you see the word spirituality. Psychospirituality harnesses positive psychology, philosophy, and spirituality, ‘Supercoaching, (also known as ‘Transformative Life Coaching’ -TLC), as well as many other disciplines including science as you will see below: It takes psychology to the next level, as explained and delineated in my previous articles, by the world’s leading psychiatrists, psychologists, and psychotherapists. You do not need to follow any religion to engage with this work. The essential difference between spirituality and religion is this: Spirituality is tailor-made through a personal relationship with your something greater than your self. You are free to understand that something as Truth, Justice, Nature, Consciousness, compassion, your very own higher power, love, a divinity, or simply the deepest part of your Self: Anything that is greater than your ego. This article speaks not to belief but to experience: To the quiet awareness that witnesses thought, where true brilliance, unlimited and real Personal Power, clarity, intuition, compassion, light, and healing rise naturally. For total clarity on the distinction between spirituality and religion, please see the table below.
Table of contents
Introduction
The legal system is sick, very sick, and it is dying a slow, agonising death. Not only is its reputation and the public’s trust at stake, but so too is the well-being of those who work within it. Few seem to understand why it is in crisis, or how to guide it away from teetering on the brink of disaster.
The legal profession as it stands can be boiled down to this: It is a system where traumatised people are trying to traumatise other people through conflict in which traumatised professionals, in other words lawyers, collude in the adversarial battle in the interest of egocentric ‘winning-at-all-costs’ and transactional goals. This is not why law students felt a purpose and a calling to the profession and hence why they on to become junior lawyers facing an existential crisis, with the greatest levels of emotional disturbance and mental illness in the profession. In order to remain in the profession psychologically they must go to sleep and push their dreams into the hidden depths of their psyche. The problem with anything that is suppressed is that it re-emerges, perhaps decades later, as mental illness as described by Dr Sigmund Freud.
There’s a picture of a successful lawyer that’s so familiar it almost feels true by definition: Razor-sharp, composed under pressure, unflappable in court, and driven by a near-obsessive attention to detail. What we rarely see in that picture is the private history that helped shape the person standing behind it — and for a surprising number of lawyers, that history includes childhood Trauma. Why is the issue so often downplayed or left out of public discussions about lawyer well-being?
Childhood Trauma affects brain development, perception of reality, stress responses, emotional states, relationships, and has long term affects on mental well-being. For someone whose nervous system was shaped in a childhood of conditional love, of threat, or instability, the courtroom or the billable-hour treadmill can trigger and re-activate old survival strategies (hypervigilance, perfectionism, emotional dissociation, avoidance, conflict) that look functional at first but slowly burn people out and make mental illness more likely. Statistics on mental illness in lawyers are alarming. Burnout, anxiety, panic disorders, severe depression, compulsivity, alcoholism, substance use, and suicide all occur at rates far higher than in the general population and higher than in any other profession. Yet the statistics tell only part of the story. Beneath the surface lies a silent epidemic of unprocessed emotional pain: The pain of unrecognised and unhealed Childhood Trauma. Combined with systemic denial and suppression of mental health issues, particularly relating to early Trauma, this has created a professional culture rife with projection and judgement.
Through my own experience at the intersection of positive psychology, childhood Trauma, philosophy, spirituality, psychospiritual coaching, and the legal system, I have come to understand how deeply unhealed wounds have shaped the legal profession, often without anyone realising it. Even when lawyers are intelligent, committed, and highly skilled, there is sometimes a startling lack of awareness or compassion for the deeper human stories that bring someone into the system. Childhood Trauma profoundly influences the behavior of everyone involved, yet it is rarely acknowledged.
Having observed the legal system in action, I have been struck by how adversarial and transactional it can be. Even when lawyers are committed, intelligent, and skilled, there is sometimes a startling lack of understanding or compassion for the deeper human stories that bring someone into the system, simply from living out the human experience. One factor that is rarely considered, and yet profoundly shapes behaviour, is the role of childhood Trauma in all those involved.
Childhood Trauma has been shown in hundreds of high level scientific studies, which I refer to in this article, to be the primary cause of most adult mental illness. Mental illness, then, is a symptom of childhood Trauma. Childhood Trauma is a global public health crisis. The legal system is turning a blind eye to it and its impact in judges, lawyers and their clients, despite public awareness. It doesn't even mention it in its global review.
Childhood Trauma, a universal element of the condition of being human, which governs every element of our lives until we become aware of it and seek healing for it, influences our perceptions, emotional regulation, stress reactions, behaviour, and all our interpersonal relationships throughout life. Yet, in the legal system, the ways in which childhood Trauma shapes behaviour is often invisible. The result can be a professional culture that mistakes survival strategies for malice, compulsivity for calculation, and trauma responses for deliberate wrongdoing.
For lawyers, the ‘curse of the gifted child’ and the ‘golden child’ dynamic represent childhood Trauma masked as talent. In other words, success built upon emotional self-erasure. Many legal or professional careers become the adult stage upon which this early drama continues to unfold, until awareness transforms performance into authenticity.
I propose why and how a much needed reconnection of the law with compassion (including self-compassion), its Soul, its heart (if it is already not too late), combined with an awareness about childhood Trauma in the legal system, in lawyers (including, but not limited to, what made them choose law as a profession, what drives them but makes them so mentally ill, and how it affects their behaviour), and in those they are purporting to represent and help, through education and a psychospiritual approach, could restore both meaning and purpose to the law.
Wariness in the courtroom reflects a weariness that the legal system, and indeed much of the medical syatem, knows virtually nothing about childhood Trauma or how to heal and recover from it. What follows are the lessons that I have learned as a survivor of childhood Trauma with a passionate interest in healing and transformation, which are intended for the legal system, those in training, judges, lawyers, litigators, the people that they represent, as well as for the psychiatrists who act as 'expert witnesses' without any expertise in childhood Trauma. This article explores how childhood Trauma shapes both lawyers and their clients, and how awareness, reflection, and compassion can restore meaning to legal work.
Many lawyers enter the profession driven by idealism, only to find themselves overwhelmed, anxious, and disconnected. This article is especially for law students and junior lawyers (and their coaches and mentors if they have any) who have become particularly disillusioned with how the profession that they once looked up to is making them ill, very ill: Junior lawyers have the highest rates of mental illness of all.
The philosopher J. Krishnamurti said that "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society", implying that conforming to unhealthy norms of the flawed adversarial legal system, may actually be a sign of sickness and psychological compromise, not health.
I am delighted to see published articles on childhood Trauma and its effects on lawyers and their clients from within the profession itself, supporting what I have long suspected. This signifies that the tide is turning. The research is in its infancy, due to denial, repression, and suppression by the legal profession, but it is gaining traction. I will reference these articles within this manifesto for positive change through Self-awareness. This Hero’s journey will turbocharge the brilliance of lawyers by going way beyond duality to find a higher Truth, and will heal the legal profession, lawyers, and their clients. Neville Goddard wrote “Man's chief delusion is his conviction that there are causes other than his own state of consciousness," which means that a person's outer circumstances are a direct result of their inner state of consciousness, which includes their beliefs, thoughts, desires, emotional responses and behaviour. The implication of this is that to change the external world, one must first change their internal state of consciousness. This means that a lawyer’s true brilliance in the courtroom, their emotional distress and their mental health, and that of their clients (and their resulting perceived grievances), is a direct function of the inner work, or lack thereof, that they have done.
Nothing is good or bad, or right or wrong. Duality is an illusion of the ego mind. The philosopher Rumi said in his famous poem:
“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing,
There is a field. I'll meet you there.
When the Soul lies down in that grass,
The world is too full to talk about.
Ideas, language, even the phrase each other
Doesn't make any sense.”
We are waves in the ocean, all connected by the human experience and our shared humanity. It is when this connection goes awry that we become ill.
I have observed the notable irony and double-standard in some lawyers and judges that, in adversarial situations, they completely dismiss and have no compassion for clients and individuals suffering from mental health difficulties, when it is so rife in law. This needs to change, especially considering the data which I present in this article (see below). This truly reflects a lack of compassion, a word whose etymology is 'to suffer with' another. It is time to call them out on this and hold their hypocrisy and egoic behaviour to account. It is time for the mirror of a higher Truth to be held up to those who are accountable in hindering and completely obviating the perception of compassion in the profession as a whole. The legal system is drowning, and it's trying to take us with it. No-one wins on the ‘blame game’, and it is far from being a game.
By understanding the hidden impact of childhood Trauma on mental illness in the legal profession and in the fairness, or lack thereof, in regard to equality and judgement in clients, and by embracing psychospiritual wisdom, we can show the legal system the way to reclaim humanity in the courtroom and the path to their own well-being and awareness.
I have met lawyers who are brimming with compassion. In truth it is the key to their abundance. Mahatma Gandhi said that “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” He was the greatest lawyer who ever lived and, like Jesus, primarily taught compassion.
The medical system is equally mistaken as quoted in this month's British Medical Journal that "System level changes are essential to improve the psychological wellbeing of NHS staff." This misses the whole point: Systems never change.
Healing cannot be mandated through so-called ‘resilience’ training, workshops, and tick-box ‘nods’ that serve only to placate the observers outside the legal profession
The change must come from within each of you. This is how you create a ripple effect, releasing every lawyer from being obliged to attack and judge within the constraints of the adversarial legal system, and instead BE compassion.
Hurt people (and so many lawyers are hurting, as are their clients) hurt people. Healed people heal people. Transformed people transform people.
The good news is that healing is contagious: Presence spreads through the quiet example of compassion and understanding more than through endless reports saying the same thing about sick lawyers but missing the point. One compassionate lawyer can shift a culture. Will that be you?
The ‘Hero’s Journey’ of the lawyer: A Path from ego to Soul through the spiritual path of transformation
The call to adventure
Every lawyer begins with an idealistic call — the desire to uphold justice, to serve truth, to make a difference. This is the Call to Adventure, the moment the Hero feels the pull of purpose. Law students often feel this deeply, seeing the law as a noble path toward fairness and order. Yet, soon after stepping into the profession, many discover that the call leads into a world of complexity, conflict, and compromise. The ideal becomes tested by the realities of billing targets, adversarial battles, and emotional exhaustion.
In mythic terms, this is the threshold — the crossing from innocence into experience.
The descent into the underworld
As careers progress, many lawyers find themselves descending into the Underworld — not a literal place, but a psychological space of disillusionment, burnout, or depression. Here lies the confrontation with the shadow self, with unhealed wounds and unresolved Childhood Trauma that the profession’s high-stakes environment can so easily trigger. Cases involving injustice, conflict, or suffering may mirror the lawyer’s own hidden pain. The adversarial nature of law becomes a mirror for the inner battle between ego and Soul.
Every profession has its underworld; in law, it is found in the lonely chambers of burnout, cynicism, and perfectionism.
The ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ and the revelation
The Hero’s Journey always includes a Dark Night of the Soul — a breaking point that forces surrender. For the lawyer, this might appear as burnout, a disciplinary case, or a moment of deep ethical reckoning. It is here that the old identity — the “false self” built on achievement and status — begins to dissolve. This crisis, while painful, opens the doorway to psychospiritual awakening: the rediscovery of compassion, humility, and authenticity.
In the breaking comes the breakthrough; in the wound lies the invitation to heal
The return with the elixir
Those who journey through the fire of transformation and return with insight become wounded healers within their profession. They practice law with empathy, not ego. They teach students not just how to argue, but how to listen. They embody the very compassion the system has forgotten. This is the Hero’s final stage — the Return — where the individual’s healing becomes a gift for the collective.
The healed lawyer heals the system; the awakened judge restores justice’s Soul.
Cycles of transformation
The Hero’s Journey is not a one-time event. It unfolds in cycles — each case, each client, each challenge offering another chance to move from ego to Soul, from reaction to reflection, from judgment to compassion. Every courtroom can become a classroom for consciousness.
The true calling of law is not just to interpret rules but to awaken hearts. In the end, the Hero’s Journey of the lawyer is not about conquering others, but about returning home to the real Self — the place where justice and compassion are one.
The ‘new’ brilliance
Lawyers may feel the ceaseless pressure of expectation to be brilliant. This is a childhood Trauma response resulting from conditioning by their parents and society, perpetuated by their own perceived expectations of their profession. Brilliance is not about mere intellect. This is a limiting belief resulting from our childhood fears of being unworthy.
Yet there is nothing new about brilliance. Over eight centuries ago, the philosopher, scholar, and poet Rumi encapsulated and expounded beautifully what it means to be truly brilliant. It is so, so much more than mere intellect.
Rumi and true brilliance
Rumi spoke of brilliance as an inherent, divine inner light that exists within every individual and lights the Universe infinitely more than a shiny Ferrari. He encouraged people to recognise and embrace this inner radiance, rather than hiding it or seeking validation externally according to expectations. Rumi wrote "Don't you know yet? It is your Light that lights the worlds".
This quote emphasised the belief that true brilliance is a fundamental part of one's Soul, an inherent reflection of divine beauty and light. He urged us to look within to find this brilliance. He said, "The one you seek is deep within". He noted that fear, limiting beliefs, self-doubt, and worldly distractions can veil this inner light, much like clouds obscuring the sun. The Hero’s Journey is about tearing away these veils and to blow away the clouds to let the brilliance shine through. Rumi contrasted mere ‘cleverness’ (intellect focused on external change) with true ‘wisdom’ (inner change and transformation). He famously stated "Yesterday I was clever, so I wanted to change the world. Today I am wise, so I am changing myself".
The light of the heart, connected to the divine, is a pure and profound source of wisdom that is separate from, and infinitely superior to, the ordinary intellect.
In essence, Rumi's message is that every person possesses a magnificent inner brilliance, and the path to a meaningful life lies in discovering and expressing this authentic light and wisdom.
Time for a change in the law: ‘The Doors of Perception' and higher Truth
Change and consciousness
Mahatma Gandhi, a lawyer, spiritual master, and teacher who was Christ-like in that he lived according to his philosophy of higher Truth, compassion, unconditional love, non-judgement, acceptance, non-violent resolution of conflict, forgiveness, loving your enemies, and self-less service, said that we should all "Be the change you want to see in the world.” The quote emphasises personal responsibility for creating the world you wish to see. This accurately reflects his teachings that the world will change if individuals change their own nature first: Who they are BEing. The world lost Gandhi over three quarters of a century ago, leaving us a priceless legacy of deep wisdom and teaching that he gave away freely, that has yet to be received by most of his fellow lawyers.
Max Planck, the famous theoretical physicist, whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in physics, said that “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” Interestingly this is also a quote by Professor Wayne Dyer, the psychologist, psychotherapist, author, spiritual teacher, and supercoach. Planck’s fame as a physicist rests primarily on his role as the originator of quantum theory: He was also one of the founders of modern physics. This created the theoretical framework for the quantum field, where subatomic particles have been studied in high energy particle accelerators, with the most powerful one being The Large Hadron Collider (LHC). When scientists look increasingly deeply and closer in all they see is energy, wavelets of the quantum field. There are, in reality, no atoms, subatomic structures, or particles. It’s all just energy: In Genesis 1:3, right at the beginning of the Bible in the first chapter, it is written "And God said, 'Let there be light,' and there was light."
Philosophers, neuroscientists, and spiritual masters, among others, believe that the quantum field is the realm of consciousness. The quantum field creates everything in the entire Universe, including you, and including me. The quantum field is infinite. It is a unified field. We are one, scientifically, physically, energetically, philosophically, psychologically, and spiritually. So, what do the two above quotes about have in common and how do they relate to the quantum field of consciousness?
It is by altering our consciousness and who we are BEing, through a change in our perception, that we see higher Truth.
Higher Truth and 'The Doors of Perception'
Law is about finding the truth. So why does it not look for higher Truth? When higher Truth is found, there is no need, and indeed no place, for argument.
William Blake wrote that "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is: Infinite". The brilliant philosopher and author Aldous Huxley wrote that "There are things known and there are things unknown, and in between are the doors of perception". So, our perception, then, is the filter between the known and the unknown, and changing or ‘cleansing’ this filter can reveal a higher reality: Real reality, also known as absolute or higher Truth. Aldous Huxley wrote in his book ‘The Doors of Perception’, named after the above quote by William Blake, that "The man who comes back through the Door in the Wall will never be quite the same as the man who went out." By this he meant that altering one's perception can lead to a fundamental, lasting change in an individual. This is the same as Jesus’ teachings that we have to die to be reborn. In John 3:1-7 he said “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” When Nicodemus questions how someone old can be born, Jesus explains that this rebirth is transformational. Of course, as always, Jesus was using metaphor to teach Truth, and here he is describing the psychological and spiritual ‘death’ of the ego that is required to reveal true Self. Our old ‘self’, with its distorted perception, dissolves, an inevitable and irreversible result of awakening the new ‘Self’, which sees absolute Truth. The concept of the ‘old self’ dying and living a new life is further explained by the Apostle Paul in Romans 6:5-6, saying that the "Old self was crucified." This psychological and spiritual rebirth is also the metaphorical meaning of the resurrection. In 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV) it states that a person becomes a "New creation," where the old is gone and the new has come. Spirituality means awakening.
These philosophies are crucial for judges,!lawyers and their clients to understand. Jesus was describing spiritual transformation. When our perception becomes clear, we can see the world as it truly is, in all its infinite detail and unity, rather than through a limited, dualistic, utilitarian, egocentric, fearful lens.
Marianne Williamson, the philosopher, spiritual teacher, and American presidential candidate wrote in her book ‘A Return to Love’, which is in my ’Suggested Reading’ list, that "A miracle is a shift in perception from fear to love, from a belief in what is not real, to trust in that which is". The core message of this is that a miracle is not about external events, but a fundamental change in how we perceive the world and our Selves. The shift involves moving from a perspective of fear, which is based on what is not real, to one of love, which is based on faith in what is real. The outcome of this change in perception has the power to change everything, as it opens the heart to forgiveness and peace, regardless of our perceived external circumstances. This is the way of miracles.
Williamson continues "Only love is real. Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God.” This line is from ‘A Course in Miracles’, which was written by a psychologist. Fear is an illusion, a false perception that has no power, and no basis in Truth. By recognising that only love is real and that fear is not, one can find true inner peace. This refers to the Biblical quote in Philippians 4:7 "The peace of God, which passeth all understanding." The phrase describes a sense of peace that may be felt and yet is beyond human comprehension. But we may feel it.
Albert Einstein, the most eminent scientist who ever lived, wrote in a letter to his daughter, that "Love is the most powerful force in the Universe." In the letter, Einstein explains love as a universal force that governs and includes all others, and that by giving and receiving love, humanity can overcome selfishness. Einstein was a theoretical physicist, best known for developing the theory of relativity. Einstein also made important contributions to quantum theory. His mass–energy equivalence formula E = m×c², which arises from special relativity, has been called "The world's most famous equation". In the letter to his daughter Einstein re-imagines the equation 𝐸=𝑚×c² to E=Love×c², suggesting that love is the most powerful force, with no limits.
Therefore the quantum field, the Universe, consciousness, love, and even our own concept of ‘God‘, are all the same thing.
Ram Dass, the Harvard professor of psychology and spiritual master, wrote "I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion." This quote, among others, often uses the terms love and compassion together, suggesting they are deeply intertwined in a spiritual life.
The Dalai Lama said that "Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive." He wrote that, in a Buddhist philosophy, "Love can be defined as a wish that others be happy; compassion is the wish that they be free from suffering."
Thich Nhat Hanh wrote that "The essence of love and compassion is understanding, the ability to recognise the physical, material, and psychological suffering of others. When we are in contact with another's suffering, a feeling of compassion is born in us." This suggests that compassion is an expression of, and outcome of, love and understanding. As compassion is the manifestation of the most powerful force in the Universe, why does the legal profession so rarely harness it?
This is not New Age ‘mumbo-jumbo’. This is scientifically-based psychospiritual Truth. The reason that a psychospiritual approach to healing works is that we have a psychospiritual dis-ease, which is an integral part of the human condition. This is why mere psychology alone is not enough. This has been my personal experience too. Mental illness then, is largely a symptom of this dis-ease. This is also the teaching of Dr Carl Jung and Dr Gabor Maté, both doctors and revolutionaries who were also spiritual masters.
Childhood Trauma creates an opaque, dirty lens of illusory perception. Awakening cleanses our perception. When you remove the distorting, fearful lens of the ego, created through childhood Trauma, you become compassion itself, and you become the change you want to see in the world: You change, and the world changes. For the first time, you begin to see reality as it is: You begin to see the Truth. This is of fundamental importance to law, the legal system, judges, lawyers, and their clients.
But don’t just take my word for it. In this article, I will further elucidate the scholarly evidence for all of these concepts, and the teachings of the scientists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, psychoanalysts, historical figures who taught Truth, philosophers, great spiritual masters, sages, enlightened beings, and writings from ancient texts to the present day. We will see that they are all essentially speaking the same Truth as outlined above, it is simply that they are using different metaphors. This article speaks of this higher, unlfitered Truth.
Psychospirituality, then, is my vision and manifesto for change. I pray that it may be of service to you. I feel your suffering. I see your Soul. It’s time to surrender your emotional pain: It’s time to change your perception and to let it go.
The only thing that we need to be saved from, then, is not other people or situations, it is our own incessant fearful thinking. This is the malignant legacy of childhood Trauma. As a lawyer, have you turned your pain into purpose and your wounds into wisdom yet? The most beautiful Souls are often those who have overcome sadness and suffering in life, and have returned to a place of love. This applies both to lawyers and their clients. Their experience has given them a deep understanding of how to show love and compassion. The famous eminent psychiatrist Elisabeth Kübler-Ross wrote that "Should you shield the canyons from the windstorms you would never see the true beauty of their carvings". Kahlil Gibran wrote that "Out of suffering have emerged the strongest Souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars,"
Why is all of this relevant you ask? And how does it all relate to the present article? The ancient Hindu text ‘The Bhagavad Gita’ teaches that genuine compassion comes from "Understanding our shared spiritual essence" and seeing the "Same Soul in everyone," which transforms compassion from a duty into a natural expression of our BEing. Compassion is the ultimate expression of your highest Self. In compassion, the Soul finds its calling.
So, what does this all have to do with changing the law?
Law and the Soul
Law is meant to serve justice, but too often it silently erodes the humanity of those within it. Many lawyers carry the wounds of unrecognised and unhealed childhood Trauma, as do their clients and so do the judges. Yet the legal system rarely acknowledges how pervasively this shapes the beliefs, perception, thinking, emotional pain, stress, behaviour, and judgement in all of those involved.
The legal system has lost its light. For years, I’ve watched with heartfelt sadness and curiosity as the legal system (like the medical system), one that was once meant to serve humanity, has become increasingly adversarial, aggressive, colluding, mechanical, and transactional. This mélange; this toxic cocktail has costs: A negative and ‘reverse transformation’ isn’t measured only in burnout and mental illness statistics in those working within it, namely judges, lawyers, and solicitors, and those it is meant to serve, resulting in client dissatisfaction, but also in something deeper: The quiet erosion of compassion, understanding, wisdom, morality, and the Soul of law.
I’ve often wondered why, despite the significant intelligence and good intentions of so many lawyers, so many seem disillusioned, exhausted, suffering, in emotional pain, emotionally numbed, running on empty, and purposeless in their work. And why so many clients and defendants leave the system feeling unseen and unheard, still carrying grievances regardless of the outcome, with their emotional pain untouched or even stirred and exacerbated. This is the metaphorical meaning of ‘Hell’.
Over time, I began to see a common thread: The silent, hidden, unrecognised influence of childhood Trauma - the wounds of the distant past that live on in the way we think, relate, and react. These early experiences don’t vanish when we put on a suit or enter a courtroom. They shape our beliefs about power, control, trust, and safety.
Yet the law, built on logic and precedent, rarely acknowledges the invisible inner lives of those who practice or participate in it. And that silence has consequences for mental illness, justice, and the very Soul of the profession.
Childhood Trauma is a common precursor in those with mental disorders, and the level of trauma affects mental disorder severity. Many argue that it is their root cause. Emotional abuse in dysfunctional families is closely related to many mental disorders. The incidence or severity of mental disorders can be reduced in the future by reducing the incidence of, or by timely intervention in, childhood Trauma.
Childhood Trauma awareness Is not optional. Mental illness in law is not an individual failing - it’s a systemic symptom of childhood Trauma. Without understanding this, mandated ‘wellness programs’ will remain ineffective in resolving on these deeper wounds. One has to feel them to heal them. In order to for this to happen they must first be acknowledged and brought into the light. Tip-toeing around them is as useful as a chocolate tea-pot.
Childhood Trauma deeply alters our perceptions and the lens through which we all view the world as outlined above in the section of this article entitled ‘Time for a change in the law: Higher Truth and 'The Doors of Perception'’.
This article explores how an awareness of childhood Trauma and psychospiritual reflection can help lawyers reclaim their well-being, and restore compassion and the Soul to the practice of law. The best lawyers of the future will be trauma-informed. They will understand that compassion is not weakness, but wisdom in action.
We must all have compassion for lawyers in the same way that they must have compassion for us. This is because we are all programmed by our childhood Trauma as this is the entire cause of all of our deepest fears, which subconsciously, subsequently, and sequentially dictate all of our beliefs, thoughts, emotions, and behaviour, This is true for lawyers. It is true for judges. It is true for all of us. This is why Jesus said in Luke 23:34 "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.". He spoke these words while being crucified, praying for forgiveness for those who were persecuting and tormenting him, recognising that their actions were rooted in ignorance. Now that you are reading this article, now you know.
Arthur Schopenhauer, the brilliant German philosopher, wrote that “Compassion is the basis of all morality.” Fyodor Dostoyevsky, of the greatest novelists in all of world literature, with many of his works considered to be highly influential masterpieces, wrote “Compassion is the chief law of human existence.” Compassion is a Natural Law. As a result of its close association with the infinite force of love, it defied and even supersedes the paradoxically archaic laws of physics, as Einstein explained above. Similarly, the Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh consistently mentioned the importance of compassion over everything else. He said "I vow to live fully in each moment and to look at all BEings with eyes of compassion. Look at flowers, butterflies, trees, and children with the eyes of compassion. Compassion will change your life and make it wonderful.” He reminded us that action is required, saying that “Compassion is a verb.” John Holmes agrees, saying “There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up.” This action should not discriminate. The heart tells the deepest Truth and wisdom of the Soul. Knowledge is from the ego mind. Truth is a feeling. One must become attuned to the voice of clarity and intuition that the heart whispers, rather then listening to the loud brash voice of the ego. Here is my full article on the differences between knowledge, ‘Wisdom and Truth’:
When lawyers are evolved enough to practice law with their Soul instead of their ego, in order to resolve conflict between two opposing ‘truths’ through understanding and compassion instead of promoting a transactional adversarial ‘win at all cost’ approach, they reach a deeper Truth. And in doing so, they gain wisdom.
Mahatma Gandhi, a Christ-like figure likely the most significant lawyer in history, did not believe in adversarial conflict. He said "Nonviolence is the greatest force at the disposal of mankind.” Are you courageous enough to wield that force? He was a devout believer in forgiveness,, saying that “"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.”
No-one is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. That is duality. We are not ‘bad’ people trying to become ‘good’. We are all spiritually sick people trying to become well. Shakespeare wrote in 'Hamlet' that "There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." The line in the play conveys the idea that one's perception, or 'thinking', arbitrarily determines whether something is 'seen' as good, bad, right, or wrong. It's a statement about the subjectivity of human judgement and the power of perspective. Duality is an illusion created by the ego Higher Truth is non-dual: Two contradictory truths may both be true at the same time. The highest wisdom in law is to be able to hold both truths without the fear of cognitive dissonance in the interest of finding a higher truth, which is the basis of all peaceful and compassionate resolution.
We all suffer from the human condition and so law should not just be a system of rules without any understanding: It should be a mirror of that human condition. And its condition is critical: Burnout, anxiety, mental illness, spiritual dis-ease, and moral injury are running rampant in the legal profession, yet the powerful role of childhood Trauma is very rarely addressed, if at all. In that mirror, something vital has been lost. Behind the polished surfaces of the profession lie sleepless nights, quiet despair, and the aching question many dare not ask: What happened to the Soul of law?
This article highlights how childhood Trauma affects judges, lawyers, their clients, and their cases and why psychospiritual practices can protect well-being for all while improving conflict resolution with compassion.
Childhood Trauma is almost universal: It's about you, it's about me, it's about everyone. Dr Mark Epstein, a psychiatrist and Buddhist meditation teacher, said that “It is hard to imagine the scope of an individual life without envisioning some kind of childhood Trauma.” Dr Peter Levine, one of the world's foremost expert psychologists in healing from Trauma, having worked in the field for over four decades, including working for NASA, wrote that "Trauma has become so commonplace that most people don't even recognise its presence. Trauma is a fact of life. It does not, however, have to be a life sentence." Dr Robert Block, former President of the American Academy of Paediatrics, emphasised the widespread nature of childhood Trauma, saying that it is “The single greatest unaddressed public health threat facing our nation today.”
Dr Gabor Maté, the renowned world expert on childhood Trauma and its pervasive effect on our mental, and even our physical, lives, wrote that “The norm in this culture is traumatic. It’s normal for people to go to jobs that don’t mean anything to them. That’s the norm, but it’s not healthy or natural. Dr Maté reminds us that m the word ‘trauma’ originates from the Greek word for ‘wound.’ He emphasises that trauma is not the external event itself, but the internal psychological wound that results from it. Just as a physical wound can heal, Dr Maté suggests that a psychological trauma can also heal, as it is the internal wound, not the person or external event, that can be changed.
The law was never meant to be Soul-less. It was meant to hold suffering, not amplify it. If childhood Trauma awareness and psychospiritual reflection become woven into the profession, law could again serve justice and humanity.
The Soul-full and spiritual origin of the legal system
In many early civilisations, the origin of law was deeply rooted in spiritual conceptions of the Soul, divine order and natural law, and 'cosmic justice'.
In Mesopotamia in 1750 BCE, law was seen as a divine light brought to human affairs; an echo of the Soul’s illumination. In Ancient Egypt, the Soul’s judgment in the afterlife was both legal and spiritual. In Vedic India, law (Dharma) was inseparable from cosmic order and spiritual duty. Remarkably, Dharma means both 'law' and 'that which sustains the Universe.' Legal duties were expressions of the Soul’s alignment with ṛta: Universal Truth. In ancient Israel, mosaic law (Torah) was revealed by God on Mount Sinai. The commandments were simultaneously spiritual; and civil laws. To obey the law was to live in harmony with the divine Soul of the covenant. The ancient Greek view, characterised by philosophers such as Heraclitus and the Stoics saw law as an expression of Logos, the rational principle ordering the Universe. A just Soul, for them, lived in accordance with this divine reason. Socrates and Plato even described law as the 'music of the Soul that keeps society in harmony. Roman law was one of 'Natural Law', formalising this idea as lex naturae (natural law): A moral order inscribed in the heart, the resting place of the Soul of every person, derived from divine reason. Cicero said that “True law is right reason in agreement with Nature. It is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting.”
In nearly all traditions, early law arose from the intuition that: The Soul has an innate sense of justice; That society’s laws should mirror a divine, sacred, Soul-full or Natural order, with justice being not merely social control, but a sacred balance.
Inother words, the legal system began not as mere regulation, but as a spiritual mirror of the Soul’s yearning for a deeper Truth.
The spiritual bankruptcy of modern legal culture
In the brilliant book by Robin Sharma 'The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari', which is in my 'Suggested Reading' list, and is one of the first books about spirituality that I signpost my coachees to (as my first coach did for me), Julian Mantle, a brilliant, high-powered, yet miserable lawyer who, after suffering a severe and near fatal heart attack, gives up his obsession with material gain, including his prized Ferrari, travels to the Himalayas to find the secrets to a more meaningful Soul-full life, the author brilliantly encapsulates how the legal system has become sick and how spirituality may well be the cure.
In the Himalayas, the stressed-out, successful, but miserable lawyer meets a sect of Enlightened monks who have mastered the art of living a joyful and purposeful life. Mantle returns to the West a transformed man, sharing the ancient wisdom he learned. Well-being and abundance are inseparable, when one adopts a psychospiritual lens through which to view the world. lawyers must reclaim the spiritual dimension of their work. Sharma wrote that “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.” Law loses its Soul when purpose is reduced to profit. It regains it when lawyers see their work as service to our shared humanity and to healing.
Sharma says that “The mind is a wonderful servant, but a terrible master.” He is referring, of course, to the ego mind. If we let it direct our thinking and run the show, without a psychospiritual understanding of it, it will rule our world. Dr Carl Jung, one of the greatest psychiatrists of all time, the father of psychoanalysis, a spiritual master, who was recognised as a 'prophet' in the world of psychology, wrote famously that "Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate." The unconscious collective ego-mind, an illusory creation resulting from childhood Traima, is currently running the rule of law. It's time to metaphorically give up that Ferrari, reconnect with your own Soul, and the long-lost Soul of the legal profession. Dr Jung knew God. For my article ‘Carl Jung and the Soul’ click here:
The present article may seem ‘out there.’ Bear with me. Schopenhauer wrote that "All Truth passes through three stages: First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident." Thank heaven, as Dr Jung wrote, that "The world is changing, and I’m on the transition team. Awaken and shine your light for others to follow. The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are." Now that's a real psychiatrist:
The ego is the petrified child that resides in all of us and that runs our life, even as adults, Aristotle, the great Greek philosopher, wrote "Give me a child until he is 7 and I will show you the man." The quote emphasises the profound impact of early childhood on a person's development. It suggests that a child's character is largely formed during their first seven years. The psychologist Dr Peter Levine, a world expert on childhood Trauma, said that “All trauma is preverbal,” indicating that it is in our earliest years that are so influential on our later well-being. Dr Levine explored Buddhism and incorporated Buddhist principles, particularly the ‘Four Noble Truths’, into his work on trauma healing. He integrated spiritual concepts like the acceptance of suffering and finding peace through mindful, present-moment awareness with psychology. His writing and talks frequently draw parallels between trauma work and Buddhist philosophy, discussing themes like non-attachment to opinions, finding balance, and the role of suffering in transformation.
Sharma's lead character, collapsing and then seeking meaning through a spiritual journey symbolises the crisis facing the legal profession today and my proposed path ahead. Sharma reminds us of Ralph Waldo Emerson's quote “What lies behind you and what lies before you are tiny matters compared to what lies within you.”
As Sharma warns, material success without inner peace is “The ultimate failure.” This failure to look within, and do the inner work required, leads to spiritual bankruptcy.
Yet the current legal system rarely looks within. It celebrates intellect but mistrusts introspection. It prizes ‘resilience’ but punishes vulnerability, when vulnerability is actually a superpower. When lawyers lose touch with their inner lives, the law itself loses compassion. And without compassion, justice becomes mere procedure.
We all have needs. That’s why they are called needs. Could you name quickly your top 5 needs? The psychologist Abraham Maslow described the ‘Hierarcjy of Needs’, with the highest needs being spiritual ones, namely Self-actualisation and transcendence.
Life is not a lottery
The philosopher and spiritual teacher Byron Katie wrote that “When I argue with reality, I lose, but only 100% of the time.” In this she is referring to ultimate reality: A higher Truth. 'Truth' as currently argued during legal cases is based on the power of argument, influence, and manipulation, in order to win cases.
The current adversarial system of law makes ‘winning’ no more than the toss of a coin. But it’s ‘heads I win, tails you lose.’ But life is no a lottery. Life is more than the toss of a coin or the spin of a roulette.
In reality, there are no ‘goodies’ or’ baddies’: They exist only in cowboy movies and fictional war films. But life is not fantasy. In war, there are no true winners. Both sides suffer casualties and therefore lose.
Gambling is an addiction. The first symptom of addiction is denial. Denial is ultimately deadly. Addiction is ultimately deadly. So why do lawyers keep gambling with their lives? Winning is an addiction. Thinking is an addiction. Living as your ego is an addiction. External validation through your profession is an addiction. As described below in my section on childhood Trauma and lawyers, particularly in the manifestations of the childhood Trauma of the gifted child and the golden child, lawyers put their self worth on things such as accolades and accomplishments. And here is the greatest gamble, one which is costing lawyers their mental well-being and even their lives, in that they place all their gambling chips on black (being successful in their profession), believing that this ‘win’ will bring them happiness. Happiness depends on the ephemeral things that are external to you. Joy and peace on the other hand are internal states of consciousness. Herein is the greatest tragedy of all: That when the spinner of the roulette does come up black, and lawyers become established in their profession, when this was fuelled by the fears and beliefs generated by childhood Trauma that they must succeed to be worthy, and that this success in their fashion does not bring happiness, but instead brings feelings of despair, desolation, emptiness, and the darkest emotional states the find themselves asking ‘Where do I go from here to find joy?‘
As Naval Ravikant states, the belief that external goals will bring everlasting happiness is a "Fundamental delusion," as victory fail to provide the happiness that people expect.
William Shakespeare echoed in ‘The rape of Lucrece’ "What win I, if I gain the thing I seek? A dream, a breath, a froth of fleeting joy. Who buys a minute's mirth to wail a week? Or sells eternity to get a toy?” The lines are a rhetorical question that weighs a short-lived, fleeting pleasure ("a minute's mirth") such as outward success, against the long-term, lasting value of what was sacrificed ("eternity"). It concludes that the temporary joy is not worth the significant cost, and immense, eternal loss.
This wisdom is nothing new. In the Bible it states in Mark 8:36 “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own Soul?"
Do really want to gamble your peace and joy on the toss of a coin or a spin of the roulette?
Instead, make peace your goal. In the well-known phrase in Matthew 5:9 "Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called sons of God". In this beatitude from the Bible, specifically from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus refers to those who actively work to bring about peace in a world filled with conflict, and their reward is to be recognised as children of God. In Matthew 5:5 Jesus adds about peacemakers “For they shall inherit the earth”. Peacemaking is is an active process that involves resolving conflict, mediating disputes, and restoring harmony between people, even when it is difficult. That is the real challenge for the legal system and why it needs to change. The concept of "peace" in this context is closer to the Hebrew idea of shalom, which includes human flourishing, and well-being. To be a peacemaker for others, one must first have a foundation of personal peace.
The legal system is sick
William Shakespeare, the greatest author who ever lived, who was also a spiritual master, who had a distinctly psychospiritual wisdom as described in my article ‘Psychospirituality and Shakespeare’ wrote in Henry VI, Part 2 "Let's kill all the lawyers". Meanwhile, lawyers are currently killing themselves.
In the play's context and deeper meaning, as Shakespeare often hid in the implicit nature of his writing, he was referring to those characters who want to ‘kill the lawyers’ are the ones who would benefit from the destruction of the law and justice system. We all want the legal system to survive, but in order for it to do so, it must revive its Soul.
Shakespeare was one of the first authors to use the term ‘courtroom drama’, which was in his play The Merchant of Venice. His plays also feature legal or forensic elements in Measure for Measure, Hamlet, and The Winter's Tale. But there doesn’t need to be conflict and drama. In the blame game, no one wins. The blame game is usually the result of projection, which comes from the repressed shadow. Projection was described by Dr Jung. The battle between the ego and the shadow is mortal combat. That conflict is projected outwards and is resolved only by doing the inner psychospiritual work, also known as shadow work, which is largely the same as Joseph Campbell’s ‘Hero’s Journey: The True Path of Your Transformation.’
I have already set out the evidence for mental illness in the medical profession and how it compares to that of the general population in my article ‘Mental Ilness is the Next Pandemic And its Already Upon Us.’ I have also set out the root cause and its solutions. The present article turns to the rapidly growing crisis beneath the robes of the courtroom. Its power is that of a tsunami, which, if left unchecked, will destroy everything in its path. Poor mental well-being in lawyers can lead to a range of negative outcomes for the individuals involved in legal cases, for lawyers, their firms, related organisations, the economy, and society as a whole.
Dr Jung wrote "Show me a sane man, and I will cure him for you.” This is often interpreted to mean that so-called 'sanity' is itself a kind of illusion or mask; people who seem 'completely sane' may simply be suppressing or ignoring their inner conflicts.
The legal profession is associated with a substantial incidence of mental health problems for both lawyers and judges.
But, as Dr Maté often says, “The attempt to escape from pain is what creates more pain.” He highlights how confronting and healing from childhood Trauma is crucial for mental well-being. One can not even start healing if one does not admit to oneself or others that one needs help. Openness honesty (especially with ourselves), and embracing vulnerability are all indispensable to recovery and healing. Alice Miller, the psychologist who wrote extensively about childhood Trauma., said, that “The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves.” This emphasises how unprocessed trauma can lead to internal conflicts and distress: This is the cause of mental illness. Mental illness is a symptom of its root cause.
The data for the legal profession, which is likely to represent underestimates, due to the stigma of mental illness and addiction, particularly in lawyers, consistently shows elevated rates of depression, anxiety, stress, burnout and substance‐use risk among lawyers compared to all other professions or the general population. A staggering 83% of lawyers report feeling stressed. A truly shocking and devastating 17% of lawyers are suicidal. A Canadian study by the Canadian Bar Association found that among lawyers, judges and law students, 60% have burnout. In a study of 13.000 lawyers; Almost 50% experience severe depression: 10% have a panic disorder. 13% have ADHD. Turning to unhealthy coping mechanisms for unprocessed emotional pain in the legal system: Over a third of lawyers are alcoholic or problem drinkers, a figure that is double that of other professions; One in 6 lawyers are addicted to sedatives; Over 10% use marijuana; 6% are addicted to morphine based drugs: One in 20 are addicted to stimulants including cocaine. According to the Law Society UK, approximately 71% of the nearly 3,000 lawyers surveyed said they had anxiety, which is a 5% increase from 2022. Further, last year there was a 24% increase in the number of people contacting LawCare, the mental health charity for legal professionals. LawCare found that one in three UK solicitors are alcoholics, with the risk being four times higher for more senior solicitors. LawCare, in regards to mental illness in the UK in general, stated that "We find that firms want to do what is best for their organisation, but may struggle to know how to get started.” Without knowing why lawyers are so mentally ill, and without knowing what to do about it, lawyers will continue to experience mental illness, and in growing numbers. Nonsense techniques such as ‘resilience’ training have no effect. Lawyers are not weak. Ernest Hemingway famously wrote that "The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills.” The quote suggests that experiencing hardship and ‘brokenness’ is inevitable. For many, this suffering leads to a deeper, more profound strength. Those who refuse to accept, adapt, and be changed by life's trials, however, are ultimately destroyed by their own resistance. Resilience training suggests that the fault lies with lawyers, not the system. This is not case. Resilience training is not a panacea. It is not even a placebo. By missing the point, and not understanding that mental illness is a symptom of childhood Trauma, it may also be dangerous.
Female lawyers and junior lawyers (ages 26-34) had higher rates of moderate/severe psychological distress. Junior lawyers also had higher levels of alcoholism and problem drinking than their more senior colleagues.
66% of lawyers said the profession was a detriment to their mental health; 50% saying that they were considering leaving the profession as a result, which is the same percentage as for juniors doctors leaving medicine. And these proportions are climbing.
A third of judges said that their problems with their mental well-being interfered with their attention and concentration in legal cases. In Australia, a report of judicial officers showed that 53% of judges in the moderate to very high range of 'psychological distress' versus 30% in the general population. As with lawyers, over a third of judges were alcoholics or problem drinkers, double the figure for the general population. Over three-quarters of judges had burnout, which is characterised by exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced professional efficacy. A third of judges reported that problems with their mental well-being caused to worry and ruminate about their decisions on cases afterwards.
Both lawyers and judges felt isolated and disconnected from others, feeling that a change in workplace culture was needed. Spirituality encourages connection and a feeling of oneness. This reflects what Dr Maté wrote that "Children don't get traumatised because they're hurt. The get traumatised because they're alone with that hurt." This psychospiritual need for connection as being essential to well-being is being increasingly overlooked.
Seeking help and treatment is low due to concerns around the stigma of mental illness, confidentiality concerns, and career and credentialing risks, all acting as barriers. Yet, as the psychologist Alice Miller wrote,this is part of the problem in that "An unacknowledged trauma is like a wound that never healsd over abnd may start to bleed again at any time."
Against this backdrop of growing concern about the global crisis in mental illness of those in the legal profession; encompassing lawyers and judges across the private and public sectors, in academia and government, the International Bar Association (IBA: The world's leading international organisation of legal practitioners and law firms, which influences the development of international law reform and shapes the future of the legal profession throughout the world, with a membership of more than 80,000 lawyers, 190 bar associations and 200 law firms, spanning over 170 countries, with its headquarters in London) Legal Policy and Research Unit, which undertakes research and develops initiatives that are relevant to the rule of law and the legal profession, engaging with governments to ensure innovative, collaborative and effective outcomes, produced the report "Mental Wellbeing in the Legal Profession: A Global Study", the first of its kind to focus on the mental well-being of lawyers as an issue at a global level, published in 2021. The report highlighted the widespread mental health issues and diagnoses such as severe depression and anxiety in the legal field, with lawyers reporting below than population average well-being. Not one jurisdiction or section of the profession was unaffected. Almost half of those surveyed reported that they would not discuss their well-being concerns with their employer for fear of stigma and that it may have a negative impact on their career. A third of respondents said that working in the legal profession had a severely negative or negative impact on their well-being. A third of respondents feared being treated differently by the legal system if they declared a mental health diagnosis. A quarter of those in the study said that their employer did recognise mental well-being issues. Following the report, the IBA principles for the legal profession include that raising awareness of mental illness in the legal profession is fundamental, with a commitment to change in order to tackle the current crisis, in which the focus needs to be on the structural and cultural working practices within law which are problematic for mental wellbeing, and not on enhancing the ‘resilience’ of individual legal professionals, where good practices must be shared between individuals, institutions, and jurisdictions, with an approach that sees it as being vital that wisdom from other sources be shared and discussed.
Here is the link to the report:
Shockingly, and especially tragically, the rates of mental illness, substance use, and suicide, are highest for younger lawyers, who are increasingly disillusioned by the legal system: It is not what they thought it was when they chose their profession. They are not weaker in any way. The report raised the significant challenges around the shape of the future legal profession. Many junior lawyers enter law with ideals about justice, fairness, and making a real difference to people's lives. In practice, they often find themselves performing procedural or administrative tasks (document review, billing, drafting standard forms) that feel detached from those ideals. This creates existential frustration: A sense that the system prioritises process and profit over justice. Further, the toxic and unsustainable work culture that junior lawyers find themselves in, with high billable-hour targets, hyper-competitive environments, and lack of mentorship, create burnout. Junior lawyers often feel like billing machines' rather than professionals developing judgement and skill. The impact of this is chronic stress, poor mental health, and high attrition rates, particularly in large firms. This impact is seen particularly in junior lawyers. Economic pressures and inequities, combined with immense law school debt, wirh a bifurcated legal job market, with a small number of elite positions and many underpaid, unstable ones. The system rewards commercial work over public interest or community-based practice. The impact of this disillusionment with a profession that appears to serve wealth rather than justice. For junior lawyers, it slowly dawns on them that there is a disconnection between legal ideals and reality. The ideal of 'equal justice under law' often clashes with what lawyers witness: Systemic bias, unequal access to representation, persuation rather then a search for a higher Truth that satisfies all parties, outcomes heavily influenced by wealth and power. This results in a deep cynicism about whether the system is capable of genuine fairness. There is, as with other professions such as medicine, a lack of mentorship, guidance, and coaching, with many firms and institutions failing to provide meaningful professional development, spiritual evolution, and mentorship. Juniors are left without feedback or a sense of trajectory. As a result, they feel expendable, underappreciated, and professionally adrift. In the legal system as it currently stands, again as with medicine, there is limited autonomy and limited scope for creativity, which is felt particularly acutely for lawyers in their early careerswho feel that they have little control over their work and are rarely encouraged to think creatively and holistically about problems. This feels like intellectual stagnation, especially for those drawn to law for its analytical challenges, with little room for manoeuvre. They have a perceived lack of impact, often taking years before junior lawyers can directly influence outcomes or policy. Early work can feel like “paper pushing” with no tangible social value. This creates a sense of futility: That their personal effort doesn’t matter in the broader legal or societal machine. Ethical compromises compound this. The legal system is slow to evolve in culture, technology, diversity, and approach. Progressive ideas often meet resistance.
The IBA executive summary stated, tellingly, that "There are significant work and health-related consequences when legal professionals experience difficulties with their mental well-being. As well as the harm caused to individuals, these can cause economic and reputational damage to firms and the legal profession as a whole. More fundamentally, this affects the public’s perception of the rule of law." Yes it does! These executive summary concerns are expressions of the collective ego of the IBA.
The report stated that "There is good evidence that promoting positive lawyer mental wellbeing is good for the business of law." Further, it states that "A significant culture shift is being demanded to support equity, diversity and inclusion" - surely this should not be a response to a demand from outside the profession: the leadership of the legal profession should support healing in law through compassion.
The report also invariably talked about 'mental well-being' instead of using the correct term 'mental illness', for example stating that "A stigma around mental well-being remains" and "Mental well-being is not weakness.": Quod Erat Demonstrandum. Would it not call a spade a spade?
It also stated that "The Task Force calls for and invites collaborative action to be taken on these issues before more damage is done, and to avoid change inevitably being imposed on the profession by outside forces."
The report stated that "Leaders may also lack the skills necessary to tackle the issues once they have been identified. Individual legal professionals want this increasing acknowledgement on the part of firms and organisations to be converted into effective action. Significant and tangible changes are needed from firms and organisations, including changes in workplace culture, workload and work-life balance, managerial approaches and specific well-being-related interventions. Individual legal professionals want the legal profession to have a specific focus on mental well-being. In addition, workload allocation and outputs, culture and approaches to individuals should all reflect this."
The report acknowledged that "The more adversarial forms of legal practice are potentially detrimental to wellbeing."
It continues that one of the most commonly cited factors contributing positively to respondent mental wellbeing was a sense of purpose and meaning; a deeply spiritual value.
The report stated that the IBA had plans to "Establish and maintain a website of mental wellbeing research, resources and contacts for the global legal profession." I have not seen a single study on childhood Trauma.
Due to the concerns about mental illness (which they continue to call 'mental well-being') in younger lawyers, the IBA has since published 'International Guidelines for Well-being in Legal Education'. Dr Emma Jones, IBA Professional Wellbeing Commissioner and co-author of the Guidelines, said that “The IBA’s 2021 report refers to a crisis in well-being within the legal profession. These new guidelines place legal education at the heart of our response. We must act now to ensure the lawyers of the future are able to prioritise well-being without fear of stigmatisation. We need to challenge the damaging cultural norms which have come to exist within the law, and promote thriving and flourishing amongst students, faculty and staff." As part of its ten recommendations it includes that:
There should be an acknowledgement of the importance of, and actively promote, wellbeing in legal education
Issues around stigma: The legal system needs to abandon its view that well-being issues should be seen as signs of weakness
Raised awareness of the different ways in which wellbeing can be addressed and prioritised in law schools
There should be a commitment to addressing systemic problems in the legal system, such as excessive competitiveness and lack of empathy;
The competitive nature of the profession, the high-pressure environment and the academic demands of the legal field have been linked to higher-than-average levels of stress, anxiety and depression among students, faculty and staff in legal education, according to research, even higher than those of qualified lawyers.
What law students will currently not find in their law texts is this: That emotional literacy is legal literacy.
Beneath the stress, perfectionism, exhaustion, and mental illness that now plague so many in the legal world lies a deeper emotional wound so rarely named in law (or in medicine for that matter): The wound of untreated childhood Trauma. Yes, the statistics on mental illness in law are of huge concern, but they only tell part of the story. Without recognising and healing these pervasive wounds, which are responsible for the crisis in mental illness, they find fertile soil in the legal culture. Unacknowledged childhood Trauma doesn’t disappear; it mutates, into burnout, anxiety, depression, and addiction.
Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddhist monk, prolific author, and spiritual teacher, wrote that “When we understand the roots of suffering, compassion becomes the only logical response.” After almost six years of all kinds of therapy and receiving psychospiritual coaching, I now deeply understand where all my fears came from and having walked this path. I feel able to guide others on the painful journey through the ‘Dark Night of the Soul’ and embrace openness, honesty, authenticity, and vulnerability. What I have found is that when you open your gate to vulnerability, it naturally invites others to do the same, and we realise that we are all drowning and so we stop trying to drown each other. When we take off our egoic mask and speak our Truth, it also invites others to do the same. This, and connection to others, is how we heal. Here is my Truth:
Compassion is not weakness; it is wisdom applied to human complexity. Compassion is a superpower. In a ‘take and take’ culture, compassion remains the only thing that one can truly give to another.
For my full article on ‘Compassion’ click here:
It took me a lot of courage to be seen and heard. I was not seen or heard as a child. Marianne Williamson wrote that it is “My ego mind- my own self-hatred masquerading as self-love- would point me always in the direction of fear, luring me toward the blaming thought, the attack or defence, the perception of guilt in others." This idea suggests that the ego's drive for control and judgement often stems from an underlying lack of self-love or self-hatred. It is a central theme in her teachings, which often focus on the idea that one's inner state determines one's perception of the world, in particular people and situations. We come to define ourselves by them and we are fearful of having no identity without them, particularly when our fear-driven perceptions are the cause of our stress, which is the triggering of unresolved childhood Traima, and is not based on truth, people, or situations.
For law students and junior lawyers law can feel Soul-less because it has forgotten that it deals not with abstractions, but with lives shaped by unseen and unheard histories of emotional pain. When you, as a junior lawyer, cultivate awareness of childhood Trauma in yourself and in others, you begin to practice law as healing, not harming. You become a bridge between the woundedness of the world and its potential for a deeper Truth and healing justice. And in doing so, you preserve your own Soul.
Some psychologists call childhood Trauma 'Adverse Childhood Experiences' (ACEs). These have been extensively studied outside of the legal system, but remain unexplored in law as the underlying cause of both mental and physical illnesses. The legal profession refers increasingly to ‘vicarious trauma’ and ‘secondary trauma’ in adult lawyers, and there are a plethora of research articles on these: If there is a secondary trauma then there must be a primary trauma. There is, and that is the ‘unmentionable’ childhood Trauma.
Despite an extensive search, I could only find a single peer-reviewed article on childhood Trauma and the legal profession. This is particularly worrying as the above report on law students states that it will only recommend evidence-based treatments to improve mental well-being. This domain is only in its infancy in law.
Here is the link to it:
Here is the evidence for how childhood Trauma (ACEs) may affect judges, lawyers, and their clients:
1. Oehme, Karen & Stern, Nat. (2019). 'Improving Lawyers’ Health by Addressing the Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences'. University of Richmond Law Review, 53, 1311. This article specifically addresses how childhood Trauma (ACEs) may affect lawyers’ long-term wellbeing, and argues for trauma-aware legal education and professional supports. The full abstract is worth including here:
“The legal community has recently acknowledged that many in the profession suffer from the effects of poor mental health and has called for steps to improve lawyers’ well-being. Though well intentioned, this movement has largely ignored what the Centers for Disease Control calls a “basis for much of adult physical and emotional health problems”: adverse childhood experiences, or ACEs. Research by neuroscientists and others has concluded that much of adult physical and mental illness has its roots in the unresolved trauma of childhood adversity. At the same time, research also indicates that understanding the impact of these early experiences can alleviate such illness and its attendant maladaptive coping behaviors. Thus, efforts to help lawyers improve their mental health without addressing adverse childhood experiences will inevitably fall short. This Article recommends that bar associations and law schools take measures to educate attorneys and future attorneys about the potentially far-reaching consequences of these experiences and means to overcome them. Without such a commitment, countless lawyers will continue to be plagued by their trauma histories—to the tragic detriment of lawyers’ families, clients, communities, and mental health.”
2. The American Bar Association. (n.d.). 'The Legal Burnout Solution: How Childhood Trauma Impacts Lawyers and Their Clients'. GPSolo eReport. A practice-oriented overview directed at lawyers: Links ACEs and 'toxic stress' to professional functioning, decision-making, coping, and client relationships.
3. Walker, Loren. (2023). The ACE Controversy. In H. Maki, J.K. Wright, et al. (Eds.), 'Trauma Informed Law: A Primer for Practicing. American Bar Association'. This chapter interrogates the ACE concept, its predictive value, limitations (resilience, context) especially in legal/justice settings; useful for critical appraisal.
4. Stephens, Eddie. (2022, July 27). 'Trauma-Informed Family Attorney'. Stephens & Stevens Marital & Family Law. A blog/article by a family lawyer advocating for trauma-informed practice: recognising clients’ childhood adversity, adopting non-judgemental approaches; relevant to legal practice rather than research.
5. Smith, Iain. (2019, February). 'Kindness in court: Who cares?' Law Society of Scotland Journal, Vol 64 Issue 2. A criminal defence lawyer reflects on how understanding ACEs changed his approach to clients and the justice system; offers professional insight.
6. Zeedyk, Suzanne & Smith, Iain. (2018, June 18). 'When four ACEs is a bad hand'. Law Society of Scotland Journal, Vol 63 Issue 6. Explores biological/neurological effects of childhood adversity, addresses implications for justice/legal settings; while not specific to lawyers, offers legal system relevance.
7. New York State Bar Association. (n.d.). 'Trauma, Mental Health and the Lawyer.' NYSBA.org. Discusses how lawyers face not only vicarious trauma but may also have personal adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), linking to mental health and addiction; this is a helpful background piece.
8. Advocates for ACEs – University of Edinburgh. (n.d.). 'ACEs for Law Students.' Resource targeted at law students and those entering justice professions: Outlines ACEs relevance for future legal practitioners and justice-involved individuals.
9. McKinsey, Eva; Zottola, Samantha A.; Mitchell, Alexis; Heinen, Mark; Ellmaker, Luke. (2022). 'Trauma-Informed Judicial Practice from the Judges’ Perspective'. Judicature, Vol 106 No 2. While focused on judges and the justice system, this piece provides context about the prevalence of ACEs among adults and the importance of trauma-informed practice in legal settings.
10. 'Landmark study reveals widespread impact of childhood Trauma in Northern Ireland.' (2025, Feb 6). Department of Justice Northern Ireland. Although not specific to legal professionals, this population-level study emphasises how ACEs correlate with poorer mental health and justice system involvement; helps underscore the broader societal base for the argument.
Karen Oehme, Karen, Stern, Nat 'Improving lawyers’ health by addressing the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences' University of Richmond Law Review. Although the legal profession has recognised the importance of improving attorneys’ mental health, it has largely ignored recent social and scientific research on how adverse childhood experiences (“ACEs”) can harm attorneys’ long-term well-being. This article reviews the science of ACEs and argues that law schools and the legal profession should educate law students and attorneys about the impact of prior trauma on behavioral health. Without such educa- tion, law schools and the legal system are missing a crucial opportunity to help lawyers prevent and alleviate the maladaptive coping mechanisms that are associated with ACEs. Until such knowledge is widespread, many lawyers will be plagued by their own trauma histories to the detriment of individuals,
families, communities, and the legal system.
If only psychiatrists could learn one aphorism, instead of volumes about pharmacology, they would truly become healers. That aphorism is that "If it's hysterical, it's historical." In other words, it is not the 'stresses' that are presented to us in adult life that trigger us, hurt us, and result in emotional pain or mental illness, it is our unrecognised, untreated, invalidated, and therefore unresolved, unhealed childhood Trauma that is the cause of mental illness Childhood Trauma, as shown in the origianl ACEs study, and echoed by the world’s leading trauma experts, is the cause of virtually all mental illness. Adult mental illness, then, is a symptom of unresolved childhood Trauma. This needs to be recognised by the psychiatric and psychotherapeutic community. The way to treat mental illness then is to treat the underlying unresolved childhood Trauma. Dr Maté talks about trauma with a small ‘t’ and Trauma’ with a capital ‘T’. Trauma with a capital T is childhood Trauma. What has been mistakenly called trauma in adults is actually stress, not Trauma. A stress response is a subconscious reaction or triggering of the emotional pain that was felt during childhood Traumatic experiences. A stress response is nothing to do with other people or situations. It is due to that person’s perceptions. This is why Michael Singer wrote “One of the most amazing things you will ever realise is that the moment in front of you is not bothering you. You are bothering yourself about the moment in front of you. It's not personal - you are making it personal.” Read that again, and don’t ever forget it. That is the malign legacy of childhood Trauma on mental illness in your adult life. This is why the most civil claims actually have no basis. The only reason that they may be successful in court is if the lawyers and judges involved are ignorant of the manifestations and consequences of childhood Trauma. If they pursue and win these cases they are doing their clients a disservice as what they really need is treatment and healing, not a transactional approach. When the psychiatric assessments are also uninformed about childhood Trauma, which is the great majority, in effect the law and the psychiatric system are colluding in keeping people as ‘victims’, which they are not, and which makes it impossible for them to have any personal or spiritual growth and it is therefore is impossible for them to find joy and peace.
Deploying harmful coping mechanisms for their unresolved emotional pain from childhood Trauma has led to levels of alcohol and substance abuse among lawyers that, again, are higher than the norm for members of the general population. It has been suggested that this abuse may be ingrained and normalised as part of the legal culture. Dr Maté states that "Addiction is not a choice, it's a response to emotional pain." He further elaborates with his oft-cited mantra that "The question is not ‘Why the addiction?, but ‘Why the pain?’” This perspective suggests that addiction is a coping mechanism for underlying emotional suffering rather than a moral failing or a disease in itself. Maté advises us to look beyond the addictive behaviour itself and to instead focus on understanding the root cause: Namely childhood Trauma. Dr Maté wrote that “Trauma is not what happens to you but what happens inside you.”
Law rewards 'drive', ever longer hours, and intellect, but discourages Self-reflection, feeling emotion, and showing compassion. Dr Maté, writes in his essential book 'The Myth of Normal', which is in my 'Suggested Reading' list, that “The attempt to shut down emotion, to disconnect from it, exacts a price: it fragments our wholeness, and without wholeness we cannot be healthy.” The etymology of rhe word healing is ‘wholeness’. Many lawyers become masters of detachment. Tragically, they learn early that survival in the system means suppressing feeling. Over time, the mind sharpens but the Soul dulls. A profession once dedicated to justice becomes an arena of endurance.
These factors are having repercussions on lawyers' interpersonal relationships, including friends and families, with lawyers having the highest divorce rates of all careers and professions (interestingly the lowest rates are among creatives).
Dr Maté wrote that "If we could begin to see much illness itself not as a cruel twist of fate or some nefarious mystery but rather as an expected and therefore normal consequence of abnormal, unnatural circumstances, it would have revolutionary implications for how we approach everything health related."
Mental illness in law is systemic, not personal. Childhood Trauma awareness is not optional. Without awareness of childhood Trauma, wellness programs are no more than small sticking plasters on invisible wounds. This requires more than a superficial nod to well-being by a sick system that is on its knees, even its last legs, unless something is done quickly to revive and repair it.
Vicarious trauma and secondary trauma are not the cause of mental illness in adults. They are adult perceived stresses that provoke and trigger unresolved childhood Trauma. In studies of veterans returning from conflict, there are two factors which determine their risk factor for PTSD. One is whether that soldier had experienced childhood Trauma. The other is the loss of connection and fellowship when soldiers leave their unit and return home. The intensity of the conflict has little to do with the stress-related symptoms. This is why psychospirituality targets the effects of childhood Trauma and the spiritual journey is one from the separate and disconnected ego to the Soul. We are like waves in the ocean, which means that we are not disconnected from each other: Jung called this unity consciousness.
This is all ‘well and good’, you might say, but how does adult mental illness relate to childhood Trauma?
There is irrefutable evidence supporting the powerful causation between childhood Trauma (also known as Advserse Childhood Experiernce or ACE) and adult mental illness, the most notable of which is the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) study (Felitti et al., 1998).
You can read the original article 'Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Study' here:
When we look at the landmark ACE Study, what it reveals is profound. By surveying over 17,000 adults who were asked about their childhood experiences (before age 18) and their current health and behaviours, the researchers identified a clear and compelling pattern: The more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) an individual reported, the higher their risk of mental-health problems in adulthood. The results revealed a strong, graded dose-response relationship between the number of ACEs and a wide range of mental illnesses and behavioural outcomes in adulthood. For example, participants who reported four or more ACEs were 4 to 12 times more likely to suffer from anxiety, PTSD, depression, suicide attempts, alcoholism, substance use, bulimia, and unsafe sex, compared with those reporting none. The study also found a 'dose–response' relationship: As the number of childhood adversities increases, the risk of adult mental-illness outcomes steadily increases, even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors. What makes this especially important is that it establishes a timeline (childhood Trauma precedes adult mental illness), shows a graded effect (more childhood Trauma equals more risk), and aligns with biological and behavioural plausibility (that childhood Trauma disrupts emotional regulation, brain development, stress-systems, attachment, and coping behaviours). In doing so, the ACE Study shifts our perspective: Adult mental illness simply cannot simply be seen as arising from genetics, isolated events, or adult choices alone, but must also be understood in the context of childhood Trauma shaping a person’s emotional, behavioural and physiological development. In short, by documenting how childhood Trauma translates into adult vulnerability and mental illness, the ACE Study provides very strong epidemiological evidence that childhood Trauma is the major risk factor for mental illnesses later in life. The evidence of causation is supported by consistency with other studies (findings have been replicated worldwide across cultures and populations) and mechanistic evidence (childhood Trauma leads to chronic stress, emotional dysregulation, attachment issues, and maladaptive coping, which mediate the path to adult mental illness). The ACE Study provided the first large-scale empirical evidence that: Childhood Trauma is not just a personal or social problem; it is the root cause of much adult mental illness, substance use, and even physical disease. It reframed mental illness as a major public health consequence of childhood Trauma, rather than a matter of individual 'weakness' or genetics. In her TED talk, Dr. Harris reassures us that this is not “just bad behaviour” by adults with difficult upbringings. Exposure to early adversity can impact children’s developing minds and nervous systems. Childhood Trauma has been shown to affect brain regions such as the nucleus accumbens (associated with reward dependence), prefrontal cortex (related to impulse control), and amygdala (involved in fear processing). Additionally, the fight-or-flight response is often overactivated in those raised in trauma-inducing homes. Thus, traumatiesd children often become adults with neurological reasons for engaging in high-risk behaviours to regulate and soothe their nervous systems. Unfortunately, these actions can have repercussions for many aspects of their health and well-being. The ACE Study and subsequent research shed light on how this plays out across a lifetime. Due to its global pervasiveness and detrimental effects on the developing body’s neurobiological systems, childhood Trauma has been deemed a 'hidden epidemic' and a 'public health crisis.' Thanks to tremendous and continuous advancements in trauma-informed care, we now have the insights and resources to recognise, integrate, and heal from even the worst childhood experiences. With patience and self-compassion, survivors can integrate their mind’s fragmented parts and traumas to become wholly and richly human, mindful, and fully alive and aware in the present.
Dr Van der Kolk wrote “As the ACE study has shown, child abuse and neglect is the single most preventable cause of mental illness, the single most common cause of drug and alcohol abuse, and a significant contributor to leading causes of death such as suicide, diabetes, heart disease, cancer,, and stroke,”
In the article 'How Childhood Trauma Leads to Adult Mental Health Problems' that “These days, there is greater public awareness about the impacts of childhood Trauma. Books such as 'The Body Keeps the Score' by Dr Bessel van der Kolk and 'Trauma and Recovery' by Judith Lewis Herman, among many others, have played an essential role in educating us about the effects interpersonal trauma can have across a lifetime. Even those who have not read about the topic are likely aware that traumatic and terrifying childhood events can have long-lasting consequences.” So, if everyone knows about it, why is there a culture of silence in the legal system? It is killing its lawyers.
In the peer-reviewed article 'Impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences on the Symptom Severity of Different Mental Disorders: A Cross-Diagnostic Study', in the journal 'General Psychiatry' it states that childhood Trauma “increases the risk of developing severe mental disorders. ACEs were associated with severe clinical symptoms and a more refractory and prolonged illness course.” The authoirs concluded that "Adverse childhood experiences are a common phenomenon in those with mental disorders, and the level of trauma affects mental disorder severity. Emotional abuse is closely related to many mental disorders. The incidence or severity of mental disorders can be reduced in the future by reducing the incidence of adverse childhood experiences or by timely intervention in childhood trauma.
Hughes et al. wrote in 2016 that “Childhood adversity has a strong cumulative relationship with adult mental well-being.” Confirming that childhood Trauma is the cause of most mental illness and that conflict in the adversarial nature of the courtroom is linked to this, as well as aggression in ‘courtroom drama’, in the article 'Aces Too High: 3 Realms of ACES', the authors state that “ACEs are adverse childhood experiences that harm children’s developing brains. The effects show up decades later. ACEs cause most mental illness, and are at the root of most violence. The ACE Study has published about 70 research papers since 1998. Hundreds of additional research papers based on the ACE Study have also been published." In the article 'The Single Greatest Preventable Cause of Mental Illness' the authors state that “Childhood trauma is strongly linked to mental health problems later in life."
The CDC-Kaiser Permanente ACE Study by Dr Vincent Felitti et al. 'Relationship of Childhood Abuse and Household Dysfunction to Many of the Leading Causes of Death in Adults' and subsequent surveys that show that "Most people in the US have at least one ACE, and that people with four ACEs have a huge risk of adult onset of chronic health problems such as heart disease, suicide, and alcoholism. Insofar as abuse and other potentially damaging childhood experiences contribute to the development of these risk factors, then these childhood exposures should be recognised as the basic causes of morbidity and mortality in adult life. We found a strong graded relationship between the breadth of exposure to abuse or household dysfunction during childhood Trauma and multiple risk factors for several of the leading causes of death in adults." The authors also discussed how childhood Trauma actually alters brain function stating that "Adverse childhood experiences may affect attitudes and behaviours toward health and health care, sensitivity to internal sensations, or physiologic functioning in brain centres and neurotransmitter systems." The authors Dr Felitti et al. produced this diagram in their peer-revierwed scientific article to show that childhood Trauma, if untreated, as is the case for those working in the legal system who do not seek help or treatment due to stigma, leads to early death:
The authoirs discussed that "Increased awareness of the frequency and long-term
consequences of adverse childhood experiences may also lead to improvements in health promotion and disease prevention programs."
There is evidence that the historical and intergenerational nature of childhood Trauma has epigenetic consequences, showing that toxic stress caused by ACEs can alter how our DNA functions and how that can be passed on from generation to generation. This is why choosing professions such as law and medicine as a result of childhood Trauma in the 'gifted child' and the 'golden child' are passed down in families, intergenerationally, alongside parental expectations for their children, which conditions their ego, is actually caused by changes in DNA function.
It’s not possible to give a definitive total number of all published studies examining how childhood Trauma (ACEs) lead to adult mental illness, because the literature is so vast, so rapidly growing, and spans multiple disciplines, populations, and methodologies. Here are some concrete figures from irrefutable major reviews that give a sense of the magnitude of research, with links to those studies:
Based on these figures, we can confidently say there are hundreds of peer-reviewed studies exploring the link between childhood Trauma/ACEs and adult mental illness (and likely many more beyond the ones captured in those reviews). So why is there so much denial in the medical and legal community? One has to wonder?...
The ACE study completely reshaped our understanding of the direct causation of childhood Trauma on adult mental health. Despite being published over a quarter of a century ago, much of the psychiatric, psychotherapeutic, medical, and legal community seem to be oblivious of it. Perhaps there are other reasons, such as financial, or self-interest, that these institutions collude in this ignorance and denial. For example, medical expert witnesses in the UK are paid for their reports, so a psychiatrist with little or no expertise in the subject-relevance are incentivised to produce reports in any case. Psychiatrists, and that includes professors, have a defined area of expertise. They may know as little about other areas within the profession as you or I. Bias is inevitable in addition to the cash-incentivisation of reports. I delineate these biases in regard to medical ‘experts’ in my previous article ‘Psychospirituality - "You are Bothering Yourself About the Moment in Front of You": The Malign Legacy of Childhood Trauma.’
If legal cases are awash with mental illness in lawyers, judges, and clients (and also in doctors) on both sides of the adversarial system, which it irrefutably is based on all of the above absence, then the legal system itself would be invalidated and collapse. Duality really is an ego mind construct. Based on the above evidence, no one is truly ‘good’ or ‘bad, or ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Everyone is doing the best they can in the context of the human experience in an adversarial system, half of cases when and half of cases lose. You are a human being because you make mistakes. The reality is that there is always truth in both sides of the argument and the ‘winner’ is based on argument and even perhaps manipulation of the story that is told. Financial settlements never make anyone happy with the studies showing that they have an effect lasting only a few minutes. They also do much harm in that the real outcome should be in elucidating deeper Truth about the human condition which, rather than financial settlements, would advocate for reconciliation and treatment for childhood Trauma and psychospiritual disease.on both sides - lawyers and their clients.
Medical sub-specialties which do not acknowledge the causal effect highlighted by the studies would be at risk of being rendered irrelevant due to the consequent inefficacy of their standard treatments, which may currently be doing more harm than good, as all treatments, including psychotherapeutic ones, have ‘side-effects’, and the benefit of the treatments must outweigh these. Other effective approaches to healing, which integrate multiple and effective approaches, should be considered. Metaanalyses (again the highest form of scientific research) have demonstrated that positive psychology, when it explicitly incorporates spirituality, in other words psychospirituality, outperforms usual psychotherapy in producing greater symptom reduction for the emotional pain of childhood Trauma and the symptoms of mental illness through which it manifests in adults.
Having had psychiatric and psychotherapeutic care, it was simultaneous spiritual coaching that saved my life. Before then, I always felt that something was missing. I have deeply felt the effect that spirituality had in healing from my mental health diagnoses, which all stemmed from my childhood Trauma, where medicine, psychiatry, and psychotherapy alone had all failed to improve my symptoms. My spirituality has been a great source of strength and courage to me, and it has sent me challenges to catalyse my evolution, growth, and personal transformation. These challenges are also sent with their solution to them. I have learned that "This too shall pass" and that "All is well".
The ‘Fourth Force’ in psychology, considered to be the most up-to-date and powerful form in relieving the symptoms of mental illness, also known as ‘Humanistic Psychology’, ‘Positive Psychology’, ‘Transpersonal Psychology’, ‘Spiritual Psychology', the 'Psychology of Spirituality', or ‘Psychospirituality’, advocated and developed by its protagonist psychologists such as Dr Carl Rogers and Abraham Maslow, who described the ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, states that psychology must incorporate the highest human needs of Self-actualisation and transcendence for it to be truly effective. This is the realm of spirituality. Although positive psychology advocates for these spiritual needs, it falls short of providing the tools (which I have described towards the end of this article) to achieve them. Psychology then, must either pass on or share the baton that will take those suffering from childhood Trauma and mental illness to the finish line of their recovery and healing. For my full article on this , click here: ‘Psychospirituality is The Union of Positive Psychology and Spirituality: Is it The Future of Healing? Remaining Forever Jung’
Transformative life coaching also known as super coaching, combines this fourth force of psychology with philosophical approaches, supplementing traditional coaching approaches to create conscious awareness which transforms the ego states created by childhood trauma into higher levels of being, allowing individuals to transcend their difficulties, obstacles, and suffering. This is compatible with the Jungian iapproach to psychology, psychiatry, and psychotherapy, along with the spiritual teachings of the great Masters, and with the great philosopher’s across all periods of history.
Are you stuck in the trenches of the heartless legal system?
In his factual book ‘Human Kind: A Hopeful History’ the journalist and historian Rutger Bregman asserts and demonstrates the inherent kindness that makes ua all one. Humans are kind. They do not want to fight. So, why does the legal system perpetrate war? It is a crime against our humanity. He gives the example of the first World War 'Christmas Truce', which was a series of unofficial ceasefires in December 1914 when British and German soldiers spontaneously stopped fighting in order to exchange gifts, sing carols, and even play football in 'No Man's Land'. Beginning on Christmas Eve 1914, soldiers along the Western Front put down their weapons and left their trenches. Although not universal and lasting only a few days, it represented a moment of peace and shared humanity in the midst of a brutal war. The truce was a one-off event, and the high command on both sides took steps to ensure it would not happen again. They threatened to courtmarshall anyone that united the two sides! The soldiers shared a common experience of the harsh, miserable conditions in the trenches. The Christmas truce illustrates how lawyers, like soldiers, subject to military command in the war, are trapped in an adversarial legal system that is not of their own making, that doesn't serve justice because it prioritises the system's survival over the individuals' needs. The truce, where soldiers on opposing sides met and socialised, was an informal, localised system that arose from a shared, human experience that transcended the 'official' system of war. This forced the military to abandon it because it undermined the authority and narrative of the war. If persisted with, it would have brought an end to the war! Similarly, a legal system can trap lawyers by creating a closed, self-perpetuating environment where legal professionals are more concerned with maintaining the system's rules and processes than with achieving true peace for their clients by eliminating conflict through an imposed and harsh adversarial legal system. The military command's response was to end the truce and punish the soldiers involved by reassigning them, demonstrating how systems can react to maintain control and enforce their rules over genuine peace or justice. The war continued for four more years, with the soldiers returning to 'business as usual': Killing, because the 'official' system of command and control was more powerful than the informal, human system that their Souls longed for. This parallels how lawyers can be forced to operate within a system that prioritises procedure and legal outcomes over the fundamental needs of their clients. Are you stuck in the trenches? Conflict will eventually kill you. Almost 10 million troops died in World War 1.
In the article 'The Link Between childhood Trauma and Mental Health' it states that "Although the concept of shellshock, that developed into post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), originated from mental health professionals trying to help people who had traumatic experiences in conflict, trauma can affect everyone and is not unique to the military.”
Conflict will kill you
How can you be a guardian of justice when you collude in war? This is against human nature. We are, in essence, human kind. We have forgotten who we truly are. One can be a peaceful warrior in a quest for higher Truth. I really identify with this philosophy. My name means ‘peaceful’ (Olly) ‘warrior’ (Alexander). My father was Christopher, my step-father was Christopher, one of my middle names is Christopher, another one of my middle names is Marie (after Christ’s mother - a family tradition regardless of our gender), my best childhood friend was Christopher, my guide, wounded healer, and psychospiritual coach is Christopher. I am starting to get the synchronicities (a term coined by DrJung, for which he won a Nobel prize, meaning events that occur that are related by meaning and do not have a causal relationship). I follow the timeless, deep teachings of Christ: He taught peace. So did Mahatma Gandhi, a lawyer and spiritual master. This is why I have written this manifesto for you.
Conflict is the anti-Christ of compassion. Conflict will kill you: Compassion will save you. Sharma wrote that “You can measure the true strength of a man by how calmly he deals with conflict.”
Max Lucado wrote that "Conflict is inevitable, but combat is optional", highlighting the choice between destructive fighting and constructive resolution. The Bible lends us its wisdom, stating in Proverbs 15:18 "A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel."
There are no winners in conflict. As Dale Carnegie wrote "You can't win an argument. You can't because if you lose it, you lose it; and if you win it, you lose it."
Martin Luther King Jr., a spiritual seeker who wrote with great wisdom about conflict wrote that "We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."
Mahatma Gandhi said that "The problem of the world is that humanity is not in its right mind." Marianne Williamson, the philosopher, spiritual teacher, and American presidential candidate (imagine if she had won!), frequently uses this quote to emphasise that the world's challenges stem from a fundamental disconnection from love, compassion, and a spiritual foundation. In other words, the problem of the legal world is that it is not in its right mind: It is stuck in its ego mind.
The hugely influential Nelson Mandela was also a lawyer.
The ego’s role in the lawyer’s conflict-seeking
The ego isn’t inherently bad. It’s the psychological structure that gives us identity, ambition, and drive. For lawyers, ego is often what fuels achievement: passing exams, landing clients, standing firm under pressure. But unchecked, it can distort behaviour in ways that increase the appetite for conflict:
1. Validation through winning. Ego thrives on external recognition — victories, accolades, being “the smartest in the room.” Conflict becomes less about serving justice or clients and more about proving worth.
2. Personalisation of disputes. Instead of seeing cases as professional problems, lawyers can internalize them as personal battles. Opposing counsel becomes an enemy rather than a colleague with a different role.
3. Fear of vulnerability. Ego resists uncertainty, ambiguity, or the appearance of weakness. Rather than admit doubt, lawyers may double down into unnecessary disputes.
4. Over-identification with role. The lawyer-as-warrior archetype can become fused with self-identity. Outside of advocacy contexts, this can make it difficult to disengage, negotiate, or seek harmony.
Research supports this picture: lawyers report higher competitiveness, perfectionism, and adversarial identity compared with other professionals, all of which contribute to stress and strained wellbeing (James, 2025). In this way, ego isn’t just about confidence — it’s a habitual pattern of self-protection that draws lawyers back into conflict, sometimes compulsively.
How childhood Trauma shapes the lawyer's psyche and behaviour
We all wanted to be loved unconditionally by our parents. Most of us, tragically, were not. Our parents loved us, sure, but not enough to allow us to express our completely authentic selves. This internal battle within our psyche between attachment to our caregivers and our authenticity is one in which attachment always wins. That is because without secure attachment, we will die. So our entire lives becomes governed by the expectations of our parents. This becomes our greatest addiction: Our addiction to external validation.
Here is my full article on how conditional love leads to our ‘Addiction to External Validation’, which subconsciously shapes our lives, driving our career choices and our behaviour:
Many lawyers (as with doctors) enter the profession driven by a need for control, approval, or safety: unconscious echoes of early survival strategies. The precision, perfectionism, and relentless drive that serve them well in exams or court can also mask anxiety, fear of rejection, or a deep longing for external validation. This is possibly why Shakespeare used the term ‘courtroom drama, and why surgeons operate in a ‘theatre’. They want to be seen, heard, and valued. Shakespeare also identified that such players in the drama of life lack meaning and purpose, reflected in ‘Macbeth’ with his lines “Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Dr Jung used the shadow as an archetype which contributes to how the psyche may be fragmented by childhood Trauma.
Once lawyers begin to approach law with compassion, rather than fear and competition, it can begin to heal. And perhaps then, as Dr Maté writes “We can begin to live the truth of who we are, rather than the story of who we were taught to be.”As Dr Maté says. This is why so many doctors and lawyers go into their profession, out of parental expectation. This process and its consequences are the true essence of childhood Trauma. Our resulting unconscious inauthenticity is the primary cause of mental illness. The following video with Dr Maté explains this internal battle between authenticity and attachment:
Many lawyers live in silent anguish and they don’t know why or what to do about it. The hidden epidemic of unresolved childhood Trauma beneath the robes is making them anxious, sleepless, burned out, feeling empty, hollowed by cynicism, without purpose or meaning, leading to poor performance, aggression, conflict, mental illness, addiction in all its forms, and self-sabotage. Childhood Trauma prevents us from feeling seen, heard, and unconditionally loved by our parents and by society at large. Childhood Trauma creates all of our deepest fears and negative beliefs about ourselves and the world. We feel unloved, unloveable, unworthy, abandoned and alone, unsafe, and that we might die at any moment. These fears are associated with all of our limiting beliefs, creating a repetitive cacophony of negative thoughts that our ego screams into our ears. These negative thoughts lead to negative emotions and behaviours, shaping how we deal with, and react to, power, control, and connection. And because law is an arena built around those very dynamics, the effects of childhood Trauma proliferate like a pathogen in its culture.
The tragedy is not only that many lawyers carry childhood Trauma-related wounds themselves, but that the entire system, from legal education to courtroom procedure, is structured in ways that reactivate rather than heal them.
For lawyers with unresolved childhood Trauma, the same traits that earn them praise, such as perfectionism, relentless studying, vigilance, and control, may actually be remnants of old survival strategies. The perfectionist was once the child who learned love had to be earned and yet never received unconditional love. The workaholic was once the child who felt safest when busy and lost in their homework. The detached advocate was once the child who learned that emotions were dangerous and that they should be repressed, suppressed, and denied; terms used by Dr Simund Freud, who said that all emotions, when buried, always reemerge, sometimes decades later, as mental illness. These adaptations look like professionalism, but inside they often breed anxiety and exhaustion.
Dr Bessel Van der Kolk, the doyen of Trauma, reminds us in the 'Bible' of trauma "The Body Keeps the Score", which also in my 'Suggested Reading' list that “The greatest sources of our suffering are the lies we tell ourselves.” Lawyers tell themselves they’re fine. Their bodies tell another story: Migraines, panic attacks, insomnia, and moral fatigue. The body remembers what the mind denies. Trauma, he says, is stored in the body.
The cost of denial is not only mental illness, but moral injury.
When lawyers develop awareness of their own childhood Trauma, they can transform vulnerability into insight. Psychospiritual reflection, meditation, mindfulness, and trauma-informed approaches allow lawyers to:
Recognise their own triggers and emotional responses, reducing reactive or judgemental behaviours.
Cultivate compassion for clients, understanding that behaviours may well be rooted in childhood Trauma rather than any moral failing.
Navigate ethical and adversarial challenges with greater clarity, balancing advocacy with compassion.
Research into lawyer wellbeing increasingly emphasises that reflective practice and awareness of childhood Trauma contribute not only to personal health but also to more ethical, effective representation.
Dr Van der Kolk wrote that “Being able to feel safe with other people is probably the single most important aspect of mental health; safe connections are fundamental to meaningful and satisfying lives.” He recommends EMDR to treat trauma when required with a trained psychotherapist, which is evidence based, and also somatic techniques such as yoga, alongside coaching.
But the legal system, as it stands currently, is built for conflict, not safety. For those whose childhoods were unsafe, its constant combat feels grimly familiar. When we have suffered from childhood Trauma, we suconsciously seek out those chaotic, pathological situatis so that we may somehow 'fix them'. The adrenaline of litigation mimics the chaos of early life, keeping the nervous system in perpetual fight-or-flight.
In the adversarial system, one that is imposed on lawyers by the way the legal system functions through procedurial rigidity, means that lawyers must often take positions they personally disagree with or have to manipulate technicalities in order to 'win at all costs. This sense of being trapped and forced to be complicit in the system, leads to moral and emotional fatigue. But lawyers can operate within these constraints, instead of being handicapped by them, using dialetic approaches that lead to higher Truth.
This breeds moral injury, which is the pain of acting against one’s values. Lawyers begin to feel complicit in a culture that prizes victory over a higher Truth, and efficiency over empathy. As Maté notes:“When we disconnect from our authenticity, we lose our vitality. And when we lose our vitality, illness begins.”
Childhood Trauma is critical to understanding the psyche and behaviour of lawyers. Their childhood Trauma frequently stems from having been the 'golden child' or having experienced the curse of the 'gifted child'. This is explained by the world renowned psychology expert on childhood Trauma Alice Miller. Her ideas on the curse of the 'gifted child’ and the ‘golden child’ archetypes, which culminate in childhood Trauma-led high-achieving professional career choices and externally validated careers like law or medicine. Alice Miller’s core insight in her seminal book ‘The Drama of the Gifted Child’, describes how many intelligent, sensitive, and empathic children become ‘gifted’ not only in intellect but emotionally attuned to their parents’ needs and expectations. These children learn to read and adapt to others’ emotional states at the expense of developing an authentic sense of Self. They become ‘gifted’ in the art of pleasing, performing, and intuiting what will win love and approval, rather than discovering who they truly are. Tragically, this generates an inauthentic persona, the powerful yet illusory ego, which is a manifestation of childhood Trauma.
The ‘golden child’ (often in families with narcissistic or emotionally immature parents) is idealised and rewarded for being perfect, compliant, and high-achieving. Their self-worth becomes contingent on performance and accolades, aiming to satisfy their childhood Trauma-derived addiction to external validation through grades, behaviours, achievement, excellence, higher degrees, and prestigious career choices and promotions that generate admiration rather than intrinsic BEing. As with any addiction, it is insatiable, and ultimately potentially deadly to that individual. The child learns “I am loved when I am exceptional.” This conditional love is a form of emotional abuse, in other words, childhood Trauma, which is as impactful on that child’s adult life as any other form of childhood Trauma. Inner needs (for vulnerability, rest, assertively expressed anger rather than rage, sadness) and emotions are repressed because they might threaten this idealised image. Toxic shame (where the individual actually becomes shame) and emptiness lurks beneath the apparent surface success. These may lie dormant for a while, subconsciously influencing behaviour, and always bubble over, like a pan on high heat, even decades later, as mental illness or self-sabotage. Both the gifted and golden child often internalise conditional love, leading to self-worth tied to performance.The ‘gifted child’’s pain is rooted in being misunderstood or emotionally unseen, while the ‘golden child’’s pain is being seen only as a projection, never as themselves.Healing for both involves reclaiming authenticity, emotional truth, and unconditional self-acceptance..Both the ‘gifted child’ and the ‘golden child’ patterns often persist into adulthood, especially in high-pressure, achievement-oriented professions like law, where intellect, image, and performance are heavily rewarded. Here is a flow diagram showing the full “Golden Child → Lawyer → Trauma Manifestations → Healing Path” flow,:
The curse lies in the confusion between the true Self and the false self (the ego). The ‘giftedness’ of the child’s sensitivity, intelligence, and relentless drive becomes both the source of success and of suffering, because it was originally forged as a survival strategy, because the trauma response was fuelled by a belief in the child that it would perish without this behaviour.
When lawyers deny their childhood Trauma, it can have significant implications for both their mental health and their professional practice. These children often grow up to be outwardly successful but inwardly disconnected as adults. Careers like law, medicine, academia, or finance offer clear structures of external validation, which mirror the conditional approval of childhood. They unconsciously reenact the childhood pattern: “If I excel, I am safe and valued.” The internal compass is often muted; the external one (achievement, recognition, authority) dominates. As adults they are consumed by a a deep fear of failure or disapproval, with emotional numbness or existential emptiness beneath their success. For them, if left untreated, nothing will ever be enough.
Until the person begins to grieve the lost childhood self and reconnect with authentic emotions, they remain trapped in cycles of striving, stress, burnout, loneliness, mental illness, and suicidality.
Alice Miller emphasises that healing requires:
Recognising the emotional adaptation for what it was: A defence, not a destiny.
Feeling repressed emotional pain and anger without judgement. One has to feel it fully in order to let it go.
Developing our authentic self-compassion, boundaries, and internal validation, where self-worth is not contingent on anything outside of ourselves and that we are inherently worthy just by being born and our uniqueness.
Only then can the ‘gifted’ or ‘golden’ child reclaim their gifts as truly their own; not as tools for approval, but as expressions of genuine selfhood.
The ‘curse of the gifted child’ and the ‘golden child’ dynamic represent childhood Trauma masked as talent. In other words, success built upon emotional self-erasure. Many legal or professional careers become the adult stage upon which this early drama continues to unfold, until awareness transforms performance into authenticity.
There are subtle differences between the 'golden child' and the 'gifted chid', which are outlined in this table:
Alice Miller’s view connects and contrasts to Jungian psychological concepts and Dr Maté’s childhood Trauma model, all of which illuminate the same underlying wound from different angles.
The relevant Jungian psychology here relates to the Persona (the ego or social mask that wear, which is presented to the world in order to be gain acceptance) and the Shadow archetype (the repressed parts ourselves that we think are unacceptable to our parents and society as a result of being conditioned by them in order to maintain the ego’s mask). These are parallel concepts to Alice Miller’s concepts. In the gifted/golden child, the Persona is “The brilliant, dutiful achiever, and the Shadow is “The angry, needy, scared, or imperfect self.” In adulthood the person may over-identify with the Persona (lawyer, doctor, star student) and secretly fear the collapse of that identity. Jung’s warning is that the Persona (the ego) is necessary to navigate our early life but it must not dominate. Elizabeth Gilbert, author of ‘Big Magic’, is credited with writing "Your ego is a wonderful servant, but it's a terrible master". Robin Sharma, author of ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’, wrote that "The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master". In other words, our mind is synonymous with our ego, which is responsible for our thinking, which is always fearful, and hence the term the ‘fearful egoic mind’. This mind rules our lives until we surrender our ego and drop all our resentments. This is the origin of the quote from the spiritual master Meher Baba “Man minus equals God.” Dr Jung wrote famously that “The first half of life is devoted to forming a healthy ego, the second half is going inward and letting go of it". This means the initial years are for developing the ego, which is our sense of identity through achievements and social roles, while later life involves transcending that ego, by ‘letting go’ or ‘surrendering’ it (both terms meaning the same thing) to find your deeper, more authentic Self through introspection and psychospiritual practices. Finding the true Self is described by Jung as the process individuation, becoming a whole (healing means ‘wholeness’) integrated individual (integrating the inner child, the higher or ‘divine’ Self, and our Shadow), thereby accessing the deeper, more connected consciousness that lies beneath our ego, which is our Soul. This shift leads to greater freedom, vulnerability, and a deeper sense of fulfillment that a purely ego-driven life simply cannot provide.Dr Jung advised that the healing path involves confront the repressed emotions (similarly to Sigmund Freud’s advice on this) and contradictions, allowing the psyche to rebalance between the image of success and the neglected inner world. In this view, Miller’s ‘false self’ equals Jung’s ‘Persona,’ and her call to feel repressed pain (in order to let go of it) equals Jung’s call to integrate the Shadow. Dr Maté views childhood Trauma as a disconnection from the Self, saying that “Trauma is not what happens to you; it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you. The mechanism, he believes, is that chronic emotional stress in childhood (for example needing to suppress authentic feelings to stay attached to parents as a survival need) creates disconnection from the Self:.
Gifted/Golden child translation: The high achiever suppresses authenticity to preserve attachment where success becomes the socially rewarded symptom of disconnection.
Adult outcomes: Anxiety, depression, addiction to work, chronic stress; a perpetual sense of inner emptiness.
Healing: Reconnecting with bodily and emotional truth through compassionate awareness; Authenticity as medicine. Taking off your mask.
How these protagonists converge:
Yet there is good news: Suffering is the touchstone of spiritual progress, and so lawyers, who are currently so numerous in their suffering, even united by it, have an opportunity to awaken their Souls. risk. Anaïs Nin "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.”
How else childhood Trauma commonly shows up in lawyers
These patterns are not universal, but they are common ways trauma can shape lawyers’ professional lives in addition to those described above:
Perfectionism and overwork. A need to control outcomes or prove worth can become relentless long hours and difficulty delegating. Initially rewarded, this pattern raises risk of burnout and depression.
Hypervigilance and anger. High sensitivity to criticism or perceived threats can surface as defenciveness, explosive frustration, or social withdrawal.
Emotional numbing and substance use. To cope with stress or intrusive memories, some turn to alcohol, benzodiazepines, or other numbing strategies, which are risk factors for addictions, including substance use disorders.
Attachment challenges. Difficulty trusting or relying on others can undermine mentoring, teamwork, and intimate relationships, increasing isolation.
Re-enactment or fixation on justice st all cost. A strong drive to ‘fix‘ wrongdoing (understandable and sometimes very healthy) can turn into obsessive litigation styles.
Toxic shame. This can result in projecting onto others what is denied in oneself.
The ego and judgement in lawyers
Another consequence of ego in legal practice is judgmentalism. The adversarial system requires evaluation, critique, and argument — skills that lawyers develop to a high degree. But when driven by ego rather than balanced professional judgement, this evaluative habit can harden into a pervasive, judgemental mindset:
1. Over-critical stance. Ego thrives by comparison — “I’m smarter than opposing counsel,” “the client should have known better,” “this judge doesn’t understand.” This creates an internal culture of harshness that often extends inward as self-criticism.
2. Black-and-white thinking. This is based on duality. Ego resists ambiguity, preferring clear winners and losers. Lawyers may become judgemental because nuance threatens the ego’s need for certainty and control.
3. Projection of insecurity. When ego feels threatened, it may respond by judging others to restore a sense of superiority or control. Research in occupational psychology shows that perfectionism and competitiveness — both ego-driven traits — increase negative affect and interpersonal strain in professionals, including lawyers (Rosky et al., 2022; Soon et al., 2021).
4. Barrier to empathy. Judgment creates distance. A lawyer who approaches every situation with egoic critique may find it harder to empathise with clients, colleagues, or even themselves. This increases the risk of burnout and secondary trauma (James, 2025).
Spiritual teachings on not judging others
Whatever the problem, spirituality has the answer. All your problems are due to living from your ego mind instead of your true Self. Judging is the domain of the ego.
Jesus, the great teacher, brilliant philosopher, and spiritual master, said in Matthew 7:1-6 “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces."
Liberation from the ego-mind and personal preferences
The spiritual master, teacher, and author, who wrote the book 'Living Untethered', said that "The personal mind is a self-created mental construct formed by holding on to past experiences we have tagged with like and dislike. Whatever we experience passes through this layer of mind, which has the effect of distorting our perception and causing suffering. Liberation requires recognising that you are the awareness noticing these thoughts, not the thoughts themselves. You can then learn to stop storing new personalised impressions while allowing old ones to pass. In this freedom, you can live in harmony with reality, guided by clarity and peace rather than personal preferences."
He often quotes the Zen master 'The Third Patriach's' first line in his famous poem "The Great Way is not difficult for those who have no preferences." This is one of the most concise definitions of the spiritual path that I have ever read. It is key to where psychological therapeutic strategies such as CBT need to pass on the baton.' Psychologists are increasingly aware of this. 80 percent of people in the world believe in some sort of spirituality. Buddhists have =no 'God' but their beliefs are deeply philosophical and also psychological, and increasingly influencing the Western world. It is believed that Jesus was alao influence in his trips to the Eastern world.
Childhood Trauma in clients and the courtroom
Courtrooms are crowded with unspoken trauma histories. A defendant’s hostility may be a shield against the toxic shame that is synonymous with childhood Trauma. A claimant’s volatility may mask deep childhood abandonment wounds. Dr Van der Kolk wrote that "Trauma comes back as a reaction, not a memory." An opposing counsel’s rabid dog-like aggression may echo childhood battles for control. The question is, as Marianne Williamson often quotes from the book, written by a psychologist, ‘A Course In Miracles’ it says “You can have a grievance or a miracle, but you cannot have both. When we’re willing to overlook the guilt in our brother to the innocence which lies beyond, we are freed from the pain of guilt that we otherwise project onto ourselves." She continues that "The salvation of the world is that the only thing to be saved from is our own fear-based thinking. The healing of the dismantling of the ego’s thought system that now dominates the world, and accepting instead the divine Alternative of the Holy Spirit’s love (via our 'divine Self').
Ian Smith, who has been described as the ‘revolutionary childhood Trauma informed lawyer’ (see my article below in the section entitled ‘Visionary, revolutionary, spiritually, and childhood Trauma informed lawyers and judges’ that “Trauma is the common link between many of my clients. If we don’t address it, we’re just recycling pain through the justice system.”
Here is a chart that I have created, represents the entire spiritual path - that of a daily choice to surrender our ego, and identify with our divine or higher Self. And it is a daily choice that we can all make. At the deepest level, your pain doesn’t come from them being the way they are but from you wanting them to be different. By judging them, you are judging yourself. By releasing them, you are releasing yourself. Let it go. The Universe will handle this much better than you can. Simply surrender and watch the miracles unfold. Here is my article on 'Grievance or Miracle?'
Dr Maté explains that“ Trauma is not what happens to you, it’s what happens inside you as a result of what happens to you.”
Dr Maté wrote about adult stress triggering unhealed childhood Trauma that “At times like this, there is very little grown-up Gabor in the mix. Most of me is in the grips of the distant past. This kind of physio-emotional time warp, preventing me from inhabiting the present moment, is one of the imprints of trauma, an underlying theme for many people in this culture”. This quote explains how childhood Trauma can trigger an adult to revert to a childlike emotional state, preventing them from fully living in the present moment. This means, that when triggered, someone untreated childhood Trauma will experience a profound emotional and physical reaction that is not based on the current reality but on a past event: The mind and body are still reacting as if the traumatic event is happening now. Dr Maté notes that this is a common experience for many people and an underlying theme in the recovery from childhood Trauma.
Eckhart Tolle, the great contemporary spiritual teacher, wrote in 'A New Earth, which is in my 'Suggested Reading' list, that "You never see things as they are, you see them as you are. Your perception is very tilted and past coded.. Your emotions are fuel for your reactivity, like a rocket that sends you into the stratosphere of drama and hate. A grievance occurs as a result of false thoughts or emotion that is comes from your distant past and is kept alive by compulsive thinking. Until they wake up spiritually, people are addicted to drama. They are addicted to negative fearful thinking. They are addicted to their ego. A grievance will contaminate other areas of their lives and keep them stuck in their egoic minds." People who are not spiritually awakened are, as Francis Fukuyama said, "A grievance looking for a cause." The quote suggests that the grievance is the primary driver, and the search for a cause is secondary (serving to give the grievance a tangible form, plucked out of an alternative reality that is not based on Truth, through their altered perception of people, situations, and the world in general) and a target for persecution.
Unhealed childhood Trauma can strongly influence how adults interpret and respond to emotional distress and conflict, including initiating legal disputes. Such people cannot accept reality: Reality is what has already happened. The failure to accept reality, by resistance to it, is the actual cause of their emotional distress, and is the antithesis of the spiritual journey and spiritual evolution.
Below is a summary that explains how untreated childhood Trauma can lead to legal claims rooted in perceived (not objective) threat and what happens psychologically and emotionally, especially as perceived stress triggers old childhood Trauma rather than current reality.
Unhealed trauma often converts subjective distress into objective accusation. The courtroom becomes a stage where the inner child seeks justice for the distant past.
Healing allows discernment, manifesting the ability to ask oneself, and answer, the following question “Is this harm happening now, or am I feeling an old wound?” The following flow chart showing how childhood Trauma triggers → distorted perception → legal escalation → potential healing intervention points
In the article it states that "Without sufficient support, childhood Trauma can have long-term impacts on a person's mental health, affecting their sense of safety, ability to regulate emotions, and capacity for healthy relationships."
The good news, however, is that healing from childhood Trauma can have a transformative effect on your psyche and well-being. Do read the sections below for why and how to do this.
Psychospirituality as an approach to healing from childhood Trauma
When compassion meets psychospiritual growth, professionals don’t just succeed, they transform. And through that transformation, they help heal not only themselves, but the systems they serve.
Psychospirituality is an approach that combines positive psychology, spirituality, and philosophy. The word 'psychology' originates from the Greek words psyche (meaning Soul) and logos (meaning study of.) So psychology means 'the study of the Soul.’ Psychospirituality may lead to the healing of the mind, body, and Soul, well-being, improved mental health, unconditional love, peace, joy, compassion, gratitude, meaning, purpose, and awakening to your highest Self your True Self, your Soul.
Dr Jung wrote about his role as a psychiatrist that “Thinking within the framework of the special task that is laid upon me: To be a proper psychiatrist is to be a healer of the Soul.” On psychotherapy, Jung commented that “Therefore our Lord himself is a healer; he is a doctor; he heals the sick and he deals with the troubles of the Soul; and that is exactly what we call psychotherapy.” Even though he did not use the term, Jung was describing psychospirituality. He knew the importance of spirituality in healing a century ago: And yet, somehow, some psychiatrists and psychotherapists still haven't caught on to the importance of spirituality to positive psychology with regards to fully recovering from mental illness. Spirituality takes over where psychology leaves off. It takes up the baton on healing and crosses the finishing line.
Dr Jung believed that psychoanalysis was the ‘new personalised religion’: In other words, spirituality, which, being tailor-made with your Higher Power, is 'religion personified'. Jung thought that psychology and spirituality were the same. Psychotherapy, then, must contain a spiritual approach: What I call psychospirituality. Surely this is the future of fully healing from any mental illness? As well as being a spiritual Master, Jung was a metaphysical philosopher, a 'Prophet' in the field of psychology, and also gave birth to psychoanalysis. He was widely recognised as being no less than this.
Jung thought that Jesus was a great philosopher who taught us many timeless truths, and who has much to teach the world of psychology. Jung viewed Jesus's life and teachings as a powerful archetype, a symbolic representation of the process of 'individuation' and the development of the Self.
In the Bible, in Mark 5:34, Jesus said "Your Faith has made thee whole." The word 'healing' and the word 'holistic', both have their origins in 'to make whole.' Psychology, then, without spirituality, is incomplete. You are a far more than just a human being, you are a great BEing, a Soul, nothing less than God’s consciousness experiencing unconditional love and creation itself.
So, what do you remain so small, and how may psychology alone, without a spiritual approach, collude in keeping you that way? Why live life in spiritual bankruptcy and spiritual dis-ease, when you can wake up to love, abundance, and wholeness? Why remain a captive victim of your ego mind's struggles, when you can be a victor through conscious connection to Jung's 'collective unconscious', Self-realisation and liberation?
For my full article on psychospirituality, click here:
For my two articles on psychospirituality and childhood Trauma click here:
The psychospiritual path: Healing law from the inside out
To heal law, we must begin by healing lawyers, not only through traditional psychotherapy or trauma-therapy if required or policy, but through psychospiritual awareness with reintegration of the fractured psyche and awakening of the Soul.
Here are some of the psychospiritual tools:
Meditation and mindfulness. These are crucial practices and are central elements of a psychospiritual approach to healing through awakening. Sharma’s fable reminds us that “Stillness is the stepping stone to wisdom.” Meditation is key to that stillness, and is therefore essential to 'The new brilliance' in lawyers (see my section above). Meditation and mindfulness are foundational to many of the tools described below. Mindfulness is 'meditation in motion.' There is extensive, significant, powerful and incontrovertible scientific evidence that mindfulness practice is effective in law students and lawyers, as summarised in my section below 'The evidence for mindfulness interventions in legal professionals.' For my articles on 'Meditation' and 'Mindfulness' click on the call to action buttons below.
Awareness. Awareness is courage. Notice when perfectionism hides fear. Recognise when irritation or control is triggered by past fears and insecurity. Observe your reactions: You never act from a place of intuition or clarity when reacting instead of responding; instead breathe, relax, and pause before responding. Practice emotional inquiry.
Reflection. Reflection can be practiced through creative expression, (such as writing, music, and art), journaling, meditation, and mindfulness. It lets lawyers ask, "What is this work doing to my Soul?" It allows them to choose who to be. Marianne Williamson wrote “Once you have truly looked at your Self, you can start healing."
Compassionate Curiosity. Dr Maté calls this 'compassionate inquiry', which means meeting oneself and others without judgement; seeing the highest version of everyone. When lawyers approach clients and opponents this way, adversarial energy transforms into understanding. This involves compassion for others and for one's self. For my article on Dr Maté’s ‘Five Levels of Compassion’ click here:
Embodiment. Dr Van der Kolk shows that trauma lives in the body. Practices such as breathwork, yoga, or walking in Nature reconnect lawyers to presence and safety, which is the foundation of sound judgement.
Presence. Remaining anchored in the present moment is an essential tool to both joyful living and abundance. This, most famously espoused by Echart Tolle in his book ‘The Power of Now’, which is in my ‘Suggested Reading’ list, is one of the fundamental pillars of spirituality. It’s manifestation as ‘flow’ in athletes and musicians is what allows them to pull off what appear to be superhuman performances. Gandhi said that "The future depends on what we do in the present.”Jesus said in his in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:34 "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own". This verse, encourages people not to be anxious about the future and to focus on the present day, trusting that each day's challenges are sufficient on their own. It's a call to live one momentat a time with Faith, rather than being consumed by anxiety about what might happen.
Purpose. Sharma reminds us: “The purpose of life is a life of purpose.”
Shadow work. This includes much of the above, in many ways reflecting ther entire spiritual path. It combines Dr Jung's 'individuation, inner child work, reintegration of what Dr Jung calls the 'fractured psyche', and connecting with the real you, your Soul, through non-egoistic Self-love. It is a process of using your own vulnerability as a superpower, and for connecting with your authenticity. For my full article on shadow work 'Psychospirituality: Psychological and Soul Healing Explained' click here:
Law regains its Soul when it serves not individual or collective ego, but humanity.
All is well. Know deeply that ‘All is well’ and therefore you can act from your Soul, not from your ego. Fear is the language of the ego mind.
Be open to transformation. Jesus taught that we have to die to be reborn. In John 3:3 he tells Nicodemus, "Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again." He was, of course, using metaphor to describe the transformative ‘Hero’s Journey’ from the false egoic self to the true Self, the Soul. In the same way thagt a caterpillar becomes a beautiful butterfly. Jesus stated in Matthew 6:33,"But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." Transformation, through embracing, reintegrating our psyche (our inner child, our ‘divine Self’, and our powerful shadow), resurrecting, birthing, and BEing our true Selves, is a place from which everything flows effortlessly, like an acorn growing into an oak, with intuitive clarity, allowing for conflict resolution, and giving us new eyes in order to see the opposing legal team and our Selves with humanness and compassion, through the lenses and awareness of a higher Truth. This can be donbe within the system of law. Marcel Proust, the great author, wrote that "The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."
Acceptance. The whole spiritual path is first of acceptance, then surrender. That means surrender the part of you, the ego, that resists reality. Reality is that which has already happened. Suffering is pain times resistance. No resistance, no pain. This is what lawyers need to heal, and to heal their clients. You can’t win in the battle against the Universe.
Have an open heart. Dr Maté wrote that “When we shut down emotionally, we lose our capacity for compassion for ourselves and for others.” Having a closed heart is the cause of our suffering.
Ignite your light. Marianne Williamson said that "As we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." Real power comes from within and emanates from a source greater than our own ego. It’s time to ignite the light that Is within you." Janet Hagberg, after years of study, wrote her seminal book Real Power: Stages of Personal Power in Organizations to inspire all those who wish to change into higher levels of personal power. The first step is to actually realise that we are powerless and limited by our own ego. We need to awaken. As Anais Nin wrote "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom. Life is a process of becoming." You have to want to change: No-one can oblige you.
In his brilliant book 'A Shift in Being' Leon Vanderpol defines Personal Power as relating "To that from which you draw your sense of Self". By this he means your sense of who you truly are, your worth, purpose and power in this world. You are a Stage 6 being, whose limiting beliefs (fears) keep you at Stage Three or below. Don't worry, everyone does this. But you don't have to, if you are ready to do the inner work. Hagberg's book is more than just about personal power in organisations, it's about personal power in all of your life, and its lessons apply equally to all of us. Most people get to level 3. Known as power by achievement. This is the same as the ego, driven by fear and lack, and craving external validation like the ‘golden child’ and the ‘gifted child, that represents the childhood Trauma of most lawyer. The key to a spiritual life and being able to manifest abundance, compassion and success (where you can still hold on to your Ferrari) is to let go of your ego at stage 3.
Stage 4 is ‘Power. By Reflection’. Stage 5 is Power by Purpose’, and the highest stage, stage 6 (Yoda, Steve jobs, and Jesus), is “Power by Wisdom.” This is how you access, as described in my article ‘Real Personal Power’, as described in my article by the same name. As we have said before, your ego is an illusion and represents your petrified inner child, who believes that they have reached the top and yet feels existentially empty. Your ‘divine Self’ or Higher Self takes you up to stage 6. Who would you choose to run your life? Your Higher Self is who you truly are. Reaching the penthouse requires you to take the ‘Hero’s Journey,’ the spiritual path, to Self realisation and transcendence.
Connect with, and choose daily to be your Higher Power even if you do not believe in God. What do you do if you are an atheist or an agnostic? The answer is that your Higher Power does not have to be God. A higher power simply means the process of deidentifying with your false ego, which is is trying to control the Universe through your self will run riot. Alfred Lord Tennyson, Queen Victoria’s Poet Laureate, wrote "Ring out the false, ring in the true."
In his brilliant book 'Waking Up' Sam Harris explains this process and how it relates to mental illness, addiction recovery, personal growth, and Self-realisation. You don't need to believe in God to heal and recover, you just need to stop believing that you are God. We are all foot soldiers, not the general in the community that is the human race.
Psychotherapist Mike Stroh and Political Science Professor David Zarnett explore the thought-provoking ideas of renowned philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris and uncover a fresh perspective on Higher Power, mental illness, addiction recovery, personal growth, and Self-realisation The space that is created inside of us when we let go of our ego allows our psyche to reidentify with the part of us that is not trying to control the Universe. This is a good idea, as we simply cannot win in any battle against the Universe. Thinking that you can is an illusion, and is holding you back from your true power: The Truth that you are one with the Universe, and not separate to it. In John 10:30 Jesus said "I and the Father are one.” Ego is an acronym for 'Edging God Out'. Invite her, him, or them back in.
My take on the defining characteristics of the ego (the petrified wounded child) versus the Soul (Higher Self/ Higher Power):
Dr Wayne Dyer wrote “The problem is that we have allowed our egos, the part of us which believes that we are separate from God and separate from each other, to dominate our lives.”
The evidence for mindfulness interventions in legal professionals
Here is summary of the evidence supporting mindfulness as a central element of a psychospiritual approach to developing awareness, presence, mitigating egoic reactions, and promoting well-being and healing in legal professionals.
The systemic implications of childhood Trauma awareness in the legal system
If childhood Trauma was widely understood in legal practice, several systemic benefits could emerge:
Enhanced procedural fairness: By anticipating stress reactions and resulting communication challenges, courts can design processes that allow all parties to participate fully.
Reduced adversarial escalation: Awareness of triggering reactions can inform negotiation, mediation, and restorative interventions, limiting unnecessary conflict.
Improved lawyer wellbeing: Recognising how childhood Trauma shape client behaviour allows lawyers to respond instead of react without personalising or triggering them, mitigating burnout and moral injury.
Cultural shift: Childhood Trauma-informed practice fosters a legal culture that values human dignity, relational ethics, and reflective professionalism alongside technical excellence. It also holds up the legal system as a shining example to other professions that continue to overlook the impact of the condition.
Towards a more humane legal practice
Childhood Trauma is the hidden thread that weaves through the experiences of lawyers, judges, claimants, and defendants alike. When ignored, it contributes to misjudgment, adversarial escalation, and emotional distress. It is then a system where traumatised people trigger other traumatised people. When recognised, it offers a path toward deep understanding, compassion, fairness, and ethical clarity.
The law will always require rules, procedures, and accountability. Yet, within those structures lies the possibility of human-centred, trauma-informed practice: A practice where the complexities of early life experience are acknowledged, and where compassion and justice coexist. Psychospiritual approaches provide tools to integrate this awareness, fostering wellbeing in lawyers and fairness in proceedings.
Ultimately, recognising childhood Trauma is about honouring the hidden histories that shape all of us, cultivating awareness that transforms legal practice from merely transactional to meaningfully human.
Visionary, revolutionary, spiritually, and childhood Trauma informed lawyers and judges
The tide is changing in the legal system. There is hope that understanding and compassion will flood the legal system, and those who are visionary, revolutionary, spiritually, and childhood Trauma informed will flood to the top. Those who are not, will sink and drown, with their ego tied to their personal mind, pulling them below the surface. We are all waves, part of the sea: We are one. The sea metaphorically represents power, unity consciousness, and humility as all rivers originate from the source of awareness and wisdom and flow down to it.
Conclusions
The laws extends a hidden invitation to psychospirituality for the healing of childhood Trauma. It has been hidden due to stigma around mental illness and a desire by lawyers to appear invincible, like a child wearing a superman costume. The great philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche talked much about the ‘superman’, writing “All beings so far have created something beyond themselves. Do you want to be the ebb of that great tide, and revert back to the beast rather than surpass mankind?" In this he highlighted the psychospiritual philosophy of nurturing and choosing to show up as one’s higher True Self, overcoming one’s self (the ego) is essential to human existence and a rejection of the alternative of stagnation. Ironically, tellingly, and in the ultimate example of ‘do I say not as I do', Nietzsche, according to Dr Jung, was unable to free himself from his giant ego’s chains and consequently died from mental illness.
As the lyrics to the song 'Human' state:
"I'm only human,
I make mistakes.
I'm only human,
Don't put the blame on me"
You are only human. You are allowed to make mistakes. Perfectionism is of the ego mind. Be kind to your Self. Love your Self. Don't put the blame on you, or anyone else. Again, blame is of the ego mind. Your childhood Trauma was not your fault. You are meant to feel your feelings. That's why they are called feelings. Then let them go. You are meant to have needs. That's why they are called needs. You are human and your Soul is sacred, divine, and effulgent.
Whether lawyers are slaves of their ego or compassionate servants of justice makes all the difference — both for clients and for their own well-being.
By looking within, reintegrating their fractured psyche, and harnessing the brilliance of their true Selvea through psychospirituality, lawyers will see beyond and transcend the narrow demands of their limiting, illusionary ego, perceive higher Truth, eliminate their compulsive search for war, and temper their judgementalism with compassion.
The law needs skilled advocates. But it also needs whole human beings — lawyers who know when to fight, when to listen, and when to transcend the fight altogether.
Dr Van der Kolk reminds us about how childhood Trauma is stored in the body that “Once you start approaching your body with curiosity rather than with fear, everything shifts.” So too with law. When we approach it with curiosity, compassion, and Soul, rather than fear and competition, it can begin to heal.
And perhaps then, as Dr Maté writes “We can begin to live the Truth of who we are, rather than the story of who we were taught to be.” For the legal world, that truth is clear: The time has come to remember its heart.
Namaste.
Olly
References
James, C. (2025). Vicarious Trauma and Burnout in Law: Managing Psychological Stress to Promote Safety, Performance, and Wellbeing in Legal Practice. Routledge.
Rosky, C., et al. (2022). Mindful lawyering: A pilot study on mindfulness training for law students. Mindfulness, 13(12), 2883–2896.
Soon, Y., et al. (2021). The mindful lawyer: Investigating the effects of two online mindfulness programs on self-reported well-being in the legal profession. Mindfulness, 12(11), 2784–2796.
Disclaimer:
This article addresses systemic culture and general behaviour, not specific individuals or cases. The information presented in this article explores the role of psychospirituality in mental well-being and recovery. It is for informational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional medical, psychological, or psychiatric advice, diagnosis, or treatment. You should always seek the advice of your own qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding your specific condition or any medical concerns. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read here. Integrating spiritual practices can be a valuable part of a holistic approach to mental health, but it should complement, not replace, care from licensed medical and mental health professionals.
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