Rather than the clinical psychologist, that he is by training, Akhter Ahsan appears more like a sufi saint, equally at ease with using Islamic and Hindu spiritual traditions to heal people's minds.
At a time when alternative methods of healing are getting increasingly popular in the West and elsewhere, along comes a new branch of psychology that is one of the most concrete manifestations of spiritual healing. "Image Psychology" uses pictures of nature, parents and of gods and goddesses to treat patients suffering from psychological and even physiological problems. It considers the image to be the element most central to human activity and expression, in the same manner that behaviourists consider behaviour central to mental development.
Using the image as the focus of study, Image Psychology looks at various functions and operations of the mind and body, and employs this complex information to improve the human condition. Dr Akhter Ahsen is a leading exponent of the method and says it works "like magic". He is, however, quick to add, "But it is science, since it conforms to all conditions that the discipline of psychology imposes upon its students and is far more effective than what has been so far practiced in the name of psychology."
A Pakistani expatriate now settled in the US, Ahsen is regarded as an important theoretician, clinician and experimentalist who has tried to unite the best in both Eastern and Western traditions of science and philosophy. His work spans such diverse disciplines as psychotherapy, education, sociology, literature and mythology. Ahsen's massive body of work on psychology, which comprises of more than 25 books and numerous articles, forms the backbone of the school of Image Psychology.