Academic literature on the topic 'Transpersonal psychology'

The work of Virginia Satir, a pioneer family therapist, is examined as a transpersonal approach to family therapy. Ways in which transpersonal perspectives may be applied in family therapy are explored in Satir’s notions of grounding and centering, the evolving and transcending concept of congruence using the Self/I AM concept in the Satir iceberg model, as well as the Satir conceptualization of the therapist’s use of self. Aspects of transpersonal psychotherapy relevant to the practice of family therapy are examined, including the creation of a transpersonal space of trust in order to strengthen the therapeutic alliance, going beyond meaning in working with the family system to apply transpersonal (e.g. nondual psychotherapeutic) approaches to the therapist’s use of self in therapy. A discussion of intersubjectivity and the role of the beingness of the family therapist in promoting transcendence, awareness, and healing for the family is included. Satir family therapy is consistent with transpersonal psychotherapeutic perspectives and is therefore recommended as a prospective family therapy modality for the transpersonally-oriented psychotherapist. KEYWORDS Satir, Family Therapy, Transpersonal Psychology, Transpersonal Psychotherapy, Transcendence, Consciousness, Transformation, Intersubjectivity, Nondual Psychotherapy.

This paper aims to address the wider role of coaching psychology by showing how:1. The coaching profession is entering a new realm of coaching consciousness that is beyond the current state of engagement – that is – transpersonal coaching psychology.2. Transpersonal coaching can be grounded in transpersonal psychology.3. Transpersonal coaching psychology can be used to lever social change that could have a significant impact upon our environment.The above is based on our contributions to the 2nd European Coaching Psychology Conference’s symposium entitled ‘Transpersonal Coaching Psychology and the Environment’ in December 2009. The paper also forms a continuous dialogue in response to Outhwaite and Bettridge’s (2009) call for coaching to be used as a means to meet an organisation’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) as well as an individuals’ psychological, cultural and spiritual needs.

Editor’s note: this article is a summary of the Keynote at the Section Annual Conference Transpersonal Activism on 12 September 2021.Despite its designation as the ‘Fourth Force,’ Transpersonal Psychology often occupies a peripheral and precarious place within mainstream Psychological approaches. Its historic focus on mystical/spiritual and non-ordinary states of consciousness, coupled with its continued emphasis on subjective and experiential inquiry, have often led to it being excluded in favour of more materialist, positivistic paradigms that currently dominate the discipline. Rather than attempt to simply adapt and assimilate into more mainstream, conventional forms of Psychology, Transpersonal Psychology has a unique opportunity to actively embrace its otherness and outsider status; to pursue authentic interdisciplinary encounters and pioneer more inclusive and radical approaches to research methods. In contemporary Humanistic and Engaged expressions of Eastern Wisdom Traditions (specifically Hinduism, Buddhism and Daoism) one may observe the increasing emphasis on ecological awareness, recovery of the Divine Feminine and more spiritually informed approaches to social justice. To avoid accusations of remoteness, solipsism and spiritual bypassing, Transpersonal Psychologists also need to better attend and creatively respond to prevailing political and socioeconomic conditions. In this keynote I will demonstrate how Transpersonal Psychology has at its heart, always constituted a critical/radical approach to Psychology and still retains the capacity to reinvigorate, re-enchant, transform and transcend.

Social cognilion and transpersonal psychology may seem sharply distinct approaches to psychology. This viewpoint is challenged in this paper, which makes the case for a fruitful rapport between these two perspectives. This is illustrated by looking at how transpersonal psychology may benefit from taking greater cogniza-nce of social cog nd ion research, and at how social cognition may be helped by incorporating important insights from transpersonal psychology. The merits of a transpersonal approach on five topics within social cognition are considered: beliefs and attitudes, attribution theory, social represent at io ns theory, schema theory and stereotyping. Some comments considering the a-pplicalions of an interface between social cognition and transpersonal psychology are also offered.

This paper aims to provide an understanding on the meaning of transpersonal psychology. It first examines the current definition of transpersonal psychology and its inherent problems and challenges. It then offers a new insight on the definition by drawing a parallel metaphor from the Taoist perspective and concludes that the nature of transpersonal psychology is fluid like water which is formless. Transpersonal psychologists may well be continuously calling themselves Transpersonal psychologists and let the transpersonal continuously evolve and be defined by the individual concerned. The truth is out there, beyond the definition.

This paper critically examines the organisational practice that relates to transpersonal psychology. Drawing upon major theories and findings in the broad area of transpersonal applications from a literature review, we argue that the values of the transpersonal are being communicated indirectly at work. They are subsumed in ‘spirituality’, which in turn is subsumed by the term ‘value’. We conclude that transpersonal psychology has an important role to play in the workplace and suggest possible ways as to how to move the discipline forward. KEYWORDS Organization, Workplace, Spirituality, Transpersonal Psychology, Value.

In assessing the relevance of Velmans' work for transpersonal psychology, two major features of his reflexive monism are explored. The first is the notion that consciousness is embedded in the external world and in the body, the second is the principle of reflexivity itself. The embeddedness of consciousness in the world underpins transpersonal notions of consciousness as a primary reality of the universe. Consciousness as embodied is a critical component for therapies and psychospiritual practices that focus on somatic awareness, both central to transpersonal psychology's objectives. The reflexivity at the core of Velmans' theory is identified as a principle that recurs at different scales (the brain, cognition, and the universe), thus relating to esoteric ideas of correspondence across microcosmic and macrocosmic levels of being. For transpersonal psychology, this recognition that 'ancient' esoteric ideas can be substantiated and updated through contemporary research into consciousness opens further avenues of enquiry.

What do you get if you apply Ken Wilber’s theories of transpersonal psychological development within human consciousness to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies or Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, or Shakespeare’s Hamlet? Can they provide a clear interpretative tool in order to uncover the intentional or unintentional aspects of consciousness development contained within them? Do these literary texts reveal a coherent quest for knowledge of human consciousness, the nature of good and evil, and the ineffable question of spirit? Is there a case for presenting a transpersonal perspective of literature in order to expound the theories of this psychological discipline? Can literary texts provide materials that are unique to that art form and can be explicated by knowledge of transpersonal psychology? Is there an evolutionary motion, which is not necessarily historically chronological but nonetheless displays a developmental map of human consciousness across literary works? In other words, can we see a hierarchical framework along the lines of consciousness development as proposed by Ken Wilber, that suggests a movement up the evolutionary ladder of consciousness from Lord of the Flies to Hamlet and beyond? Can we counter oppose Lord of the Flies and Hamlet, suggesting that the first is a fable of regression to transpersonal evil within a cultural community and the second sees Hamlet attempt to avoid this path in order to move toward the transcendence of ego and self, within the individual? If this is so then we should be able to plot both paths relative to the models of development traced in Wilber’s theories and interpret the texts according to this framework. What is the relationship between transpersonal aspects of consciousness and literature? And what are the effects upon the cultural consciousness of human evolution that literature has had so much to inform? How do the literary works of individuals inform the cultural consciousness and transcend the age in which they are written? Equally we should be able to test the theories with the aid of some texts of literature – especially those works which are of, and about consciousness. What does this mean to the literary interpretation of these texts? How does it differ from other interpretations? What are the pitfalls and what disclaimers need to be put in place? Is the difference between the notion of a transpersonal evil and a transpersonal good simply a matter of individual moral choice?

Background: Relationship is core to academic and psychological psychotherapeutic practice supported and linked by research. The success of the working alliance and psychotherapeutic practice are dependent on the properties of the psychologist, client and the therapeutic relationship, where all facets of the therapeutic relationship including the transpersonal, are integrated to a pluralistic practice. The present research looked at the transpersonal in psychotherapeutic psychology: Psychologists’ perceptions and experiences of the transpersonal and transpersonal psychology in their therapeutic work, and of transpersonal psychotherapeutic teaching while in training. Methods: ‘Survey monkey’, an online data gathering tool, was used to collect data using a multiple sorting procedure (MSP) based on Kelly’s personal construct theory. MSP was a projective technique and allowed different conceptual styles to be researched. MSP results were analysed and visually illustrated using correspondence analysis; a multidimensional and descriptive graphical technique. Responses to semi-structured open-ended questions were analysed phenomenologically using Clarkson’s seven level model (2002a) and Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis. Two phases of data gathering were conducted. The initial phase examined clinicians’ personal perceptions and experiences of the transpersonal, and their experiences of the transpersonal in training and in practice. The second phase, the ’validation of findings study’, gathered feedback and reflections from original participants on the findings of the original study. Results: Phase 1: 25 participants took part in the study. 70% of participants were interested in transpersonal psychology while 72% were familiar with it. 65% did not receive information on transpersonal psychology while in training as psychologists. Participants’ clinical experience varied between 0-25 years. This was reflected in responses which were influenced by different experiences of trainings at different times, whereby the transpersonal was omitted or included. Experiences of teaching received was both positive and negative. Different discourses and narratives, as well as different levels of awareness and acknowledgement of the transpersonal were identified. MSP accessed conscious and unconscious experiences and perceptions. Responses to the semi-structured open-ended questions included responses of a scientific, rational and normative narrative. Some viewed transpersonal psychology as not scientific, some identified the transpersonal as separate and unique, while others’ viewed both as integrated to clinical practice. A dichotomy and incompatibility of transpersonal psychology with psychology, and between science and the spiritual was presented by some participants. Phase 2: Validation of findings study: The validation of findings study reinforced findings relating to the identified themes in the original study, and supported an Emerging Theoretical Model of Transpersonal Perceptions, Experience, Practice and Education (henceforward referred to as the emerging theoretical model) as part of a pluralistic approach. Here the interconnected transpersonal themes of the personal experience, experience in training, and use in clinical practice are refined. Conclusions: Findings suggest participants’ personal experience of the transpersonal in training and in clinical practice influenced responses, awareness, experience and acknowledgement of the transpersonal evident in the results. Considering the functioning of each individual, and the mind/body relationship, especially across the lifespan, many theoretical approaches recognise the complex and important relationship involved in functioning which leads to psychological well-being. Perhaps because transpersonal psychology considers that which functions beyond the ego ,it does not comfortably fit into the rules of research and theory which apply within other fields of psychology. In relation to research, the expectations of scientific validity may not seem to be met by transpersonal psychology, as it does not adhere to a Newtonian/Cartesian approach to research in practice. It mainly takes the form of subjective experience using qualitative research methods and is based in human inquiry, which is also reliable and valid. Results indicate trainings in psychology should place more emphasis on incorporating transpersonal psychology in trainings as an essential facet of an integrated therapeutic relationship.

This dissertation used the exploratory single-case study method to address the research question of: How and to what extent has Uta Hoehne, a licensed psychologist, applied Alice Bailey's principles of esoteric psychology in a humanistic/transpersonalbased clinical practice?

Alice Bailey was an esotericist in the first half of the 20th century whose principles of esoteric thought resonate with many of the founding principles of humanistic/transpersonal psychology. Bailey wrote extensively about a type of psychology she called esoteric psychology (EP), which uses principles potentially applicable to clinical psychology. Uta Hoehne is a present-day licensed psychologist and skilled esotericist whose clinical practice has humanistic/transpersonal psychology roots.

She has applied EP techniques successfully in her clinical practice, originally as a supplement to conventional therapeutic techniques.

The research question was investigated using three data sources: 10 structured interviews with Hoehne; other Hoehne source data including published articles on her nonprofit Web site, approximately 200 unpublished documents, 60 hours of lecture recordings; and interviews with two of her senior students, also licensed psychologists.

The data involved general background information, the clinical use of esoteric psychology principles including what she called "higher psychic powers and energy," the esoteric perspective and protocol for multiple categories of DSM-IV-TR psychological disorders, and specific clinical tools with potential general application in humanistic/transpersonal psychology clinical practices. Also, the effectiveness of esoteric psychology techniques in others' clinical practices was addressed with two of Hoehne's students.

Content analysis yielded five principal categories that encompass esoteric psychology in general and Hoehne's specific clinical practices in particular. These categories concern esoteric psychology's perspective, orientation, understanding of disease, practices, and interface with humanistic/transpersonal psychology, and each contains further subthemes.

Hoehne's apparent success in therapeutic outcomes with application of Bailey's esoteric principles in a clinical practice with humanistic/transpersonal psychology roots demonstrates the appropriateness of further research into both the theory and practice of esoteric psychology and of consideration of a more general application in other humanistic/transpersonal psychology clinical practices. A clear resonance is revealed between these two approaches to psychology, and their areas of confluence and difference may work together to address the greater unfolding of human potential.

Little research has been conducted examining the use of dream interpretation in brief psychotherapy. This study examined the efficacy of transpersonal dream interpretation methods taught in a brief workshop. A mixed-method, control-group design was used. Participants included male and female Americans of European, Hispanic and Asian descent. The mean age of participants was 39.5 with most having some college education. Quantitative data was collected using the Outcome Measures 30 (OQ30), the State of Hope Scale (SHS), and the Gains from Dream Session Questionnaire (GDSQ). Qualitative data was collected through semi-structured interview questions and thematic analysis of participant dream journals. Repeated measures ANOVAs conducted on the OQ30 failed to demonstrate significant improvements within the dream work group compared to the control group. A paired sample t test failed to demonstrate measurable improvement within the dream work group compared to the control group. Participants noted some improvement in their responses to the GDSQ. The qualitative data collected indicated, based on subjective participant commentaries, that the dream work was considered useful by most of the workshop participants. Implications for further research are discussed.

This study examines the manifestations of the integration of somatic, transpersonal, and Western psychology in the context of actual psychotherapeutic process. Two main research questions were explored: “What are the characteristics of the integration of somatic, transpersonal, and Western psychotherapeutic processes?” and “Do the lived experiences of the participating therapists reveal an overarching theory that may describe the integration of somatic, transpersonal and Western psychology in the context of the process of psychotherapy?”. Data was collected from interviews with 8 licensed psychotherapists trained in somatic and transpersonal work who integrate these areas of expertise in their clinical work. The data was analyzed using a grounded theory (Charmaz, 2006) method, guided by principles of integral inquiry (Braud, 1998). The integration of these frameworks allowed the data to include applications of different research designs as well as participants’ alternative ways of knowing. This study resulted in a model that describes a possible integration of somatic, transpersonal, and Western psychotherapeutic processes as well as the characteristics of that integration. The model is based on four coexisting components. The first component describes two ways in which integration was identified: a mindful awareness of the multidimensional nature of inner experience, and therapeutic exploration of content relating to somatic, transpersonal, and Western psychologies. The second describes the therapist's personal and professional psycho–spiritual–somatic journey, as well as the attitude she holds toward the client. The third describes the process that allows integration to occur, and the fourth describes the outcomes of this work. These four components expand and deepen the existing literature on somatic, transpersonal, and Western psychotherapies, and are the foundation for a suggested working model concerning the actual practice of integrative psychotherapy.

Psychosynthesis is a transpersonal psychotherapy. It was founded by Dr Roberto Assagioli, an Italian psychiatrist who lived from 1888 to 1974. He was involved in some of the early psychodynamic activity early in the twentieth century, but split from Freud at about the same time as Jung. Psychosynthesis was developed between 1910 and the 1950s in Florence and Rome, but in the 1960s became more internationally known with centres opening round the world. This study is an investigation of the ideas lying behind psychosynthesis: these ideas spring partly from scientific study of the unconscious, but they also originate in the long mystical tradition of both the Eastern and the Western world. In tracing back these ideas to their sources, the nature of the knowledge underlying a modern spiritual, or transpersonal, psychotherapy is inevitably discussed. Roots of such a discipline lie in a split tradition within the Western world - psychology aspires to be scientific, religion or mystical knowledge is studied within the discipline of theology, and the two are very little related in our present conception of knowledge. Roberto Assagioli's framework is thus a 'synthesis' in several senses: in the attempt to relate the soul and theology to the personality and psychology: in the attempt to perceive personal developmental patterns as a microcosm of larger social and historical patterns: and in the particular characteristics of his therapy with the individual. The meaning of these syntheses is examined within the context of the knowledge on which he explicitly and implicitly drew. Psychosynthesis is a product of the twentieth century. It originated at the turn of the century when many new ideas were questioning the old certainties of nineteenth century thought. It began to flourish at the time in the 60s when once again criticism was being levelled at the direction of Western development. An examination of its origin and development throws light on many aspects of our present values.

Intelligence was defined by early psychometricians as capabilities that could be measured by standardized tests. This definition of intelligence is largely accepted to underlie academic achievement. More recent psychological theory posits a broader definition of human intelligence. The purpose of this study was to investigate the possibility that the historic definition of intelligence could be expanded to include transpersonal capabilities as features of intelligence which contribute to academic achievement. This study utilized a quantitative, descriptive, and correlational method to explore the possibility of relationships between intelligence, as traditionally measured by standardized tests in academic settings, and four other psychological constructs—multiple intelligences, spiritual intelligence, concept imagery, and empathy. By its nature this type of research is exploratory only and does not reveal causal relationships. One hundred ninety-five English-speaking college undergraduates, 18 to 25 years old, attending university in the United States, were recruited via SurveyMonkey Audience. Data were gathered via Survey Monkey using the following instruments: a demographic questionnaire, the Multiple Intelligence Survey (MIS); The Integrated Spiritual Intelligence Scale (ISIS); the Style of Processing Scale (SOP); and the Toronto Empathy Questionnaire (TEQ). It was hypothesized that higher standardized test scores and GPA would correlate positively with concept imagery (SOP), spiritual intelligence (ISIS), empathy (TEQ), logical-mathematical intelligence (MIS), and linguistic intelligence (MIS). Findings did not support the hypothesized relationships. However, an unpredicted negative correlation, between spiritual intelligence and the ACT and SAT standardized test scores, was found. Further analysis revealed that higher ISIS scores correlated with, and predicted, lower ACT/SAT scores. This research contributes to the limited literature available that investigates the relationship between spiritual intelligence, spiritual beliefs/participation, and academic achievement. Future research is recommended to replicate these findings, and to look for causal and/or directional explanations of the negative correlation between SI and ACT/SAT scores found in this study.

Attributes associated with mystical experience among Christians, Buddhists, Jews and Pagans are explored in psychometric data presented in this thesis. Two such attributes in particular, the personality trait of psychoticism and attitudes held towards mysticism, are given focal attention. Psychoticism, a trait at one time supposedly linked with vulnerability to psychosis, has been much assessed in previous research into religiosity- personality correlates, and a more recent emerging literature has assessed this trait in relationship to religious experience. However, as this thesis clarifies, good grounds exist for challenging the view that this is a homogeneous trait. Assessments of traits relating to distinct facets of psychoticism, specifically the three traits of agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness to experience, provided solid grounds for taking apparently significant positive correlations between mystical experience and psychoticism as evidence that the former is associated with creativity rather than psychosis. In each religious group studied, a significant positive correlation was found between attitudes to mysticism and mystical experience. However, this thesis also presents grounds for distinguishing these concepts. The possibility that psychoticism relates in different ways to these constructs, and the implications this has for the question of whether mysticism arises through social learning or reflects an innate tendency invariant across creed, are considered

Among the Xhosas, the healing sickness called intwaso is interptreted as a call by the ancestors to become a healer. Transpersonalists also see these initiatory illnesses as spiritual crises, while according to the widely accepted Western psychiatric view, illness is purely perceived in physical and psychological terms. A case study was conducted where a single participant who has undergone the process of ukuthwasa and is functioning as a traditional healer was interviewed. A series of interviews were done where information was gathered about significant experiences related to ukuthwasa process. Tapes were transcribed and a case narrative was written and interpreted using the traditional Xhosa beliefs, the western psychiatric and the transpersonal psychology perspectives. Strengths and weaknesses of each perspective were then examined.