What the heck is transpersonal therapy?
Why should I care about the idea of ‘transpersonal’? This author can imagine a client asking a similar question. Or more typically, “what does ‘transpersonal’ mean?” In essence, psychotherapy can happen without diving into the concept of the transpersonal. In fact, it is just a big, loaded word. It has been debated amongst scholars as to a concise, coherent definition and those in the field are still not always in agreement. What does matter, to this author and possibly to a client, is the capacity to respond to the human condition from a transpersonal lens/an open, trained mind. Exploration and acceptance of a variety of human ways of knowing is the impetus of transpersonal psychology. As was stated by Rodrigues and Friedman (2013): “Transpersonal psychotherapies are based on the assumption that consciousness is at the core of what being human means...a physiological, emotional, intellectual, social, and spiritual consciousness system in totality” (p. 581). Prior to the emergence of the concept of the transpersonal there was no formal support of the internal awareness of “the human experience” as holding any value, at least to the Western mind and the science of psychology. Spiritual and religious influences have had no place in the classic realm of psychology. Yet the majority of the world’s population has spiritual and/or religious affiliations/beliefs. How do we expand to be more inclusive of the whole person?
We have evolved from Victorian/Industrial Revolution era mores and social norms in the 120 + years since Sigmund Freud’s contributions to the field of psychology. Psychotherapy and an associated plethora of approaches and techniques have been part of the evolution of changes in the collective conscience. Lucky for us, some very bright, heart-centered, and loquacious investigators and educators have helped push the boundaries of how we show up in the world, allowing for more awareness of the embrace of multiple ways of knowing. "Complementary forms of knowing, being, and doing, [can include] conventional, tacit, intuitive, body-based, feelings-based, and “direct” forms of knowing; ordinary and non-ordinary states of consciousness; analytic/linear and nonanalytic/nonlinear ways of working with data...” (Anderson & Braud, 2013, p. 249). When we can make room for all sorts of human experiences to be valid, we can allow consciousness to be more than just the creation of the brain. How does this help us in our daily lives? Why should this matter to the average person?
We are wonderfully complicated beings. Infancy, childhood, and per Grof’s contribution, even a perinatal influence (Grof, 2013, p.115) have been identified as crucial periods where we learn how safe it is to attach to our primary caregivers. As we grow, we continue to process our emotional, psychological, spiritual, and physical aspects of wellbeing in relationship to our people, home, neighborhood, society and beyond. The reactions to our environment are established early on and they influence who we relate to, how we react to stressors, what beliefs we have about ourselves and the world around us. We are also capable of acknowledging the past and moving into new ways of attaching/relating. Meditation and spirituality are two examples of areas that have been advocated by transpersonal psychology, with “incredible amounts of scientific research generated... particularly in psychology, nursing, and medicine... and are now seen as important component[s] of health and well-being" (MacDonald, 2013, p. 320).
Many of us move through life adapting to events with minimal to moderate disruption, bumbling along our ‘path of destiny’ (or so it is often perceived). Major life events or traumas might jar a person into a state of upset or even crisis and the bumbling is suddenly inadequate as a game plan. Help is needed to make sense of the seismic upheaval a person might experience in any of the following as examples: a significant loss (ex. parent, friend, partner, child, homeland, body part, or physical capacity), a career redirect, an episode of depression or psychosis, a violation against one’s autonomous person, a psychedelic “trip” that redefined a worldview (difficult or wonderful), a global pandemic or war, or even a spiritual awakening/emergency (Grof & Grof, 2017).
Would Freudian psychoanalysis be the therapy of choice for any who sought help in today’s society? As we can see with the proliferation of psychotherapeutic (as opposed to psychoanalytic) styles/schools of thought, many people are choosing psychotherapy. Lying on a couch with an impersonal analyst week after week for decades and at great cost is a fading paradigm (Paris, 2017).
By contrast, the developments of psychotherapy, particularly of the transpersonal, have a wider embrace of the variety of human experiences. Transpersonal psychology was born from a think tank collaborative effort in the mid 1960s. In the 50+ years since there have been efforts to bring some consolidation to the psychotherapy world – some people want to lump transpersonal with spiritual or humanistic psychology. As a discipline, transpersonal psychology is both an established framework as well as a bit of a fringe, difficult-to-define, branch of psychology. Hartelius, Rothe, & Roy (2013) reviewed many definitions since the inception of Transpersonal Psychology and shared this one as the boiled down essence of their review: “Transpersonal psychology: An approach to psychology that 1) studies phenomena beyond the ego as context for 2) an integrative/holistic psychology; this provides a framework for 3) understanding and cultivating human transformation” (p. 6). An elevator-speech definition might (more playfully) be “making room for Mystery and Magic within the science of psychology”. But that version did not make the official cut.
Of particular interest to this author are the conversations which are more inclusive of world views from other cultures, gender identities, ancient wisdom traditions, and revisions as to what is considered the “whole person”. For example, the advance of feminist psychology is a transpersonal acknowledgement of inherent wisdom that is accessible by embracing exactly that which has been suppressed in our culture under patriarchy. According to Brooks, Ford, & Huffman (2013), there are even ways of inquiry which are being claimed and promoted by the feminist psychology movement – one of them is called Organic Inquiry (OI). “OI is a qualitative, spiritually based, and feminist-oriented method of study which honors research as sacred and interconnected... [and] is based upon the five principles of the sacred, the personal, the chthonic (in the earth), the relational, and the transformative” (p. 620).
Another valuable and “conspicuously underrepresented” perspective is that of the African-centered. As Deterville (2016) stated regarding the term “Sankofa” (to look back and fetch what has been forgotten), “African-centered philosophical concepts in transpersonal notions of self and personhood [include] whole person relationship to community and a living world.” She stated there is “ongoing need for greater inclusion of non-Western [and non-Eastern] interpretations and understandings in a field that potentially has worldwide implications” (p. 118)
Psychedelic therapy is another realm in which the transpersonal mindset is flourishing. Because most plant medicines are derived from Indigenous origins and sacred traditions, it is important that the discussion centers on respect for the cultural heritage. The transpersonal lens (trans=beyond, ergo beyond the personal) brings the view that we are more than the physical body, more than the history (and stories) we have known. A plethora of research studies and documentary movies are telling the story that plant-based psychedelic medicines and other psychedelics are contributing to the healing/transformation of entrenched conditions such as PTSD, Major Depressive Disorder, Anxiety, end-of-life fears and worries, and suicide ideation. However, psychedelics are not fully legal and are not appropriate for everyone. Other options for tapping into altered states of consciousness, and thereby potentially supporting rewiring of brain cell connectivity around trauma, might include breathwork (Grof, 2010), meditation (MacDonald, Walsh, & Shapiro, 2013), and hypnosis (Metzner, 1989) (Wickramesekera, 2013)
Whether transpersonal psychology can survive as a label, concept, and specialty is not as important as the fact that it has tapped into the evolution of conceptualization. Humans have experiences that cannot be verified with double blind studies. Birth and death (the existential ‘unanswerable’) are beyond lab sanctions. Near death experiences (NDEs), encountering entities when ingesting sacred plant medicines, dissolution of ego and body in an extended round of meditation (i.e. Vipassana), peak (chance) human experiences of Oneness (often experienced by being in nature), out-of-body travel, extrasensory perception, mediumship, twins who have mirrored experiences at far distances, mystics whose writings of ecstasy inspire for millennia, humans like Viktor Frankel (author of Man’s Search for Meaning, 1985) surviving and thriving after unspeakable atrocities, rescued whales and other animals who return to thank the humans involved, holding safe space for a client to allow for an energy shift within minutes of starting a session (as was witnessed at a Naropa event based on techniques taught by the professor) - these are a few examples of why transpersonal psychology matters. These are experiences that people have every day, all over the world, and they are phenomenon that often profoundly affect the humans who are experiencing them.
As someone who signed up for the Mindfulness Based Transpersonal Counseling master’s program at Naropa without really knowing the definition of “transpersonal”, this author can attest that there were more important details to be concerned with, yet it was intriguing and worthy of pursuing. As a culminative exercise, writing about what transpersonal psychology encompasses and where it is heading is no easier a task than at the start of the journey. Yet there is a broad appreciation of why the discussion is happening. Much like any certainty which faced doubt, disbelief, disdain in the past (i.e. the world is round, not flat), taking a stance as to the importance of the esoteric, of the profound appreciation of existence and miraculous experiencing of the sublime and of suffering, there is merit/right action in exploring the whole as more than the sum of its parts. We all benefit when we are seen as more than meat machines. Humanity will continue to experience life as a spectrum from the mundane to the fantastical. The transpersonal approach works with and celebrates all of it. As Rodriguez and Friedman (2013) stated, “...changes in identity and values toward greater love and mental clarity may allow humanity...[to] find greater cooperation, solidarity, sharing... all facilitated by transpersonal healing... through transpersonal psychotherapy...a good starting point for individual growth and societal change” (p.590). Who would not want to sign up for that?
References
Anderson, R., & Braud, W. (2013). Transpersonal research and future directions. The Wiley‐ Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, 239-260.
Brooks, C., Ford, K., & Huffman, A. (2013). Feminist and cultural contributions to transpersonal psychology. The Wiley‐Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, 612-625.
Deterville, A. D. (2016). African-centered transpersonal self in diaspora and psychospiritual wellness: A Sankofa perspective. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 35(1), 13.
Frankl, V. E. (1985). Man's search for meaning. Simon and Schuster.
Grof, S. (2013). Revision and Re‐Enchantment of Psychology: Legacy from Half a Century of Consciousness Research. The Wiley‐Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, 89-120.
Grof, C., & Grof, S. (2017). Spiritual emergency: The understanding and treatment of t transpersonal crises. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 36(2), 5
Hartelius, G., Rothe, G., & Roy, P. J. (2013). A brand from the burning: Defining transpersonal psychology. The Wiley‐Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, 1-22
Holiday, J. M. (2010). The word, the body, and the kinfolk: The intersection of transpersonal thought with womanist approaches to psychology. International Journal of Transpersonal Studies, 29(2), 10.
MacDonald, D. A. (2013). Philosophical underpinnings of transpersonal psychology as a science. The Wiley‐Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, 312-329.
MacDonald, D. A., Walsh, R., & Shapiro, S. L. (2013). Meditation: Empirical research and future directions. The Wiley‐Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, 433-458.
Metzner, R. (1989). States of consciousness and transpersonal psychology. In Existential- phenomenological perspectives in psychology: Exploring the breadth of human experience (pp. 329-338). Boston, MA: Springer US.
Paris, J. (2017). Is psychoanalysis still relevant to psychiatry? The Canadian journal of psychiatry, 62(5), 308-312.
Rodrigues, V., & Friedman, H. L. (2013). Transpersonal psychotherapies. The Wiley‐Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, 580-594.
Wickramasekera, I. E. (2013). Hypnosis and transpersonal psychology: Answering the call within. The Wiley‐Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology, 492-511.
