SUNY series in the Philosophy of Psychology – serie

Argues that a primal wounding of the human spirit occurs in earliest human life that disrupts fundamental relationships and leads to anxiety, loneliness, and alienation; and shows how this wounding can be redeemed through therapy and through living one's life differently.To many of us, modern life is a headlong rush to avoid dark feelings that threaten to disrupt our lives at every turn. In order to block the surging tide of this hidden level of experience, we become enthralled with violence, sex, and mass media and addicted to alcohol, drugs, and power, and we compulsively strive for romance, success, and control. All of this, according to the authors, can be traced to the primal wound—a dark specter of isolation, abandonment, and alienation haunting human life.The primal wound is the result of a violation we all suffer in various ways, beginning in early childhood and continuing throughout life. Because we are treated not as individual, unique human beings but as objects, our intrinsic, authentic sense of self is annihilated. This primal wounding breaks the fundamental relationships that form the fabric of human existence: the relationship to oneself, to other people, to the natural world, and to a sense of transpersonal meaning symbolized in concepts such as the Divine, the Ground of Being, and Ultimate Reality. In this book, Firman and Gila apply object relations theory, self-psychology, transpersonal psychology, and psychosynthesis to the issues of psychological wounding, healing, and growth and show how this wounding can be redeemed through therapy and through changing one's way of living.

In this book, Michael Washburn provides a psychoanalytic foundation for transpersonal psychology. Using psychoanalytic theory, Washburn explains how ego development both prepares for and creates obstacles to ego transcendence. Spiritual development, he proposes, can be properly understood only in terms of the ego development that precedes it. For example, many difficulties encountered in spiritual development can be traced to repressive underpinnings of ego development, and significant gender differences in spiritual development can be traced to corresponding gender differences that emerge during ego development.Washburn draws on a wide range of psychoanalytic perspectives in discussing ego development and uses both Eastern and Western sources in discussing spiritual development. In rethinking transpersonal psychology in psychoanalytic terms, he explains how essential elements of Jungian thought can be grounded in psychoanalytic theory.

The links between madness, creative genius, and spiritual experiences have tantalized philosophers and scientists for centuries. In Healing the Split, John Nelson brings the lofty ideas of transpersonal psychology down to earth so they can be applied in a practical way to explain the bizarre effects of insanity on the human mind. Drawing on a vast knowledge of Eastern philosophy and mainstream neuropsychiatry, he heals the split between orthodox and alternative views with a comprehensive approach that goes beyond both. Starting where R. D. Laing and Thomas Szasz left off, Nelson revises and expands their radical views in light of modern brain science. He then turns to ancient tantric yoga for a synthesis that weaves brain, psyche, and spirit into a compelling new conception of mental illness.For professionals who seek to meet the needs of their patients more creatively, this book offers a unique synthesis. For people in emotional crisis, it clarifies the distinctions among intractable psychosis, temporary breakdowns in the service of healing (spiritual emergencies), and psychic breakthroughs (spiritual emergence). And for anyone interested in the seemingly inexplicable workings of the human mind gone mad, this fascinating exploration of psychotic states of consciousness will be exciting reading.

Breaches the wall between the psychotherapeutic and the sacred as respected pioneers in the field give their vision of the synergistic potential in these two powerful traditions.Since its original publication in 1980, this book has become a classic in transpersonal psychotherapy. This new edition contains articles by the major figures in the field, including new contributions by Stanislav Grof, John Nelson, Donald Evans, Charles Tart, Edward Hoffman, Seymour Boorstein, W. Michael Keane and Stephen Cope, Sylvia Boorstein, and Roger J. Woolger. The articles present a spectrum of widely diverse perspectives-from precise behavioristic work with attention training, through creative clinical pharmacology and theory development, to innovative use of chakra energies. The result is a rich and provocative summary of the state of the art in transpersonal psychotherapy.The editor's focus is on the scientific healing/mysticism alliance, which dates back to the earliest shamans and in modern times has engaged William James, Carl Jung, Roberto Assagioli, and Abraham Maslow. In the book, some of the most respected pioneers in the field give their vision of the synergistic potential of these two powerful traditions. Transpersonal Psychotherapy describes a wide variety of uses of traditional and spiritual approaches for the alleviation of mental suffering and for spiritual development.

An original theory of the development of consciousness that brings together research from neurology, new-paradigm studies, psychology, and mysticism.Changes of Mind unites literature from the new physics, brain research, developmental psychology, and mysticism to produce the first comprehensive theory of individual human consciousness. Assuming a new paradigm reality, the author opens and extends the field of developmental psychology in ways that structure, destructure, and then restructure the subjective experience of time, space, subject, and object.Wade's theory concerns the development of consciousness per se-not merely its derivatives, such as cognition, social development, and affect-and its neurological bases, something no other developmental theory has taken into account. Using data from a wide range of empirical studies and neurological research, Wade shows that awareness considerably predates birth-probably even conception-and lasts after death, supporting the idea that the self exists outside the boundaries of linear time and a physical body. This book represents a major leap forward in psychological theory and a groundbreaking approach to human perception and being in the world.

Demonstrates the dramatic results of blending the traditional with the transpersonal approach to psychoanalysis.In this book, Seymour Boorstein builds upon his classical training as a psychiatrist to show the dramatic results of blending the traditional with the transpersonal approach to psychotherapy. By providing case studies from his own practice that cover the spectrum of traditional psychological categories, he demonstrates the vast possibilities and some of the pitfalls inherent in joining psychotherapy and spirituality and also gives the reader a glimpse into the psychiatrist's mental processes as he considers patients' dilemmas and seeks to help them find solutions. The specific techniques Boorstein describes serve as guideposts for other psychotherapists and clinicians, for laypeople interested in psychological healing, and for spiritual leaders and seekers. Boorstein's message to mental-health practitioners is clear: Transpersonal therapists should make use of the valuable traditional techniques that have proved useful, and traditional therapists should explore the enormous impact spiritual issues have on our lives.

The first concise overview of transpersonal psychotherapy.This volume brings together the major developments in the field of transpersonal psychotherapy. It articulates the unifying theoretical framework and explores the centrality of consciousness for both theory and practice. It reviews the major transpersonal models of psychotherapy, including Wilber, Jung, Washburn, Grof, Ali, and existential, psychoanalytic,and body-centered approaches, and assesses the strengths and limitations of each. The book also examines the key clinical issues in the field. It concludes by synthesizing some of the overarching principles of transpersonal psychotherapy as they apply to actual clinical work.

Presents the first complete account of the thought of David Hartley, one of the most original minds of the eighteenth century.In this first complete account of Hartley's thought, Richard Allen explains Hartley's theories of physiology, perception and action, language and cognition, emotional development and transformation, and spiritual transcendence. By drawing a biographical portrait of its subject, the book explores the relationship of mind and body in Hartley's system, and surveys Hartley's influence upon later scientists and social reformers, particularly Joseph Priestley.

Presents the first complete account of the thought of David Hartley, one of the most original minds of the eighteenth century.In this first complete account of Hartley's thought, Richard Allen explains Hartley's theories of physiology, perception and action, language and cognition, emotional development and transformation, and spiritual transcendence. By drawing a biographical portrait of its subject, the book explores the relationship of mind and body in Hartley's system, and surveys Hartley's influence upon later scientists and social reformers, particularly Joseph Priestley.

The Harmony of the Soul creates a naturalistic grounding for ethics and a moral grounding for psychotherapy. It is an original and startling synthesis of the ideas of mental health and moral virtue based on neglected affinities between classical Greek ethics, contemporary virtue ethics, sociobiology, and the basic presuppositions of psychotherapy. A central thesis of the book is that we can assume "the worst" about what science tells us about the human animal without having to sacrifice any of the things that are of most importance to ethics: virtue and the good life, harmony of the soul, freedom, conscience, and moral knowledge.