BRIDGING TRANSPERSONAL PSYCHOLOGY’S IMPLICATIONS FOR

ASSISTING PSYCHODYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY IN THE

TREATMENT OF TRAUMA IN THE CLINICAL OFFICE

Lynn BaxterMarch 2016

Table of Contents→My Personal Interest and Personal Quote→ Transpersonal Psychology Definitions→ The Emergence of Transpersonal Psychology→ Comparative Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Model

of Practice→ Development of the Healthy Self/Ego –

Psychodynamic Theory→ Development of the Healthy Self/Ego – Transpersonal

Perspective→ Ken Wilber’s Full Spectrum of Consciousness→ Ideas About How Transpersonal Psychology can Heal→ Transpersonal Psychology in the Clinical Office

Background of Personal Interest

‘Nobody drew the conclusion that if the subject of knowledge, the psyche, were in fact a veiled form of existence not immediately accessible to consciousness, then all our knowledge must be incomplete, and moreover to a degree that we cannot determine.’ (Jung, 1990)

Transpersonal Psychology Definitions

A type of psychology or psychotherapy that focuses on altered states of consciousness and transcendent experiences as a means to understanding the human mind and treating mental disorders.

Random House Dictionary

© Random House Inc, 2015

Transpersonal Psychology Definitions Continued

The term ‘transpersonal’ was first used by Carl Jung (1917)

→used term because he theorized that unconscious processes act independently from conscious processes.

→felt there were two psychic systems and the unconscious process has the potential to radically change perception of the world

→each system has a subject therefore a dialogue is needed between the psychic systems – the transpersonal realm (Jung, 1990)

Merriam-Webster Dictionary

1. extending or going beyond the personal or individual

2. of, relating to, or being psychology or psychotherapy concerned especially with esoteric mental experience (as mysticism and altered states of consciousness) beyond the usual limits of ego and personality.

‘Transpersonal’ Merriam-Webster.com

THE EMERGENCE OF TRANSPERSONAL

PSYCHOLOGYThe Fourth Force as defined by (Maslow, Grof, Deikman, 1968)

The Emergence of Transpersonal Psychology Continued

First Force of Psychology→ Freudian Psychology (Freud, Jung, Adler)

Second Force →Behaviorism arose in response to Freud’s exploration of the mind & unconscious. Wanted to establish psychology rooted in observable phenomena rather than in the exploration of the mind. (Skinner, Bandera, )

The Emergence of Transpersonal Psychology Continued

Third Force → Humanistic Psychology arose in response to Behaviorism which the theorists felt did not account for human experience and potential. (Maslow as founder, Rogers)

Fourth Force → Transpersonal in response to Third Force to encompass all aspects of personal knowledge and consciousness (Maslow, Grof, Deikman).

The Historical Overview: how the PPMP creates room or how the

Transpersonal can be an addition for some traumas.PsychoanalyticTheorist - Freud

→the basic nature of personality is psychic energy

→tri-partite system of Id, Ego, Superego→the Id and Superego are not capable of

learning but the Ego is→importance of the unconscious in psychic

life

Freud: Psychoanalytic

Basic Approach to Personality Development and Development of the Ego:

→the personality develops in response to conflict

→defense mechanisms develop→personality stabilizes as the individual

lays secondary process (ego adaptation/ management) which over lays the primary process (instinct/wish fulfillment)

→the stable personality is one which has achieved balance between cathexis and anti-cathexis of instinct/energy (discharge or the prevention of discharge)

Freud: PsychoanalyticDoes Freud make room for the Transpersonal?→though Freud relegated the transpersonal to

unmet infantile wishes, he opened the door for others to develop the transpersonal approach

→ dreams are an altered state of consciousness and are seen as archaic, left over wishes seeking gratification through experience (Hall, 1999)

→explores hypnotism, dreams and parapraxesNote: Freud approaches the spiritual dimension but

is necessarily reductionist in nature because of society’s heavy emphasis on science but additions were added to his theory.

Freud: Psychoanalytic

Limitations: →Freud states the mind recognizes spiritual/religious

experience as the truth, but it is a truth from the past external reality ie. Justified memories which push to be believed (Black, 2006)

‘The ego is indeed the power which disavows the unconscious and has degraded it into being repressed; so how can we trust it to be fair to the unconscious?’ (Hall, 1999 ) Note: Freud approaches the spiritual

dimension but is necessarily reductionist in nature because of society’s heavy emphasis on science but it paved the way for further theory.

Jung

Basic Approach to Personality Development and Ego Process:→Like Freud, Jung saw events like fantasy/dreams as symbolic

communications from the unconscious to the consciousness of the individual

→Expands Freud’s theory of the unconscious through developing a model of the collective unconscious – which contains ‘archetypes’ and collective symbols.

→Jung also developed the concept of the psyche as separate from the conscious mind (but not the same as Freud’s unconscious-which for Freud only contained infantile wishes, memories and conflicts) and this part of the personality is a significant shift that makes room for more transpersonal understandings.

→So according to Jung: the psyche includes a more universal unconscious as well as the personal.

→Jung describes both a conscious and unconscious ego which contains the shadow (Jung, 1990)

Jung→the psyche is structured through archetypes and brings forth

what is unconscious into conscious and demands assimilation : ‘the psyche not only disturbs the natural order but, if it loses its balance, actually destroys its own creation’ (Jung, 1999)

→this is different from Freud’s unconscious because it argues that the unconscious is not just repressed material which could not be perceived on a conscious level but that the unconscious holds ‘all material’ not yet brought up to the conscious – it also holds the seeds of that which is not yet made conscious (Jung, 1990).

→Biggest shift that makes room for transpersonal understandings is Jung’s introduction of the concept of the collective unconscious and the psyche.

Limitations: Jung does not explore the mechanism and its nature which allows for the unconscious to come up to the conscious. He leaves that process as the unconscious being assimilated into the conscious.

Ego PsychologyBasic Approach to Personality Development

and the Ego Process:→According to Ego psychology the

fundamental organization of personality, unlike Jung and Freud is the development of the ego.

→more emphasized than Freud, is the development of the ego where the ego can be defined as the executive function of the mind, “adherents of ego psychology focus on the ego’s normal and pathological development, its management of libidinal and aggressive impulses and its adaptation to reality.”

Ego Psychology→In other words, the ego’s function is to negotiate between internal states/pressures and

external demands/pressures and develop a capacity to balance both in an adaptive fashion.→These adaptations are often the function of defensive mechanisms of the personality.→Anna Freud (1996): ego is the seat of observation of the psychic processs. The psychic

processes of id, ego and superego engage in order to be synthesized by the ego. The ego does not observe itself and we get glimpses of other development or activity through hynosis, parapraxes, dreams and free association.

Does Ego Psychology Make Room for the Transpersonal?-Fred Pine (1990)→does not deal with altered states of consciousness or spirituality directly→ he goes on to further the ego’s purpose when stating the ego learns and is capable of

expanding its learning as it tests reality→ego understands there is a preference for a particular subjective self-state of homeostasis and

will move to maintain it regardless of its effects and binds with a felt sense of ‘self’ or ‘I’→While ego psychology is not specifically concerned with transpersonal phenomena, it does

provide an important component to healing within a transpersonal model and that is the capacity to develop an observing ego-one that is not bound or embedded in experience but can separate itself & reflect upon experience.

These are important concepts for later discussion where the observing ego in a traumatized client is limited.

Ego PsychologyKernberg (1985):ego is capable of integrating with a perceived ‘good object’ and

learns that self is different from ‘bad’.→the ego develops to differentiate and to integrate and becomes active

participant in integrating good experience, thus expecting good experiences throughout life.

→With an integrated notion of good and bad the child has an opportunity to observe internalized phenomena such as more esoteric aspects of consciousness. The ego is mature enough to negotiate the external with health and acknowledge helpful messages from the more transpersonal.

→if the ego splits and doesn’t develop self-observing capacity then transpersonal phenomena may not work in the service of healing traumatized victims.

→not attaching to the present self-other experiences can leave a client in crippling fear of unknowable phenomena.

Limitations: Ego psychology lays the groundwork of the ego as a very critical mechanism in observing, understanding and participating in psychodynamic processes of development. It however narrows the scope to ego functioning and pathology as opposed to looking at the ‘self’ which is the centre of the psyche.

Self Psychology

-Heinz KohutBasic Approach to Personality Development and the Ego Process:→”…it is my impression that the most productive and creative lives

are lived by those who, despite high degrees of traumatization in childhood, are able to acquire new structures by finding new routes toward inner completeness” (Kohut, 1984).

Does Self Psychology Make Room for the Transpersonal?→self psychology argues that all pathology is based on defects in structure

of self, weakness of self, or distortions of self→healing is a reactivation of the developmental potential of the self→pathology is found in the actual distortion of the observation of self.Limitations: Self psychology limits healing within a relational dynamic of

therapist and self. It does not address specifically the mechanisms of self/other development and relational knowing.

→

Object RelationsD. WinnicottBasic Approach to Personality Development and Ego Process:→He is an object relations theorist who saw the importance of the

actual experiences between the good enough mother and the infant in generating either healthy or pathological personalities.

Does Object Relations Theory make room for the Transpersonal?→One of Winnicott’s key concepts that make room for spiritual or

transpersonal experience is his concept of transitional space where transitional space can be considered potential space….a link between the individual and the outer world experience.

Its features are:∙it is a real but not real phenomenon∙dreams, art, cultural expression, religion get experienced here

Object Relations∙it is both created by the individual and yet separate from her/him

(transitional object ie. Teddy bear)∙it bridges the gap between the real mother and the object imbued

with the mother’s qualities.Note: Spiritual experience may be said to inhabit transitional space

if the therapist is good enough and self observation becomes secure, then the transitional space is trusted.

→this space is where we ‘live’ – its neither outside or inside and where development continues and an object promotes the process of transformation (Black, 2006)

Limitations: Object relations provides a significant shift in identifying the psychic, developmental space where transpersonal knowledge is developed but does not address how the transpersonal impacts the adult in relation to ‘the other’.

IntersubjectivityD. Wallin (2007)Basic Approach to Personality Development and Ego Process:→Intersubjectivity suggests that the personality develops

through shared subjective experiences (intersubjective) between the child and caregiver that generate organizations of experience – or in other words, ways of structuring experience.

Does Intersubjective Theory make room for the Transpersonal?

→the first intersubjective experiences occur before language – they are body memories (procedural/unconscious memories) and thus we cannot retrieve them as we would ‘regular’ (languaged) memories.

Intersubjectivity→these embodied memories are foundational to the beginning structures

of the organizations of experience.→to rework the structure, we have to experience them with a different

intersubjective field or experience (both unconscious and conscious)→The intersubjective field like Winnicott’s transitional space provides

opportunity for subjective experiences to be shared without judgment and without the objective facticity and yet be understood as real.

→It is also within a new intersubjective field where the potential for outside secure attachment may happen and thus also encourage the development of metacognitive monitoring and mentalization.

Limitations: Intersubjectivity allows for greater application to the understanding of altered states of knowing and experiencing through relation with the ‘other’. It opens the door for the transpersonal theorists to explore the state of altered states of knowing.

Transpersonal PerspectivesWhy care about spirituality?

What I mean by this is different inner consciousness that our traumatized clients may speak about that is helpful in their healing process.

Because the nature of consciousness changes the nature of reality for the individual.Cowley (2001, pg. 51)

→When a client has a self-observing ego then the openness to consciousness change is more accessible.

Transpersonal PerspectivesResearch by (Cowley, 2001) shows the benefits of spiritual awakenings

by traumatized clients.-It can lead to the development of positive personality traits such as:

compassion, discernment, generosity, patience, wisdom

James Fowler (1981), in his work about the developmental trajectory of faith (Spirituality) suggests that:

∙when matured, the individual acknowledges paradox and transcendence relating reality behind the symbols of inherited systems.The individual resolves conflicts from previous stages by a complex understanding of a multidimensional, interdependent faith that cannot be explained by any particular statement.

∙In the final developmental stage the individual is able to treat any person with compassion as he/she views people as from a universal community and should be dealt with using the universal principles of love and justice.

Transpersonal Perspectives

→spiritual belief can mitigate distress during exceptionally negative events which challenges ego integrity and consolidation through the development of holding paradoxes and multi-dimensional perspectives (ie. Metacognitive capacities).

Note: It is the experience of spirituality, not the specific belief or attitude which counts.

Ken Wilber’s Full Spectrum of Consciousness in Development (1977)

-3 levels of consciousness:1)Prepersonal – no firm sense of identity; self and object

representations are fused. May indicate later onset of narcissistic, borderline, psychotic ego structure

2)If the personal level or ego is secure – relative sense of identity and autonomy, some individuation of self and some self actualization

3)Transpersonal – goes beyond ego and self actualization into transcendence where transcendence is seen as going ‘beyond’ the self typically experienced.

How Does Trauma Disrupt the Ego and Self?

Where: ego is thought to be the centre of consciousness and self is the centre of the psyche (Jung, 1990)

Bion (1992) explains trauma being disruptive in the following:→trauma is the invasion of psychic reality; psychic reality is not protected,

‘self’ and ‘existence’ cannot be represented or symbolized. →I believe that with trauma the ego that attends to psychic reality is

unable to maintain contact with both internal and external reality.Therefore: the internal dialogue has stopped between what is

experienced outside as real and what is felt inside and experienced internally as real.

It leaves the individual vulnerable and feeling hopeless. Transpersonal experience, if normalized, can help restore the dialogue.

Note: With trauma and a weak ego development a client can use spirituality to disconnect from engagement with others and reality.

Question…….If the ego, which manages and masters

consciousness, is busy with the self which is in survival mode, how does it experience restoration and sense restoration of the self?

“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

Albert Einstein

Trauma and the Secure Attachment to the Psychotherapist

→If the spiritual or transpersonal elements come into the therapy room from a client with the secure relationship developed by the therapeutic alliance, then this may have a very in-depth ameliorative capacity for working with PTS.

→A client can then let go of a restrictive ego and even feel secure letting go temporarily of an observing ego and ‘trust’ that inner messages can also come from a spiritual realm (different type of ‘knowing’). The psychotherapist can then normalize the experience.

→the client can utilize the less restrictive ego which has adopted more observing qualities and integrate ‘a new knowing’ of self which goes beyond the traumatic experience. This allows the client in relationship to self and others experience new learning, new connections and new relatedness (Cozolino, 2010)

→the secure attachment allows for exploration with the therapist in the ‘transitional space’ to make new meaning through mentalizing and metacognition. (allowing client to stand in experience and outside it) (Wallin, 2007).

→the transpersonal (spiritual) can bring up a new way of ‘knowing’ which goes beyond the contents of traumatic experience and once normalized, can help the client experience themselves in a way which fosters coping, healing and a sense of wholeness.

I believeThe greatest giftI can conceive of havingFrom anyoneIsTo be seen by them,Heard by them,To be understoodAndTouched by them.The greatest giftI can giveIsTo see, hear, understandAnd to touchAnother person.When this is doneI feelContact has been made.

Virginia Satir

References

American Psychological Association (APA) Transpersonal –psychology (n.d.) Dictionary.coms 21 st Century Lexicon. Retrieved October 29, 2015, from Dictionary.com’s website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/transpersonal-psychology

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Collins, M. (2008). Spiritual emergency: transpersonal, personal, and political dimensions. Psychotherapy and Politics Int., 6(1) 3-16.

Cozolino, Louis. (2010). The Neuroscience of Psychotherapy. New York: W.W. Norton & Co.

Deikman, Arthur, J. (1982). The Observing Self. Boston: Beacon Press.

Erikson, Erik, H. (1963). Childhood and Society. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.

Freud, Anna (1966). The Ego and the Mechanisms of Defense. Madison: International Universities Press, Inc.

Goldenberg, I. & Matheson, K. (2008). Inner representations, coping, and posttraumatic stress symptomology in a community sample of trauma survivors. Basic and Applied Social Psychology, 24(4), 361-369.

Hall, Calvin, S. (1982). A Primer of Freudian Psychology. New York: Harper & Row.

Jung, C.G. (1990). The Basic Writings of C.G. Jung, Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Kernberg, Otto (1985). Borderline Conditions and Pathological Narcissism. New York: Rowman & Littlefied Publishers, Inc.

Kohls, N., Walach, H. & Wirtz, M. (2009). The relationship between spiritual experiences, transpersonal trust, social support, and sense of coherence and mental distress – a comparison of spiritually practising and non-practising samples. Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 12(1), 1-23.

Kunstlicher, R. (2001). Human time and dreaming. The Scandinavian Psychoanalytic Review, 24, 75-82.

Stieff, D. (2008). Unlocking the secrets of the wounded psyche: interview with Donald Kelsched. Psychological Perspectives, 51, 190-207.

Tuber, Steven, (2008). Attachment, play, and authenticity. London: Jason Aronson.

Wallin, David, J. (2007). Attachment in Psychotherapy. New York: The Guilford Press.