Transpersonal psychology focuses on altered states of consciousness and transcendent experiences to understand the human mind and treat mental disorders. It emerged in response to limitations in psychoanalytic, behaviorist, and humanistic theories. Transpersonal psychology incorporates spiritual and transcendent experiences into theories of personality development and the ego. It views these altered states as opportunities for healing from trauma by accessing new ways of knowing beyond the personal level of consciousness that may have been disrupted. Incorporating clients' spiritual experiences can help restore internal dialogues and support integrating new meanings to foster coping and a sense of wholeness.

1. Lynn Baxter
March 2016

2. →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

3. ‘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)

4. 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

5. 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)

6. 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

7. The Fourth Force as defined by
(Maslow, Grof, Deikman, 1968)

8. 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, )

9. 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).

10. Psychoanalytic
Theorist - 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

11. 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

12. Does 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 parapraxes
Note: Freud approaches the spiritual dimension
but is necessarily reductionist in nature
because of society’s heavy emphasis on science

13. 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.

14. 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)

15. →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.

16. Basic 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.”

17. →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-

18. Kernberg (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.

19. -Heinz Kohut
Basic 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

20. →

21. D. Winnicott
Basic 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

22. ∙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’.

23. D. 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

24. →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.

25. Why 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.

26. Research 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.

27. →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.

28. -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.

29. 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.

30. 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

31. →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.

32. I believe
The greatest gift
I can conceive of having
From anyone
Is
To be seen by them,
Heard by them,
To be understood
And
Touched by them.
The greatest gift
I can give
Is
To see, hear, understand
And to touch
Another person.
When this is done
I feel
Contact has been made.
Virginia Satir

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