SPIRITUAL EMERGENCE/Y FROM A

TRANSPERSONAL ART THERAPY PERSPECTIVE

Karen Adler: Transpersonal Art TherapistDip. Transpersonal Art Therapy

Grad. Dip. Material AnthropologyB. Fine Art

Dip. Creative Writinghttp://www.thejourneyjournal.webs.com

Wednesday, 30 October 13

DEFINITIONS:

Spiritual Emergence:

describes a gradual unfoldment of spiritual potential with no disruption in psychological-social-occupational functioning.

Spiritual Emergency/crisis:

In cases where the spiritual unfoldment is intensified beyond the control of the individual it may lead to a state of Spiritual Emergency. A Spiritual Emergency may cause significant disruption in psychological, social and occupational functioning.

Wednesday, 30 October 13

TYPES OF SPIRITUAL EMERGENCY.

• Episodes of unitive consciousness [peak experiences]

• Kundalini awakening

• Near-death experiences

• Emergence of ‘past-life memories’

• Psychological renewal through return to the centre

• Shamanic crisis

• Awakening of extrasensory perception [psychic opening]

• Communication with spirit guides and chanelling

• Experience of close encounters with UFO’s

• Possession states

From: Grof, Christina and Stanislav. The Stormy Search for the Self.Wednesday, 30 October 13

DSM-IV : Religious or Spiritual Problem (V62.89)

‘The inclusion in the DSM-IV of a new diagnostic category called "Religious or Spiritual Problem" marks a significant breakthrough. For the first time,there is acknowledgment of distressing religious and spiritual experiences as nonpathological problems. Spiritual emergencies are crises during which the process of growth and change becomes chaotic and overwhelming. The proposal for this new diagnostic category came from transpersonal clinicians concerned with the misdiagnosis and mistreatment of persons in the midst of spiritual crises.’ David Lukoff.

Why Life in America Can Literally Drive You Insane - discusses over-diagnosis of psychiatric disorders, pathologizing of normal behaviors, Big Pharma corruption of psychiatry, and the adverse effects of psychiatric medications. ‘In just two decades, pointing out the pseudoscience of the DSM has gone from being an “extremist slur of radical anti-psychiatrists” to a mainstream proposition from the former chairs of both the DSM-3 and DSM-4 taskforces and the director of NIMH.’ http://www.alternet.org/personal-health/whats-behind-dramatic-rise-mental-illness?page=0%2C1&paging=off

Wednesday, 30 October 13

THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

“It must be pointed out that just as the human body shows a common anatomy over and above all racial differences, so, too, the human psyche possesses a common substratum transcending all differences in culture and consciousness. I have called the substratum the collective unconscious. This unconscious psyche, common to all mankind, does not consist merely of contents capable of becoming conscious but of latent predispositions towards identical reactions. The collective unconscious is simply the psychic expression of the identity of brain structure irrespective of all racial differences ...”

C.G. Jung. Alchemical Studies, Collected Works, 13:11 [1967]

Wednesday, 30 October 13

THE HERO’S JOURNEY - JOSEPH CAMPBELL.

Springing from the collective unconscious, a universal archetype, has a definite shape/pattern: Separation Return

Nadir/Transition/Transformation/Death

1. A place, time and characters are described – as normal, settled, peaceful, in good order.

2. Then crisis occurs [a giant, a plague, a witch, natural disaster, addiction, grief, etc.]

3. A descent, a collapse of the previous reality. Metaphorically – the falling/the fall, being lost, darkness, ignorance, heaviness, illness, chaos.

4. Nadir – until ultimate chaos and even death [bodily and/or spiritually] may occur.

5. A turning point where guidance is given, power returns, gifts are received.

6. Discovery of the pathway to return or renewal – rising, finding the way, illumination, knowledge, gnosis, lightness, health/well-being, order.

7. The world returns to its original order or a new order is created.

Wednesday, 30 October 13

SCIENCE VS RELIGION,SCIENCE & RELIGION

Being able to see the real world results of separating science and religion into opposing polarities - i.e. what’s considered to be real/illusory, valid/invalid:

‘Creationists make it sound like a ‘theory’ is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.’ Isaac Asimov

‘Faith means not wanting to know what is true.’ Friedrich Nietzsche

‘Religion is a system of wishful illusions together with a disavowal of reality, such as we find nowhere else but in a state of blissful hallucinatory confusion. Religion's eleventh commandment is, Thou shalt not question.’ Sigmund Freud

‘In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.’ Carl Jung

‘The art therapy discipline was created through a partnership between art and science and I trust that future research will build creatively upon this foundation.’ Shaun McNiff

‘When you have art and science you have religion.’ Goethe

Wednesday, 30 October 13

MAPS OF REALITY

William Kurelek, Canadian artist. In 1952, suffering from clinical depression and emotional problems, Kurelek admitted himself into the Maudsley Psychiatric Hospital in London. There he was treated for schizophrenia. In hospital he painted, producing The Maze, a dark depiction of his tortured youth.

Wednesday, 30 October 13

ISOLAMENTO [ITALIAN] - ISOLATION

The psychological advantages of being able to translate inner experiences into art - processing, current reality testing, comparison with past/present, clarity re. causes/effect, recognition of imapct of internal world on external behaviour, unconscious -> conscious.

Wednesday, 30 October 13

HOSTILIDADE [PORTUGESE] - HOSTILITY

Wednesday, 30 October 13

BIAS - CULTURAL, PROFESSIONAL, PERSONAL.

• beyondblue, A Guide to What Works for Depression, 2009.

A wide range of treatments, both mainstream and alternative, are listed and given thumbs-up or thumbs-down ratings. How rated: Literature search -> ‘A study was considered adequate if it had an appropriate control group and participants were randomised.’ -> qualitative, ‘non-scientific’ research - e.g. case studies, anecdotal evidence - excluded from being considered -> results: anti-depressants, CBT = 3 thumbs-up; acupuncture, massage, yoga = 1 thumbs-up; hypnosis, art therapy, EMDR, family therapy etc. = ? [‘We do not yet know if ... is an effective treatment for depression’]

• Rosner, Richard [ed.], Clinical Handbook of Adolescent Addiction, 2013.

‘The work has been edited as an independent project by members of the American Society for Adolescent Psychiatry, the oldest professional organization of psychiatrists devoted solely to the mental health care and treatment of teenagers in the USA.’ Editor, Richard Rosner, M.D., D.L.F.A.P.A., F.A.C.Psych., F.A.S.A.P., F.A.A.F.S. (Psychiatry & Behavioral Science) is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Former Director of the Forensic Psychiatry Residency Program, New York University School of Medicine; research gathered from around the world. Reviews: ‘ ... the best compendium of evidence in this field and an excellent reference book.’ ‘The clinical eye that chose the authors and edited the whole has provided just what politicians as well as clinical and criminal justice practitioners are so often calling for – an evidence base for appropriate action.’ ‘I was disappointed to see no mention of the use of expressive arts therapies or of transpersonal psychology, particularly taking into account Jung’s role in the origins of AA.’

Wednesday, 30 October 13

CASTIGO [ITALIAN] - PUNISHMENT

Kurelek’s story has been made into a movie - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15Qy3o7eoNc

Wednesday, 30 October 13

LIFE AS A JOURNEY

Life as a Journey is inherent in most cultures and spiritual traditions -> is a universal archetype.

The language of Journey is innate - e.g. crossroads, paths, direction, being lost, going the wrong way, turning back, getting side-tracked, taking the high road, milestones, signposts.

Psychological value of enabling a client in distress to see life/experience in this way:

• process - both voluntary/conscious and involuntary/unconscious/organic. Def: a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end: e.g. military operations could jeopardize the peace process; a natural or involuntary series of changes: e.g. the aging process.

• pattern - i.e. beginning, middle, end; can be likened to The Hero’s Journey - normality -> descent -> nadir -> ascent -> gift

Wednesday, 30 October 13

POSITIVE RESOLUTION OF MENTAL HEALTH CRISES

• Cross-cultural, anthropological, humanistic, and transpersonal perspectives have upheld the phenomenon of spiritually positive resolution. They suggest that the experience of mental health crises can positively affect human development and have an ultimately beneficial outcome, instead of the negative and pathological associations generally placed on severe mental disorders. These types of crises exhibit a variety of diagnostic features, including intense psychological and physiological processes, reduced psychosocial functioning, and altered states of consciousness. They may involve a number of diagnostic criteria associated with mental health disorders found in the DSM-V. Mental health professionals have diagnosed such crises as one of a variety of disorders, including the usually more severe psychotic disorders. pp1-2

• Transpersonal and humanistic researchers have appealed to the mental health community for greater discernment in the assessment and treatment of crises whos features correspond to diagnostic criteria for mental disorders. p2

• Common crisis features are nonetheless noted in the literature: The crisis had a significant impact on a person’s self-concept—for example, a “loss of control of personality” - or a person’s reality testing - a “visionary state”. Related features frequently associated with the DSM classifications include processes such as depersonalization, derealization, hallucination, delusion, paranoia, psychotic break, dissociation and suicidal ideation. pp2-3

Source: Guy Albert. A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Transpersonal Psychology, Institute of Transpersonal Psychology

Wednesday, 30 October 13

CASE STUDIES:

• Jacob and Dennis - Were you able to tell who has ended up with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and who is now a psychologist with a PhD? What were the main similarities/differences?

• Eleanor Longden: Learning From the Voices in My Head - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgZHOSxN5cE [an experience vs a symptom]

Wednesday, 30 October 13

RESOURCES:

• Albert, Guy. Exploring Self-Transformation through the Spiritually Positive Resolution of Mental Health Crises, http://academia.edu/3888082/Exploring_Self-Transformation_through_the_Spiritually_Positive_ Resolution_of Mental_Heath_ Crises

• Blackwell, Sean. Am I Bipolar or Waking Up? - http://www.bipolarorwakingup.com• Groff, Christina and Stanislav. The Stormy Search for the Self.• Hillman, James. Suicide and the Soul.• Lukoff, David. DSM-IV Religious & Spiritual Problems - http://www. spiritual competency.com/dsm4/dsmrsproblem.pdf • Lukoff, David. From Spiritual Emergency to Spiritual Problem: The Transpersonal Roots of the New DSM-IV Category - http://www.spiritualcompetency.com/jhpseart.html• Perry, John Weir. The Far Side of Madness and The Self in Psychotic Process. • Spiritual Emergence Network, Australia - http://www.spiritualemergence.org.au• Western Mass Recovery Learning Centre, Beyond the Medical Model [DVD] - there’s a youtube clip at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_ embedded& v= N4clx 6f8fiQ• Whittaker, Robert. Anatomy of an Epidemic : Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, Crown Pub. Group, 2010

Wednesday, 30 October 13

BROKENNESS -> WHOLENESS

‘When the Japanese mend broken objects,

they aggrandise the damage by filling the cracks with gold.

They believe that when something’s suffered damage

and has a history it becomes more beautiful.‘

Billie Mobayed.

Wednesday, 30 October 13