Coming of age during the turbulent sixties, a new field in psychology paralleled the cultural conversations and movements taking place -those concerning human rights, self-expression and the evolution of human consciousness.
Young adults were exploring consciousness and transcendence in various – and alternative – ways, and two Harvard psychologists, Timothy Leary and Richard Alpert, followed this unconventional curiosity. Heavily into psychedelics, the two professors began groundbreaking, mind-expanding research conducted with the drug psilocybin.
Their research led to the field of Transpersonal Psychology. 'Trans' in Latin means 'beyond'. 'Personal' refers to the consciousness level of personality. A transpersonal level of consciousness is any level beyond where the normal personality operates.
This new field probed formerly unknown, unexplored levels of consciousness - a discovery that shook the foundation of psychological theory and caused psychologists to question the efficacy of standard therapy. Both men were dismissed from Harvard, but not before they had opened the doors to new understandings of the transpersonal mind.
Alpert eventually went to India where he studied with Neem Karoli Baba, took the name 'Ram Dass and continued his exploration of the transpersonal realm using ancient techniques such as meditation, yoga, chanting, and other methods found in the Eastern traditions. Leary continued his work with hallucinogens, writing books and speaking publicly in between brushes with the law.
Transpersonal psychology continued to evolve – without the use of psychedelic drugs – and is now a field integrating the study of spiritual and transpersonal experience with traditional psychology. It has opened up new frontiers in the science of the mind, stimulating innovative cognitive research along with highly effective therapies that help patients resolve deep personal issues.
Transpersonal psychology is the scientific study of experiences of altered consciousness that traditionally were classified as mere fantasies or psychotic episodes. It also places religious experiences within these alternative ways to experience consciousness.
More specifically, transpersonal psychology legitimizes the existence of human experience that is beyond the physical. It is a sound, holistic platform that focuses on positive elements of human faith and spirit as they affect moral motivation, behavior, self-identity, states of higher consciousness, and the concerns of the human soul.
Treatments and Therapies
Transpersonal therapy employs the full range of standard psychological evaluative methodologies and treatments. The success of the transpersonal approach, however, depends on the patient's interaction with the transpersonal realm. Supporting the psychological work of a spiritually active patient requires a therapist to believe - without judgment - that what the patient is experiencing is possible.
The transpersonal therapist also understands and is prepared to work with a variety of spiritual concepts from shamanism and indigenous beliefs to less common constructs such as eco-feminism, paganism, belief systems based in quantum physics, and even atheism. Many of these traditions have their own methods of transcendence that the therapist may induce and use to help the patient gain personal insight.
The following are a few of the therapeutic tools with which the therapist helps patients heal the rifts within themselves, deal with mental and spiritual crises, and proceed with a process of self-actualization.
Ordinary and Non-Ordinary States of Consciousness
The value of states of non-ordinary consciousness is in the therapeutic release they provide from the confines of personality. Taking patients beyond their personal, self-limiting beliefs and egos often opens up new dimensions in their minds. The process allows them to gain insights, new perspectives, a greater sense of potential, or attain heightened states of spirituality.
The transpersonal therapist understands that individuals access this alternative realm through meditation, prayer