Transpersonal Therapy focuses on the Essential Self. The word "transpersonal" comes from the Latin "trans," meaning beyond and through, and "persona," meaning mask or personality.
This is a spiritually oriented form of treatment that combines therapy for the individual with a concern for the whole of creation. The transpersonal dimension emerges in the drive of the individual to connect with cosmic forces, and in the impulse to discover an awareness of the soul.In operation transpersonal therapies involve a wide range of functional techniques. The emphasis is on practical activities rather than verbal interpretations, and so, for example, imagery is used to explore, transform, and expand on ideas.The transpersonal is ego inclusive. This is very important. The inclusion of the ego means there is nothing to fix or get rid of in the psyche. The key is to align the ego functioning to the blueprint and reign of the higher self (soul self) The ego's needs and wants are taken into account and harnessed for the benefit of the whole psyche. The desires of the human ego mind are allowed to be defined and refined for the growth, health and total wellness of the person. Transpersonal work shares with other integrative therapies the search for the equal fulfillment of mind, body, and soul. Many people find considerable hope for personal development in such a method that combines a range of diverse elements while looking outward to the world around for meaning. In transpersonal therapy, it is essential that the therapist recognize that he/she is equal to the client and in fact, on the level of pure consciousness, there is no separation between them. This shift in ideology changes the whole nature of the therapy. The therapist is not in a superior position to the client, and listens with suspended judgment and an attitude of deep respect. While each person has their own thoughts and beliefs and feelings, their experiences cannot be completely separatePsychosynthesisMany elements now essential to the transpersonal movement stem from the work of psychoanalyst Roberto Assagioli, whose long career began in Italy in 1926 and encompassed the establishing of important links between Jung's ideas and humanistic thinking. During the 1960s Assagioli's ideas became extremely popular. He saw a need for the synthesis of inner experience and external events, past mystical wisdom, and new scientific knowledge. He believed in the existence of the soul, and that by achieving our full potential as human beings we actually come to know vastness of creation. To him, in healing ourselves we heal the world.Within this broad context, Assagioli placed great importance on exploring practical ways actually to enable people to transform themselves. At various times he used word and free association, free drawing and writing, dance, music, dreamwork, guided imagery, and "becoming the symbol" in visualization.Transactional AnalysisA humanistic therapy, often drawn on by those working integratively, transactional analysis believes that ell social situation produces a "transaction" resultingi particular presentation of personality and the wall communicate and behave socially.It was pioneered in the 1950s by Eric Berne in the United States. Some of its concepts have been popularized as the "games people play," the notions of life stage transition crises, and the awareness of intern, voices representing the constantly warring parent-child-adult aspects of our personalities.
