In the transpersonal dimension, through connecting with our ‘higher’ self, we also find unity, which according to psychosynthesis is a yearning we all have. “Without the experience of unity, life is liable to become increasingly fragmented and meaningless.” (Whitmore, 1991,pp12-k). Transpersonal psychosynthesis responds to a persons search for rightness, the evoking of a persons inner authority. It’s when the client becomes aware of what’s right for him/her and the need for outer validation is no longer important.
I feel it is important to mention that entering the transpersonal dimension, does not ensure a more effective psychological functioning and if this state is not handled properly; it can cause a variety of psychological problems. “If the personality is not stable and integrated, superconscious experience can lead to mental imbalance.” (Whitmore, 199 , pp15-l). Is this transpersonal in anyway comparable to the PCA? According to the psychosynthesis theory, Carl Rogers, sought to include it by claiming to have worked with the ‘organismic self’. This puzzled me, as when reading person-centred counselling in action by Mearns and Thorne, I came across, a discussion about the authors who have searched for the ‘organismic self’ in the work of Rogers.
Through their research they have come across references to the ‘organismic self’ by person-centred writers, but have not been able to find a reference made to it by Rogers, there is an international prize on offer should anyone find such a reference, so I am not sure if Rogers ‘organismic self’ would be relevant! I do however think that becoming an actualised person who is more fully functioning, may be comparable to the ‘higher’ self.
There are characteristics that Rogers postulated in his theory of self and theory of change that are similar to those of the person who has connected with their ‘higher’ self; “Have no conditions of worth and experience unconditional self regard. Be open to experience. Be open to feedback from his or her environment and make realistic changes resulting from this feedback. Live in harmony with others and experience the rewards of mutual positive regard.” (Merry, 1999, pp40-a).
There are a wealth of models, concepts, techniques and strategies available in psychosynthesis, which aid and enhance not only the processes of synthesis and the connection to the ‘higher self’, but also a persons understanding of aspects within the approach. The egg diagram is “Assagioli’s model of the human psyche and helps to clarify the distinction between the personal self and the transpersonal self.” (Whitmore, 1991,pp 126-m), a map marking the levels of awareness. The centre of the diagram, represented by a dot, is the centre of the personality, around which is an inner circle that is a person’s reality at any given moment, it consists of data coming in and current feelings and thoughts.
The ‘self’ is in the middle unconscious, which contains the personality elements that are forgotten but easily accessible, like, recent memories and skills which are not in use, “It points not to what we have been or could be, but to the evolutionary state that we have actually reached.” (Whitmore, 1991,pp127-n). The lower and higher unconsciouses are the repressed aspects of the individual, the lower unconscious contains personal history and is representative of the past and traumatic experiences.
It seems equivalent to the bottom drawer, I was introduced to in the introductory workshop. The higher unconscious is where a person’s potentials and talents lie, this includes such things as artistic abilities, according to Assagioli, the “…source of the higher feelings…” (Whitmore, 1991, pp127-o), like, compassion and joy. At the top of the diagram, is the radiant point, which is the ‘higher self’, this represents the inner source of the drive towards growth and self actualisation, I liken it to a symbolisation of the fully functioning person, a conscious state that can be recognised when a person has become aware they have they resources to achieve their potential! Surrounding the egg is the collective unconscious, which is defined as the “…accumulated psychic environment that surrounds us.” (Whitmore, 1991, pp128-p).
The ‘self’, is viewed as the centre of our awareness and will, the centre of personal identity, and is known as the ‘personal self’. It has two central functions, consciousness and will. The will which is another central concept in psychosynthesis, is a key resource in all the phases of psychosynthesis and is “…understood as the capacity for decision, planning and purpose…” (Growth resources in psychosynthesis, http://two.not2.org/psychosynthesis/articles/clinebell.htm). It is the muscle-like part of the personality, which, with the use of will-training exercises, can be strengthened and developed. The will is “…essential to psychspiritual health.” (Whitmore, 1991, pp78-q), and, is therefore placed at the centre of counselling along with the therapeutic relationship.
Now that I have gone through some of the central concepts and models of the approach I think it would be appropriate to have a look at the therapeutic relationship. One of the immediate differences is that in psychosynthesis, the counselling is divided into phases and as a consequence, I feel, has a lot more structure than the PCA, which has no such structure, there is a beginning, middle and end, but to me, this is more in terms of what is happening in the therapeutic relationship and the client’s process.
Psychosynthesis, starts with diagnosis and assessment, this begins on the first meeting with an interview, which has two main principles; one, “…is to confront the obvious.” (Whitmore, 1991,pp64-r), which may include questions like, how do you feel about being here?, and the second principle is to make the purpose of the interview clear to the client and make him/her aware of what will happen in the hour.
This is followed by the counsellor finding out as much information as possible about the clients background, this is done by questioning the client about a range of things. The client then has the opportunity to question the counsellor, on the approach, models and counsellor’s background and experience. This stage does not exist in the PCA, as Rogers felt that it did not contribute to successful counselling, and the use of diagnosis and assessments were useful only, in providing counsellors “…with a sense of security, and thereby enabled them to be more empathic and acceptant of their clients.” (Merry, 1999,pp51-b).
This leads to drawing up a contract, which is also done in the PCA. After the interview, a plan is developed, with participation from the counsellor and the client. Again the PCA, differs here, it holds the belief that any sort of treatment plan is unnecessary, the only ‘treatment’, that is anyhow encouraged in the PCA, is using the necessary and sufficient conditions to develop a counselling relationship.
The aims of the initial phase of counselling are to, continue establishing the relationship, which in turn builds trust. This is achieved by the counsellor providing a temporary external unifying centre, which is used as a means of psychological mirroring and is thought to create an empathic relationship with the client. The counsellor builds the therapeutic relationship and trust “…primarily through the quality of her presence.” (Whitmore, 1991,pp78-s). In this phase the counsellor is indicating her acceptance of the client by actively listening, paraphrasing and reflecting, what the client communicates, and most importantly by letting the client know that his/her experiences are valid.
The initial phase usually focuses on; chronic life problems, subpersonality conflicts and limited identities and self identification and psychological freedom. The work done with chronic life patterns and subpersonalities is believed to lead “…to the client’s recognition that her true identity is beyond the contents of her consciousness and her subpersonalities.” (Whitmore, 1991, pp97-t). The work done with disidentifying from subpersonalities is said to lead to the emergence of the personal self.
There are a lot of techniques used in the initial phase. When working with chronic life patterns, the counsellor would use active dialogue, guided imagery, which would “…encourage the client to enter into the physical and emotional experience of her difficulties.” (Whitmore, 1991,pp83-u). Grounding and creative expression would be used as part of transforming the pattern, and ideal model work would be used to enable the client to “…enable the client to visualize doing what previously felt impossible.” (Whitmore, 1991,pp85-v). In working with subpersonalities, there are three stages, recognition, acceptance and integration.
For recognition the techniques used are; active dialogue, structured exercises- which evoke recognition, such as the Door exercise or the Evening Review, also used are mental-imagery techniques, like guided day-dreams. In the acceptance stage of subpersonality work, “The client must first accept that negative aspects are there in order to begin the process of change and eventually to integrate a subpersonality within the personality as a whole.” (Whitmore, 1991,pp90-w). For the integration of subpersonalities many techniques are used, like; mental imagery, gestalt identification and dialogue and free drawing.
The middle phase is when apparently the “…honeymoon is over.” (Whitmore, 1991,pp101-x). This is when the client is encouraged to use what he/she has learnt and experienced in the counselling environment, in their everyday life, at this point the counsellor is trying to deepen the process by shifting the level at which the client works. There is an emphasis on the client finding a deeper sense of identity and recognising that he/she is becoming a whole.
There is a lot of work with self-identification, which will enhance the ‘I’-Self connection, but this will happen developmentally, through the process of therapy regardless of techniques used. It is what naturally occurs as a result of the client knowing himself/herself more fully. It is likely that transference will also present itself at this stage, and it will be worked with, through reframing.