Transpersonal Psychology

The heyday and the emergence of modern psychology fell on the second half of the last century. At that time behavioralism and psychoanalysis dominated the various schools and directions. Both schools, in addition to purely theoretical studies, offered their own approach to the treatment of a variety of mental illnesses. Despite the rather broad theoretical and practical basis, both directions had their own significant shortcomings, which were sufficient to find ardent opponents. Psychological society needed a completely different view of man: a position where he could be represented not as a neurotic or a set of mechanical or learned actions. Against the background of such unrest, transpersonal psychology got its life.

The fact that it is based on a much larger and global school - humanistic psychology, determines the main provisions of this direction. In particular, the founder and ideologist of humanistic views A. Maslow believes that a person can not be represented exclusively in the framework of laboratory research and observations based on his instincts and passions. He proposed to consider the personality as a set of aspirations, experiences and own, individual experience. Transpersonal psychology went further, suggesting that a person is determined not only and not so much by personal experiences as by sensations and experiences that go beyond his "I". Assuming the presence of higher forces and phenomena, incomprehensible and beyond the limits of daily human experience, the apologists of this direction widely used narcotic substances.

Associating with hippies, drugs, "freedom and love," transpersonal psychology did allow the use of illegal drugs, but only as ancillary materials. Reception of such substances allowed "to expand the boundaries of understanding," to look at everyday life in a new way and to comprehend what was previously hidden from the view of a person accustomed to the perception of the world imposed from the outside. In general, transpersonal psychology is an attempt to "expand consciousness" and see what a person as an individual and an individual can not understand. To achieve such heights, it is possible, figuratively speaking, to connect to the "universal mind" - a structure that unites the experience and consciousness of all mankind. The ultimate goal of such "journeys" was the acquisition of new knowledge, experience that allows us to understand the structure of the universe, to feel ourselves as a part of it and as part of our personality. People who have a successful experience in transpersonal research claim that they have discovered the multidimensionality of the world, have realized the presence of non-physical forms of perception.

Currently, this area of psychology is associated primarily with the work of the Czech scientist Stanislav Grof. It was thanks to his work that transpersonal psychology was enriched by the term "extended states of consciousness", which are aimed at achieving all those values that are described above. As methods suggested by S. Grof, one can single out "holotropic breathing" - a special method, during which the rate of inspiration increases and the time for exhalation decreases. According to the scientist, this way you can achieve access to the transpersonal level, that is, the opportunity to enter a state inaccessible to everyday life. In particular, "get used to the role" of another person, plant, animal, and, with due consideration and sufficient experience, acquire knowledge of God.

Based on this approach, a special direction of psychotherapy was born: transpersonal psychotherapy. Her main method is also Holotropic Breathing, which, according to the adherents of this method, can survive the experience of birth, which is useful when dealing with child and infantile trauma.