The Transpersonal: Spirituality in Psychotherapy and Counselling

by John Rowan

In this new edition of The Transpersonal, John Rowan takes account of the growing interest in spirituality, assessing the many new developments in the field and providing an essential overview of the multitude of guides now available on the subject.
By providing a clear and highly readable introduction to the realm of the transpersonal, this book eliminates many of the misunderstandings that plague this area. It relates the transpersonal to everyday life as well as to professional concerns and the various schools of therapy. Divided into three parts, Being, Doing and Knowing, it encourages the reader to explore the levels of consciousness, the techniques involved in transpersonal work and the underlying theory. The unique relationship between the therapist and client is examined in detail, as are the imagined and imaginal world, personal mythology and transcultural work. An entirely new section is included on the ways in which the transpersonal therapist can use the concept of subpersonalities.
This fully updated and revised version of John Rowan's original pioneering text provides a highly practical guide which will be useful to anyone working with the growing number of people with spiritual concerns.

Genres: Psychology

272 pages, Paperback

First published November 15, 1993

Reviews

[Kerry]

Good explanations of the concepts. Accessible for beginners

[Joel Gides]

I'm only part way through this book, and granted it is somewhat dated at this point, but I do take issue moreso with the structure and layout not so much the content. I bought this book with a flavor already for the transpersonal but having not read (at least I thought) many books directly addressing transpersonal. I'm also a licensed counselor looking to have concrete education on this topic to include a more concrete model in my practice. What I found was not only a book, that although it draws from various pioneers, reiterates a ton of Ken Wilber. Ken Wilber I have read a moderate amount and am very fascinated by his ideas. However, if I wanted to read Ken Wilber I'd just read more Ken Wilber. Secondly, this book bounces all over the place without clear direction of why the author is guiding the reader into the territory of content he is laying out. This added up to a fairly confusing read for someone trying to learn. The author jumps into information with a large assumption that readers understand various concepts... Leaving some things grossly under explained. I think a revised and updated edition would include at the very least updated Ken Wilber ideas, clearer direction, and more explanation of concepts and ideas. It almost makes me want to put the book down and go read more Ken Wilber and/or more about the authors he mentions. This book should be entitled "the history of transpersonal"