Textbook Of Transpersonal Psychiatry And Psychology

by Bruce W. Scotton, John R. Battista, Allan B. Chinen

This important new book brings together the work of top scholars and clinicians at leading universities and medical centers on the benefits and risks of transpersonal therapy. After comparing a variety of multicultural approaches—Zen Buddhism, existential phenomenology, and Christian mysticism, among many others—the book offers a wealth of information on specific disorders and the application of transpersonal psychology techniques such as visualization, breathwork, and “past lives” regression.With solid scholarship, wide scope, and accessible style, Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology will become the standard work for students, researchers, clinicians, and lay readers interested in extending psychiatry and psychology into sciences that describe the functioning of the human mind, thereby building bridges between those disciplines and spirituality.

Genres: Psychology

443 pages, Hardcover

First published May 16, 1996

Reviews

[Margot Borden]

A comprehensive and very informative survey of the transpersonal psychology movement that emerged in the 1960s. It starts out by setting the cultural context which lays the foundations for essays on the work of Freud other early psychologists, the humanistic movement (Maslow), and then the founders and contributors to transpersonal theory and therapy: Jung, Assagioli, Wilber and others. Each chapter provides succinct, yet comprehensive perspectives on the many schools of thought that contribute to transpersonal theory and work. I appreciated the different perspectives and styles of the contributors which gave me the sense of the usefulness and importance of different perspectives not just in our research but in our therapeutic pursuits. The chapter on transpersonal psychotherapy with religious persons, while presenting interesting views, was decidedly western-centric and erred on the side of reductionistic. Furthermore, it blurred the distinction between religion and spirituality. This book is an essential read for any aspiring transpersonal therapist.

[Grant]

This is a great book. Transpersonal psycology is really a neat thing.

[R Jefferson]

Fascinating material that relates directly to counseling individuals in a transpersonal crisis.

[Blaine Snow]

Good introduction to the field as a whole.