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Textbook Of Transpersonal Psychiatry And Psychology

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The best collection of Transpersonal data I've found so far. A wonderful place to begin a thorough education on the topic.

This textbook is a journey in itself. It begins with a forward written by Ken Wilber, and has many recognizable contributors such as; Wilber, John Battista, Seymour Boorstein, Charles Tart, Frances Vaughn, Roger Walsh.

This Text offers a thorough introduction and definition of Transpersonal Psychiatry by Bruce W. Scotton: From Part I; "This textbook proposes a fresh look at what is known about the human psyche: its functioning, development, pathology, and treatment. Although traditional psychiatry and psychology have made impressive strides in the understanding of the human mind and brain, they adhere to an unnecessarily restricted view of the psyche and its functioning, and in so doing, they refuse to follow the scientific method. Specifically, our current sciences of the psyche fail to examine the data concerning, build theories to explain, and work therapeutically with spiritual experiences and experiences of nonordinary reality..."

Part II reviews the historic roots of Western Psychiatry and Psychology, and covers contributors such as William James, Sigmond Freud, Carl Jung, Abraham Malsow, Ken Wilber, Stanislov Grof, and John Battista. A later chapter spans the cross-cultural roots including Shamanism, Hinduism, Buddhism, the Kabbalah, Christian Mysticism, Native American Healers, the Transpersonal view of the life cycle through Fairy Tales. Then finishes with research and academic disciplines.

Part III covers Clinical Practice, Psychotherapy, Psychopharmacology, Clinical Aspects of Meditation, Guided Imagery, Breathwork, Past-Life Therapy, Ethics, and Professional Development.

Part IV The final conclusion offers an Integrated approach from Bruce W. Scotton, M.D. Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Fransisco, and certified Jungian analyst and psychiatrist in private practice; Alan B. Chinen M.D. Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, UC, author of numerous works on the transpersonal dimensions of midlife and aging; and John Battista, M.D., M.A. Private practice of psychiatry in New Milford, Connecticut, and author in the fields of consciousness studies and personality theory.

With contents like this, the text speaks for itself.

I am trying to learn more about transpersonal psychology and transpersonal practices. This book more than did the trick. It gave a good overview of the different angles the field touches. It gave great anectdotal stories as well. It is defineity a must have. It introduced many of the fathers of the field and there perspectives; Jung, Maslow, Wilber, Freud, Assogolini. It also showed the contributions of spirtiual traditions:Buddhism, Hinduism, Shamanism, Christianity, Kabbalah. It introduced many techniques used:guided imagery, past life regression, meditation, breathwork, psychedelics.

Because transpersonal psychology relies heavily on first hand (subjective) experience, it is extremely difficult to discuss this academically. Despite this difficulty, this book manages to explain and explore the phenomenon quite successfully. This is book covers the transpersonal experience from many different viewpoints and is an excellent resource book for research in this field. If you would like a shorter and more simple explanation of the transpersonal experience, I strongly suggest "The Ever-transcending Spirit" by Toru Sato. It is an absolute gem and should be read by everyone interested in transpersonal experiences!

So many people, both professionals and laymen, just don't get it when it comes to transpersonal psychology (the word still gets a spelling underline in the word processor). This textbook is well organized and provides an excellent insight into the concepts. I would highly recommend it as a starting place for those who would like to know more as the bibliography and references can point to more extensive material. The book is also well written and edited as they kept the chapters in a logical sequence and short enough to complete in a minimum amount of time.

This book is a great reference book and if you are teaching a class in transpersonal psychology this should be the textbook for the class. It is very informative and the author is very clear in his understanding and dissemination of the information provided. It is a must have book.

This informative tome refers to two major schools of thougth within the field of transpersonal psychology: dialectic models and additive models. Dialectic models have a spiral view of spiritual development; additive models a ladder view (to use Washburn's terminology). But where does this theoretical rift come from? IMO, it is caused by the fact that most theorists work withing the framework of depth psychology (which is dialectic), while some have left this and pioneered into other directions (f.e. Wilber). So the real question is: should we abandon depth psychology as frame of reference in transpersonal studies? This is not adequately analyzed by the authors.

"Textbook of Transpersonal Psychiatry and Psychology" has been selected for listing in "Religion and Psychoactive Sacraments: An Entheogen Chrestomathy." http://www.csp.org/chrestomathy