Academic literature on the topic 'Counseling Psychology|Psychology|Spirituality'

This thesis explores the healing effects of surrender to and trust in the alchemical nature of the psyche to produce psychospiritual transformation toward wholeness and wellbeing. Through alchemical hermeneutic, heuristic, and intuitive methodologies the research explores healing outcomes of merging with the divine through a relationship with a guru, consciously being in a love relationship, and engaging with astrology as alchemical processes that help to integrate unconscious content into consciousness. The author observes the alchemical process in the merging of heaven and earth, or cosmos and psyche, as it weaves through her own life. She tracks the alchemy through which an interpersonal love relationship and encounters with the guru Mata Amritanandamayi produced both physical and emotional healing. The thesis also explores the psychotherapeutic use of astrology and suggests ways to integrate experiences of the divine, interpersonal love, and one's astrological chart into psychotherapy to support healing and movement toward wholeness.

This thesis uses hermeneutic and heuristic methodologies to draw together the myth of Chiron and the phenomenon of spiritual bypassing. Spiritual bypassing is the tendency to use spiritual beliefs, teachings, and practices to avoid dealing with one’s psychology, painful feelings, unresolved wounds, and developmental issues. Chiron is a mythological figure who mentored a number of Greek heroes and Asclepius, the god of medicine in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Chiron, like his mentee Asclepius, embodies the Wounded Healer archetype. Chiron’s wounding and healing journey can serve as a roadmap for spiritual practitioners on how to navigate out of bypass and deepen their path toward self-realization and individuation. Developing an archetypal awareness of one’s wounds appears to reveal the aspects of one’s psychology defended against in spiritual bypass. This emerging roadmap and lessons from Chiron’s journey may help therapists, healers, and spiritual teachers accelerate their own path and assist clients.

This thesis explores the spiritual-bypass phenomenon identified by John Welwood and how it can be a defense against wholeness as defined in Jungian psychology. Using hermeneutic and heuristic methodologies, and drawing on depth psychological theories, the author discusses the various forms of spiritual bypass and the underlying shadow dynamics, such as emotional repression. The author examines the nature of psychological and spiritual development through states and stages of consciousness development, healthy transcendence versus unhealthy transcendence, and the Jungian process of individuation toward wholeness. The research also explores contributing factors to spiritual bypass including the effect of early childhood attachment style and demonstrates the significance of integrating psychological development in a spiritual path. Finally, the author provides suggestions for therapists working with clients who may be in spiritual bypass.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and Disorder of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified (DESNOS) are physiological and psychological symptoms known to arise in the aftermath of trauma. Although lifetime prevalence of trauma capable of resulting in PTSD is 50-90%, lifetime prevalence of PTSD is eight percent, indicating that there may be factors that protect against the development of such symptoms. Spirituality has been implicated as a possible moderator; spirituality may play a protective or restorative role in lessening the relationship between trauma exposure and trauma symptoms. The purpose of this quantitative research was to examine the moderating role of different aspects of spirituality, including cognitive orientation to spirituality, the experiential/phenomenological dimensions of spirituality, and religiousness, on the relationship between trauma exposure and trauma symptoms when such symptoms are defined to include both PTSD and DESNOS. Data collected from members of the general adult population using a cross-sectional online survey design indicated that the cognitive orientation to spirituality and the experiential/phenomenological dimension of spirituality both significantly moderated the relationship between trauma exposure and DESNOS symptoms; both of these aspects of spirituality buffer the strength of the relationship between trauma exposure and DESNOS symptoms. Religiousness was not found to moderate the relationship between trauma exposure and DESNOS, and none of the aspects of spirituality moderated the relationship between trauma exposure and PTSD. These findings add to what is currently known about the protective role of spirituality, provide additional data on the differences between PTSD and DESNOS symptoms, and set the stage for further research.

This thesis explores the psychotherapeutic value of working with the archetypal energies of two goddesses from the Hindu pantheon, Saraswati and Lakshmi. Considering that the field of psychotherapy stands on a Eurocentric tradition and that there is a concomitant need for therapists to be culturally sensitive and inclusive, this is significant and worthy of inquiry. This thesis asks what benefit working with Saraswati and Lakshmi would have for clients, as well as what their inclusion would mean for the field of psychotherapy as a whole. A qualitative approach is married with both hermeneutic and heuristic methodology in order to plumb the possibility that constellating Saraswati facilitates the cultivation of a discerning observing ego, whereas invoking Lakshmi supports the scaffolding of a robust sense of self-esteem.

This thesis explores Spanish Christian mystic John of the Cross’s concept of the dark night of the soul as a process of conscious suffering that leads to empowerment, meaning in life, and enhanced wholeness. In addition, this thesis considers depth psychological concepts of individuation and Self, and the depth psychological notions of the teleological function of suffering and conscious suffering in relation to the dark night of the soul. The work of C. G. Jung, James Hillman, Thomas Moore, James Hollis, and Barbara Sullivan, among others, is considered. Using heuristic methodology, this thesis presents the story of the author’s personal experience in the darkness to illustrate how conscious suffering leads to personal transformation. Finally, the author provides a guideline for therapists working with clients who are experiencing a dark night of the soul.

Loss of a child is the most complex death a person can experience. This event is multifaceted, containing intricate layers of mourning woven throughout the bereaved parent’s lifetime. Despite considerable attention emphasizing grief reactions of the bereaved, relatively few studies have recognized the unique mourning of bereaved parents, including dreams related to their child. This hermeneutic phenomenological study investigated the lived experience of six bereaved parents who have encountered significant dreams of their child. The study utilized a depth psychological lens based on Jung’s concept of the numinous—perceived as the mystery, the inexpressible, and that which pertains to the Divine. Data analysis yielded four supraordinate themes: Deepened Relationship with Self, Extended Relationship with Others, Intensified Relationship with It, and Heightened Relationship with God/Higher Power. This research sought to depathologize bereaved parents’ mourning and to cultivate awareness of the effects of dream encounters in order to foster hope and healing for the bereft parent. Results revealed that numinous dreams hold infinite potential, create a sense of meaning, and guide the bereaved parent toward psychological and spiritual transformation.

This thesis combines alchemical hermeneutic and participatory phenomenological methods to study the synchronicity of spontaneous trauma healing through reparative heart-centered attachment, group, and psyche work. It seeks to identify the archetypal, shamanic, noetic, mythopoetic, and psychodynamic power of groups to transform traumatic wounds—in light of Donald Winnicott’s “good enough” and somatic gestalt concepts—into altruistic, compassionate, mindful acceptance, and resiliency. It explores ideas of healing through examining the history of trauma, the effects of trauma on attachment and relational behaviors, neuroscience, universal ideas of compassion, mindful awareness, yoga, and meditation. The author immersed herself in different groups and self-healing practices and then processed her experiences through Jungian, psychoanalytic, somatic, depth, spiritual, meditation, and traditional lenses as described by Carl G. Jung, Donald Kalsched, Bessel van der Kolk, Peter Levine, Joseph Campbell, Andrew Solomon, and Mary Main.