Psychosynthesis

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Psychosynthesis is the name of a form of transpersonal psychotherapy that was developed by the Italian psychologist Roberto Assagioli (1888–1974). Psychosynthesis differs from other forms of psychotherapy on the one hand by the underlying model, which understands the psyche as an interplay of various sub-personalities and aims to recognize, understand and integrate (= consciously use ) them. and on the other hand through the use of different techniques (imagination, spontaneous drawing, constellation work, etc.) tries to lead to initial successes quickly and in a solution-oriented manner and not to get lost in the pure analysis of problems. In addition to therapeutic purposes, psychosynthesis is also used in other areas, such as counseling.

Roberto Assagioli

With the psychosynthesis Roberto Assagioli, psychiatrist and neurologist from Venice, wanted to combine the existing psychological currents of his time, especially psychoanalysis , as well as the spiritual wisdom traditions in a synthesis. This should be acceptable both in terms of the language used (terminology) and the conception for people with different world views, theoretical orientations and cultural backgrounds. To this end, he integrated a large number of psychological currents into his own development model. He excluded from this synthesis attempt purely materialistic world views, which were incompatible with his view of psychosynthesis. With his work, Assagioli had a formative effect on the later psychological nomenclature of various transpersonal directions.

Assagioli was instrumental in introducing the then still young psychoanalysis in Italy.

Reception of the person Assagiolis

In 1909, Carl Gustav Jung wrote in a letter to Sigmund Freud of “a very pleasant and possibly valuable acquaintance with our first Italian, a Dr. Assagioli from the psychiatric clinic in Florence ”. Freud reports on a letter from Assagioli to him. In the “Yearbook for Psychoanalytic and Psychopathological Research” Assagioli provided information on psychoanalytic activities in Italy.

Outside of the psychoanalytic circles, Assagioli also found approval with the theosophist Alice Bailey . In an unfinished biography she describes him as one of “the most outstanding psychologists in Europe” and as a person “of rare character”.

Assagioli counted a number of illustrious personalities among his circle of friends, including Hermann Graf Keyserling , Viktor Frankl , Abraham Maslow , Rabindranath Tagore , the Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan , Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy , the Zen master Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki , Lama Anagarika Govinda and the Tibet researcher Alexandra David-Neel .

Influences

Assagioli endeavored all his life to unite an analytical-materialistic image of man with a humanistic-spiritual one. He was influenced by various psychological schools, for example the works of Erich Fromm , Erik H. Erikson , Ludwig Binswanger , Carl Rogers , Fritz Perls , Kurt Lewin , Hanscarl Leuner , Rollo May . At the same time, he found the image of man propagated by those psychologies to be partially inadequate. He tried to compensate for this deficiency by including the teachings of spiritual traditions such as the Christian, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist, which he gained through familiarity with various philosophical and mystical traditions such as classical Greek philosophy (especially the Platonic teachings), Kabbalah , the Vedas or the teachings of the Christian mystics Meister Eckehart , Johannes von Kreuz and Theresa von Avila .

Psychosynthesis is thus a synthesis of various schools, teaching buildings and traditions. It is a concept that combines the scientific findings from medicine and psychology and the wisdom teachings of the peoples into an image of man that integrates the biological bondage of human existence into a larger framework of personal freedom of choice and responsibility and this in turn into an even more comprehensive one of spiritual bondage and Participation.

Psychosynthesis

concept

As early as 1910, Assagioli pointed out the limitations of the psychoanalytic concept as part of his doctoral thesis : As long as humans are understood as being based solely on their biological drives, they can only be partially grasped, but not seen in their entirety. Assagioli's concern was therefore to develop a scientific psychology that recognizes the reality of the soul and does not define joy , meaning and fulfillment, creativity , love and wisdom , i.e. the higher energies and strivings of human existence, as compensations or sublimations of drives , but also includes them as a living soul reality as well as the impulses, drives and needs of the vital basis of human nature.

In 1911, one year later, he presented his views on the unconscious in a lecture at the “International Congress of Philosophy” in Bologna. He differentiated the unconscious into a “lower”, “middle” and “higher” unconscious and thus supplemented the more biological picture of psychoanalysis, which was limited to the “deeper” unconscious, with the spiritual aspect of the higher unconscious.

Image of man

The deep structure model of psychosynthesis
1. the deeper unconscious
2. the middle unconscious
 3. the higher unconscious
 4. field of consciousness
5. the personal self (= I)
6. the transpersonal self (= soul)
7. the collective unconscious

According to the psychosynthesis image of man, the conscious personality only makes up part of the totality of man. In the center of the human consciousness is the self-conscious self or the person / personality, but the (individual) unconscious is more comprehensive or larger than the conscious . The (individual) unconscious is divided into three parts that build on each other:

  1. the deeper unconscious ,
  2. the middle unconscious ,
  3. the higher unconscious .

The conscious is in direct exchange with the middle unconscious. A contact between the conscious and the deeper unconscious or the higher unconscious is possible in principle, but rarely takes place in everyday life.

Outside the triad of the individual unconscious lies the collective unconscious .

As an integrating principle, the self acts on the lower, the middle, the higher unconscious and the conscious (and thus on the self). It penetrates these areas, so to speak, but is not completely congruent. While the contents of the unconscious are “dynamic, active and changeable”, the self remains “unchanging, immobile and stable”. The self is also referred to as the higher self or transpersonal self in order to highlight the potential for growth present in humans. Ultimately, the ego cannot be viewed as different from the self, rather it must be understood as a kind of “mirroring” of the self, which in itself has no concrete content. The “higher self” thus simultaneously denotes the integrating principle as well as the potential existing in the human being to open up further unconscious areas.

The transitions between the areas of consciousness and the unconscious are not rigid and impenetrable, but rather engaged in a kind of osmotic exchange. This means that there is a constant exchange of content between the conscious and the unconscious. Using suitable methods and techniques, the content of both the deeper unconscious and the higher unconscious can gradually be opened up by the conscious mind, so that over time the self can integrate more and more comprehensive content, which can be referred to as growth. Assagioli repeatedly pointed out that the suppression of impulses from the higher unconscious could be just as harmful and inhibit development as the defense against content from the deeper unconscious as described by Freud.

Psychosynthesis sees the human being as a soul who has a personality in order to be able to move in the world and to be able to express himself in life. Like other schools of psychotherapy, psychosynthesis works with the personality, because only a well-balanced and integrated personality can really fulfill its task as a tool of the soul. But the actual goal of the work lies deeper: it is about recognizing and also experiencing the soul in oneself and others more and more as the real center of the human being, in Assagioli's words: "to free the energies of the self." The personality is not something that has to be overcome, as is said in some spiritual training paths, but it is important "through the application of the synthetic mind, through the constant effort to always relate the parts to the whole."

Methods

To achieve this goal, psychosynthesis has developed methods and techniques that are used in the various stages of the process. Central to this are the training and education of the inner observer, i.e. the exercise of mindfulness on the one hand, and the awakening and development of the will, i.e. the training of the ability to choose, take responsibility and act on the other. Many exercises serve the active turning towards and the liberation of energies and forces from the 'higher unconscious'. The term “higher self”, by the way, which is used today by various transpersonal directions, was introduced into psychology by Assagioli. It is seen as the engine of mental activity, as the center from which the process of development starts and is driven. Many self-experience exercises in psychosynthesis are designed to experience the “higher self” as an inner reality and to anchor it in consciousness.

Assagioli's concern was not so much to provide a new humanities or metaphysical structure with psychosynthesis. He was therefore happy to emphasize that the psychosynthesis leads to the door, but does not make any statements about what is behind it. His goal was primarily to awaken the potential of the human soul and to develop practical and comprehensible methods for this.

will

To Roberto Assagioli, the development of a solid moral and ethical foundation was extremely important. In his opinion, this requires inner work and discipline or, in other words, a powerful and effective training of the will.

Inner process as psychosynthesis

As a depth psychologist , Assagioli particularly points out a necessity: “In order to really know oneself, ... extensive research into the vast regions of our unconscious must also be undertaken. First we have to bravely step through the cave of our deep unconscious in order to discover the dark forces that entangle and threaten us - the 'phantasms', the archetypes or childish ideas that haunt us or quietly rule us, the fears that paralyze us , the conflicts that drain our energies. The higher development can only stand on a good foundation if the 'dark forces' are taken out of the shadows and integrated. "

vision

With psychosynthesis, Assagioli left behind a vision of the development of man, which wanted to connect different schools and world views and which calls for further development of this vision. He created an open, but clear and precise formulation of psychosynthesis, which makes it possible to integrate new insights from science, art and religion. His idea of ​​the future of psychosynthesis was that this further development should be promoted by independent institutes. In summary, his concern is expressed in the following quote:

“We are all connected with one another, not only socially and physically, but also through the flow of our thoughts and emotions that permeate each other .... Sense of responsibility, understanding, compassion, love, non-hurting - these are the real links the chain that connects us and they must be forged in our hearts. "

Works

  • Roberto Assagioli: Manual of Psychosynthesis - Basics, Methods and Techniques . Nawo, Rümlang / Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-9522591-0-1 .
  • Roberto Assagioli: The training of the will - methods of psychotherapy and self-therapy. Junfermann, Paderborn 1982, ISBN 3-87387-202-1 .
  • Roberto Assagioli: Psychosynthesis and Transpersonal Development . Junfermann, Paderborn 1992, ISBN 3-87387-067-3 .
  • Roberto Assagioli: Psychosynthesis and Transpersonal Development. Nawo, Rümlang / Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-9522591-5-3 .
  • Roberto Assagioli: Psychosynthesis Harmony of Life. Nawo, Rümlang / Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-9522591-6-0 . (first German translation)
  • Roberto Assagioli: Conversations about the Self. In: Psychosynthesis. Nawo Verlag, Rümlang / Zurich, March 2008. (first German translation)
  • Roberto Assagioli Typology of Psychosynthesis. the seven basic types, Nawo, Rümlang / Zurich 2008, ISBN 978-3-9524349-0-1 . (revised from the Italian translation)

literature

  • Piero Ferrucci: Become what you are. Self-Realization Through Psychosynthesis New Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2001, ISBN 3-499-26338-6 .
  • Sascha Dönges, Catherine Brunner-Dubey: Psychosynthesis for practice . Kösel-Verlag, Munich 2005, ISBN 3-466-30679-5 .
  • Paola Giovetti: Roberto Assagioli life and work of the founder of psychosynthesis. Nawo, Rümlang / Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-9522591-2-2 .
  • Ursel Neef, Georg Henkel: Psychosynthesis - Systematic-Integrative! An introduction. tredition, Hamburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-8495-8073-5 .
  • Ursel Neef, Georg Henkel, Sven Kerkhoff: Practice book Systematic-Integrative Psychosynthesis - I. Disidentification . tredition, Hamburg 2015, ISBN 978-3-7323-3183-3 .
  • Ursel Neef, Georg Henkel, Sven Kerkhoff: Practice book Systematic-Integrative Psychosynthesis - II. Will. tredition, Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-7469-1150-2 .
  • Ursel Neef, Georg Henkel, Sven Kerkhoff: Practice Book Systematic-Integrative Psychosynthesis - III. Partial personalities. tredition, Hamburg 2018, ISBN 978-3-7469-3913-1 .
  • Ulla Pfluger-Heist: There is strength in the soul. 2nd Edition. Nawo, Rümlang / Zurich 2007, ISBN 978-3-9522591-4-6 .
  • Ulla Pfluger-Heist: Wilber Meets Assagioli. Higher Self and Transpersonal Development. In: Transpersonal Psychology and Psychotherapy. 1/2000.
  • Daniele de Paolis: Develop the inner wealth. Partial personality work in psychosynthesis . Nawo, Rümlang / Zurich 2013, ISBN 978-3-9522591-9-1 . (1st German translation)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jean Hardy: A Psychology with a Soul. Psychosynthesis in Evolutionary Context . London 1987.
  2. ^ Association Lucis Trust (ed.): The unfinished biography of Alice Bailey . Geneva 1975.
  3. ↑ Roberto Assagioli: Psychosynthesis and transpersonal development. Junfermann Verlag, Paderborn 1992, ISBN 3-87387-067-3 .
  4. ↑ Will Parfitt: Psychosynthesis. Aurum-Verlag, Braunschweig 1992, ISBN 3-591-08325-9 .