P-1156 - Transpersonal: a Philosophical Approach to Psychology. is There a Feasible Route to Psychotherapy?

Abstract

Transpersonal, meaning beyond the ego-boundaries, was first used by Assagioli. After that the term has been used to indicate an attention to the transcendent or spiritual dimension of humanity, both in philosophy and psychology. In psychotherapy the term transpersonal refers also to the exploration of altered state of consciousness with healing purposes. Starting from these premises P.L. Lattuada developed a model called Biotransenergetica. In such a method the attention is directed to the person in his/her wholeness not just to the symptoms. The core concept is the transe, which refers to a process of being in harmonic equilibrium within oneself and with the surrounding. Symptoms are view as allies showing where the process is blocked, so that the transe is disharmonic, causing physical as well as psychological suffering. The therapeutic process is a way to read the process that led to a disharmonious transe and help the client in a self-healing process, which also will lead toward a self-realization. Transpersonal psychology has been criticized by some authors challenging its definitions that link transpersonal psychology to healthy states only. Moreover recalling the spiritual dimension puts at risk the application of transpersonal psychotherapy in a clinical setting, where scientific evidence based approach is requested. However our clinical experience demonstrates that BTE can be applied in a therapeutic context. Aim of this presentation is to show the clinical application of this model describing how disease and symptoms could be revised in terms of harmonic transe and self-realization.