The Humanistic Psychologist
January 1, 2007
Glenn Hartelius, Mariana Caplan, Mary Anne Rardin
129 citations
A retrospective analysis of definitions of transpersonal psychology published over 35 years identifies three core themes: beyond-ego psychology, integrative/holistic psychology, and psychology of transformation. Early emphasis on alternative states of consciousness has moderated into a broader focus on human transcendence, wholeness, and transformation, aligning the field closely with integral psychology. The tripartite definition provides a historically grounded content summary that contributes to the foundation of a global transpersonal vision. The field still needs to embody greater inclusiveness and diversity, but its vision remains highly relevant to the contemporary human condition.
Front Psychiatry
November 24, 2021
Sherry-Anne Muscat, Glenn Hartelius, Courtenay Richards Crouch et al.
47 citations
An integrative approach that combines ketamine therapy with supportive psychotherapy may enhance treatment outcomes for people with treatment-resistant depression. The authors argue that ketamine's rapid antidepressant effects can be optimized when paired with psychological interventions that help patients process and integrate the drug-induced experiences. This combined strategy may address multiple dimensions of depression, including mood, cognition, and interpersonal functioning, potentially leading to more durable therapeutic benefits than ketamine alone. The paper suggests that integrating pharmacological and psychotherapeutic modalities could improve the overall efficacy of treatment for severe depression.
Journal of Scientific Exploration
March 8, 2021
Marilyn Schlitz, Daryl Bem, † Davíd et al.
11 citations
Two international experiments attempted to replicate a controversial precognition study by Daryl Bem. The experiments reversed the usual cause-effect sequence: participants responded to stimuli before a prime appeared, testing whether response times would be longer for incongruent stimuli. The preregistered confirmatory hypothesis was not supported in either experiment. Exploratory analyses in Experiment 1 found a significant effect only among English-language participants, not those using translations.
Behavioral sciences (Basel, Switzerland)
August 31, 2021
Sherry-Anne Muscat, Geralyn Dorothy Wright, Kristy Bergeron et al.
5 citations
Pairing ketamine therapy with culturally attuned trauma-informed psychotherapy in a collaborative cross-cultural partnership may improve treatment effectiveness and quality of life for Indigenous people. Decolonizing Indigenous health requires equal partnership between government and communities, built on a holistic foundation of mind, body, social, and spiritual balance within the context of colonialism. Ketamine, a fast-acting antidepressant taking effect within 4 hours even in acute suicidality, engages multiple systems damaged by intergenerational complex developmental trauma. Its brief alteration of waking consciousness is familiar in many Indigenous healing cultures, making it a potential core treatment modality around which culturally engaged approaches can be organized.
Military psychology : the official journal of the Division of Military Psychology, American Psychological Association
January 1, 2020
Genine P. Smith, Glenn Hartelius
5 citations
A novel therapeutic approach conceptualizes PTSD-related flashback triggers as the activation of latent dissociative structures called dissociated ego states (DES), which are fractured aspects of self beyond cognitive control. Using mindful attention, therapists can engage these states without emotional dysregulation, recovering dissociated cognitive resources and deactivating the structure, without requiring exposure to traumatic memories. A 9-step intervention is described with a case example of a Vietnam veteran who had PTSD symptoms for 49 years; significant gains were maintained at 21 months follow-up. This mindfulness-based approach targeting dissociated ego states may offer rapid, durable relief from chronic PTSD symptoms and potentially reduce treatment costs.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
January 1, 2015
Glenn Hartelius
5 citations
No Summary
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
February 20, 2024
Glenn Hartelius
1 citation
The term 'nondual states' is often used in psychology and New Age contexts to describe experiences where the sense of self is softened or expanded. This paper argues that such usage is incompatible with the original meaning in Advaita Vedanta, where nonduality is a metaphysical concept about the nature of reality, not a description of a mental state. The author contends that applying the term to psychological states lacks the precision needed for a scientific construct and improperly inserts New Age metaphysical ideas into psychology. The argument is grounded in the author's study under a lineage-holding teacher of Advaita Vedanta.
International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
December 31, 2024
Glenn Hartelius
Advaita Vedanta, often cited as a source for nondual theories of consciousness that posit a pure, featureless awareness underlying mental experience, is frequently misrepresented. These interpretations deviate from both its traditional lineage-based teachings and scientific standards, creating compromises that lack traditional fidelity and psychological rigor. For meaningful dialogue between psychology and Advaita Vedanta, a clear distinction must be made between the sensate phenomenology of experience and the spiritual interpretations that may be implicit in experiential descriptions.
The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
October 31, 2022
Glenn Hartelius
Several scholars in transpersonal psychology are converging on open scientific naturalism as a fruitful philosophical and methodological framework. This approach builds on early transpersonal psychology's naturalism before it entered a metaphysical phase (roughly 1975 to 2000). Science must assume some kind of world to operate, and not all background assumptions can be empirically tested, making some metaphysics unavoidable. However, this necessity does not justify inserting foreground metaphysical explanations for psychological or spiritual phenomena. Instead of broadening psychology by adding metaphysics, open scientific naturalism can make it more inclusive and scientific by challenging metaphysically based disbeliefs rooted in specifically Western background reality assumptions.
The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
August 5, 2022
Glenn Hartelius
An analysis of articles published in the two main transpersonal psychology journals over the field's first five decades shows that empirical research has played a small but gradually increasing role in the literature. Gender diversity has improved from early dominance by male authors in North America, though gender imbalance remains greater in transpersonal psychology than in psychology overall. International authorship has grown but has not kept pace with the growth of North American authorship.
Psych
March 24, 2022
Sherry-Anne Muscat, Glenn Hartelius, Courtenay Richards Crouch et al.
Pairing strategically timed trauma- and attachment-informed psychotherapy with precision-calibrated doses of ketamine may improve the quality and duration of ketamine's therapeutic effects for treatment-resistant depression. Ketamine, a rapid antidepressant, stimulates synaptogenesis, normalizes neural connectivity, enhances neuroplasticity, reduces inflammation, and induces high-entropy brain states with subjective psychedelic experiences. Developmental trauma and attachment injuries are primary factors in treatment resistance. Psychotherapy sessions timed 24–48 hours after ketamine induction take advantage of peak dendritic spine growth and normalized network connectivity, while exploiting high-entropy states to disrupt maladaptive thoughts and behaviors, and supporting integration of positive experiences.
The International Journal of Transpersonal Studies
February 17, 2022
Glenn Hartelius
Transpersonal psychology is a transformative psychology of the whole person, embedded in a diverse, interconnected, and evolving world, with particular attention to states of consciousness and developmental models that expand beyond conventional notions of self. This description draws from research on definitions of the field and themes in its literature over 20 years. Each element of the definition is examined, along with four phases of definitional development from the field's founding in 1968 to the present.
The Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology
January 30, 2010
Glenn Hartelius, Harris L. Friedman
Transpersonal psychology emerged in the United States during the 1960s, a period of psychedelic experimentation and rediscovery of mysticism from Eastern and indigenous traditions. It grew from discontent among humanistic psychologists who questioned the limitations of a solely human-based psychology that paid scant attention to consciousness and spirituality. Although it had earlier roots, its formal birth is linked to the debut of the Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. The lead article in its first issue was written by Abraham Maslow, who had played a key role in developing humanistic psychology and then refocused on a psychology centered on human connections to the cosmos. Other notable founding figures include Stanislav Grof and Charles Tart.