International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies October 5, 2017 178 citations

Transpersonal psychology can be understood as a transformative psychology of the whole person embedded within a diverse, interconnected, and evolving world that pays particular attention to states of consciousness and developmental stages reflecting expansion beyond conventional notions of self. The journal is dedicated to the cultivation and publication of careful scholarship in second wave...

Transpersonal Psychology as a Scientific Field

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2002 Harris L. Friedman 89 citations

The importance of the development of transpersonal psychology as a science is considered. Arguments from romanticism, scientism, and constructionism that challenge this possibility are countered. A distinction is drawn between the field of transpersonal psychology as a science and the broader area known as transpersonal studies that may legitimately use scientific or nonscientific methods. The...

Brief History of Transpersonal Psychology

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2008 Stanislav Grof 74 citations

The International Transpersonal Association (ITA) was formed in 1978 for the purposes\nof promoting education and research in transpersonal subjects, as well as sponsoring\nglobal conferences for the international transpersonal community. The association was\nsubsequently dissolved in 2004, but is now in the process of being reactivated and revitalized.\nAs background for this development, this...

Ketamine Psychedelic Psychotherapy: Focus on its Pharmacology, Phenomenology, and Clinical Applications

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies July 1, 2014 Eli Kolp, Harris L. Friedman, Evgeny Krupitsky et al. 53 citations

Meant to be an authoritative guide for psychiatrists and others interested in understanding and applying ketamine psychedelic psychotherapy (KPP), this paper focuses on its pharmacology, phenomenology, and clinical applications. Ketamine is a dissociative anesthetic widely used by physicians and veterinarians in the United States. In addition to its anesthetic and dissociative properties,...

What Does It Mean to Live a Fully Embodied Spiritual Life?

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2008 Jorge N. Ferrer 46 citations

This essay discusses the meaning of embodied spirituality—based on the integration of all\nhuman attributes, including the body and sexuality—and contrasts it with the disembodied\nspirituality—based on dissociation and/or sublimation—prevailing in human religious\nhistory. It then describes what it means to approach the body as a living partner with which\nto co-create one’s spiritual life,...

Ketamine-Enhanced Psychotherapy: Preliminary Clinical Observations on its Effects in Treating Death Anxiety

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2007 Eli Kolp, M. Scott Young, Harris L. Friedman et al. 44 citations

Ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic commonly used by US physicians, has recently been shown to be a powerful anti-depressant and is also capable of eliciting transpersonal experiences that can be transformative. Although currently approved in the US only for use as an anesthetic, physicians there can legally prescribe it off-label to treat various psychological/ psychiatric problems and it has...

Does the Concept of “Altered States of Consciousness” Rest on a Mistake?

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2007 Adam J. Rock, Stanley Krippner 37 citations

Block (2002) has argued that the multiplicity of meanings ascribed to consciousness is due\nto the erroneous treatment of very different concepts as a single concept. Block distinguished\nfour notions of consciousness intended to encapsulate the various meanings attributed to\nthe term: phenomenal, access, self, and monitoring consciousness. We argue that what is\ncommon to all of these...

Entheogens: True or False?

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2003 Roger Walsh 36 citations

Despite 40 years of dialogue, debate still continues over whether psychedelics are capable of inducing genuine mystical experiences. This paper first reviews the arguments against this possibility and shows that all of them contain shortcomings. One reason the debate still continues is that there has been no adequate theory of mystical states and their relationship to the factors which produce...

Psychoactive Substances and Paranormal Phenomena: A Comprehensive Review

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2012 David Luke 35 citations

This paper investigates the relationship between psychoactive substances and so-called paranormal phenomena falling within the study of parapsychology. It is primarily concerned with extrasensory perception (ESP)—telepathy, precognition, and clairvoyance—as well as out-of-body experiences (OBEs) and near-death experiences (NDEs). Psychokinesis (PK), aura vision, encounter experiences, and sleep...

Identifying Spiritual Content in Reports From Ayahuasca Sessions

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2000 Stanley Krippner, Joseph Sulla 29 citations

Relational Spirituality, Part 1 Paradise Unbound: Cosmic Hybridity and Spiritual Narcissism in the “One Truth” of New Age Transpersonalism

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2010 Gregg Lahood 21 citations

Cosmological hybridization, a process in which spiritual paradises are bound together, is highly active in American religious culture. Beginning with an early Christianized version of the Buddha, this religious Creolization gathered speed after WWII and peaked during the Vietnam War, leading to a complex spiritual revolution in which transcendence became an all important orientation. This...

Psychedelic Experiential Pharmacology: Pioneering Clinical Explorations with Salvador Roquet (How I Came to All of This: Ketamine, Admixtures and Adjuvants, Don Juan and Carlos Castaneda Too): An Interview with Richard Yensen

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies July 1, 2014 Philip E. Wolfson 20 citations

Richard Yensen was a research fellow at the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center from 1972 to 1976. He studied psychedelic psychotherapy with Stanislav Grof, M.D. and other senior staff. During this time he treated patients with substance abuse disorders, cancer, neurosis, and other health professionals seeking a training experience. Dr. Yensen did his Ph.D. dissertation on the use of MDA in...

The Sources of Higher States of Consciousness

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2005 Steve Taylor 18 citations

In this paper, it is argued that “higher states of consciousness”–or mystical experiences–have two main sources: they can be caused by a disruption of the normal homeostasis of the human organism and also by an intensification of the “consciousness-energy” that constitutes our being. (These are termed HD and ICE states). The author investigates examples of both types of experience, and compares...

The Return of Perennial Perspectives? Why Transpersonal Psychology Should Remain Open to Essentialism

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies September 1, 2017 Steve Taylor 16 citations

In reply to This discussion illustrates that perennialist perspectives are far from outmoded. I discuss the metaphysical aspects of my model, suggesting that there is no reason why transpersonal psychology should not address metaphysical issues, as long as they are secondary to phenomenological issues, and as long as they are based on evidence rather than wholly speculative. Attempts to exclude...

Ayahuasca–From Dangerous Drug to National Heritage: An Interview with Antonio A. Arantes

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2009 Beatriz Caiuby Labate, Ilana Seltzer Goldstein, Campinas State Univesity 15 citations

This interview with Antonio A. Arantes, Brazilian anthropology professor and recognized specialist on the topics of intellectual property and traditional knowledge, addresses the 2008 request by Brazilian ayahuasca groups to be recognized as part of the immaterial cultural heritage of Brazil. In the first portion of the interview, Arantes reflects on the challenges of the new conceptions of the...

Psychosis or Spiritual Emergency: The Potential of Developmental Psychopathology for Differential Diagnosis

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies September 1, 2017 Kevin O. St. Arnaud, Damien C. Cormier 13 citations

This paper reviews the nosological systems in the field of psychology, comparing the classic medical model with a developmental approach to psychopathology and wellbeing. The argument is made that a developmental model offers greater refinement for distinguishing phenomenologically similar experiential states. Due to their substantial overt resemblance, a contrast between spiritual emergencies...

Shamans as Healers, Counselors, and Psychotherapists

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies July 1, 2012 Stanley Krippner 12 citations

Shamanic models of healing, counseling, and psychotherapy differ from Western models in that\nthey emphasize closeness to the natural world as well as to one’s body and life’s spiritual dimensions.\nShamanic practices reflect the ideals of harmony and knowledge. In shamanism, there is no division\nbetween “mind” and “body,” hence what Westerners refer to as “mental illness” is seen as part...

Shamanic Cosmology as an Evolutionary Neurocognitive Epistemology

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2013 Michael Winkelman 11 citations

The biological foundation for a shamanic epistemology is indicated by the cross-cultural distribution of a shamanic cosmology derived from knowledge obtained during altered consciousness. These special forms of consciousness involve integrative brain conditions that access ancient ways of knowing, expressive systems which have evolutionary roots in the communicative and social processes...

Reflections on Transpersonal Psychology’s 40th Anniversary, Ecopsychology, Transpersonal Science, and Psychedelics: A Conversation Forum

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2009 Mark A. Schroll, Stanley Krippner, Miles A. Vich et al. 9 citations

Recollections of humanistic and transpersonal psychology’s origin’s morph into the pros and cons of humanistic/transpersonal oriented schools developing APA accredited clinical programs. This discussion dovetails with the question will ATP ever become an APA division, raising an interesting alternative for those of us considering a career in counseling: becoming a spiritual coach. Enter the...

Transpersonal Education: Problems, Prospects and Challenges

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2006 Paul F. Cunningham 9 citations

Despite its substantial scientific, academic, and professional achievements, transpersonal psychology has\nnot been fully incorporated within traditional undergraduate psychology curricula. One reason is conventional\npsychology’s prejudiced perception of humanity’s spiritual nature. Other reasons lie within the field\nof transpersonal psychology itself, including the lack of agreed-upon...

Western Buddhism and Transpersonal Psychology: Cross-Hermeneutic and Engaged Approaches

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies February 20, 2024 Debashish Banerji 5 citations

Contemporary Buddhism has been fashioned from cross-cultural interactions between a long history of Asian traditions and the expansionist drive of modernity. As part of this engagement, Buddhism, particularly in the West, has developed a close relation with transpersonal psychology. This essay forms an introduction to the special issue of articles approaching this relation between Buddhism and...

Non-Duality: Not One, Not Two, but Many

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2015 Glenn Hartelius 5 citations

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Ketamine and Depression: A Review

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies July 1, 2014 Wesley C Ryan, Cole Marta, Ralph J. Koek 5 citations

Ketamine, via intravenous infusions, has emerged as a novel therapy for treatment-resistant depression, given rapid onset and demonstrable efficacy in both unipolar and bipolar depression. Duration of benefit, on the order of days, varies between these subtypes, but appears longer in unipolar depression. A unique property is reduction in suicidality although data are more limited. Strategies to...

Dreaming and Reality: A Neuroanthropological Account

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies January 1, 2013 Charles D. Laughlin 5 citations

In what sense is dreaming real to people of different cultures? How do they come to conclude that dreaming is real, and how do they use dreams to expand their knowledge and control of real events? The reader is introduced to dream anthropology and shown that there are universal patterns to how dreams are experienced, expressed, and used by societies. The distinction between monophasic and...

The Transformative Power of Ketamine: Psychedelic States and a Personal History of Transformation

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies July 1, 2014 Philip E. Wolfson 4 citations

A discussion of the nature of transformation and its relationship to psychedelic experiencesparticularly ketamine experiences-is presented and discussed along with a schema for thinking about types of states that may be encountered and transformations that may occur related to psychedelic use and practice. This is followed by a longitudinal historical approach for portraying and examining...