An Inquiry of Transpersonal Therapy Methods: Focused on Welwood’s and Boorstein’s Views
Journal of Meditation based Psychological Counseling December 31, 2024 DOI: 10.12972/mpca.20240017 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Case study Case report Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Treatment cases of clients/patients seen by transpersonal psychotherapists John Welwood and Seymour Boorstein |
| Intervention | Meditation |
| Key findings | Welwood and Boorstein's transpersonal psychotherapy commonly applied existing psychotherapy assessment methods and used meditation as the main transpersonal technique. The authors report that the two differed on spiritual practice: Welwood carefully examined spiritual detours and warned of harm transpersonal therapy can cause, including that meditation groups may reinforce defenses, while Boorstein actively used spiritual practice to resolve psychological disorders and viewed meditation groups positively. |
Abstract
Transpersonal psychotherapy proposes a series of systematic diagnoses and treatments in the integration of spiritual psychology. This study aims to analyze the treatment cases of John Welwood and Seymoor Boorstein, who are renowned transpersonal psychotherapists, to identify the specific treatments they used in their treatment cases with clients/patients and to reveal common diagnostic assessment methods and treatment methods of transpersonal psychotherapy. The results of the study showed that Welwood and Boorstein's transpersonal psychotherapy commonly applied the assessment methods of existing psychotherapy and used meditation as the main transpersonal psychotherapy technique. However, the two psychotherapists had different opinions on spiritual practice and growth. While Welwood carefully examined spiritual detours, Boorstein actively used spiritual practice as a tool to resolve psychological disorders. Welwood warned of the damage that transpersonal therapy can cause by introducing a method to deal with spiritual detours. Boorstein is positive about meditation groups, but Wellwood warns against the reinforcement of defenses that meditation groups can provide to clients. This study can be used as a resource to provide specific methods and treatment principles of transpersonal psychotherapy in a reality where there is a lack of specific and detailed theoretical explanations for the assessment and treatment of transpersonal psychotherapy.