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Ciis Dissertation Abstracts, 2022-2023, California Institute Of Integral Studies

CIIS Dissertation Abstracts

This compilation of dissertation abstracts reflects the exciting research completed by the 2022-2023 graduates from PhD programs in the School of Consciousness and Transformation and the Clinical Psychology Doctorate (PsyD) in the School of Professional Psychology and Health at the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS).

The original and impactful doctoral research presented here spans diverse areas of scholarship from anthropology and social change to human sexuality, philosophy and religion, and whole person approaches to psychology, demonstrating the breadth and depth of transformative and integral inquiry happening at CIIS. The transdisciplinary nature of these dissertations reflects the richness and complexity …

On The Way To The Altar: An Illustration Of Transpersonal Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy, Willow Pearson Trimbach

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This paper illustrates transpersonal psychoanalytic psychotherapy through a detailed clinical example. A creative synthesis of Voice Dialogue work and Dreamtending, applied through storytelling and active imagination, is presented with a patient who is about to be married. Areas such as the therapeutic relationship including skills, techniques, clinical decisions, goals, interventions and the therapeutic space and presence are explored and discussed throughout the paper as they relate to transpersonal psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

Measuring Paranormal Beliefs: Reconceptualization And Empirical Validation Of The Paranormal Belief Construct, Hugo Matas, Enric Munar, Lluis Ballester, Maria José Hernández-Lloreda

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

The Revised Paranormal Belief Scale (RPBS) is the most widely-used tool for measuring beliefs in paranormal phenomena, although it is not free from criticism. Lindeman and Aarnio (2006) proposed an extended version of the RPBS with some improvements and a second-order hierarchical model to explain the structure of the scale. Our objective was to analyze the goodness of fit of the model and measurement invariance by sex in a Spanish sample. A sample of 6,584 participants completed the extended RPBS. After reversed items were removed, the model demonstrated an adequate fit, significant factor loadings and invariance between sexes. The results …

Dreams, Synchrony, And Synchronicity, Terry Marks-Tarlow

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

No abstract provided.

Wildfire And Asylum: A Terrapsychological Approach To Backyard Pilgrimage, Jacob Kaminker

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This paper offers a conceptual framework and embodied practice of finding ones’ psychological roots through mythological re-emplacement. The author utilizes the lenses of depth psychology, terrapsychology, ritual and pilgrimage. The method also focuses on experiences of awe in nature as a catalyst for transpersonal experience. This deeply personal account offers a model for the reader’s own symbolic engagement with the physical, natural and historically rich world around them.

Integrating Clinical Intuition For A Whole Person Approach To Empowerment, Jennifer Sousa

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This paper is a summary of a study utilizing constructivist grounded theory to examine the process of accessing and applying clinical intuition in psychotherapy. Intensive interviews were conducted with 19 psychotherapists to explore their experiences with clinical intuition, including training on the topic, supportive conditions for accessing intuition, and decision making around its application in session. Engagement in an iterative process of data collection and analysis occurred to arrive at the constructed theory: integrating clinical intuition for a whole person approach to empowerment. The theory is comprised of the core categories (a) building trust and confidence to access and use …

The Role Of Personality In Moving Encounters With Sacred Art, Jacob Lang, Despina Stamatopoulou, Gerald C. Cupchik

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

In Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions, the material world is understood to contain access points to the transcendent. An icon may move the awestruck believer to emotional engagement and reflection on moral and religious themes. Personality dispositions potentiating the experience of being moved in religious aesthetic contexts have not been thoroughly studied. The present article describes the development and testing of a cross-sectional study into potential belief and personality-related predictors of being moved by sacred art in a lab environment evocative of a holy site. Ninety (90) Christians in Canada and Greece completed personality measures and viewed and rated …

Empathy, Ethics, And Empowerment: Supervising The Transpersonal Therapist, John Elfers, Patty Hlava

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This grounded theory study addressed the question What model explains the essential qualities, skills, and competencies of an effective supervisory relationship for transpersonal therapists in training? It emerged out of a recognition that current training models for supervisors were not inclusive of competencies to address the needs of therapist trainees who are oriented toward a transpersonal approach to psychotherapy. The results of 22 interviews with trainees and supervisors surfaced a fundamental tension within the supervisory relationship in the distinction among the primary responsibility of the supervisor for ensuring client welfare, and encouraging supervisees to develop their personal therapeutic orientation and …

The Healing Power Of Active Imagination On Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Symptoms And Wellbeing: A Mixed-Method Exploratory Study, Joshua Rutt, Jenny Wade

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Despite many treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), recovery is often moderate at best. and symptoms often persist after treatment. This mixed-method study explored whether an active imagination protocol could serve as an effective low-cost, drug-free intervention for complex PTSD or persisting symptoms after a traumatic event. Seventeen participants were assessed using the Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale (PDS), Multiscale Dissociation Inventory (MDI), and the Ryff Scales of Psychological Wellbeing (PWB) before and after a four-session, one-to-one active imagination intervention. On average, all quantitative scores significantly improved from baseline, and every subscale improved. For the sample average, PTSD symptoms decreased by 32%, …

Metaphysical Foundationalist Versus Existentialist Ontologies: Applications For Research On Psychological Energy, Michael Da, Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Theories of psychological energy have a rich history going back to the beginning of the field of psychology, employing concepts such as "libido," "psychic energy," "orgone energy," "bioenergetics," "psycho-energetics," "life energy," "organizing field," and "living-matrix." There has been a recent effort to find neural correlates with these concepts, but these data may not capture the fullness of the phenomenon. Because psychological energy is an elusive concept with many interpretations, research into this phenomenon faces the most basic questions regarding where and how to start. To address these questions, this paper explores several theories of ontology that could apply to psychological …

Judaism And The Transpersonal, B. Les Lancaster

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

The interplay between Judaism, especially its mystical tradition, and transpersonal psychology is examined, focusing on two major aspects. The first concerns stages in the spiritual journey, which are analyzed for their psychological import. The stages are symbolically depicted in the biblical narrative of the Exodus from Egypt, a journey from "slavery" to "freedom." Here the Hebrew term translated as "wilderness" is seen to act as a code word, applying to five successive stages each of which I analyze in psychospiritual terms. The role of the divine feminine, the Shekhinah, is emphasized on account of Her specific role in exile and …

Clients In The Driver’S Seat, Not Asleep At The Wheel: A Qualitative Study Of The Client Role In Transpersonal Psychotherapy, Phyllis Alongi, Jenny Wade

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Despite the power of the therapeutic alliance in effective therapy and its larger-thanthe- individuals-comprising-it (transpersonal) qualities, the client’s contribution to the therapeutic process has been largely overlooked in both conventional and transpersonal literatures. This study asked 35 transpersonal practitioners, what is the role of the client in transpersonal psychotherapy? The study examined client traits, attitudes and role demands in Jungian therapy, sandplay therapy, dream analysis, guided imagery, regression and hypnotherapy, nondual psychotherapy, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy using inductive thematic analysis. The results distinguish transpersonal therapy clients from conventional ones, indicating that the transpersonal client role characteristics and behaviors are unavoidably more …

Smokable "Vine Of The Dead": Two Case Studies Of Experiencers Of Both Changa And Near-Death Experiences, Pascal Michael, David Luke, Oliver Robinson

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Introduction: Virtually no studies have looked at psychopharmacological combinations as models of the near-death experience (NDE), which is inadequate given the evidently complex neurochemistry occurring near- or at death. An example of such a combination is ‘changa’, a smoked mixture of the psychedelic N,N-DMT and monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI)-containing plants, and as such has been referred to as ‘smokable ayahuasca’ (vine of the dead). Only very few studies, yet not systematically, have included experiencers of both NDEs and psychoactive substances. Methods: Two case studies are presented of individuals who have experienced both a near-death experience and a changa experience, making …

How Widely Are Near-Death Experiences Recognized In Indian Society And Health Care? A Preliminary Survey, Jimmy Mathew, Sreelakshmi Rajeev, Jerry Paul, Subramnia Iyer

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Patients who have had near-death experiences are often profoundly changed by the event, and they and their families can find these phenomena bewildering or even distubing. Despite this, awareness of near-death experiences appears to be minimal among health care providers in India. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 100 individuals who attend patients at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences in Kochi, Kerala, India, and on one hundred physicians at the same institution. Acquaintance with the phenomenon of near-death experiences was found to be quite low among both samples—lower than rates seen in Western societies. Almost half of the physicians …

An Open Mystery: Reflections On The Metaphysical Status Of The Participatory Approach, Jorge N. Ferrer

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This paper provides an assessment and clarification of the metaphysical status of the participatory approach to transpersonal and spiritual phenomena (Ferrer, 2002, 2017a). To that end, I first respond to several criticisms of the approach issued by scholars in recent years; for instance, that it hides a perennialist metaphysics (e.g., Abramson, 2015) or that it is metaphysically vague (e.g., Taylor, 2021). After reviewing these critical discussions, I describe the open and minimalist nature of the participatory metaphysics, arguing that such features cultivate a fertile soil for transpersonal scholarship, human flourishing, and interreligious relations. Applying a biomimetic approach, I argue that …

Colic As Trauma Release? A Comparative Exploration Of Play Therapy In Children With And Without A History Of Colic, Nilüfer Devecigil, Jenny Wade

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Colic, characterized by excessive, inconsolable crying in early infancy, has long puzzled researchers and clinicians. Traditional approaches have predominantly relied on medical models, yet they have failed to provide satisfactory explanations or effective treatments. This blinded comparative qualitative study took a novel approach by asking: What are the womb and birth experiences of colicky babies in relation to the prenatal relational trauma between mother and fetus or within the fetal environment? The sample comprised 23 mother-child dyads, 10 children with a history of colic and 13 without, whose histories and interactions unfolded through 10 videotaped sessions of Experiential Play Therapy. …

Psychological Energy: Early Theorists In The Analytical Tradition, Michael Da

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Since the dawn of Western psychology, theorists have used variations of the term “energy” to describe the dynamic forces at work within the psyche and the soma and the psychotherapeutic processes of change. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, terms used for psychological energy included “libido,” “psychic energy,” “orgone energy,” “bioenergetics,” and “psycho-energetics.” This paper uses philosophical hermeneutics to compare the major theorists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century: William James, Pierre Janet, Sigmund Freud, C. G. Jung, Wilhelm Reich, Alexander Lowen, and Roberto Assagioli. The analysis reveals that these theorists generally agreed that psychological energy …

Waldorf Education: New Perspectives On A Holistic Approach, Martyn Rawson

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This article outlines some of the core ideas underlying the practices of Waldorf education as re-envisioned by an experienced practitioner, as a contribution to the discussion about the educational implications of transpersonal psychology. It outlines a pedagogical anthropology that takes the spiritual dimension into account. It distinguishes between the lived body, the emergent psyche and the agentic Self as the spiritual core of being in the person. Learning is explained as a transformative process that involves the changing relationships to one’s own body, to others and to the world through which potentialities become abilities. The aim of the transformative education …

Mandala: On The Logos Of Place, Michael Schwartz

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Suddenly, during the night, one awakens while dreaming – aware that this is a dream. The “rules” of action, reaction, and of form itself are not that of the waking state – one might leap in the air and fly, transform one’s body into any number of forms, reach up in the sky and grab the sun and clouds, pulling them to the side, bringing forth a canopy of moon and stars. The entire scene, in the lucid dream, has a heightened sense of radiance and joy, vitality and freedom.

Imagine this sense of lucid dreaming is occurring right here …

Remembering The Future: Wild Time And The Cosmic Imagination, Arabella Thaïs

Journal of Conscious Evolution

Entropy – the Second Law of Thermodynamics – is generally held to prove “time’s arrow”: that time is linear and unidirectional, and that the universe is following this trajectory. This paper presents a preliminary exposition into a new, integral ontology of time in which time is hyper-dimensional, non-linear and flows in both directions. This is supported through trans-disciplinary praxis at the intersection of aesthetics, cosmology, quantum mechanics, and chaos theory. The metaphysical implications of reverse causality are investigated, and confer a teleological universe that is coherent with the paradigm of an intelligent, self-realising cosmos in which beauty is a fundamental …

Is Biological Death Final? Recomputing The Drake-S Equation For Postmortem Survival Of Consciousness, Adam J. Rock, James Houran, Patrizio E. Tressoldi, Brian Laythe

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This participatory team science project extended Laythe and Houran’s (2022) prior application of a famous probabilistic argument known as the ‘Drake equation’ to the question of postmortem survival. Specifically, we evaluated effect sizes from peer-reviewed, empirical studies to determine the maximum average percentage effect that ostensibly supports (i.e., "anomalous effects") or refutes (i.e., "known confounds") the survival hypothesis. But unlike the earlier application, this research included a study-specific estimate of the hypothesized variable of ‘living agent psi’ via a new meta-analysis of empirical studies (N = 17) with exceptional subjects vs participants from the general population. Our updated analysis found …

The Varieties Of Afterlife Experience: Epistemological And Cultural Implications, Everton De Oliveira Maraldi

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

When parapsychologists talk about survival, they are usually implying personal survival, that is, a process in which memories, motivations, and personality characteristics of a given person somehow persist after bodily death. Are there other conceptions of survival (and of personal identity) that deserve further scientific examination? My purpose with this brief commentary is to expand on Rock et al’s approach by urging survivalists to discuss and investigate further the many different conceptions of (and explanations for) survival. I propose we critically reflect on our theoretical assumptions and their epistemological and cultural consequences.

Good, Bad, Or Not-Even-Wrong Science And Mathematics In Transpersonal Psychology: Comment On Rock Et Al.'S "Is Biological Death Final?", Harris L. Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Rock et al. (this issue) used a Drake-like equation to provide an estimate of the mathematical likelihood of survival of consciousness after death based on combining a number of probability guestimates. Although it is refreshing to see a mathematical paper within transpersonal psychology, as this subdiscipline of psychology suffers from a shortage of quantitative research, it is uncertain whether this contribution is good, bad, or not-even-wrong science. The original Drake equation, and its derivative Drake-like equation spinoffs, have been criticized for combining numbers that produce results that lack meaning and thereby perhaps can be seen as using pseudomathematics. This concern …

Book Review: The Myth Of Normal: Trauma, Illness, And Healing In A Toxic Culture, By Gabor Maté And Daniel Maté, Nicholas Grant Boeving

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

No abstract provided.

Decoding Babel: “Ungrieved Futility” And The Unrecognized Order Of The Depression Research Field, Marty Lynn Cooper

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

The field of depression research and theory is a preparadigmatic potpourri of different orientations without a central, consensus definition of depression. This study attempted to address these issues by investigating the depression sub-literatures (cognitive–behavioral, psychoanalytic, evolutionary, biomedical, phenomenological, existential–humanistic, cybernetic, environmental, and religious–spiritual theories) using a comparative analytic methodology, which allows for comparing disparate fields that do not share a common definitional set by relating them to a third concept, in this study the construct of “ungrieved futility” (UF) as a dynamic model of depression. UF defines the objective and/or subjective experience of the permanent loss of an attachment object …

Potential Benefits Of Mdma-Assisted Conflict Transformation Informed Couple Therapy: Transpersonal Roots And Future Promise, Antonia George, William Sol

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a chemical compound that produces prosocial effects such as an increase in empathy and social bonding. Due to its profoundly prosocial effects, prior to becoming a schedule 1 drug, MDMA was used as an adjunct to individual and couple therapy, which is a practice that deserves critical reexamination and potential revitalization. MDMA has undergone clinical trials in the United States for FDA approval to treat individuals with clinical diagnoses such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and autism. Current data demonstrates that MDMA-assisted psychotherapy has proven successful in treating individuals possessing certain clinical diagnoses; however, there …

Requisite Wisdom: Transpersonal Psychology In The Treatment Of Clinical Depression, Marty Lynn Cooper

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This paper describes the relationship of Transpersonal Psychology (TP) to the theorizing and treatment of clinical depression. It argues that, rather than TP’s being one of many equivalent clinical lenses that can be applied to depression, TP is actually a necessary framework for understanding the phenomenon of depression, and at least in the case of more severe/chronic depressions, it is required to obtain results beyond mere symptom management. The construct “ungrieved futility” is used to essentialize the structural dynamic nature of depression, and the cybernetic perspective on depression is used to explain why depression’s intrinsic structure mandates a TP lens …

Transpersonal Approaches To Clinical Supervision, Harris L. Friedman

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

Transpersonal psychology can provide unique approaches to clinical supervision by offering an interconnected self-expansive view of the self across time and space, as well as can provide a secular avenue to consider the importance of spirituality without relying on supernatural assumptions. Transpersonal supervisors can challenge conventional notions about what and how supervisees know, and even the nature of being a knower, through providing a more inclusive, perhaps even holistic, vantage that is both critical of mainstream approaches and surpasses their ability to provide a coherent “super” (i.e., going beyond the usual more-myopic understandings) vision. Background on transpersonal psychology related to …

Mathematical Calculations For The Finality Of Death? The Drake-S Equation, Glenn Hartelius

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies

N/A

Effects Of Mindfulness And Holotropic Breathwork On The Rehabilitation Of Adolescents Who Use Psychoactive Substances: A Pilot Study, Frank Sanchez-Quijano, Diana Ximena Puerta-Cortés, Julio Eduardo Mazorco Salas

International Journal of Transpersonal Studies Advance Publication Archive

This pilot study aims to compare the effects of mindfulness and holotropic breathwork treatments on adolescents in the rehabilitation process for psychoactive substance use. Participants comprised 18 female adolescents aged 15–18 admitted to the Fundación Grupo de Apoyo, affiliated with the Colombian Family Welfare Institute. The Fundación is dedicated to rehabilitation from, detoxification from, and prevention of psychoactive substance use. The study utilizes a mixed methods approach with an exploratory design. Heart rate is used as an important indicator of psychological well-being and overall cardiovascular health, and the mean pretest/posttest heart rates of the control and experimental groups are compared …