When Spiritual Emergence Becomes Spiritual Emergency

Moving from any stage to another brings crisis as the cleavage between the old order of needs and a newer order is sensed. Often it is when the crisis reaches drastic proportions, when one feels one cannot go on any more and the personality is totally emptied, that there is a sudden inflow of healing energy from the soul. Many accounts of profound kundalini awakening indicate the continual fluctuation from moments of utter despair and thoughts of imminent death to moments of bliss and connectedness with the soul. It is as if, just when one thinks one can handle no more, relief comes. This process can last for years. It is very individual to the person concerned. In some cases it passes without much trauma, a lot depends on how ready the person is for a transformative process that will dig to the very depths of his being. How many suppressed complexes are there, how much is one living in the super-ego! The conflict will only end when the personality has completely surrendered and has become a true instrument of the soul.

It is therefore important for the person to consciously enter into the process of self-actualisation, by undertaking therapy or any form of facilitation that helps to unfold hidden potentials, enhance creativity and give a deeper meaning to life. The person needs to consciously create a suitable vehicle (personality) for the soul. This may mean learning to understand the soul's messages however they may come about, whether through symbolism, dreams, meditation, synchronicity in one's day to day events, coincidences, feelings of expanded awareness, or intuition.

When spiritual emergence takes on a suddenness and creates a situation that is very difficult to handle it is known as a spiritual emergency. Due to its psychosis like appearance it was referred to by Jung as transitory psychosis (Grof and Grof, 1989, p.65). Often this kind of emergency is not understood by psychiatrists and is consequently looked at as a mental illness and diagnosed as schizophrenia.

The term Schizophrenia is applied to a group of severe mental illnesses with related characteristics and literally translated it means "split mind" and is a psychotic disorder creating a split from reality showing itself in disorganised thinking, disturbed perceptions and inappropriate emotions and actions. Spiritual emergency can exhibit all of these symptoms at varying degrees of intensity, but rather than being a mental illness it is a crisis of spiritual transformation. Caution is needed, therefore, to distinguish between the two.

It is, therefore, important to take a balanced approach and to be able to differentiate spiritual emergencies from genuine psychoses. Grof & Grof (1989) stated "While traditional approaches tend to pathologise mystical states, there is an opposite danger of spiritualising psychotic states and glorifying pathology or, even worse, overlooking an organic problem" (p.xiii). Further, "Many of the states that psychiatry considers to be manifestations of mental diseases of unknown origin are actually expressions of a self-healing process in the psyche and in the body" (p.xiv).

Before counselling or therapy is undertaken medical tests should be performed to exclude any medical condition. If the tests reveal no organic basis to the psychosis then it is necessary to distinguish between a possible functional psychosis and transitory psychosis. Spiritual emergency usually shows the person to have, as Grof and Grof (1995) state, "A history of reasonable psychological, sexual and social adjustment preceding the episode, the ability to consider that the process might originate in one's own psyche, enough trust to co-operate, and a willingness to honour the basic rules of treatment" (p.313 & 316).

Working Towards Integration

During the spiritual emergency unconscious material, with strong emotional charge, emerges into consciousness. This has powerful, spontaneous healing potential and therefore needs to be supported. It is very important for the person to be given as much information as possible about the process he or she is going through and in as positive a context as possible. The person needs to realise the healing nature of the crisis. The therapist, therefore, explains this basic philosophy to the person and ensures that the person has a safe environment. The person should be encouraged to allow the process to unfold and to co-operate with it.

Due to the varying intensities involved in spiritual emergency, the extent of assistance required will also vary. Sometimes psychotherapy can be limited to support for the person, at other times it may need to be extended to relatives and friends, or supportive groups. At worst 24 hours assistance may be required. This can be as hospitalisation but may also be possible in the home environment.

The therapist believes that with the right circumstances the person will go through a self-healing process. The therapist is able to adjust to whatever level of experience the person has, and is able to use a variety of techniques to assist the person to flow with the process, ranging from psychodynamic, when childhood memories are to be explored, through to other techniques aimed at exploring spiritual, mythological or archetypal realms. It is particularly helpful for the person to complete a Life History questionnaire prior to therapy to give the therapist a better understanding of the person's background, ideals and beliefs.

Whenever a person undergoes spiritual emergency the spiritual energy is trying to work through the individual's personality. The personality needs to be transformed before it can act as an instrument of the higher consciousness. There are two main approaches that can be taken. One is to try to understand the various mental formations, behaviour patterns, fears, resistances, and numerous other phenomena such as transference, fantasies, hallucinations, guilt, introjection, projection, etc. These are the keys to unlocking the door to the unconscious mind and allowing free passage for spiritual emergence. This approach is similar to that found in psychoanalysis. The second approach is more concerned with looking at the here and now experiences the person is having, that is to work with the spiritual emergency, and then help the person to work towards a preferred state of being. By allowing the spiritual emergency to follow its own self-healing path the person should not only find him or herself healed but also spiritually more mature afterwards. This is more of an existential approach. A combination of these two approaches can help the person immensely and is very similar to the approach used in Psychosynthesis which was introduced by Roberto Assagioli.

There is a strong fear and anxiety level associated with the suffering of a psychotic episode, so there is an important healing process available in being able to talk to people who understand what is happening, as well as having access to good literature to be able to read up on it. The therapist needs to show real empathy for the person, use active listening, show unconditional positive regard and congruence. It is not helpful for the person if the therapist is simply applying routine analysis based on a psychiatric model. It is important to help the person to realise that the problem lies within his own psyche and not to project the blame onto people around him.

When a person goes through a psychotic episode the effect on the family can be considerable and consequently family therapy may also be required. It is important that the family, partner, and certain friends are included in the person's support network from the beginning and given as much information as possible about the spiritual emergency. If the experience is not too overwhelming for the person then guided individual or group spiritual practices can be very helpful.

A support group similar to Alcoholics Anonymous for persons undergoing spiritual emergency would also be of immense value. In California there is a group called Diabasis. The Spiritual Emergence Network has been set up to provide information and access to specialist help including a directory of appropriate therapists. There are web sites on the Internet devoted to providing information and support. The Kundalini Resource Centre has a mailing list that provides a forum for interchange of ideas and mutual support for people who have experienced the effects of kundalini arousal.

It is important for the person to discriminate between the real and the unreal, being careful not to confuse this with what is right and what is wrong. For example, walking naked in the street may appear wrong in the social context but it is nonetheless real.

Fantasies are the unconscious self attempting to express itself in day-dreaming. Hallucinations or psychotic fantasies are similar but without the ability to discriminate reality and non-reality. For the transitory psychotic, acceptance will allow the self-healing to take place whereas denial, suppression and drugs do the reverse.

Allowing the freedom for fantasies, whether psychotic or not, rather than trying to resist or repress them allows a natural working out of unconscious impulses. Self-criticism is our superego's mind chatter and serves only to suppress. Self-acceptance allows an inner healing to take place. Compulsions work in a similar way. There is the compulsion of the inner desires to do things and the compulsion of the superego to repress them.

There is a continuous process of introjection and projection going on within us. We introject those things we want to associate with and project those that we don't onto others, thus our judgements and opinions of others. In counselling, this results in transference and countertransference and gives us clues to the workings of the superego. Sometimes, though, such introjections and projections become exaggerated to the point of paranoia leading to delusions of grandeur or persecution, another possible effect of spiritual emergency.

Exploring the unconscious can release drives and emotions that the conscious mind is not willing to accept. It is necessary to be prepared to help the person deal with unleashed energies. Other drawbacks are an increasing dissociation from the self and getting lost in the unconscious, a preoccupation with oneself and one's unconscious, or even ego inflation due to the inflow of potent psychological forces. Again, unleashed energies need to be carefully controlled as the negative effects are those found in psychotic conditions. It is not necessary to thoroughly analyse the unconscious, simply to reveal that which is immediately of value to the task at hand. If any other material needs to be looked at it will reveal itself in resistances and the other symptoms during therapy that can be analysed.

By allowing the person undergoing a spiritual emergency to join groups of others undergoing similar experiences, the person will act more naturally, behaviour will be freer with less self-consciousness and more happiness. The superego fears and guilt will be less apparent. The person's reactions in the group setting will be very revealing of the unconscious drives and fears, etc. However, as we are trying to be supportive of the person at this stage only groups that are positive should be considered. Another group that needs to be considered is the family and friends of the person. By encouraging the person to make note of interpersonal reactions and relationships the therapist can help the person to understand and accept desires and drives, etc. For example, "I don't feel accepted or I prefer to be alone in my thoughts." It is worth remembering that the person's current group and family dynamics are extensions from early life.

The aim of the psychodynamic approach is essentially to perform a "backwards" journey in the mind focusing largely on the person's past and how to transcend it. In the existential-humanistic approach, techniques are used constituting more of a "forwards" journey into the future, to find meaning for one's being and to increase one's spiritual awareness. By clearing the past and adopting a will to change for the future, and being receptive to the unconscious material emerging into consciousness, the self-healing process of the spiritual emergency will be allowed to achieve its purpose with less trauma and resistance from the person concerned.

Both approaches attempt to understand the nature of the experiences caused by the emergence of unconscious material. The psychodynamic approach acknowledges that the person's reaction to the material is largely determined by the unconscious mental formations and that by releasing the mental formations the psychosis will flow more freely and be aided in its self-healing capacity. The existential-humanistic approach, on the other hand, looks more at allowing the unconscious material to flow and to give the person a supportive environment and appropriate techniques to facilitate its flow.

It is important to acknowledge, however, that techniques that have an activating effect should only be used where the crisis of transformation has slowed down or reached a standstill, and that sometimes it is necessary to temporarily contain the emerging processes so that the person can continue with important day to day activities. When this is the case it would be necessary to discontinue inner exploration or any form of spiritual practice. Even changing one's diet can help the grounding process. The person would need to take on simple calming activities, exercise regularly, and to avoid those environments that tend to stimulate the process.

Both approaches are useful for relieving the person's feelings of helplessness and isolation. They also help to reinforce healthy and positive tendencies, and to distinguish between psychotic perceptions and reality as well as deal with any underlying emotional conflicts that may be exacerbating the person's condition. It is the role of the therapist to help the person put the problem into perspective. It can also be useful to counsel relatives of those clients living at home to enable them to deal with the person's symptoms. The person may find that physical activities are useful to relax emotional and physical energies. Whereas the psychodynamic approach will assist the energies to remove the mental formations that act as a barrier to its free flow the existential-humanistic approach will allow more of an acceptance and even encouragement of the forces to carry out their self-healing work.

It is important to allow the spiritual emergency to run its own course. Attitude towards it is important, preferably one will adopt a sense of co-operation, even enthusiasm, this may even help to speed it up. Fear, resistance, disbelief or denial have the reverse effect and may severely hamper the process.

Psychospiritual techniques which assist in easing the symptoms of spiritual emergency include effective therapy or counselling, attending a support group, regular spiritual practice with a knowledgeable teacher, working with a skilled bodyworker, Reiki and breathwork. Techniques which can enhance the process when it is going through a lull include playing evocative music, artistic expression and meditation.


Copyright © Charles Attfield, 1999 - 2002

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