Archives: JRT Articles

Portals to the Psyche: Spirit Involvement – Isa Gucciardi (Is.16)

Isa Gucciardi, Ph.D.

Dr. Gucciardi examines the conflicts between western “scientific” approaches to Dissociative Disorders (DD) and those of shamans and today’s spirit releasement approaches. She recommends that the task of therapists working with DD is to let their clients lead the way to “their own maps of their own psyches,” whatever that map might contain, because it is only there that healing can occur. Dr Gucciardi appeared in last year’s Journal.

Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), now called Dissociative Disorder (DD), has only recently been recognized as a separate disorder within the field of modern western psychology. When Freud’s theories reigned supreme in this field, most cases of dissociative disorders were misdiagnosed as schizophrenia. In 1980, the American … Read the rest

1 December 1998

Bridges to the Unconscious Living Images: A Case Study – Zelda G. Knight (Is.16)

Zelda G. Knight, Ph.D.

In 1995, Dr. David Edwards presented an article in the Journal in which he discussed the case of “Marian” and her processes of healing and growth through spiritual emergence (Edwards, 1995a). From the perspective of transpersonal psychology, Dr. Edwards’ colleague, Dr. Zelda Knight, now adds to our knowledge of “Marian,” focusing on two of her past lives that involved traumatic sacred initiation rites and the effect they have had on her insights and growth. On page 99 of this issue of the Journal, Dr. Janet Cunningham discusses similar difficult initiation rites, those of the ancient Egyptians.

Introduction

Transpersonal psychology has developed a particular approach to psychotherapy – transpersonal psychotherapy – which seeks to incorporate and … Read the rest

1 December 1998

“And if the Body were not the Soul, What is the Soul?” – Dianne Seaman (Is.16)

Dianne Seaman

Dianne Seaman is no stranger to the Journal’s pages. Her article in last year’s Journal was a discussion of the relationships between astrology and the “new” physics, and she was invited to continue those explorations for this issue. However, as she says, synchronicity happens, and the personal experiences she shares with us below took center stage. Dianne has given us a heartening account of those experiences, and the good people who “happened” to come into her life when she needed them, to help her heal.

“And if the body were not the soul, what is the soul?”

I chose this quote from Walt Whitman’s “I Sing the Body Electric” for the title because it so succinctly captures the … Read the rest

1 December 1998

What’s in a Word? – Henry Leo Bolduc (Is.16)

Henry Leo Bolduc

Henry Leo Bolduc returns to the Journal’s pages with some wise advice about the uses of language in hypnosis. Although he focuses his remarks on hypnosis, his special field, all that he says can be applied to working with any altered state of consciousness, no matter what it may be called.

We, as hypnotherapists, are involved in a unique profession with vast opportunities. However, some of the terms used in the field of hypnosis itself might be misinterpreted by the public. How do we maximize our field’s therapeutic strengths while minimizing memories of the vaudeville era?

Our professional language is in dire need of renovation. Many words and phrases employed by hypnotists in past decades are now … Read the rest

1 December 1998

From Shiloh to Saigon: Treating the “Nonbeliever” – Thomas G. Shafer (Is.16)

Thomas G. Shafer, M.D.

Multiple sources have said that belief in past lives is not a prerequisite for successful regression therapy. But exactly how do we use past-life therapy with the “nonbeliever?” The author, the Journal’s new Associate Editor Thomas Shafer, presents a case of a man who improved after exploration of past-life type dreams even though his religious tradition prohibited any belief in reincarnation or any work in altered states of consciousness.

(Author’s note: This is a case from my psychiatry practice but names and identifying details have been altered to protect confidentiality.)

 George M. was a 49-year-old white male US Marine Corps Vietnam combat veteran who presented to my office at the US Veteran’s Administration on referral … Read the rest

1 December 1998

Reframing: The Magic of Change – Tibor Magyar (Is.16)

Tibor Magyar, Ph.D.

(aka Russell C. Davis, Ph.D.)

Reframing is a simple but potent technique that may be used by a therapist to gain resolution to “unfinished” issues which continue to traumatize a client/patient. Although the term “reframing” came into the vocabulary of therapists through the work of Bandler and Grinder in the late 1970s and early 80s, the author points out that the technique itself actually was being used in some form or other much earlier. One example cited involved the use of reframing by a Veterans Administration therapist who was using this technique when working with Vietnam veterans who were hospitalized for PTSD.

The Magic of Words

Of all the words of tongue or pen,
none … Read the rest

1 December 1998

Past-Life and Interlife Reports of Phobic People: Patterns and Outcome -Thelma B. Freedman (Is.15)

Thelma B. Freedman, Ph.D. Saybrook Institute, 1997

In a study of 37 participants with 81 phobias between them, hypnotically-facilitated past-life and/or interlife reports of people with simple and social phobias and/or agoraphobia were examined when the participant’s “Upper Mind” in hypnosis said they were causal of the phobias. Also, earlier experiences in some participants’ (present) lives that they reported in hypnosis as causal of their phobias were examined. Three participants with 11 phobias between them were unable to reach the required levels of hypnosis, and received no deliberate treatment. Their phobias became an ad hoc control group for Research Question Two. Because many participants suffered from more than one phobia, sometimes of different types, for purposes of analysis the … Read the rest

1 December 1997

A Study of Spirit Releasement Therapy for Individuals Who Believe They are Involuntarily Possessed – Jacqueline Whitmore (Is.15)

Jacqueline Whitmore, Ph.D. Saybrook Institute, 1995

Although there have been many definitions and little agreement as to what constitutes “possession,” for the purposes of this study possession was defined as “a subjective belief in the involuntary, non-culturally and non-religiously sanctioned, undesirable influence by an outside entity such as a spirit, power, deity, or other person.” The participants were twenty-two healthy, basically well-functioning adults who had chosen to experience Spirit Releasement Therapy (SRT) because they had come to believe that they were possessed. The researcher was not the SRT therapist, but had the therapist’s full cooperation.

Before SRT, 24 hours after SRT, and one month or more after SRT, participants were interviewed and completed pre- and post-treatment measures: the Hardiness … Read the rest

1 January 1997

A Phenomenological Study of Post-Modern Transpersonal and Spiritual Experiences with Quantitative Survey and Case Study Interviews – Janet Cunningham (Is.15)

Janet Cunningham, Ph.D. Walden University, 1997

The phrase “transpersonal and spiritual experiences” refers to the sense of identity of the self extending beyond the personal to encompass wider aspects of humankind, life, psyche, or cosmos. Western scientific exploration of such experiences has been nearly nonexistent, due primarily to the currently accepted scientific paradigm. But a study of the psyche that fails to deal with the transpersonal and spiritual realms is, by definition, unscientific in that it fails to take into account, or even to report, a large body of phenomena.

All participants in this study were healthy, well-functioning adults. The study had two foci: first, to discover if people who claim to have had spontaneous transpersonal and/or spiritual experiences … Read the rest

1 December 1997

EXPERIENCES. What is the Nature of Parallel Lives? – Isa Gucciardi (Is.15)

In this article, Isa Gucciardi tells us of her strange personal encounter with what may have been a parallel universe.

Isa Gucciardi, M.A., C.Ht.

There has been much discussion of the possibility of parallel lives, but this concept appears to be poorly – and variously – understood by the different investigators who have looked into the matter. There are some past-life researchers who hold that “past” lives are really occurring in the present at different dimensions of reality. Quantum physics supports the idea that time as a linear concept is just a way of talking about reality and proposes that all time is present now. Some transpersonal psychologists venture so far as to say that multiple personality disorder-type manifestations … Read the rest

1 December 1993