A Psychospiritual Exploration of the Transpersonal Self as the Ground of Healing

The paper argues that the transpersonal Self, understood as a source of psychological and spiritual healing, is central to psychotherapy and addiction recovery. It integrates the Internal Family Systems model with nondual wisdom traditions from Advaita Vedanta and Kashmir Shaivism to explore how awareness of the Self can be brought into therapeutic work. Drawing on the author's personal experience, the paper examines obstacles to recognizing the Self, methods to facilitate this recognition, and therapeutic benefits for overcoming depression, anxiety, eating disorders, and addiction. Psychotherapeutic interventions for contacting the Self are discussed, along with implications for personal relationships, behavior, inner experiences, and relating to others and the world.

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Abstract

This paper focuses on the transpersonal Self as the psychological and spiritual healing factor in psychotherapy and addiction recovery, and illustrates the importance of bringing awareness of the Self and the energy of wholeness into focus with clients in the therapeutic process. The concept and experience of Self is explored through the psychospiritual therapeutic model of Internal Family Systems and through a spiritual lens of the nondual wisdom traditions derived from Advaita Vedanta and aspects of Kashmir Shaivism. Obstacles to the recognition of Self, approaches to facilitating this recognition, and the therapeutic benefits of knowing the essential Self are examined through the author’s personal experience with these models and their use in overcoming depression, anxiety, eating disorders and addiction. Psychotherapeutic interventions that support making contact with the Self are examined as well as the implications of Self-knowing on personal relationships, behavior and inner experiences, as well as how one relates to others and the world.