Introduction
Transpersonal psychotherapy focuses on the conscious experience of an individual. I have been a client in a counseling session and currently a counseling student. The counseling sessions incorporated transpersonal frameworks through a model that invoked spiritual experience and awareness. Through the forums, the therapist initiated reflections that carried a significant spiritual realism in my previous life. The counseling process was based on the loss of a close family member. Therefore, the therapist utilized a spiritual approach to encourage acceptance of the loss and promote a healing process. According to Friedman and Hartelius, transpersonal psychotherapist tries to improve the conscious experience of clients through emotion, cognition, and behavior as they develop their identity structure (581). The therapist’s model was to enhance understanding beyond the grief or the loss of the family member. Through the steps, I managed to develop inner strength, accept the loss, and acknowledge that a better life can be achieved in the absence of a family member.
What Worked and Didn’t Work for Me
Therapy sessions with a transpersonal counselor may experience significant success or failures at certain levels. The approach taken by a counselor during my forums was to ease the grief by forgetting about the loss. However, the model failed due to the close relationship with the deceased. Fortunately, I managed to accept the loss rather than forget it, which subdued the pain over time. As Friedman and Hartelius demonstrate, individuals can experience changes in intensity, quality of consciousness, and experiences to define their attitudes towards positivity (581). My expectation of a therapist was to employ an integrated model that utilized transpersonal attitudes, current day-to-day challenges and merge them with divine perspectives to enhance the experience of the counseling session. As a counseling student, I intend to utilize transpersonal foundations to connect with clients by building a psychotherapeutic relationship, setting goals with clients, developing exploration sessions, and applying spiritual aspects to achieve acceptance and enhance client growth.
Work Cited
Friedman, Harris L., and Glenn Hartelius. The Wiley-Blackwell Handbook of Transpersonal Psychology. John Wiley & Sons, 2015, pp. 1-691.