Description

There are certain unusual mental states that have such an extraordinary intensity, that they are numinous; they involve the presence of an archetype. These states can be beautiful or utterly terrifying; they can predispose to illness but if carefully negotiated they carry enormous potential for accelerated development.

This book is about these high-intensity mental states as found in the psychiatric emergency room, in everyday life, in psychotherapy, and in spiritual practice. How can we understand this archetypal layer of psyche and how can we work with its power to promote psycho spiritual growth?

The author weaves the archetypal perspective into the psychoanalytic and medical models of mind to show us how the different layers of the individual and collective psyche intertwine to give us our rich experience of being human.

Using everyday language and using case studies from clinical work in psychiatry and psychotherapy, the author takes the reader on a journey from:

Breakdown to breakthrough
Plato’s cave to Jung’s archetypal crisis
Genetics to transpersonal psychology
Hearing voices to post traumatic stress disorder
Psychoanalysis to psychedelics
The midlife crisis to the encounter with death
Quantum physics to synchronicity
Shakespeare to shamanism
Transcendent nature to mindfulness

Author: Read, Tim

Topic: Psychology
Media: Book
ISBN: 1908995092
Language: English
Pages: 262