Is It God Who Cures? A Transpersonal Perspective on Script Formation, the Role of Physis, and the “Soul Work” of the Therapeutic Process

Bibliographic Data

ID20178830
AuthorsBarbara Clarkson (Ebara (Japan), corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume51
Issue3
Pages317-330
Publication date2021-07-03
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueTransactional Analysis Journal (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0362-1537 • E-ISSN: 2329-5244
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/03621537.2021.1949804
OpenAlexW3190007305
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited16

Identifying a gap in the transactional analysis (TA) literature regarding the role of spirit or soul in the process of psychotherapy, the author invites consideration of the role of physis in both script formation and psychotherapy. She argues for reclaiming script as a positive, dynamic process and the inclusion of a spiritual understanding of the therapeutic journey. This article contrasts the medical construct of treatment planning, which presents the psychotherapist as a potent, protective, permission-giving director of the therapeutic process, with the more explicitly spiritual concept of the soul’s journey. The author suggests that the evolving process of psychotherapy may have a momentum of its own, moderated by the dynamic tension between the longing for growth and change and the need to create a semblance of existential safety through script. Both impulses are viewed as manifestations of physis in action. The author proposes letting go of the ideas of “cure” and “change” as goals and instead framing the therapist’s role as a purposeful witness who actively receives the client’s experience. Therapist and client then find mutual transformation and integration through the shared process of endarkenment. Thus, script is reclaimed as a positive narrative of the self, which ultimately allows the individual to make meaning from uncertainty and pain

Epistemology · Narrative · Psychoanalysis · Psychotherapist · Repentance · Soul · Therapeutic relationship · Transpersonal · Transpersonal psychology · Witness · Personality Disorders and Psychopathology · Philosophy · Psychology · Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications · Social Psychology · Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy

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