Thesis (MHSc--Health Science) -- AUT University, 2007. / Includes bibliographical references. Also held in print (238 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm.) in the Archive at the City Campus (T 616.8914 SLE)

This research recognized that being other was an experience we all endure at varying times. Rooting itself within post-colonial theories, this research sought to expand the understanding of this experience into the worlds of relational psychotherapy and the transpersonal. With a phenomenological epistemology, this research therefore utilized creative techniques such as visualizations, drawing, and sand tray work, to understand the unconscious experience of being other, and what the other is. It also explored the unconscious impact of othering, and why the other is drawn to the subject. This research also undertook a heuristic study recognizing that a connection to our own sense of otherness was a route towards psychological wholeness.

Psicóloga / La presente es una investigación teórica, que tiene como finalidad describir y analizar las potencialidades que posee el canto para ser utilizado en Psicoterapia Transpersonal. La metodología utilizada se basa en dos fuentes: por un lado la revisión bibliográfica, y por otro, a modo de complemento, entrevistas a especialistas en el tema. A partir de la información recopilada se encontraron dos hallazgos principales. El primero es con respecto al alto grado de relación que existe entre el canto y la espiritualidad. Y el segundo, ligado al anterior, es que sería posible considerar el canto como un instrumento útil para ser empleado dentro de la Psicoterapia Transpersonal. Se concluye la investigación, sistematizando y analizando cada una de las potencialidades que posee el canto para ser utilizado en Psicoterapia Transpersonal; y se dan a conocer los principales aportes, limitaciones y proyecciones de este estudio

M.Tech. (Fine Art) / This research examines selected visual manifestations of Transhumanism. Transhumanism is an ideology that envisions humankind taking control of its evolution in an attempt to enhance the human body, intellectually, physically and emotionally. Transhumanists envision three areas of enhancement namely, genetic engineering, the merging of the human body with technology and the quest for super-longevity or immortality. The above mentioned visual manifestations of Trans humanism are explored with reference to selected Cyberpunk and Science Fiction films, selected contemporary advertisements aired on South African television, and the conceptual underpinnings expressed in the artworks and writings of the Australian artist Stelarc and French artist Orlan. Orlan's use of cosmetic surgery dislocated within a context that positions current cosmetic surgical practices as precursors to Transhumanism. Reference is made to my art making processes as well as the conceptual motivation for the creation of my life-size bodies that simulate Transhuman propositions as well as the 'fantastic'. Many Postmodern cultural critics view Postmodern identity as unstable in nature and subject to endless change. Postmodern identity therefore provides a context for my practical production and intoxication with change is argued as a cultural product of Post-Modernity. This positions the Transhuman body as the ultimate vehicle for self-expression and consumer choice.

D.Litt. et Phil. / Philosophies of health care in South Africa tend to be based on either the medical approach or traditional healing. Psychology and psychotherapy, which occupy a niche within the greater health care system, are similarly predisposed. Focusing mainly on psychotherapy / healing, this research sets out to make some sense of the converging and diverging elements of these two broad systems. The research covers Western healing by exploring the roots of psychotherapy from the earliest written records until the late nineteenth century. A similar exercise is undertaken as regards traditional healing, whose origins are examined by speculating on shamanic healing practices which date back to the furthest reaches of human history. Next contemporary traditional healing in Africa is explored in regard to the cosmology and methodologies of healers. The African anthropological worldview in relation to health and mental health are reviewed, giving special emphasis to the elements of spirituality intrinsic to the approach. The spiritual component is then reviewed in regard to Western psychotherapy in the form of Transpersonal psychotherapy, which has become increasingly prevalent in the last decade. In tying them together, it is noted that most ancient forms of healing are directly linked to the most recent contemporary forms. In order to better understand the processes of modern practitioners, several healers and therapists across the ethnic spectrum were interviewed. Using semi-structured interview techniques followed by a phenomenological analysis, the data was divided into 50 meaning clusters and then rationalised into 10 themes most pertinent to the direction of this project. The ten extracted themes were: Western Models: The effectiveness, use, limitations, and suggestions regarding amendments to Western therapeutic approaches. Therapist Ethnicity: The experiences of Black and White therapists in practice, in regard to ethnic issues. Knowledge of Traditional Healers: The knowledge that Black and White therapists had about the worldview and methodologies of traditional healers. Traditional Healing Scope: The types of problems addressed by traditional healing. Traditional Healing Methods: The techniques and methods employed by traditional healers. Ancestors : The relationship, powers and beliefs about ancestors held by traditional healers and Black therapists. Cosmology: The South African worldview as expressed by traditional healers and Black therapists. Traditional Healing: Miscellaneous Aspects of traditional healing which were relevant but did not fall into other themes. Client Relationship: The nature of the relationship required for effective traditional healing and therapy. Therapist training: The effectiveness, use, limitations, and suggestions regarding amendments to therapy training. Each of the above themes are discussed in detail and the participants’ views on aspects such as training and the approaches to therapy and healing are extracted. The research ends by attempting to draw all the previous information together and give tentative answers to the research question. It is argued that the most fundamental link between psychotherapy and healing takes place in regard to the ‘common factors’ or contextual elements in therapy and healing. In order to make psychotherapy more relevant to Black South Africans, several recommendations are suggested, among them the Africanisation of therapeutic approaches that take into account the practical circumstances of most prospective clients. In addition it is argued that therapy can be more synergistic with healing by drawing on its intrinsic features of spirituality and reconnection. It is also suggested that additional research impetus be given to the development of African models of psychology and therapy. It is not envisaged that Western models will need to be rewritten from scratch, but rather that the particular circumstances of Africa are taken into account.

Thesis (Ph. D. (Psychology))--Rhodes University, 1997.

Psicóloga / Considerando a la Psicología Transpersonal como heredera de la Psicología Humanista y ésta como una corriente de pensamiento basada en la filosofía existencialista, nos planteamos el problema del vínculo entre Existencialismo y Psicología Transpersonal, focalizándonos en las similitudes y diferencias del concepto de libertad en relación a lo que significa ser libres y las implicancias en la visión del ser humano. En base a una investigación de carácter bibliográfico podemos plantear que la Psicología Humanista no hereda todos los postulados existencialistas y que la Psicología Transpersonal toma muy pocos aspectos de esta filosofía de manera que da un nuevo significado al concepto de libertad y de decisión. Las diferencias radican principalmente en el lugar de la naturaleza humana respecto a la libertad además de situarse en paradigmas diferentes (el Existencialismo en la Modernidad y la Psicología Transpersonal fuera de ella)

M.A. / The general aim of this study was to explore the literature on transpersonal correlates in traditional African healing. The main aim was to create an understanding of transpersonal experiences from the stance of Transpersonal psychology and incorporate it to what is known with regard to illnesses and diseases in African belief systems. The existing literature indicates that there are differences and similarities between traditional African healing systems and Western modes of healing. Despite their differences, however it seems possible that they could operate in a complementary manner within the broader health care system.

Theoretically this thesis was grounded in the discourse of transpersonal psychology and the related discourse of transpersonal feminism. The focus was on a particular category of transpersonal phenomena - past-life experiences. These experiences were viewed from a poetic and therapeutic perspective as being healing stories of the unconscious that served to articulate psychological and spiritual realities of the human psyche within both the personal and the collective unconscious. They were thus not questioned in regard to their literal occurrence. The central aims of this thesis were to (a) document and faithfully describe a participant's past-life experiences that occurred during selected psychotherapy sessions, (b) engage in a hermeneutic dialogue between the participant's past-life experiences and contemporary transpersonal literature, and, in so doing, to evaluate and extend existing theory, (c) uncover the archetypal significance of past-life experience and its relationship to the re-emerging Feminine within patriarchal culture and, finally, (d) show how the past-life stories and images contribute to the process of inner healing and transformation, a process termed 'spiritual emergence'. The research was a phenomenological-hermeneutic case study, comprising the selection of eight consecutive psychotherapy sessions in which nine past-life experiences were identified. These sessions were reduced to narrative synopses, and a hermeneutically grounded thematic analysis of a total of six past-life themes were explicated. Principle conclusions reached were that past-life stories and images contribute to the process of spiritual emergence and empowerment as well as to the re-emergence of the Feminine consciousness. Moreover, as healing stories of the unconscious, these past-life experiences can be understood as expressions of the collective struggle with unresolved archetypal forces within the collective psyche, as well as echoes of personal conflicts and dilemmas from the individual unconscious.

Psychosynthesis is a transpersonal psychotherapy. It was founded by Dr Roberto Assagioli, an Italian psychiatrist who lived from 1888 to 1974. He was involved in some of the early psychodynamic activity early in the twentieth century, but split from Freud at about the same time as Jung. Psychosynthesis was developed between 1910 and the 1950s in Florence and Rome, but in the 1960s became more internationally known with centres opening round the world. This study is an investigation of the ideas lying behind psychosynthesis: these ideas spring partly from scientific study of the unconscious, but they also originate in the long mystical tradition of both the Eastern and the Western world. In tracing back these ideas to their sources, the nature of the knowledge underlying a modern spiritual, or transpersonal, psychotherapy is inevitably discussed. Roots of such a discipline lie in a split tradition within the Western world - psychology aspires to be scientific, religion or mystical knowledge is studied within the discipline of theology, and the two are very little related in our present conception of knowledge. Roberto Assagioli's framework is thus a 'synthesis' in several senses: in the attempt to relate the soul and theology to the personality and psychology: in the attempt to perceive personal developmental patterns as a microcosm of larger social and historical patterns: and in the particular characteristics of his therapy with the individual. The meaning of these syntheses is examined within the context of the knowledge on which he explicitly and implicitly drew. Psychosynthesis is a product of the twentieth century. It originated at the turn of the century when many new ideas were questioning the old certainties of nineteenth century thought. It began to flourish at the time in the 60s when once again criticism was being levelled at the direction of Western development. An examination of its origin and development throws light on many aspects of our present values.