Editorial

We are pleased to devote this issue of Inside
 Out to the Transpersonal in Psychotherapy. It is 
sometimes known as “the Fourth Force”
 (alongside Analytical, Behavioural and
 Humanistic Psychotherapy). The transpersonal 
in psychotherapy has been developed by the 
work of many – from Jung, with his concept of
 the collective unconscious, Assagiolli, through 
Psychosynthesis and the Higher Self, to Grof, 
Lake and Wilber. It is therefore, a very wide
 area and we attempt to give but a glimpse of it 
through our articles.

A debate arises querying the relevance of the 
transpersonal in our work. It can be seen as a 
personalized belief system, that while underpinning the practitioner’s approach, needs to be 
kept separate from the therapeutic encounter,
 (see for example, Robert Skynner: Psychotherapy
 and the Spiritual Tradition, in the Awakening
 Heart; Ed. John Welwood, Shambala, London
 1985.) There is of course the danger that the work, which is part of most psychotherapies,
 such as Ego Strengthening to allow us to deal
 more fruitfully with the ordinary reality of our
 lives and relationships, can be short-circuited in 
a defensive way by recourse to the trans
personal. However, work on a transpersonal
 level, as Wilber points out in the Atman Project,
 is alongside and often subsequent to work on a
 personal level – not replacing it. To have such
 an understanding of this dimension of the
 person and its relevance to everyday issues
 such as purpose, meaning, separateness, etc. is
 valuable for practitioners, to alert them to areas 
of clients’ experience where words alone may
 not be adequate.

We thank those who have contributed to this 
issue and we encourage others to write for us.
 Naming of themes for future issues gives you 
plenty of time to gear your thoughts and put
 pen to paper. The Autumn issue will be on Men 
and Psychotherapy, complimenting our
 Women and Psychotherapy (Summer ’92). The 
Winter issue will focus on Bodywork. We invite
 relevant material now, for both themes.