A therapist's guide to psychotherapy, spirituality, and self-development.

In Integral Psychotherapy, self-help meets rigorous scholarship. Integral Psychotherapy is a dynamic framework for understanding the mind and uniting spirituality and psychotherapy. Authors Elliott Ingersoll and David M. Zeitler use Ken Wilber's Integral Model to guide readers through a startling new view of psychotherapy as a spiritual journey of self-discovery. This is the first book that grounds the Integral approach in mainstream research while showing how Integral Psychotherapy treats body, mind, and spirit, and it offers an accurate history of many psychological ideas (some mistaken) prevalent in our society. Integral Psychotherapy debunks the fads and fashions of self-help gurus while mapping terrain readers can use to bring their lives into focus. With humor and compassion the authors show that the life of the mind is complex and complexity is our friend.

Using formal assessment instruments in counseling and psychotherapy is an efficient and systematic way to obtain information about clients and to subsequently tailor a counseling approach most likely to serve clients optimally. The more information a counselor obtains during the initial interview and first sessions, the more likely the client will be deeply understood by the counselor, which in turn increases the likelihood that an appropriate course of counseling will be taken, and ultimately leading to a more successful outcome. The Integral Intake is an idiographic, biographical, multidimensional assessment instrument based upon the Integral Psychology pioneered by Ken Wilber. From the perspective of Integral theory, comprehensive and holistic conceptualization of clients seeking counseling and psychotherapy includes knowledge of four distinct perspectives (quadrants) of each client: the client’s experience (the individual viewed subjectively/from within), the client’s behavior (the client viewed objectively/from without), the client’s culture (the client’s system viewed subjectively/from within), and the client’s social system (the client’s system viewed objectively/from without). The intake form is designed to provide the practitioner with a range of background information that can then be used to more quickly and effectively formulate a counseling/treatment approach. The assessment form and accompanying materials will be included on a downloadable resource, formatted to be printed and reproduced for use with each new client. The book will provide an overview of the Integral Psychology model, describe the development of the assessment form and its use, and provide general guidelines for the evaluation of responses and planning for an appropriate counseling approach. A series of case examples, based on actual completed intake forms, will provide insight into the use of the Integral Intake.

The goal of an "integral psychology" is to honor and embrace every legitimate aspect of human consciousness under one roof. This book presents one of the first truly integrative models of consciousness, psychology, and therapy. Drawing on hundreds of sources—Eastern and Western, ancient and modern—Wilber creates a psychological model that includes waves of development, streams of development, states of consciousness, and the self, and follows the course of each from subconscious to self-conscious to superconscious. Included in the book are charts correlating over a hundred psychological and spiritual schools from around the world, including Kabbalah, Vedanta, Plotinus, Teresa of Ávila, Aurobindo, Theosophy, and modern theorists such as Jean Piaget, Erik Erikson, Jane Loevinger, Lawrence Kohlberg, Carol Gilligan, Erich Neumann, and Jean Gebser. Integral Psychology is Wilber's most ambitious psychological system to date and is already being called a landmark study in human development.

Offering a unique perspective on the Enneagram, Essential Wholeness describes the how human beings grow and evolve from biological, psychological, cultural, mythological and spiritual perspectives. It reveals the underlying patterns that inform these diverse disciplines and provides therapists, coaches and self-helpers an effective guide for therapeutic change and spiritual awakening. Advance Praise for Essential Wholeness Both profound and practical, this book integrates cutting edge neuroscience, esoteric wisdom, a heartfelt appreciation of the natural world, and powerfully effective psychological methods. It's genuinely brilliant. Rick Hanson, Ph.D., author of Buddha's Brain: The Practical Neuroscience of Happiness, Love, and Wisdom Eric Lyleson has written a beautiful and helpful book on living life as a journey of awakening. I highly recommend it! Stephen Gilligan, Ph.D. author of The Courage to Love Essential Wholeness provides a blueprint for understanding and working with the complexity of human nature and behavior. It is an inspiring and valuable resource for therapists and anyone interested in the dynamics of personal transformation. Peter Chown, Psychologist. Consultant, NSW Centre for Advancement of Adolescent Health; Specialist Consultant, Adolescent Health, World Health Organization Eric somehow manages to distil a lifetime of experience, spiritual practice, and psychological learning into a very accessible, comprehensive model of human psychology and behavior. Not since Ken Wilber have I read such a concise and useful synthesis of psychology, spirituality, and ecology. I find it incredibly useful in my work as a therapist and as a guide on my own spiritual journey. Richard Chambers, PhD, Clinical Psychologist Co- author of Mindful Learning

A bold new view of the human psyche, integrating Eastern and Western approaches.

The first concise overview of transpersonal psychotherapy.