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2. Psychodynamic experiences, involving “important memories, emotional problems, and unresolved conflicts from various life periods of the individual…regression into childhood and even infancy, reliving of traumatic memories, infantile sexuality, conflicts in various libidinal zones, Oedipus and Electra conflict, castration anxiety, penis envy” (Grof, 1980b, p. 345).
3. Perinatal experiences, involving “experiences related to the circumstances of the biological birth” (Grof, 1980b, pp. 448-349).
4. Transpersonal experiences, involving “spiritistic and mediumistic experiences, experiences of an encounter with superhuman spiritual entities, archetypal experiences, and experiences of an encounter with blissful and wrathful deities….the activation of different charkas and arousal of the Serpent Power (Kundalini), consciousness of the Universal Mind, and the Supracosmic and Metacosmic Void” (Grof, 1980b, p. 357).
Spiritual emergency. Individuals encountering these various areas or regions of the psyche during psychotherapy often experience significant relief of addictions, physical health problems, and psychopathologies (Grof, 1988). In addition, Stanislav Grof and his wife Christina Grof have coined the term spiritual emergency to help professionals differentiate mystical states from mental illness and have organized a national network of therapists to assist individuals who may experience emotional or psychological crises of a spiritual or transpersonal nature (C. Grof & S. Grof, 1990; S. Grof & C. Grof, 1989).
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Michael Washburn’s (1995) book, The Ego and the Dynamic Ground: A Transpersonal Theory of Human Development (Rev. ed.), integrates Freudian psychoanalytic and Jungian analytical psychodynamic theories with writings from Eastern and Western spiritual traditions. The resultant transpersonal theory of human development charts the course of human development from the earliest stages of ego emergence to the “highest” stages of ego transcendence, while acknowledging both the biological roots and “higher” or “deeper” spiritual potentialities of the psyche documented in the writings of Eastern and Western wisdom traditions.
The perspective of this [theory] is dynamic in that its primary focus is on the ego’s interaction with dynamic life, the source of which is referred to as the Dynamic Ground. Accordingly, I [focus]…on the relation of the ego to possible religious (e.g., numinous, infused, charismatic, illumined) experience…It is a fundamental assumption that these two expressions, psychological and spiritual, of our dynamic life derive from a single source. It is assumed that these two expressions are not different effects of two different dynamic realities but are rather two different modes of appearance of the same power, the power of the Dynamic Ground, Libido and spirit…are ultimately one. (Washburn, 1995, p. 4)
The spiral-dynamic perspective. Washburn views human development during the first half of life as moving in a direction away from the Dynamic Ground (from prepersonal, pre-egoic stage to personal, egoic stage). Development during the second half of life spirals back to the Ground on the way to a higher union with the Ground (from personal, egoic stage to transpersonal, transegoic stage) – a development whose aim is whole-psyche integration.
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