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Symptoms, Addictions and non-ordinary
States of Consciousness
Process Work is particularily useful in the prevention of and working
with psychosomatic and somatic symptoms, addictions and unusual states
of consciousness.
When we explore challenging health issues, we often find that they contain
messages and patterns which reflect the individual, relational and cultural
unconscious.
A woman in her mid-40ties had a childhood dream in which a tiger was about
to strike her with its claws. She came to see me to work on a chronic
rash which developed whenever she felt stress. Her usual style in relationships
was rather adaptive. When she focused on her scratching, she began to
feel the cat. As her cat-like nature emerged, it needed to go for what
she wanted in life and in relationships - not holding back nor adapting.
In her symptom she found a aspect of nature which our culture tends to
oppress, especially in women. Liberating the cat-like nature is her individual
work but at the same time can be seen as worldwork.
Physical and Psychosomatic Symptoms
and Illness
"Symptoms are potentially meaningful and purposeful conditions.
They could be the beginning of phantastic phases of life, or they could
bring one amazingly close to the center of existence. They can also be
a trip into another world, as well as the royal road into the development
of the personality." (Mindell: Working with the Dreaming Body,
1985)
Body symptoms and illnesses can be painful experiences which isolate us
from ourselves and others as they threaten our sense of identity. At the
same time they have the potential to wake us up to our deepest emotions,
to our inner healer, to infinity and the spiritual dimension. Process
Work with body symptoms and illness observes the deeper flow of life and
the potential meaning behind illness with accuracy and precision. Like
in our night dreams, our symptoms too are expressions of the unconscious.
With mindful attention and awareness, our bodies become creative guides
that reveal who we are beyond our social roles and convention.
Process Work views body experience as a vehicle for information about
the self, our relationships and the world as a whole, and as a source
of liveliness and magic. What may begin as a body symptom or a tension,
can transform into a creative process for rediscovering ourselves, reconnecting
to our loved ones and feeling in sync with the world again.
A. Mindell: Quantum Mind and Healing, Charlottesville,
VA, Hampton Roads, 2004
Process Work with Addiction
"Addiction can be seen as an effort to relate to parts of ourselves
which our sober life-style excludes, and which we cannot access and use
deliberately. In this sense, addiction is an attempt at wholeness"
(Hauser: Message in the Bottle - Process Work with Addiction. Journal
of Process-oriented Psychology, 1994-1995.
In the perspective of Process Work addictions are opportunities to
leave everyday consciousness and step into dreamlike states in which we
have contact with the unknown. If we unfold the potential of these altered
states of consciousness and if we follow and go deeper into these experiences,
then we find useful information and unexpected solutions. Process Work
with addictions attempts to unravel the meaning and messages of our cravings
for food, smoking, sex, drinking, etc. and discover the deeper meaning
behind them.
The Process Work approach is particularily useful in prevention efforts
and in stages of the recovery process that call for an expansion of awareness.
It explores what is marginalized in the individual, the family and the
social field and uses the addictive tendencies themselves to connect to
our deepest longings and wholeness.
Dr. Reini Hauser has been working in drug treatment facilities and is
training addiction counselors and teaching self support for health professionals
in the field of addiciton. He offers workshops worldwide for clients and
professionals and presents this approach at addiction conferences. See
a synopsis
of an article on Process Work
with Addiction.
Extreme States of Consciousness
and Spiritual Experiences
"Any psychotherapy which mirrors collective ideals, but ignores
and pathologizes altered states, runs into the risk of being racist and
sexist. If "health" means "acting like the majority",
then being "unhealthy" means that all minorities are in danger
of being pathologized by the mainsteam in any country." (Mindell
in: Journal of Process oriented Psychology 1994.)
From the perspective of the medical model, extreme states of consciousness
are illnesses which require psychiatric intervention, including psychotropic
medication and/or hospitalization. While such interventions can be helpful
and have an important place in treatment, Process Work emphasizes the
importance of psychological individual and family interventions. The focus
is on the systemic relationship between the "mainstream" in
a given culture and the extreme states relative to it; the attempt is
to facilitate awareness or meta-communication about the different states
of mind occuring and, in doing so, to unfold the potential meaning in
unusual experiences.
Process Work developed strategies and methods for working with non-ordinary
states of consciousness. It approaches extreme states with an open mind,
follows the experience of the person and helps to unfold and complete
a state. Process-oriented interventions are based on the idea that non-ordinary
states, when supported and validated, can lead to meaningful transformations
of the individual, the family and the community as a whole.
Suggested Reading
Arnold Mindell: City Shadows. Psychological Interventions in Psychiatry.
London: Routledge 1988.
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