Recognizing Spiritually Transformative Experiences In Clinical Practice

Abstract

Spiritual crises occur throughout the life span, triggered by sudden losses and spontaneous visionary experiences. Major losses include questioning of faith, illness, grief and dying. Visionary spiritual crises, such as mystical, psychic, near death, and alien encounter experiences, challenge our understanding of the world and can be confusing and frightening. The self can become disorganized and overwhelmed by an infusion of spiritual energies or new realms of experience. While such challenges can produce a period of distress and imbalance, once recognized and approached as potentially transformative, many clients can integrate such episodes of spiritual crisis in ways that foster their growth and development.

Presenter Bio

Dr. David Lukoff is a Professor of Psychology at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, co-president of the Association for Transpersonal Psychology, and a licensed psychologist in California. He is author of 80 articles and chapters on spiritual issues and mental health, co-author of the DSM-IV category Religious or Spiritual Problem, and an active workshop presenter internationally providing training for psychologists in spiritual competency, loss and grief, death and illness, spiritual problems and emergencies.