Assagioli Synthesis

780 Words2 Pages

Psychosynthesis is a therapeutic approach that derives from psychoanalysis. The theory and practice of Psychosynthesis began with Roberto Assagioli, an Italian psychiatrist, who introduced a spiritual approach to Psychology. In 1910 Assagioli started the creation of his wide perspective and vision of a holistic approach to psychology, which put an emphasis on growth and the spiritual dimension of human experience. Assagioli’s work was pioneering and was years ahead of his time in that he anticipated much later developments in his field. His aim was to create a psychology of the whole person that is humanistic and transpersonal and he developed guidelines to teach transpersonal approaches including expansions of consciousness. Assagioli …show more content…

He was influenced by Carl Jung, who had broken away from Freud’s school of thought due to his discovery of another level to the Unconscious Mind, which Assagioli later termed the Superconscious. He also found that there was an organising centre to the Superconscious which he termed the Self (or Higher or Greater Self, or Soul). Assagioli went beyond his contemporaries to embrace wholeness on all levels. The most important difference between Assagioli and Jung was Assagoli’s insistence that the soul is a reality whilst Jung stated that mystical and spiritual states were purely subjective. The word Psychosynthesis derives from the Greek word Psycho, which means Self, Spirit or Soul, and “Synthesis actually means putting together the parts of something so as to form an integrated whole” (Parfitt, W., 2006, P.15). Psychosynthesis has become known as ‘a Psychology with a Soul’ or perhaps more aptly could be named …show more content…

The Middle Unconscious contains our waking consciousness where we process easily accessible memories and daily activities. In its centre is the conscious self or ‘I’. The circled area is the Field of Consciousness which contains that part of our personality of which we are directly aware; flow of sensations and feelings, thoughts, desires and impulses. The Higher Unconscious or Superconscious, is the upper section of the Egg. It is from this region that we receive our higher feelings, such as compassion, love, aspirations and intuitions. In this realm are the higher psychic functions and spiritual energies. The Field of Unconsciousness is where our everyday awareness resides. (Assagioli, R., 2012, pp.

Open Document