Psychosynthesis: The Soul's Journey to Recovery

I want to share with you my experience of using Psychosynthesis with inmates, convicted felons housed in a therapeutic community in a Florida state prison. For three years I was a supervisor/counselor in this treatment compound. The inmates were convicted of crimes they committed due to their alcohol/drug addiction or because of their drug dealing.

My role as a Psychosynthesis therapist in the prison setting was to guide my inmate, the traveler, to re-identify, reconnect with his wise, core higher Self and to recognize the parts of himself, subpersonalities, that played a major role in bringing him into the prison system. I primarily worked with the higher, wise, core Self, the addicted self, and the criminal self. I used counseling, journaling, art, dialogue and role playing as my main methods of counseling.

After identifying with his subpersonality, he would then dis-identify with that subpersonality. As an observer he worked with that subpersonality until he broke through its negative aspects and got to its loving, core Self. In this process the subpersonality began to lose its power over the wise, core Self.

My first session with the inmate was the assessment process. In my second session, I explained what Psychosynthesis was and how I wanted him to look at life a little bit differently as he allowed me to guide him through this part of his prison journey. I explained to him that I would teach him skills to connect with and strengthen his wise, core Self who in time would become his Internal Director ... his own best counselor, the captain of his ship. He would learn that life just didn't happen to him but that he could be in charge. He could be the director of his life's play, keeping the actors (his subpersonalities) in harmony, following the script that he wrote for them. This was his chance to learn how to rewrite his script.

During this session I explained to him that Assagioli at one time was also a prisoner, arrested for his activism in the 1940's. While he was in prison he spent his free time in meditation, allowing his wise, core Self to guide him in the development of this transpersonal psychology, Psychosynthesis.

The inmates always seemed amazed that Assagioli had been an inmate too ... "not just some shrink who really didn't know what they were going through being locked up." Several of the inmates referred to Assagioli as "that cool cat ... deep and very cool."

I drew a sketch of Assagioli's theory, starting with the egg diagram, our total psyche.

• Transpersonal, Higher Self -- All that we can be as we evolve to our greatest potential.
• Collective Unconscious -- Our place of intuition, love, art, music, writing, poetry.
• Super Unconscious -- Our place of intuition, love, art, music writing, poetry.
• Middle Unconscious -- All our skills and states of mind that can be easily brought into our consciousness.
• Personal self, the I -- A reflection of our transpersonal Self.
• Field of Consciousness -- What we are aware of going on in our life.
• Lower Unconscious -- Long, forgotten memories, repressed energy that can block us from becoming the best of who we were meant to be...our Higher Self.

I then drew him a sketch of how his subpersonalities evolved around his wise, core Self.

I told him as we worked together I wanted him to think of this period in his recovery as a transition ... as if he would go from being in a row boat, white knuckled, rowing hard to get to shore to be safe from an on coming storm ... to becoming the skilled captain, sailing his sailboat to shore with a new knowledge, a new awareness of skillful actions that would bring them into a life free of drugs, alcohol and crime. He was to visualize himself living as a productive citizen, giving back to society.

At the beginning of our working together he might feel the need to bring the oars on the sailboat just in case old behaviors and fears started to surface. However, in time he would become familiar with his new role as captain. In our counseling sessions, my Higher Self connected with his Higher Self and it is at this higher level of consciousness that our work progressed. My major focus was to help him strengthen his Higher Self, so he could learn how to keep his subpersonalities in balance and move forward in recovery.

For many inmates their lives became out of balance when their subpersonalities, the addicted and criminal selves took over their thoughts and actions. Their core, wise Self, that inner voice, that intuitive part got pushed aside to the point where they no longer recognized their own inner strength.

First they had to realize that they were more than just a "thug" before they could come to believe that they could change. It is through the development and strengthening of their "will" that changes began to occur.

Assagioli emphasized the importance of developing our will. Our will is the drive behind our actions. Without a developed will we become emotionally unbalanced ... some to the point of suffering from depression.

Assagioli spoke of several ways of strengthening our will. I gave the following list of ways one could strengthen their will to the inmates. They were to practice one behavior during the time in between sessions. I trusted in the process itself and was amazed at some of the changes that occurred when the inmates practiced a new behavior daily. Ways to strengthen the will are:

• Do something positive you have never done before.
• Perform an act of courage.
• Make a plan ... follow it ... complete it.
• Keep doing something for five minutes after you have lost interest in it.
• Do something slowly.
• Say no, when it is right to say no ... but it is easier to say yes.
• Behave independently from others.
• Postpone something you are tempted to do right now.
• Begin at once something you usually procrastinate doing.
• Break a habit.

Every inmate that practiced some new behavior on a daily basis changed in either his perception of his world view or of himself. One inmate chose to do something he had never done before, which was to speak without cussing. He said he had to learn how to talk with people all over again. This increased his vocabulary along with his self-pride. Over the following weeks this quiet man actually became a well respected leader amongst peers.

When connecting with someone's Higher Self there is an inner knowing that occurs. It did not matter what level of education the inmate had ... every man knew at some level that he was capable of change, that he was more than an addict or a criminal, that he could continue to grow in his recovery and enter into society as a more productive human being.

It was in my last session of group counseling with the inmates before I left the prison that the power of working with the Higher Self became evident to all of us. An inmate with a third grade education, who had been in and out of the prison system for the past twenty years, pulled a wrinkled piece of paper out of his pocket when it was his turn to bid me good-bye. He said, "Every night I lay on my rack [bunk] and study this drawing you made for me. I do understand what you have been telling me. Knowing what I know now ... I don't think I will have to come back to prison this time."

When a person learns to strengthen and listen to their inner voice, their Higher Self, they change at a deeper level and the change is more lasting. They learn to be in tune to triggers that can knock them off balance. In some respects, they learn to be their own best counselor.

In Psychosynthesis, we are only the traveler's guide for a short period of their journey. As guides we allow the traveler to strengthen his wise, core Self so he grows to become more independent ... no longer needing us. We may shine light on his path ... but it is he who will find his way.