The Transpersonal Relationship

There have always been spiritual healers such as shamans, witch doctors in all cultures around the globe. According to Clarkson the transpersonal relationship is the spiritual or inexplicable dimension of the relationship between the client and the counsellor. It’s a timeless element, it’s a kind of connection at an unconscious level.

Clarkson says “we still don’t know precisely what it is that we are doing as therapists and whether it makes any difference at all”. I find this statement brutally honest. It reinforces the idea for me that counselling is a kind of art, not a form of science . The kinship between the client and the therapist is that of a marital couple if we consider the  therapeutic relationship. There’s a sense of intimacy and also emptying of the ego. If the therapist can allow passivity and receptiveness and let go of skills, knowledge, preconceptions, assumptions this aspect of the relationship can be encouraged. Clarkson argues “the therapist dissolves the individual ego” thus allowing insight and transformation to emerge for the client.

There was a case study in the book when a client refused to form a working alliance by not stating the goal of therapy but he kept coming to the sessions. The therapist then, by letting go of expectations and the healer archetype, could be an empty vessel, a container, which was healing for the client. This reminds me of Rogers’ idea that the curious paradox: if you accept yourself change will come, but in this case the therapist strives to display this type of attitude towards the client.  Clarkson quoted Perls “we grow, we develop, we evolve, we connect, we strive for greater and greater perfection, we move towards the good”. She refers to this as Physis or life force, which again is a very optimistic way of looking at human nature. It reminds me of Roger's idea, that we all have the potential to grow. It all depends on the clients’ openness, capacity for wonder and awe. The therapist has to be aware of their own competencies, blind spots, prejudices and their willingness to engage in this type of relationship depending on their own cultural and spiritual background. I think it is also an ethical consideration, therapists are supposed to do no harm to clients so careful consideration is needed.

Bibliography:

Petruska Clarkson, The Therapeutic Relationship, Wiley, 2003