So-called ‘Schizophrenia’ as ‘Spiritual Emergency’

Abstract: Much needless suffering results from ignorance of the multidimensional nature of the human personality, human psyche or ‘human nature’. Insights on the nature of human nature are revealed by combining Western scientific research with new concepts provided by Eastern psychologies such as Buddhism. These insights can be applied to the study of the healthy healing process involving psychic overload of uncontrollable spiritual growth i.e. spiritual emergency or so-called 'schizophrenia'. Schizophrenia is not a 'mental illness' but an intense transpersonal or ‘spiritual’ experience involving spiritual awakening or ‘spiritual emergence’.

It is a chaotic and uncontrollable self-organizing process which represents positive transformation of the self and has been designated as a psychospiritual crisis or 'spiritual emergency'. The apparent 'craziness' of spiritual emergency reveals the passage into a higher consciousness state required for effective adaptability. The result is so-called 'individuation', 'self-realisation', 'self-actualisation', 'spiritual renewal' or 'rebirth' and represents the affirmation of a life of total well-being or 'high level wellness'. Spiritual emergency is a part of the human condition and involves the 'beyond ego' or 'transpersonal' dimension of human nature. It is therefore a concern of so-called 'depth psychology', also known as 'spiritual psychology' or 'transpersonal psychology'.

Schizophrenia has been described as a nonspecific disease by the psychiatric profession. This supposedly devastating condition was originally named by the German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin (1856-1926). Kraepelin believed that the condition involved an irreversible mental deterioration and coined the term 'dementia praecox' - Latin for 'prematurely out of one's mind'. It later became clear that the term was a misnomer and a new term was coined in 1910 by Swiss psychiatrist Eugen Bleuler (1857-1939) who was noted for his kindness and humanity. Bleuler was the teacher of Carl Jung and professor of psychiatry at the University of Zürich where he headed the famous Burghölzli Clinic. Since the condition seemed to involve a mental split between thought and emotion, Bleuler coined the term 'schizophrenia' for 'splitting of the mind'. The term is derived from German 'schizophrenie' from Greek 'skhizein' meaning 'to split' and 'phren' of unknown origin meaning 'heart or mind'. According to Greek etymology, ‘schizophrenia’actually means 'broken soul' or 'broken heart’.

Although there is still no universally accepted definition of the term, it has been applied to many so-called 'mental illnesses' including a set of socially and culturally unacceptable thinking and behaviour patterns which other people greatly dislike thus making it a model of ‘unwanted conduct’. The condition is largely misunderstood as a result of people’s fear of the unknown.
It turns out that schizophrenia is not a disease or ‘mental illness’. It is not a hopeless condition but a brilliant one. In fact schizophrenia is a personal 'story' which involves a natural and temporary self-organising transformative process or crisis of transformation, a ‘psychospiritual crisis’ now known as 'spiritual emergency' - the term coined by psychiatrist Stanislav Grof. Spiritual emergency is a self-healing process involving the dissolution and removal of illusions and false beliefs originating in the programming of social conditioning which gives rise to aberrant thought complexes and prevent the person from making accurate evaluations for effective decision-making and appropriate social adaptation.

In a period of spiritual emergency, the person instinctively surrenders to a spontaneous organismic process involving the temporary separation of thought and emotion (‘ego-loss’) which is necessary for the reassessment of their thoughts without having to deal with the emotional implications. The person undergoes a series of varying stages or ‘episodes’ and eventually learns to grow beyond fear based ego-consciousness, beyond cultural conditioning and the expectations of others to a higher consciousness state and a new level of awareness. The state of so-called ‘ego-transcendance’ is characterised by an inner sense of emotional liberation which allows for increased creativity and the discovery of ideas and behaviours which increase the effectiveness of social adaptability. Ego-transcendence purifies and sharpens consciousness and therefore results in clarity and a true perception of reality. Accurate perception is a function of moral consciousness or 'intuition' of rational conscience and depends on complete moral or 'spiritual development’ – the defining characteristic of the human psyche or human personality i.e. ‘human nature’.

And what is human nature? Human nature can be defined in terms of the universal moral values of humanness, the social values required for survival of the species as a social species i.e. ‘human values’. Human values are universal values of moral justice, understanding or 'knowledge', social responsibility or ‘peace’, wisdom of compassion or 'loving kindness' and so on. Awareness of human values results in heightened intuition and social intelligence which is necessary for effective adaptation to the complexities of changing social conditions i.e. 'adaptability'. Human adaptability is a function of the social nature of the human organism as a social organism with instincts for social cooperation and social harmony i.e. ‘social instincts’.

These must be cultivated in a process of development of moral consciousness or ‘conscience’. Rational conscience is a product of moral or ‘spiritual’ growth based on the preservation of the integrated functioning of the personality and involves transformation of the self or 'enlightenment' of so-called 'spiritual emergence'.



"In the most general terms, spiritual emergence can be defined as the movement of an individual to a more expanded way of being that involves enhanced emotional and psychosomatic health, greater freedom of personal choices, and a sense of deeper connection with other people, nature and the cosmos. An important part of this development is an increasing awareness of the spiritual dimension in one's life and in the universal scheme of things. Spiritual development is an innate evolutionary capacity of all human beings. It is a movement towards wholeness or 'holotropic state', the discovery of one's true potential." (Stanislav Grof)

Spiritual emergence is a gradual dynamic, fluid, naturally ordered and integrated on-going process of personal development into greater maturity and spiritual awareness and involves personal evolution from the limited sense of self or 'ego' and its egocentric perspective to the expanded sense of self beyond ego… the ‘higher self’ or 'Self'… and its transpersonal perspective. The transpersonal perspective allows for the attainment of knowledge of one's true nature… or human nature… as the source of motivation for personal productiveness and creativity or ‘work’ i.e. 'self-knowledge'. As a result of transcendence of the 'ego or ‘ego-transcendence’, the consciousness is expanded, purified and sharpened to allow for a clearer perception of reality. The result is a sense of the wisdom of compassion an understanding of the ultimate connectedness or ‘unity’ of all things and an appreciation for the divinity of humanness. This spiritual awareness allows for more accurate evaluation of changing social conditions and more effective adaptability. Self-knowledge is the source of personal power and creativity i.e 'self-empowerment’.

Each person is at a different stage of spiritual emergence depending on the level of their moral or spiritual development.

Spiritual emergence takes place over a period of years and depends on conditions of freedom in education i.e. 'free education' or 'holistic education'. Holistic education is based on the necessary fulfilment of biologically based motives or ‘human needs’ which must be met in a process of normal moral or ‘spiritual’ development. Human needs include both 'lower' psychological needs for security and self-esteem - the 'ego needs' - and 'higher' psychological needs for moral or ‘spiritual’ development - the spiritual needs or ‘metaneeds’… instinctive yearnings for unconditional love, truth, beauty etc. Motivation by the metaneeds… metamotivation’… allows for the discovery of one’s true potential.

If in highly sensitive individuals the process of spiritual emergence is blocked for any reason the person might be warned that their growth is in grave danger and that they rapidly need to make adjustments which are for essential for effective adaptation. The transformation process of spiritual emergence can be so dramatic as to become uncontrollable and reach a point of crisis or emergency. So-called ‘spiritual emergency’ is known by many names such as transpersonal experience, transpersonal crisis, psycho-spiritual transformation, psycho-spiritual crisis, spiritual journey, hero's journey, dark night of the soul, spiritual opening, psychic opening, psychic awakening, spiritual awakening, enlightenment, kundalini awakening, kundalini process, kundalini crisis, shamanic initiation, shamanic crisis, psychotic-visionary episode, ego death, ego loss, alchemical process, positive disintegration, post traumatic stress disorder with psychotic features, night sea journey, psychosis, shamanism, mysticism, gnosis, inner apocalypse, and so on.

Spiritual emergency is a process of healing and renewal and is characterised by spontaneous alternative consciousness states or ‘realities' in which the person experiences unbearably distressing psychic overload involving chaotic and overwhelming sensory experiences which in fact offer invaluable opportunities for personal growth. The experiences can be frightening and confusing because they appear to be out of context with everyday reality. As a result they are often misunderstood and discredited as being pathological. Hence the medical model of so-called ‘schizophrenia’ which in fact is a concern for psychology of the spiritual dimension of human nature i.e. ‘transpersonal psychology’.

[Dreamer_love]

interesting articel and nice read. Current psychology has many parallels with the dark ages of christianity and the witch burnings which occured to ''help'' others.

We tend to do the same currently.

Maybe in the future, we might reflect to the, psychological, dark ages in which we live and see the similarities with some forms of religion and the inaccuracies.

In meanwhile, whatever you do people. Dont be too spiritual in public, lol

It's a very spiritually Dark Age.

http://laingsociety.org/biblio/trans...ence.laing.htm

[ravenstar]

Spiritualized, I read your thread and though I agree schizophrenia could be a spiritual emergence, but unfortunately this disease can lead to a total lack of interest in the day to day world. A person I knew who was schizophrenic took his own life (suicide) and another I know tried but failed. And still another is now homeless with no motivation for life at all. These people are so highly sensitive, picking up outside influences and subtle energies, they suffer profusely. They are so open to others they pick up their moods withoug realizing it. They are emotional sponges and 'need' to define psychic and emotional boundaries for themselves. But unfortunately they resist this for some reason and leave themselves open for intruders. SOmehow they need to build a firm foundation for themselves. Living in the higher sphere has a disastrous effect on the physical body. I have witnessed this more than once.

Hi Raven

Where is the evidence that 'it's' a Disease?

I agree; & your right. I'm not saying that these things are clear cut - either/or - simple, or one dimensional.

The way I see it - Multiple, complex, & highly individual/environmental factors are involved - operating at biological, social, psychological & spiritual levels.

For some their madness is less spiritual & more pathological - it's just very hard to really separate these things out.

I have known & chatted with some people to have suffered very severe psychosis - to go on to have made a complete healing & recovery medication free; & to lead very full & happy lives. I've known others to be incredibly unwell & not really recover; & others to have died.

Myself - I went through Hell - 4 psychiatric hospitalisations, 7 major episodes/breakdowns - 17 years in active alcoholism & addiction; & many many hardships & difficulties. I've had a diagnosis of 'paranoid schizophrenia' for the past 14 years.

Largely I've been stable now for over 7 years - & clean & sober over 10 years. I maintain a very low dose of one medication, live independently; & am very much improving in many ways. I've achieved, progressed & come a very long way with everything.

It is possible for people to make startling & profound healing with these 'conditions' - however severe.

Many personal & environmental factors effect prognosis. I'm not negating or playing down the facts & realities of these conditions & what happens to people that experience them; & I'm all too aware of what goes on. I'm also not trying to paint some kind of rosy picture. I'm simply trying to continue to explore & follow a more genuinely authentic spiritual paradigm/approach/understanding(s)/framework(s) for coping, dealing with & addressing such conditions/experiences.

I do however understand the often deep hostility, resentment, disagreement with, & invalidation of applying deeper psychological, spiritual (& social/environmental) understandings to severe mental & emotional confusion & distress. & the strong disagreement to the spiritual emergency ideas.

A genuinely Civilised & advanced Society/Civilisation - Would treat the people that go through such experiences; with the deep respect, compassion, understanding, help & support that they deserve; With a genuinely comprehensive & in depth approach - As we know that is not the reality; & that's what I see as the primary problem - Not that people experience such conditions/states - But the way this society reacts, responds to, & treats them - that is the real issue & injustice. The fact of blaming, ostracising, isolating, excluding & marginalising such people - Of blaming their biology, broken brains, & flawed personalities - Of labelling & drugging them; & all the rest of the barbaric & inhumane practises/behaviour that go on.

The majority are incapable of seeing it all for what it is. To do so they would have had to have looked very deeply at themselves - & that is the last thing that the vast majority of people will ever do. It is the exception rather than the rule. & very few there are indeed that really have any genuine understanding or insight into these areas.

[Liet]

on Schizophrenia:
Firstly, from what ive read, ive understood that they tend to dream a ****load, which paints the picthure of a strong upper spectrum.

Now the question is, does one cure the many-ness of the self by taking full control over ones mind through the solar plexus?
Or is it done through grounding? for once above the initiatory limit of grounding, the different aspects of yourself will start merging into one.
"the colors of your aura going from many, into one"
black/brown/gold or shiny gold, depending on which energies you've grounded.

[ribiq]

I think the prime example of this is Shamanism; shamans would undergo a kind of initiation that was characterized by a sort of mental disorder that has extremely strong parallels to modern schizophrenia. If they didn't accept that they needed to take on the role of the shaman and learn to control their spiritual journeys and such, they were said to suffer for it, never getting out of the "madness" they were experiencing. The only way to cure yourself if you were stricken with this kind of thing was to listen to elder shamans and accept that this is what you have to do.

Whereas we treat people with this kind of mental illness as crazy people and try to hide them away and pretend they aren't out there, in shamanistic societies they have always been looked at as gifted people who deserve respect and have a ton of value to the whole of their societies. Pretty interesting to think about

[JaysonR]

The principle difference in schizophrenia is that the temporal lobe communication to the amygdala is regulated atypically with sporadic value to observation being given to any given observation at any given moment during the affected time period.

Part of the role of the mesolimbic pathway is to produce relevant value placement (by weighting of emotion) to conditions and objects observed.
This, for instance, allows us to understand the value of fear upon another person's face, the value of a car racing toward our body and the threat therein.

Offsetting this value system offsets what observations are given priority value over others, and such is done in sharp bursts of overvalue (meaning, far more than the individual may do so otherwise).

This occurs naturally outside of schizophrenia as well; for instance, a mundane rock can find its way into our limbic system as incredibly valuable.
Or, more vaguely, it is not uncommon for an average person to have moments in life where incredible meaning and value - an incredible overwhelming sense of emotional awe - is felt for no particular reason at all, and during such instances, thoughts of profound insight into their understanding of life and the universe are experienced.

These emotional sensations occur naturally; however, in the schizophrenic brain these sensations are occurring in rapid and chronic rates which disrupt regular interaction with their own livelihood (preservation and the maintaining of conditions provisional to self-preservation).

The values are displaced so effectively due to the differences around the responses of the amygdala, through - for example - the Broca (BA44 & 45) [meaning, complicated syntactical articulations] and Wernicke's (roughly around BA22) [speech relevancy association and recognition; e.g. "bark" referring abstractly to a dog's action and the skin of a tree, for example] areas from the temporal lobe, which produces an atypical signal from the amygdala to the laterodorsal tegmental nucleus, producing an offset (meaning, other than would have occurred otherwise) of dopamine, norepinephrine and epinephrine.
[The above BA's are only examples of some of the many temporal lobe areas and how their transmission through the limbic system for value interconnect for relevant assessment, association, meaning, and response may be affected. Many other temporal lobe areas relating to several variations of observational input transmit through the amygdala (and various parts of the limbic system in general) to execute processing.]

When mass doses of these components are received into the brain and body, other sensory systems are increased in attention as a means of gathering further gainful information.
Many people have experienced the effect of time slowing down during extremely fearful moments, especially if death was perceived as possible.
Light can be perceived as suddenly brightening as well, as the ocular system increases data transmission, which increases the perception of light (A simple understanding of this processes is that if you hook up component cables to a TV from an High Definition device and then hook up an HDMI cord to the same TV from the same device, the common individual will declare that the HDMI had a higher resolution image even when the same resolution is present. The reason for the person's perception is that the HDMI cord transmits information at a far higher rate [or frequency] than the component cords and as such, the image on the TV screen is slightly brighter than it is on the component cords. Another similar example, more crudely, is that if you string Christmas lights up that flicker one light at a time one after the other in line, and turn it down to one second between each light's lighting, and then turn them to 500 milliseconds between light's lighting, our eyes will perceive that more light is present in the second run than in the first setting due to the increase in information transmission increasing in the electrical circuit of the Christmas lights.).

All other sensory systems are likewise capable of becoming extrasensory systems due to an increased biochemical feed from the amygdala (emotions) to the brain and body to increase the value of attention to the current information.

When you mix on top of this the loopback feed of the mirror neurons in the brain (the ability to be aware of our awareness), the result of this process taking place can create vivid and astonishing outcomes.


As stated previously, in some form or another, this process occasionally takes place in nearly every human being periodically.
In the schizophrenic brain, however, there is a considerable difference in that the periodic frequency between instances is radically increased to point which reduces their capacity for engaging in other typical aspects of daily life; as no other aspect of their perception of reality is being given the measure of value in proportion to the emotional sensations during the "schizophrenic" episodes.

Typically, physical difference in the brain are noted.
Common in around 50% of diagnosed individuals is a decreased frontal temporal lobe.
Other physical proportion differences (typically reductions of brain regions) similar to this are found in most diagnosed individuals.

Whether or not such changes were present previously or whether the schizophrenia is causing the decrease (such as is the case in alzheimer's or multiple sclerosis) is still not known.



This all said, I do agree - and more and more leading neurologists are discussing the subject as well - that more attention should be paid to the spiritual perception of the individual, and attention to spiritual exercises may be advantageous considering the individual is undergoing radical input volume on the emotional value system which is heavily a critical component in human spirituality.
As such, it is becoming more common for a discussion to be held regarding how spiritual exercise may naturally, or said - intuitively, aid the individual into processing the information in a gainful manner digestible to their cognition rather than striking them in arrays of potency which may leave them disconnected and disorganized psychologically due to the atypical and disordered array of neurological information.

In a sense, a means of attempting to have the brain help the brain by finding an avenue which speaks in an ontological lexicon comprehensive to the individual, and therefore usable for association and value placement - once again, providing some level of organization to the information being taken in, where (many times) previously such organization was likely very sparse and abstracted.

[ravenstar]

Originally Posted by spiritualized

Hi Raven

Where is the evidence that 'it's' a Disease?

I agree; & your right. I'm not saying that these things are clear cut - either/or - simple, or one dimensional.

The way I see it - Multiple, complex, & highly individual/environmental factors are involved - operating at biological, social, psychological & spiritual levels.

For some their madness is less spiritual & more pathological - it's just very hard to really separate these things out.

I have known & chatted with some people to have suffered very severe psychosis - to go on to have made a complete healing & recovery medication free; & to lead very full & happy lives. I've known others to be incredibly unwell & not really recover; & others to have died.

Myself - I went through Hell - 4 psychiatric hospitalisations, 7 major episodes/breakdowns - 17 years in active alcoholism & addiction; & many many hardships & difficulties. I've had a diagnosis of 'paranoid schizophrenia' for the past 14 years.

Largely I've been stable now for over 7 years - & clean & sober over 10 years. I maintain a very low dose of one medication, live independently; & am very much improving in many ways. I've achieved, progressed & come a very long way with everything.

It is possible for people to make startling & profound healing with these 'conditions' - however severe.

Many personal & environmental factors effect prognosis. I'm not negating or playing down the facts & realities of these conditions & what happens to people that experience them; & I'm all too aware of what goes on. I'm also not trying to paint some kind of rosy picture. I'm simply trying to continue to explore & follow a more genuinely authentic spiritual paradigm/approach/understanding(s)/framework(s) for coping, dealing with & addressing such conditions/experiences.

I do however understand the often deep hostility, resentment, disagreement with, & invalidation of applying deeper psychological, spiritual (& social/environmental) understandings to severe mental & emotional confusion & distress. & the strong disagreement to the spiritual emergency ideas.

A genuinely Civilised & advanced Society/Civilisation - Would treat the people that go through such experiences; with the deep respect, compassion, understanding, help & support that they deserve; With a genuinely comprehensive & in depth approach - As we know that is not the reality; & that's what I see as the primary problem - Not that people experience such conditions/states - But the way this society reacts, responds to, & treats them - that is the real issue & injustice. The fact of blaming, ostracising, isolating, excluding & marginalising such people - Of blaming their biology, broken brains, & flawed personalities - Of labelling & drugging them; & all the rest of the barbaric & inhumane practises/behaviour that go on.

The majority are incapable of seeing it all for what it is. To do so they would have had to have looked very deeply at themselves - & that is the last thing that the vast majority of people will ever do. It is the exception rather than the rule. & very few there are indeed that really have any genuine understanding or insight into these areas.

Hi Spiritualized,

What you have been through and here right now to speak of it is inspirational and filled with so much 'hope'. Perhaps you should write a book about your journey, so others, especially family members and supporters can embrace the ups and downs as well as the turn arounds. A friend of mine is going through an awful time with her son at the moment. He's been diagnozed with schizoaffective disorder and has disowned his family and everything he ever cherished.

There has been study's done on schizophrenia, stress and the adrenals. High levels of cortisol has been known to psychologically trap people and eat away at their bodies. Stress can interfere and create complications with our physcial and biochemical responses....especially to powerful emotional stimuli. What are your thoughts on this? And yes I too am researching this disease.....I lost my brother to it.

Socrates once said, "Our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, provided the madness is given us by divine gift."

Originally Posted by ravenstar

Hi Spiritualized,

What you have been through and here right now to speak of it is inspirational and filled with so much 'hope'. Perhaps you should write a book about your journey, so others, especially family members and supporters can embrace the ups and downs as well as the turn arounds. A friend of mine is going through an awful time with her son at the moment. He's been diagnozed with schizoaffective disorder and has disowned his family and everything he ever cherished.

There has been study's done on schizophrenia, stress and the adrenals. High levels of cortisol has been known to psychologically trap people and eat away at their bodies. Stress can interfere and create complications with our physcial and biochemical responses....especially to powerful emotional stimuli. What are your thoughts on this? And yes I too am researching this disease.....I lost my brother to it.

Socrates once said, "Our greatest blessings come to us by way of madness, provided the madness is given us by divine gift."

Hi, Thank you for the reply. I'm very sorry to hear that you lost your brother. & about your friends troubles.

The Ancient Greeks were great; I'm very interested in Plato.

'Driven Mad by the Gods', 'Touched by God', 'Divine Madness', 'As flies to wanton boys are we to the gods, They kill us for their sport'

- I think that Older cultures in general had more understanding of these states - & there was certainly more time & space for Madness in many places & times of the past. Things went wrong during the Burning times; & then with Psychiatry. We're lead to believe that 'modern' Western approaches to madness are humane & advanced - In general I don't think that's true.

http://www.stanislavgrof.com/pdf/Psychosis.Human.Society_History.2011.pdf

Stress & Trauma I do think play a big part in things. I've not however found anything categorical to explain these conditions. I've looked at & explored everything that I can, at as much depth as I can; from the mainstream, orthodox, psychiatric, biomedical, neurological theories; to perinatal & birth trauma/experiences/theories, family dynamics/early brain development/delayed PTSD/social structures, communication, upbringing, & many many different psychological & spiritual viewpoints. You name it. I've amassed around 300 books; mainly on psychology & spirituality (& a lot of the past life/inter life research/material [have read most of it over the past 12 or so years])- I've spoken with countless people; sufferers & professionals. & been posting on-line over 7 years on many different forums, researching on-line over 10 years, & I'm still not really any closer to a categorical answer. These things are not explained. We are dealing with the mysteries of the human heart, the mysteries of consciousness & life.

I do however feel very strongly that genuinely therapeutic psychological & social approaches are the best that there is for most people. & I feel that I have been best helped by what I have found that is as much as possible along those lines. Things like 'Open Dialogue', Soteria, Diabasis; & the work of Carl Jung, Loren Mosher, John Weir Perry, Arnold Mindell, Stanislav Grof, R.D. Laing; & others that have pioneered more compassionate, holistic/therapeutic approaches to these experiences/conditions.

I do feel that there is enormous variety & individuality in what people experience. & that there is no singular cause or primary factor. As I say - I think it's multiple & complex, individual & environmental factors on biological, social, psychological & spiritual levels. But I do lean towards a primary psychological/spiritual aetiology to these conditions (when organic causes have been ruled out).

I won't go on; as I'm repeating a lot of what I've already said. I may also be wrong about it all.

I don't know if you saw this thread that I started a while ago -

http://www.spiritualforums.com/vb/showthread.php?t=25808

I've been feeling a bit better again since then - things can still fluctuate a lot for me.

I would love to write a book at some stage. All things considered; it's miraculous that I'm still standing, & have come through what I have. I had a serious suicide attempt as well in my 20's. Survival Statistics aren't great for people with this condition.

I sometimes wish that there were easier answers; or some way of providing an easy solution to these things - But there really isn't.

If I can help with any of my own experiences or pointing you in the direction of any web sites, books or research - feel free to message me.

What are you thoughts on it all? A lot of the difficulty that I have found with family, friends & people in general; is that it's very hard to see their point of view always, as it is for them to see mine.

Whatever the conditions/experiences are that get labelled as 'schizophrenia' In the 'modern Western World' - it's a condition that has been incredibly difficult for the individual concerned & society to cope with.

I was considering things today - Maybe for me it has all been a hard life lesson - To not be a victim of circumstances/life. I don't fully know - I think that a part of me will probably always be trying to work things out.