Process Oriented Psychology
Encyclopedia
Process oriented psychology (POP) refers to a body of theory and practice that encompasses a broad range of psychotherapeutic
, personal growth, and group process applications. It is more commonly called "process work" in the United States, the longer name being used in Europe and Asia. Although bearing similar names, Process-oriented psychology as developed by Arnold Mindell
is distinct from Process psychology
derived from Whitehead's Process philosophy
.
, then a Jungian analyst
, in the late 1970s. It was based on the observation that nighttime dreams both mirrored and were mirrored in a person's somatic
experiences, particularly physical symptoms, He generalized the term “dreaming” to include any aspect of experience that, while possibly differing from consensus views of reality, is coherent with a person’s dreams, fantasies, and somatic experience, as well as the unintentional but meaningful signals that form the background to interpersonal relationships. He further generalized the concept of the "unconscious"’ to include a wide range of unintentional verbal and non-verbal signals, and also perceptions, beliefs and ideas with which the individual does not identify.
In order to help his clients integrate
the unconscious material, he expanded upon the Jungian techniques of “amplification
,” such as active imagination and dream interpretation, by adding methods for working directly with nonverbal, body-level experience (Amplification is to amplify physical symptoms based on psychological factors such as anxiety or depression: "somatosensory amplification refers to the tendency to experience somatic sensation as intense, noxious, and disturbing. What may be a minor 'twinge' or mild 'soreness' to the stoic, is a severe, consuming pain to the amplifier). Building upon patterns of awareness found in sources ranging from Taoism
, Vajrayana
and shamanism
through modern physics
, he developed a framework for encouraging clients to identify with unconscious experience through a process he called ‘unfolding’. This unfolding process is a deconstruction of the client’s named experiences that relies not only on verbal material and imagery but also on movement, deep somatic experience, interpersonal relationship, and social context.
In the early 1980s, he and his colleagues began to apply the conceptual framework he had been using with individuals, couples and families, to facilitation
of conflict resolution
in large groups taking stock of group dynamics
. He coined the term “Worldwork
” to describe this new discipline.
Process Work emphasizes awareness – both the client’s and the therapist’s – rather than any specific set of interventions. The “process” in Process Work originally took its name from several sources. One was Jung’s concept of the individuation
process (in very general terms, it is the name given to processes whereby the undifferentiated tends to become individual, or to those processes through which differentiated components tend toward becoming a more indivisible whole – the process by which a psychotherapeutic client integrates contents of the unconscious that are presented to him or her through modalities of dream
, imagination
, fantasy
, trance
, serendipity
and synchronicity
, etc. Another came from physics, particularly David Bohm
’s formulation of the flux behind all events. Yet another comes from the therapist’s observation of the ebb and flow of signals and communications between therapist and client (refer Virginia Satir
).
Experience is found to be of two kinds: that with which the client identifies, and that which is experienced as “other” or alien to the client. Experiences with which the client identifies are called “primary process”, to emphasize their place in the foreground of awareness. Experiences which the client marginalizes as “other” are called “secondary process”, to emphasize their place in the background of awareness. Furthermore, when a client is encouraged to embrace or identify with a secondary process experience, he or she is generally reluctant or even unable to do so, as though a boundary separates the primary from the secondary processes. This boundary is called the “edge”. It is, quite literally, the edge of the person’s identity.
Edges may be categorized according to the source of the particular identity that they define:
Process Work seeks to identify the client’s primary and secondary processes, as well as the edges that separate them. It then facilitates the enrichment of the client’s identity by amplifying and unfolding the secondary process experiences until they make sense – on both a cognitive and somatic level – and become part of the client’s experiential world.
Deep Democracy is a concept that was developed by Arnold Mindell
. Deep Democracy provides an integrated structural framework for working with and for the inclusion of marginalized experiences, roles, and voices (Unlike "classical" democracy, which focuses on majority rule, Deep Democracy suggests that all voices, states of awareness, and frameworks of reality are important. Deep Democracy also suggests that the information carried within these voices, awarenesses, and frameworks are all needed to understand the complete process of the system. Deep Democracy is an attitude that focuses on the awareness of voices that are both central and marginal).
Closer examination of a client’s world of experience reveals a deeper, pre-verbal, pre-conceptual level that unifies experiences that conflict on the dreaming level. This level of experience has been referred to by Arnold Mindell as the level of “sentient essence.” Working with sentient essences can be very helpful to clients who have struggled with strongly polarized dreaming processes over many years who have managed to resolve their polarities on a practical level but still feel divisions and tensions in their worlds of experience.
Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
, personal growth, and group process applications. It is more commonly called "process work" in the United States, the longer name being used in Europe and Asia. Although bearing similar names, Process-oriented psychology as developed by Arnold Mindell
Arnold Mindell
Arnold Mindell is an American psychotherapist, writer and the founder of Process Oriented Psychology, living in Portland, Oregon. He has written 19 books that have been published in 20 languages.-Career:...
is distinct from Process psychology
Process psychology
Process Psychology is a branch of psychotherapeutic psychology which was derived from Process Philosophy as developed by Alfred North Whitehead. It bears a similar name to Process Oriented Psychology as developed by Arnold Mindell and Amy Mindell but is different in theoretical foundations and...
derived from Whitehead's Process philosophy
Process philosophy
Process philosophy identifies metaphysical reality with change and dynamism. Since the time of Plato and Aristotle, philosophers have posited true reality as "timeless", based on permanent substances, whilst processes are denied or subordinated to timeless substances...
.
History
The "process work" orientation was founded by Arnold MindellArnold Mindell
Arnold Mindell is an American psychotherapist, writer and the founder of Process Oriented Psychology, living in Portland, Oregon. He has written 19 books that have been published in 20 languages.-Career:...
, then a Jungian analyst
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
, in the late 1970s. It was based on the observation that nighttime dreams both mirrored and were mirrored in a person's somatic
Somatic
The term somatic means 'of the body',, relating to the body. In medicine, somatic illness is bodily, not mental, illness. The term is often used in biology to refer to the cells of the body in contrast to the germ line cells which usually give rise to the gametes...
experiences, particularly physical symptoms, He generalized the term “dreaming” to include any aspect of experience that, while possibly differing from consensus views of reality, is coherent with a person’s dreams, fantasies, and somatic experience, as well as the unintentional but meaningful signals that form the background to interpersonal relationships. He further generalized the concept of the "unconscious"’ to include a wide range of unintentional verbal and non-verbal signals, and also perceptions, beliefs and ideas with which the individual does not identify.
In order to help his clients integrate
Individuation
Individuation is a concept which appears in numerous fields and may be encountered in work by Arthur Schopenhauer, Carl Jung, Gilbert Simondon, Bernard Stiegler, Gilles Deleuze, Henri Bergson, David Bohm, and Manuel De Landa...
the unconscious material, he expanded upon the Jungian techniques of “amplification
Amplification (psychology)
Amplification is to amplify physical symptoms based on psychological factors such as anxiety or depression: "somatosensory amplification refers to the tendency to experience somatic sensation as intense, noxious, and disturbing...
,” such as active imagination and dream interpretation, by adding methods for working directly with nonverbal, body-level experience (Amplification is to amplify physical symptoms based on psychological factors such as anxiety or depression: "somatosensory amplification refers to the tendency to experience somatic sensation as intense, noxious, and disturbing. What may be a minor 'twinge' or mild 'soreness' to the stoic, is a severe, consuming pain to the amplifier). Building upon patterns of awareness found in sources ranging from Taoism
Taoism
Taoism refers to a philosophical or religious tradition in which the basic concept is to establish harmony with the Tao , which is the mechanism of everything that exists...
, Vajrayana
Vajrayana
Vajrayāna Buddhism is also known as Tantric Buddhism, Tantrayāna, Mantrayāna, Secret Mantra, Esoteric Buddhism and the Diamond Vehicle...
and shamanism
Shamanism
Shamanism is an anthropological term referencing a range of beliefs and practices regarding communication with the spiritual world. To quote Eliade: "A first definition of this complex phenomenon, and perhaps the least hazardous, will be: shamanism = technique of ecstasy." Shamanism encompasses the...
through modern physics
Modern physics
The term modern physics refers to the post-Newtonian conception of physics. The term implies that classical descriptions of phenomena are lacking, and that an accurate, "modern", description of reality requires theories to incorporate elements of quantum mechanics or Einsteinian relativity, or both...
, he developed a framework for encouraging clients to identify with unconscious experience through a process he called ‘unfolding’. This unfolding process is a deconstruction of the client’s named experiences that relies not only on verbal material and imagery but also on movement, deep somatic experience, interpersonal relationship, and social context.
In the early 1980s, he and his colleagues began to apply the conceptual framework he had been using with individuals, couples and families, to facilitation
Facilitation
The term facilitation is broadly used to describe any activity which makes tasks for others easy. For example:* Facilitation is used in business and organizational settings to ensure the designing and running of successful meetings....
of conflict resolution
Conflict resolution
Conflict resolution is conceptualized as the methods and processes involved in facilitating the peaceful ending of some social conflict. Often, committed group members attempt to resolve group conflicts by actively communicating information about their conflicting motives or ideologies to the rest...
in large groups taking stock of group dynamics
Group dynamics
Group dynamics refers to a system of behaviors and psychological processes that occur within a social group , or between social groups...
. He coined the term “Worldwork
Worldwork
Worldwork is the application of Process Oriented Psychology to group dynamics, conflict resolution and organizational development. It was developed by psychologist Arnold Mindell based on his observation that the experience and behavior of individuals, exhibit similar structure and dynamics to...
” to describe this new discipline.
Core ideas
Although Process work has been applied both to therapeutic situations and to others, such as conflict resolution, that are not generally considered therapeutic, the core ideas of Process Work can be understood most clearly from a psychotherapeutic perspective.Process Work emphasizes awareness – both the client’s and the therapist’s – rather than any specific set of interventions. The “process” in Process Work originally took its name from several sources. One was Jung’s concept of the individuation
Individuation
Individuation is a concept which appears in numerous fields and may be encountered in work by Arthur Schopenhauer, Carl Jung, Gilbert Simondon, Bernard Stiegler, Gilles Deleuze, Henri Bergson, David Bohm, and Manuel De Landa...
process (in very general terms, it is the name given to processes whereby the undifferentiated tends to become individual, or to those processes through which differentiated components tend toward becoming a more indivisible whole – the process by which a psychotherapeutic client integrates contents of the unconscious that are presented to him or her through modalities of dream
Dream
Dreams are successions of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. The content and purpose of dreams are not definitively understood, though they have been a topic of scientific speculation, philosophical intrigue and religious...
, imagination
Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability of forming mental images, sensations and concepts, in a moment when they are not perceived through sight, hearing or other senses...
, fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
, trance
Trance
Trance denotes a variety of processes, ecstasy, techniques, modalities and states of mind, awareness and consciousness. Trance states may occur involuntarily and unbidden.The term trance may be associated with meditation, magic, flow, and prayer...
, serendipity
Serendipity
Serendipity means a "happy accident" or "pleasant surprise"; specifically, the accident of finding something good or useful without looking for it. The word has been voted as one of the ten English words hardest to translate in June 2004 by a British translation company. However, due to its...
and synchronicity
Synchronicity
Synchronicity is the experience of two or more events that are apparently causally unrelated or unlikely to occur together by chance and that are observed to occur together in a meaningful manner...
, etc. Another came from physics, particularly David Bohm
David Bohm
David Joseph Bohm FRS was an American-born British quantum physicist who contributed to theoretical physics, philosophy, neuropsychology, and the Manhattan Project.-Youth and college:...
’s formulation of the flux behind all events. Yet another comes from the therapist’s observation of the ebb and flow of signals and communications between therapist and client (refer Virginia Satir
Virginia Satir
Virginia Satir was an American author and psychotherapist, known especially for her approach to family therapy and her work with Systemic Constellations...
).
Experience is found to be of two kinds: that with which the client identifies, and that which is experienced as “other” or alien to the client. Experiences with which the client identifies are called “primary process”, to emphasize their place in the foreground of awareness. Experiences which the client marginalizes as “other” are called “secondary process”, to emphasize their place in the background of awareness. Furthermore, when a client is encouraged to embrace or identify with a secondary process experience, he or she is generally reluctant or even unable to do so, as though a boundary separates the primary from the secondary processes. This boundary is called the “edge”. It is, quite literally, the edge of the person’s identity.
Edges may be categorized according to the source of the particular identity that they define:
- Personal: Someone who has an edge to his or her intelligence may project high intelligence onto others while seeing themselves as stupid or ignorant. Such an edge may have its origins in the person’s early experience with family or school.
- Family: A family system may have a prejudice or rule against a particular type of experience, which the individual family member must violate in order to embrace that experience. For instance, a family that identifies itself as peaceful or friendly may punish or marginalize aggressive or competitive behavior of a particular member. That person may develop an edge to his or her own more aggressive, competitive tendencies, projecting this on others and being disturbed by them.
- Social: Gender, religious, ethnic or other social groups frequently have behavioral and experiential norms that may make it difficult for members to express contrasting experiences. For instance, a man who comes from a culture that emphasizes roughness and insensitivity as desired masculine traits may be severely troubled by his own gentle, sensitive tendencies. He may project these experiences on other men, who he views as “weak” or perhaps homosexual.
- Human: There is a certain range of experience that is commonly thought to be “human nature”, while those experiences that fall outside this range are “inhuman”, “animal” or perhaps “other worldly”. Those individuals with tendencies toward strongly altered states of consciousness and spiritual experience often have an edge to these experiences, thinking them to be inhuman. This view is also supported by social consensus reality. Such experiences may give rise to extreme states of consciousness, that are then treated by psychiatric means.
Process Work seeks to identify the client’s primary and secondary processes, as well as the edges that separate them. It then facilitates the enrichment of the client’s identity by amplifying and unfolding the secondary process experiences until they make sense – on both a cognitive and somatic level – and become part of the client’s experiential world.
Deep Democracy is a concept that was developed by Arnold Mindell
Arnold Mindell
Arnold Mindell is an American psychotherapist, writer and the founder of Process Oriented Psychology, living in Portland, Oregon. He has written 19 books that have been published in 20 languages.-Career:...
. Deep Democracy provides an integrated structural framework for working with and for the inclusion of marginalized experiences, roles, and voices (Unlike "classical" democracy, which focuses on majority rule, Deep Democracy suggests that all voices, states of awareness, and frameworks of reality are important. Deep Democracy also suggests that the information carried within these voices, awarenesses, and frameworks are all needed to understand the complete process of the system. Deep Democracy is an attitude that focuses on the awareness of voices that are both central and marginal).
Levels of experience
Viewing experience on the primary-secondary axis tends to emphasize the polarities in the client’s experience, rather than its unity. On this level, which Process Work refers to as “dreaming”, secondary process experience intrudes into the client’s primary process, threatening its integrity and appearing as “problems” that need to be solved.Closer examination of a client’s world of experience reveals a deeper, pre-verbal, pre-conceptual level that unifies experiences that conflict on the dreaming level. This level of experience has been referred to by Arnold Mindell as the level of “sentient essence.” Working with sentient essences can be very helpful to clients who have struggled with strongly polarized dreaming processes over many years who have managed to resolve their polarities on a practical level but still feel divisions and tensions in their worlds of experience.
Applications
Arnold Mindell, his wife Amy Mindell, and their colleagues have explored the application of process work concepts and methods to a great variety of human situations, including some that are considered beyond the scope of more verbally-based, insight-oriented psychotherapies. As a few examples:- Working with physical symptoms as expressions of a dreaming process. By attending to the subjective experience of an illness, the experience of the “symptom maker” often reveals an important and potentially useful range of secondary process experiences. When the client can integrate these experiences, there may be a beneficial effect on the physical symptom.
- Clients in comatose and near-death states of consciousness. Such individuals are commonly thought to have insufficient awareness to be accessible to more verbally-oriented means of communication and therapy.
- People in extreme states of consciousness who have been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders.
- Conflict facilitation in small and large groups. A group is similar to an individual in that it has an identity, or primary process, as well as secondary process experiences that disturb its identity. Helping a group to integrate its disturbances enriches its identity and helps it to become more deeply democratic.
- WorldworkWorldworkWorldwork is the application of Process Oriented Psychology to group dynamics, conflict resolution and organizational development. It was developed by psychologist Arnold Mindell based on his observation that the experience and behavior of individuals, exhibit similar structure and dynamics to...
with businesses, non-profit organizations, and government groups. Worldwork is a global theory, with universal categories, that describes and analyzes organizational processes. Many organizations are using this method beyond conflict resolution or dealing with disturbances for leadership development, strategy development, merger-acquisition negotiations, etc.
Additional reading
- Arye, L., Ph.D., & Audergon, A., Ph.D. (2005). Transforming Conflict into Community: Post-war Reconciliation in Croatia. Psychotherapy and Politics International, 3(2). pdf
- Arye, L. (2001) Unintentional Music: Releasing Your Deepest Creativity. Hampton Roads Publishing Company.
- Audergon, A. (2004) The War Hotel. London: Whurr Publishers.
- Audergon, A. Ph.D. (2004). Collective Trauma: The Nightmare of History. Psychotherapy and Politics International, 2(1), 16-31. pdf
- Audergon, A., Ph.D. (2005). Psychological Dynamics in Violent Conflict: Presentation to Ministry for Peace Meeting, January 18, 2005. Grand Committee Room, House of Commons, London. Retrieved 12 Aug 2005, Ministry for Peace pdf
- Diamond, J. Jones, L. (2005) A Path Made by Walking. Portland, OR: Lao Tse Press.
- Goodbread, J. (1997) Dreambody Toolkit. Portland, OR: Lao Tse Press.
- Menken, D. (2002) Speak Out! Talking About Love, Sex & Eternity. Tempe, AZ: New Falcon.
- Mindell, Amy (1994/2001) Metaskills: the spiritual art of therapy. New Falcon/Lao Tse Press.
- Mindell, Amy (2005) Alternative to Therapy. Portland, OR: Lao Tse Press.
- Mindell, A. (1993) Shaman's Body: A New Shamanism for Transforming Health, Relationships, and the Community. HarperSanFrancisco; 1st HarperCollins Pbk. Ed edition
- Mindell, A. (1982/1998) Dreambody: The Body's Role in Revealing the Self. Sigo Press/Lao Tse Press.
- Mindell, A. (1985/2001) River's Way: The Process Science of the Dreambody. Penguin-Arkana/Lao Tse Press.
- Mindell, A. (1992) The Leader as Martial Artist: An Introduction to Deep Democracy (1st ed.). San Francisco: Harper San Francisco.
- Mindell, A. (1995) Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation using Conflict and Diversity (1st ed.). Portland, OR: Lao Tse Press.
- Mindell, A. (2000) Quantum Mind. Portland, OR: Lao Tse Press.
- Mindell, A. (2002) The Deep Democracy of Open Forums. Charlottesville, VA: Hampton Roads.
- Mindell, A. (2007) Earth Based Psychology. Portland, OR: Lao Tse Press.