In my last blog, I wrote about how finding information about the connection between psychosis and spiritual crises had a profound impact on my healing. In particular, the book Spiritual Emergency, by Christina and Stanislav Grof, an American psychiatrist and his wife who have researched altered states of consciousness. The book describes different types of altered states, and I would like to delve a bit deeper into some of them. I believe that these descriptions can help people to understand what it is a person goes through in a psychosis, and what their inner landscape looks like while in the process.
The Grofs divide these mental crises into ten different groups, three of which seem particularly interesting to me and perhaps correspond most closely to my own experiences. These are shamanic crises, the experience of unity of consciousness, and psychological renewal through the return to the center.
Shamanic crisis
Shamanism is a universal phenomenon in many cultures and has remained in practice until today. It is humanity’s oldest religion and healing skill. The Grofs’ see that it is connected to some deeply fundamental and profound aspects of the human psyche.
The “career” of many shamans begins with a dramatic episode filled with visions, which is also called the shamanistic illness. Shamans-to-be may lose touch with their surroundings and experience powerful inner visions. They travel to the afterlife and encounter demons who subject them to horrible tortures and trials. This process often culminates in the experience of death and decay followed by rebirth.
These episodes, if completed successfully, can be very healing and wholesome. The future shaman’s mental and physical health can dramatically improve through this crisis, and he can gain valuable insights into the nature of natural forces and diseases. After the crisis, the person becomes a shaman, a fully functional and respected member of their society.
Even in Western countries, people can experience episodes that closely resemble a shamanistic crisis. Individuals going through such a crisis may spontaneously create rituals identical to those used by shamans of different cultures.
The experience of unity of consciousness
This experience includes a sense of the dissolution of personal boundaries and a sense of oneness with other people, nature, or the entire universe. It is as if a person is uniting with some creative cosmic force or God and the experience can feel very sacred. A person can also experience the “dissolution” of the boundaries of time and place. He may experience profound peace or overflowing happiness and ecstasy.
The American psychologist Abraham Maslow called these “peak experiences”. He was very critical of Western psychiatry’s tendency to confuse these conditions with mental illnesses. According to Maslow, these experiences should be seen as supernatural rather than unnatural phenomena. As a result of these experiences, the person’s ability to function can improve, as he discovers his potential. If the experience is approached negatively, it might prevent a positive outcome.
Psychological renewal through returning to the center
Californian psychiatrist John Weir Perry has studied these crises and he speaks of a “renewal process” that can easily appear to an outsider as completely psychotic behavior.
The psyche of people in a mental renewal crisis is like a huge battlefield where the cosmic battle between Good and Evil, Light and Darkness is raging. Different themes of death and the problem of opposites such as gender differences occupy their thoughts.
They might feel that they are at the center of cosmically significant events and that they are important for the future of the world. They may have visions of the past, of historical events, of the creation of the world, and of the times of Paradise, and may attempt to right the “wrongs” of the past.
The experience can be chaotic at first, but it becomes gradually more pleasant and starts to move towards a solution. The process can culminate in an experience of “holy union”; this can happen with an imaginary partner or someone in one’s own life and this usually reflects that the masculine and feminine sides of the person’s personality are reaching balance.
The experience can also be accompanied by a stage when these glorious experiences are seen as an event that elevates a person to a higher spiritual status than others, such as a great leader, savior of the world, or even the ruler of the universe. A person can experience a spiritual reincarnation that replaces previous thoughts related to the theme of death.
During the final phase of the experience and integration, the person often visualizes an ideal future – a new world governed by love and justice. The person also understands that the whole drama was a psychological transformation that was limited to the person’s inner world. This experience puts a person in touch with his center, our deepest and truest minute, which in the Hindu tradition is called Atman-Brahman, the inner divinity. The positive impact of these episodes and their rich connection with historical archetypes shows that it is unlikely that the process is just the chaotic output of a diseased brain.
The impact of relatable explanations
A psychosis is naturally a difficult and often traumatic experience to go through, and getting a label of mental illness afterward is not making it easier. In my case, the psychoses certainly had pathological aspects, but finding relatable explanations for what I went through had a huge impact. There was so much during the psychosis that felt meaningful. My so-called hallucinations and otherworldly experiences were mirroring what my psyche was trying to work through and reorganize. If I had thrown those insights away as worthless delusions I would have done myself a great disfavor.
Knowing about these different kinds of crises can hopefully help the people around a psychotic person to understand what he is experiencing, and better help him to navigate through the crises. It might feel terribly distressing to see someone you care about act “crazy” and talk about things that make no sense to you. It is natural to wish that they would just get back to normal. But knowing that they are going through something meaningful for them, a process with a starting point and an end, can help you to assist them through it.