Spiritual emergency and counselling: An exploratory study

People from diverse cultural backgrounds often do not separate physical, psychological, and spiritual aspects of illness, and may accept hearing voices or seeing visions as normal. This exploratory study surveyed individuals who had been in counselling relationships and interviewed three informants about their spiritual experiences. All respondents reported experiencing at least one 'non-ordinary' state classified as a 'spiritual emergency' by Stanislav Grof. Some participants felt unable to discuss these experiences with their counsellors, fearing being labeled mentally ill, while others found counsellors helpful. Differences in handling spiritual phenomena emerged between European and non-European participants.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Growing up in a multicultural community in England brought me into close personal contact with the beliefs and perceptions about healing held by people of many different cultures. In many cases, no strong boundary was seen between physical, psychological and spiritual aspects of an illness, and experiences of hearing voices or seeing visions were accepted as normal everyday occurrences. During my training as a counsellor, I came into contact with the work of Stanislav Grof on the concept of spiritual emergency, which, together with the work of African and European authors who were exploring transpersonal aspects of psychology, provided a theoretical framework for researching how counsellors respond to clients wishing to explore experiences of spiritual crisis. This paper describes an exploratory study into the phenomenon of spiritual emergency within counselling. Questionnaires were distributed by post to people known to have been in counselling relationships, and interviews were conducted with three informants reporting different types of spiritual experience. All respondents who completed questionnaires reported having at least one of the ‘non‐ordinary’ experiences classified by Stanislav Grof as characteristics of a ‘spiritual emergency’. Several participants felt unable to explore this experience with their counsellors, some for fear of being labelled as mentally ill, while others found their counsellors helpful and sympathetic. Differences in dealing with spiritual phenomena were apparent between European and non‐European participants. These findings are discussed in relation to theory and practice.