I was reminded this morning of an amusing incident at this conference.   One of the speakers, a local and, I guess, probably politically influential Rancher, talked about his friends in the UFOs, the rides they took him on, the sights they showed him, etc…..I'm not a trained clinician, but to me he was obviously schizophrenic.  Now I'm not making that judgment because of his unusual experiences per se, I've always been open to the idea that UFOs may stem from the activities of intelligent aliens, even though UFO-related delusions are common among the mentally ill.  The stubborn conviction that we are the only intelligent life forms around, and that if we can't think of a useful way to travel from one star system to another it must be impossible has always struck me as simple arrogance.  But from the way this man talked, he was clearly, to use a delightful old phrase I haven't heard anyone use in years, marching to the beat of a different drummer.

I talked to one of the conference organizers about him afterwards, how could they have such an obviously crazy person talk at a public conference like this?  I was concerned that putting respectable scientific research on parapsychology on the same stage with such a crazy presentation would reflect badly on parapsychology, a "guilt-by-association" method much used by the pseudo-skeptics.

Well, I was told, all his friends and neighbors of course knew he was crazy – but it's extremely difficult to find any decent water in those Northwestern states.  His UFO alien friends had led him to some fantastically good places to drill wells, producing hundreds of gallons of good water per hour…..they wished had more crazy neighbors like him around……

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So how do transpersonal psychologists know what to tell someone who has come in for counseling?

One of my colleagues in the Spiritual Guidance program at ITP responded

I know that this is an issue in Spiritual Guidance. I have worked with individuals who have had co-morbid diagnosis – both having an existing pathology and have spiritual/paranormal experiences. It does become tough to sort through and requires a good deal of discernment along with faith in the human potential toward health and wholeness. Thus, how I (not a therapist) might answer the question below is:

First, it is important to discern the functionality of the individual (is she/he functioning in day to day life) and his/her relationship to society (is he/she being called to step outside of traditional roles and ways of being in society, much like a shaman might be called to sit at the edge of the community). Second, it would be important to discern if the paranormal/spiritual occurrences are part of a larger growth pattern for the individual. In other words, are the experiences directly related to spiritual practices? Do they occur or stop when the individual is centered? Could they be contextualized as kundalini, dark night of the soul, etc. that provides a sense of meaning for the individual? Finally, I believe it would be important to discern if the individual was a physical threat to him / herself or others. If so, then even if the person’s experiences are spiritual (such as a death rebirth experience) then that individual likely needs help by a therapist or psychiatrist. We want the person to be around in order to continue her/his development as a being. Once stabilized, then a transpersonal guide (therapist, expressive artist, spiritual guide) could work with the individual to work through the threatening material (be it images of suicide – self-transformation – or shamanic death and disintegration themes, etc.).

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