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Transpersonalism and Social Work Practice: Awakening to
New Dimensions for Client Self-Determination, Empowerment, and Growth by Arlen Keith Leight, Ph.D.

SUMMARY. This article proposes and advocates integration of a transpersonal model into clinical social work practice as a logical exten­sion of the profession's inclusive perspective. The theory and practice of a transpersonal approach to psychotherapy and its applicability to social work are investigated, especially for use with marginalized populations. Transpersonalism is examined as an opportunity to enhance the worker's ability to respect and honor client self-determination, facilitate bio-psy­cho-social-spiritual growth and development, and empower even the most vulnerable in our society. Article copies available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-342-9678.
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[ Haworth co-indexing entry note]: "Transpersonalism and Social Work Practice: Awakening to New Di­mensions for Client Self-Determination. Empowerment and Growth. " Leight. Arlen Keith. Co-published si­multaneously in Social Thought (The Haworth Press. Inc.) Vol. 20. No. 1/2. 2001. pp. 63-76: and: Transpersonal Perspectives on Spirituality in Social Work (ed: Edward R. Canda. and Elizabeth D. Smith) The Haworth Press. Inc. 2001. pp. 63-76. Single or multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-342-9678. 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST).
E-mail address: getinfo@haworthpressinc.com.

KEYWORDS. Transpersonal, social work, empowerment, oppression, diversity

INTRODUCTION

The profession of social work has, at its core, a commitment and respect for the client as a whole entity seen in the context of the environment. The "big pic­ture" approach to care sets the social worker apart from other mental health care professionals, many of whom focus solely on developmental and/or intrapsychic phenomena. Despite the expansive and inclusive nature of the social work per­spective, there has been sparse attention paid to the human spiritual condition and dimensions beyond the ego. A transpersonal approach to client care encom­passes realms of expanding consciousness, unitive social and spiritual connectedness, and human purpose and potentiality. A holistic model of prac­tice is more comprehensive with the incorporation of the "phenomenological, the intuitive and the transpersonal" (Cowley, 1996, p. 668).

Social work, in it's striving to be recognized as a serious and scientifi­cally-based profession often has been leery of an association with the uncon­ventional, transpersonal perspective. The work of self-transcendence sometimes has been deemed inappropriate for clients whose basic life needs for food, shel­ter, and medical care have not been fulfilled. Recognizing social workers' tradi­tional purpose as guardian of and advocate for the most vulnerable in our society, many in the field question the validity of work that is focused on those who are more fortunate (Cowley, 1996). While the continuing debate regarding the social worker's role is legitimate, a transpersonal model of practice may be appropriate for work with vulnerable clients and may offer the profession a valu­able modality for clinical practice with oppressed and devalued populations.

Social work rightfully lakes great pride in providing clients a broad biopsychosocial perspective. A transpersonal approach affords the worker added context, content, and process for addressing environmental, societal, and cultural stressors, non-pathologic transrational phenomena, and the grief associated with human existential suffering. As such, transpersonalism actu­ally enhances and promotes respect for self-determination while empowering the client and facilitating bio-psycho-social-spiritual growth.

This article proposes and advocates integration of a transpersonal model into clinical social work practice as a logical extension of the profession's inclu­sive perspective. The definitions, the theory and the practice of a transpersonal approach to psychotherapy and its applicability to social work are investigated, especially for use with marginalized populations. We conclude by examining transpersonalism as an opportunity to enhance the worker's ability to respect

and honor client self-determination, facilitate bio-psycho-social-spiritual growth and development, and empower even the most vulnerable in our society.

TRANSPERSONAL THEORY AND PRACTICE BACKGROUND

Transpersonal literally breaks down as "beyond/through" plus persona, meaning "mask" (Cowley, 1993, p. 527). Transpersonal, then, means beyond the person or beyond the ego. Transpersonalism is based on the assumption that there is a "higher or inner self distinct from the personal ego" (Guest, 1989, p. 63). Lajoie and Shapiro (1992) reviewed the first 23 years of transpersonal literature in search of a comprehensive definition of transpersonal psychology. The most frequently discovered themes in the 40 definitions cited in­clude: (a) states of consciousness. (b) highest or ultimate potential, (c) beyond ego or personal self, (d) transcendence, and (e) spiritual. The authors propose a "contemporary definition" of transpersonal psychology: "Transpersonal psy­chology is concerned with the study of humanity's highest potential, and with the recognition, understanding and realization of intuitive, spiritual and tran­scendent states of consciousness" (p. 91).

Transpersonal psychology is based on a developmental perspective that ac­knowledges access to "higher" levels of being, to the "unitive self or Real Self' beyond the personal (Cowley, 1993, p. 527). Personal or personality develop­ment, in a psychotherapeutic context, is explained in terms of three "forces " of theory (Cowley, 1996): First Force (psychoanalytic), Second Force (behav­ioral), and Third Force (humanistic). The First Force deals with unconscious drives and impulses mainly from a pathological viewpoint. The Second Force, with its empirical focus, speaks to the process of socialization and learning the­ory. The Third Force is associated with humanistic, experiential and existential theory. Often associated with Abraham Maslow, Third Force self-actualization forms the philosophical basis for the Fourth Force of psychology which he described (as cited in Cowley, 1996) as "transpersonal, trans-human, centered in the cosmos rather than in human needs and interests, going beyond humanness, identity, self-actualization and the like" (p. 667).

Transpersonal psychology consists of a theoretical base and a practical base. While many theorists and practitioners appear in the literature, the prolific writings of Wilber and Washburn are generally associated with the­ory, and the work of Grof, Walsh, and Vaughan are generally associated with practice (Bynum, 1992). Walsh and Vaughan (1980) described transpersonal psychotherapy as a model of practice that includes traditional (first three Forces) areas and techniques. However, added to the mix is "an interest in facilitating growth and awareness beyond traditionally recog­nized levels of health. In so doing, the importance of modifying con­sciousness is emphasized, and the validity of transpersonal experience and identity is affirmed" (p. 9). Ken Wilber (as cited in Walsh & Vaughan, 1980) contended that if life is a dream, traditional psychother­apy is used to prevent the dream from becoming a nightmare, whereas transpersonal psychotherapy is used to facilitate awakening. Cowley (1993) suggests the use of a transpersonal approach with "clients whose problems or goals are spiritual in nature and who desire to transcend an exclusive identity with the ego" (p. 527).

Scotton (as cited in Hutton, 1994) described transpersonal psychotherapy as a modality that seeks to establish a "conscious and growth-producing link be­tween the patient and the transpersonal experience." This includes an empha­sis on the wholeness, the completion or the fruition which is to be found in the collective, transcendent or the spiritual" (p. 140).

Transpersonal practice involves an opening to higher stages of conscious­ness development. It is a "contemplative discovery" related to a "meditative or contemplative unfolding" (Wilber, 1997, p. 94). Wilber (1997) described three modes of knowing: (a) the eye of the flesh, associated with empiricism; (h) the eye of the mind, associated with rationalism; and (c) the eye of contemplation, associated with mysticism. All three modes are valid, but the nature of Spirit "can only be disclosed by the eye of contemplation" (p. 93). As such, the litera­ture to date gives a theoretical, qualitative and contemplative look at transpersonal practice. This is reasonable given that knowledge regarding the essence of transpersonal phenomena is accessed through the eye of contempla­tion. The applicability of a rational positivist scientific formulation to the study of transpersonal experience may be untenable. That which is known by the eye of contemplation cannot be translated into the language of the eye of the flesh or the eye of the mind.

In summary, the literature defines transpersonal psychology as the study of experiences beyond the personal (Walsh & Vaughan, 1993). Transpersonal psychotherapy, then, holistically encompasses and "goes beyond existing models of practice to include self-transcendence ... in shaping experience and enhancing well-being" (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980, p. 5). A transpersonal ap­proach is an inclusive, holistic model of practice that enables the social work practitioner to provide clients a bio-psycho-social-spiritual framework for per­sonal empowerment, development, and growth.

THEORETICAL INSIGHTS ON EMPOWERMENT

Abraham Maslow, considered the father of both Humanistic (Third Force) and Transpersonal (Fourth Force) psychology, held (as cited by Vaughan, 1991) that human beings have innate spiritual needs and yearn for transcen­dent experiences. Ken Wilber (as cited by Vaughan , 1991) asserted that all drives are "subsets of the fundamental drive to attain unity with the Absolute" (p. 105). Accordingly, the healthiest people are thought to be those individuals who are able to incorporate spirituality into a sense of Self.

Psychological development, according to a transpersonal perspective, is viewed as a process in which "the whole of any level becomes a part of the whole of the next level" as consciousness evolves (Wilber, 1979, p. 2). Transpersonal theorists speak of three major developmental phases: prepersonal, personal, and transpersonal or preconventional, conventional, and transconventional. The first two levels are recognized, taught, nurtured, and expected by the society at large. The transpersonal or transconventional, on the other hand, is often seen as frightening and/or threatening to the individual and/or the society. Moving beyond the conventional requires a willingness to "relinquish attachments to social approval and the consensual world view" (Walsh, 1995, p. 350-351). As such, transpersonal development is often suppressed by a society that sees identification with an alternative belief system as a danger to the status quo.

An analogous dynamic is in operation with regard to marginalization and oppression in the society at large. The devalued individual's ability to develop his or her unique identity is thwarted by a threatened society. As such, the oppressor uses subtle strategies to suppress expression of an alternative belief system, lifestyle, or creative soulfulness. The oppressed, in attempting to rec­oncile internal truth with external pressures, are, as such, propitiously posi­tioned and inherently inclined to relinquish attachment to a world view that creates intense personal discord and disharmony. Such willingness is central to the proposition that a transpersonal approach provides a perspective, not an escape, for propelling growth and empowerment in oppressed social work cli­ents.

The first Noble Truth in Buddhism identifies the inherent suffering that ex­ists in the manifest world. Transpersonal perspectives center on identity and alienation. Suffering is recognized as a case of "mistaken identity" (Walsh, 1995, p. 347). Self-alienation results from our defensive posture or "defen­sively contracted state" (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980, p. 10) as we try to squeeze our true selves into a conditioned, conventional, societal mold or world view. A "self-masking" ensues which we do not normally recognize because "we have been hypnotized since infancy, we actively defend it, we all share in it, and because we live in the biggest cult of all: culture" (Walsh, 1995, p. 349). Society functions by both creating a fictitious reality to which we unwittingly succumb and by preventing awareness of reality to which we innately aspire (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980). We are seduced into the conventional lifestyle and live in a trance-like state consisting of developmental stagnation with its ac­companying existential suffering. Uncontrollable thoughts, busyness, materi­alism and preoccupation with the details of day-to-day living keep us bound and attached to a limited view of ourselves within our environmental circum­stances (Walsh, 1995). As espoused in the second and third Noble Truths of Buddhism, since attachment is at the core of our suffering, letting go is at the core of its cessation. Transpersonalism provides a context for letting go, for transcending this egoistic state of consciousness, for moving beyond preoccu­pation with self, and moving toward (or back to) a connection with the whole.

Oppressed and devalued clients are often most vulnerable to self-alienation. A damaging denial of the true self is reinforced by the oppressors who perpetu­ally strive to maintain status quo control. Whether working with the oppressed or the oppressor, the social worker does well to understand that the source of the suffering is the unacknowledged clinging to the defensively contracted stale.

Defensive contraction can be relaxed by "quieting the mind and reducing perceptual distortion" (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980, p. 11). Ram Dass (as cited in Walsh & Vaughan, 1980) stated, "We are all prisoners of our minds. This real­ization is the first step in the journey of freedom" (p. 11). The goals of transpersonal therapy include "the extinction of awareness from this condi­tioned tyranny of the mind" (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980, p. 12) and the move­ment "to a state beyond identification" (Smith, 1995, p. 406).

Transpersonal approaches see a healthy process as one that dis-identifies lies from conditioned consciousness in order to transcend ego attachments. The basic concept, as stated by Assagioli (as cited in Walsh & Vaughan, 1980), is that "we are dominated by everything with which our self becomes identified. We can dominate and control everything from which we dis-identify" (p. 14). Without identification there is no suffering. Marginalized clients may indeed benefit from a dis-identification from the negative beliefs and induced feelings attributed to them by the oppressive, dominant culture which are subsequently internalized as mistaken identity. It must be noted, however, that a transpersonal approach does not advocate evading materiality. As Mark Ep­stein (1995) explained, "All of the insults to our narcissism can be overcome, the Buddha proclaimed, not by escaping them, but by uprooting the conviction in a `self' that needs protecting " (p. 45). The transpersonal approach affords the worker an effective and potent social work model for empowering the cli­ent to move beyond the suffering, beyond the false self to an identity that feels truly genuine and honest.

The theoretical foundation of transpersonalism identifies an awakening process in which the defensively contracted state is relinquished by progressive disidentification, guided by the eye of contemplation, leading to a state of pure awareness. One is ultimately nothing and everything, nowhere and everywhere, in time and outside of time. A state of bliss ensues as there is no attachment, and, therefore, no suffering (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980). Unity with the Abso­lute is finally achieved.

A TRANSPERSONAL APPROACH TO PRACTICE

Transpersonal psychotherapy, in keeping with a philosophically based inclu­sive stance, incorporates the conventional psychodynamic process as well as the traditional goals of symptom reduction and behavioral modification. The transpersonal psychotherapist additionally "aims to assist the client in disidentifying from and transcending psychodynamic issues" (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980, p. 18). Transpersonal psychotherapy is significantly influenced by Eastern thought as it is blended with traditional Western approaches. Classi­cal psychoanalysis (First Force) seeks to strengthen the ego while transpersonal therapy seeks to help the client discover the true self by disidentification from the ego. Behaviorism (Second Force) seeks "cognitive mediation of behavior" while transpersonal therapy uses techniques such as meditation and visualiza­tion often "viewed from within a behavioral modification framework." Human­istic psychotherapy (Third Force) values self-actualization while transpersonal psychotherapy incorporates a "capacity for self-transcendence beyond self-actu­alization" (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980, pp. 24-25).

For example, in a clinical situation, a gay client coming out in mid-life may present with feelings of confusion, anger, grief, and guilt. Walsh and Vaughan (1980) explained that the psychodynamic therapist would he interested in his­tory and ego assessment and would try to determine the origins of the thoughts causing the negative feelings. The behaviorist might examine ways to change the thoughts through a cognitive or learning process. The humanistic therapist might work with the client to understand sexual fulfillment in the context of self-actualization. The transpersonal therapist may well incorporate the same approaches but would also work on the client's identification with the negative thoughts and feelings. Techniques such as meditation and visualization may be utilized to help the client disidentify from those negative thoughts and feelings and move beyond the defensively contracted state.

Michael Hutton (1994) conducted a survey of transpersonal psychotherapists to determine how they differ from traditional therapists both in therapeutic tech­nique and personal beliefs and practices. Transpersonal practitioners agree with traditional practitioners that all psychotherapists need to be grounded in traditional theories of psychotherapy. However, unlike transpersonalists, traditional therapists generally feel that spiritual interests have little or nothing to do with psychotherapy. Ninety-two percent of the transpersonal therapists reported ex­periencing or possibly experiencing a spiritual force which seemed to lift them outside themselves, while 79% of psychoanalysts and 55% of behavioral/cogni­tive therapists had not. As well, the transpersonal therapists generally performed some personal spiritual practice two to three times per day, including prayer, meditation, or spiritual reading. In terms of techniques, transpersonal therapists utilized intuition, meditation, relaxation, visualization, spiritual focus, spiritual and religious writings, and dreamwork significantly more often than traditional practitioners.

Scotton (as cited in Hutton, 1994) asserted that transpersonal psychothera­pists need to have a firm grounding in traditional psychotherapy, need to be open to and have knowledge regarding a variety of spiritual paths, and need to be actively pursuing a personal path of spiritual development. As such, social workers can feel assured about a transpersonal practice model that includes and enhances traditional psychotherapeutic techniques, acknowledges and re­spects a client's spiritual pursuits, encourages and honors the worker's spiri­tual path, and facilitates and expedites human growth and development.

A TRANSPERSONAL FRAMEWORK FOR EMPOWERMENT-ORIENTED PRACTICE

Au-Deane Cowley (1996) proposed "Transpersonal Practice" as a social work model to deal with "client systems at every level on the Full Spectrum of Consciousness" (p. 680). This comprehensive approach includes work on six different dimensions: physical, emotional, cognitive, psychosocial, moral, and spiritual. Assessment and treatment of the client's distress across all dimen­sions creates a mind-body-spirit approach. Contextual variables include fam­ily and relationships, social institutions, physical environment, cultural factors, gender issues, economic situations, historical factors, and macro sys­tems. Key concepts include connectedness of the contextual variables, encom­passing the holistic flavor of a transpersonal approach. All Four Forces of theory (i.e., psychoanalytic, behavioral, humanistic, and transpersonal) are available for use in this model.

Elizabeth Smith (1995) described a "Transegoic Model" in which a four stage approach for dealing with the psychospiritual distress of death is delin­eated. These stages include ego disattachment and self-transcendence in which a disidentification from the ego "empowers the client to assign new meaning to the image of self," and definitions of the transpersonal self and the transpersonal mission are established. The future is thus envisioned in a new context as "the worker helps the client identify and work from a place of love rather than fear" (p. 409).

Expanded use of transpersonalism in social work practice may grow out of an understanding of the context, content, and process of transpersonal psychotherapy ( Vaughan , 1979). Transpersonal context, as illustrated in both the Cowley and Smith practice models, refers to the openness, mutuality, and love which form the basis of an arena for change. The atmosphere or tone of the ther­apy is "determined entirely by the beliefs, values, and intentions of the thera­pist." This transpersonal context helps to remove obstacles to "transpersonal awakening or personal transformation." "If the therapist does not believe such change is possible, disbelief becomes an obstacle" (p. 104). As such, transpersonal context supports the basic tenets of social work practice, i.e., starting where the client is, respecting client self-determination, and honoring the client's perspec­tive.

Three hypothetical examples may help to illustrate the importance of transpersonal context:

•  A 63-year-old Caucasian man presents himself to you as an incest survi­vor now dealing with the death of his father. He explains that he believes he existed as spirit prior to his incarnation on the planet, and, at that time, chose the two people he felt would make ideal parents for working on his issues in this lifetime. In essence, he tells you he chose his incestuous fa­ther.

•  A 40-year-old Hispanic woman relates she was about to die from AIDS when she discovered an ancient meditation involving the creation of a primordial sound. After demonstrating the technique, she explains she is now well and HIV negative, but she feels guilty about and mourns the loss of her husband who recently died of AIDS.

•  A 27-year-old African American graduate student presents with prob­lems in establishing and maintaining intimate relationships. She explains that 2 or 3 times per week at 4:00 in the morning she leaves her body to explore other countries and planets.

The experiences of these individuals are "transrational" or beyond reason as we normally assess clients in our conventional paradigms. Traditional psycho-therapy is pathology based, and, therefore, our first inclination is to think pa­thology. "In fact, Freud's collected works contain over 400 references to neurosis and none to health" (Walsh & Vaughan, 1980, p. 7). A transpersonal context requires a paradigm shift to recognize and understand that some nonrational experiences are transpersonal phenomena and not necessarily pathologic in nature.

The social worker limited to a First, Second and/or Third Force model of practice would likely never encounter these extraordinarily personal and transrational accounts. Unless the worker's context is open to such realms, cli­ent's fears about being misunderstood or disrespected might prevent complete disclosure. However, if a worker were to be confronted with such a transrational client history without the benefit of a transpersonal context, grand opportunities for personal transformation and growth may be lost. Starting where the client is and respecting the client's perspective and self-determination necessarily require the social worker to consider the possibility of a transpersonal experi­ence. The transpersonal context does not negate the possibility of pathology but rather necessitates an assessment of the transrational. It is possible that the 63-year-old incest survivor comes from an Eastern or Buddhist perspective. The 40-year-old client may indeed be one of the rare seroconverters and can present medical records documenting a change from HIV+ to HIV-. The 27-year-old student may have discovered lucid dreaming, a well documented phenomenon characterized as the ability to take conscious awareness into the dream state. Once pathology is ruled out, transpersonal context can "facilitate the exploration of transpersonal content," and, as such, the client's transrational experience can be used by the worker to facilitate growth and change (Vaughan, 1979, p. 104).

"Transpersonal content refers to any experience in which an individual transcends the limitations of identifying exclusively with the ego or personal­ity " (Vaughan, 1979, p. 104). Transpersonal content encompasses the discus­sion of "paranormal" and/or spiritual phenomena (Boorstein, 1986, p. 123). Such experiences are not valued as the goal of therapy but rather as potential resources for growth and empowerment. As such, transpersonal phenomena are "useful in facilitating disidentification from superficial roles and distorted self-image" (Vaughan, 1979, p. 105). These superficial roles and distorted self-images are often a major source of suffering in oppressed clients. Gays and lesbians, African Americans, and the homeless are often marginalized against their will and labeled in a cruel and dehumanizing manner resulting in significant spiritual distress. "Being marginal to society can be an opportu­nity " to work with an approach that "transcends culture and ego" (Struzzo, 1989, p. 204). As such, social workers can broaden their scope of practice with vulnerable clients by utilizing and working with any disclosed transpersonal content. The therapist is not required to agree with any particular belief system or validate any particular experience hut rather does well to incorporate the transpersonal content into " the full spectrum of the client's life experience" (Vaughan, 1979, p. 105).

For example, Ronald Wang Jue (1988) used regression therapy as a transpersonal modality with a 32-year-old hermaphrodite who was raised to be female but decided to assume an adult male identity. Regression therapy utiliz­ing hypnosis helped the client to recall past-life memories which focused on a choice of sexual orientation. The transpersonal therapist did not treat the mem­ories as historical truth, but rather remained open to the client's reality or "felt-truths" (p. 7) as a context for therapy. The transrational experiences in the hypnotic state provided the transpersonal content that helped the client to go be­yond the societal expectations that were the basis for distress. Disidentification from the ego and the defensively contracted state brought the client to a place of self-empowerment and self-acceptance. Social work's commitment to em-powering the devalued and marginalized individual was thereby supported and enhanced.

The progression illustrated in this clinical case exemplifies transpersonal process. Transpersonal process, while nonlinear, recognizes an identification stage "concerned with developing ego strength, raising self-esteem and letting go of negative patterns of self-invalidation" as is normally associated with tra­ditional (first three Forces) therapeutic techniques (Vaughan, 1979, p. 105). A disidentification stage involves "transpersonal awakening" in which "the self is experienced as an independent entity" free from meaningless worldly at­tachments (Vaughan, 1979, p. 105). Suffering that seems insoluble at the ego level is ultimately transcended.

John A. Struzzo (1989), in discussing a transpersonal process for gays and lesbians, pointed out that "ego centered psychotherapy tends to focus on adap­tation to one ' s culture" (p. 204). Inasmuch as the culture is inherently homo­phobic and heterosexist, such adaptation is clearly unhealthy for homosexual clients. Assisting gays and lesbians "to disidentify from the restrictions on their personality, and to realize their identity with their total [real] self ' offers a more viable alternative for growth and empowerment (p. 201).

Molefi Kete Asante (1984) explained that "rhythm is a principle path to transcendence for African Americans" (p. 177). The transpersonal process in­volves "joining in the collective expression of power" (p. 172). A "search for harmony" beyond the individual, beyond the self, beyond the ego is "at the base of African American spirituality" (p. 175). Social work with African American clients benefits from an understanding of empowerment potentially attainable through such a significant transpersonal process.

Carol Montgomery (1994) interviewed women who had overcome home­lessness and discovered that personal, interpersonal, and transpersonal strengths influenced growth toward personal empowerment. The homeless­ness and hard times created a context for a transpersonal process in which a "new self" developed allowing the women to transcend "the chaos of their in­dividual lives and ... make peace with what had happened to them." One woman said she "was forced to find goodness within herself." Another explained, "Like a caterpillar . . . I became a beautiful, beautiful butterfly" (p. 42-43). A transpersonal process empowered these homeless women to make a self-determined choice to move beyond a limited view of self and toward a loving space for growth and change.

CONCLUSIONS

The transpersonal model of practice fits well within the parameters of the social work perspective. The client's societal context and its effect on the indi­vidual ' s perception of self is integral to both transpersonal psychotherapy and social work. Providing a loving space and being open to the client's perspec­tive are fundamental to both schools of practice. A transpersonal experience, moving toward higher levels of' consciousness, awakens both a sense of whole­ness and connectedness essential to the social responsiveness that is at the heart of social work's mission (Cowley, 1996). "Compassion, generosity, in­ner peace and the capacity for relatedness in the world ... tend to he mani­fested as a result of transpersonal work" (Vaughan, 1979, p. 108). Cowley (1996) came to the determination that a transpersonal approach, "By acknowl­edging the important contributions of all major psychological theories, and by taking into account and validating the transrational nature of the spiritual di­mension, the artificial divisions and omissions in clinical practice can be healed or made whole" (p. 694).

The context, content, and process of a transpersonal approach offer social work practitioners expanded opportunity for empowering oppressed and vul­nerable clients. Self-determination is honored as bio-psycho-social-spiritual growth enhanced through this model of practice. Social work, with its inclu­sive perspective, its openness and respect for diversity and difference, and its responsibility for and responsiveness to the individual and to the society, is po­sitioned as the most available profession to be at the forefront of a movement and model of transpersonal practice that promotes human liberation, growth, and interconnectedness.

Fourth Force psychotherapy as a model of practice for social work is in its infancy (Cowley, 1996). Aside from Smith's work with the terminally ill and scattered work with substance abusers, there is little population-specific research. Social work, in particular, needs to examine transpersonal practice with vulnerable clients. Those marginalized by society may be the most readily able to benefit from a transpersonal approach.

Transpersonalism has the unfortunate distinction of being associated with New Age gurus and pop psychology ( Taylor , 1992). Spiritual in nature, the model tends to create fear in the hearts of the scientist-social worker who has been striving for years to gain recognition and secure respectful status in the community of professionals. However, as our Western culture opens to Eastern philosophical thought in the context of post modernism, social work can benefit by opening to the potential applications of a transpersonal, bio-psy­cho-social-spiritual approach that recognizes the status of the human condition in the societal context and works to alleviate existential suffering and dis-ease of the spiritual dimension.

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