Process-oriented psychology

Process oriented psychology was originated in the 1970s by Arnold Mindell, an American Jungian analyst then living in Switzerland. In a critical exploration of the relationship between African Americans and C.G. Jung's analytical psychology, Fanny Brewster describes Mindell's dreambody work and his linking of body symptoms and psychological development. Brewster finds that Mindell's development of Jungian ideas is aligned with traditional African concepts of healing which link mind and body: : ‘I believe that Mindell’s approach to dreamwork with its emphasis on body healing mirrors the African system of healing’s inclusiveness of body and mind in the process.’ with its emphasis on movement and body feeling. Mindell was one of five people honored in 2012 with a Pioneer Award from the US Association of Body Psychotherapy. Following the publication of his book Dreambody in 1982, it reportedly gained a 'worldwide following in the field of holistic healing' although remaining little known in 'traditional psychological circles'. It is characterized as creative and improvisational: a 'fluid, flexible, playful approach, using some basic principles to improvise effective approaches to whatever comes its way, even-handedly weaving together the personal, political, the bodily, the relational and the spiritual aspects of existence.' It is considered to have similarities with Eugene Gendlin's Focusing and is identified with a focus on the unknown aspects of experience: :'Process Work ... seeks to encounter with the unknown and the irrational side of life. ... [It] appreciates symptoms and disturbances of any sort, not as pathologies to be healed or transcended or somehow got rid of, but as expressions of the very thing we need for our further growth, happiness, or enlightenment.' From its original 'dreambody' concept, Process Work developed a theory and method of working with altered states of consciousness including near death and coma, and with experiences given psychiatric diagnoses. Mindell's book on coma and palliative care inspired a UK theatre production performed in Edinburgh and London. Process Work and Arnold Mindell are also known for a theory and methods for working with conflict resolution and leadership issues, in groups and organisations. Process oriented psychology has been associated with alternative spirituality movements. and has been taught at the Findhorn community in north-east Scotland. Fred Alan Wolf cites Mindell's 'dreambody' concept and the Institute of Noetic Sciences lists Mindell in their directory. ==Theory and practices==

Process The theory of process oriented psychology centres around the idea of 'process': a meaningful, connected pattern over time that can be observed and tracked through non-intentional signals (e.g. non-verbal communication, body symptoms, dreams, accidents, conflicts). The theory of a 'dreaming process' began with Arnold Mindell's concept of the 'dreambody', developed from Jungian dream analysis and the observation that dreams and body symptoms were meaningfully connected. For Process Work, 'dreaming' can be defined as 'the unconscious activity of the person, both when they are asleep and when they are awake'. Process Work proposes that disturbing feelings, symptoms and behaviours be interpreted as 'an underlying urge toward health, wholeness, and diversity rather than pathology'. Brown and Harris (2014) explain: :Deep democracy was developed as a means of approaching the relationships among individual, organisational and social transformational change which support collective governance. Amy and Arnold Mindell's world work framework draws on relativity concepts from physics to heighten awareness of the relationship element in all experience. A central concept is the validity of subjective inner and observable outer experience as two sides of the same coin. and Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict and Diversity (1995) Mindell's ideas of worldwork and deep democracy have been likened to the work of Danaan Parry. For process oriented psychology, the concept of 'deep democracy' refers to a 'belief in the inherent importance of all parts of ourselves and all viewpoints in the world around us'. It aims to broaden the idea of democracy to include not only cognitive, rational viewpoints but also emotional experiences and intuition: 'Deep democracy awareness welcomes inner voices and makes use of diversity and existing tensions to access subjective experience, deeper vision and tangible results of the participants.' This use of the term 'deep democracy' is distinct from that of Arjun Appadurai and Judith M. Green in community development and that of Haider A. Khan in economic theory. Worldwork includes group techniques for developing awareness of social issues like racism and has been used to deal with post-conflict trauma. Worldwork has been described as the 'attempt to apply psychotherapy in the sphere of political conflict without privileging the therapeutic over the political', an approach that Mindell refers to as 'eldership'. Process oriented psychology is known for a positive model of conflict, seeing it as an opportunity for growth and community; Mindell, like the authors Thomas Crum and Danaan Parry, suggests that dealing with personal conflicts better can create global change. The model of conflict resolution involves identifying the sides in the conflict as roles and having the conflicting parties experiment with expressing all roles, swapping sides until greater understanding is achieved. Conflict is understood as a sign that at least one viewpoint or experience within the group is not being adequately represented and Process Work aims to bring these 'ghosts' into conscious awareness and dialogue. Lewis Method of Deep Democracy Lewis Method of Deep Democracy is based on the work of Arnold Mindell. In the early 1990s two of Arnold Mindell’s students, Myrna Lewis and her late husband, Greg, began translating some of the tools. Lewis's Method of Deep Democracy is more flexible about the depth. Patricia A. Wilson's Deep Democracy Wilson has more focus on inner work and building the container for a culture of dialogue and connectedness. She summarizes essence of deep democracy as "the inner experience of interconnectedness". Judith M. Green's Deep Democracy Green describes "Deep Democracy would equip people to expect, to understand, and to value diversity and change while preserving and projecting both democratically humane cultural values and interactively sustainable environmental values in a dynamic responsive way." ==Research==

Process oriented psychology is one of eleven psychotherapeutic modalities examined in a Swiss longitudinal study of therapeutic effectiveness completed in 2012. There are published studies of the clinical application of Process Work to group therapy with people experiencing mental illness and to the care of elders with dementia. A Japanese case study has described the application of process oriented psychology to the treatment of a woman with symptoms including major depression and an eating disorder, concluding that the method can be effective in the resolution of psychosomatic problems. Process Work has been used to extend play therapy techniques and found to enrich therapeutic work with children experiencing parental separation issues. The process oriented psychology approach to clinical supervision has been documented and shown to offer experiential and phenomenological techniques to work with signals, roles and the "parallel dynamics" that occur within client-counsellor and counsellor-supervisor interactions. It has been suggested that the concept of ‘metaskills’ can be useful for the psychotherapist seeking to serve polyamorous clients. Connections have been established between process oriented psychology and dance movement therapy. The concept of ‘rank’ as defined and developed by Mindell has been taken up in a number of contexts including action learning, the analysis of international nongovernmental organization advocacy campaigns, and anti-racism diversity work. An Australian case study has considered the use of process oriented psychology for tackling the problems of intercultural communication in higher education; it finds that Process Work has a multidimensional concept of social rank (expanded beyond social status to include 'psychological' and 'spiritual' aspects) which promotes understanding of interpersonal communication issues and could be used to improve international student experience in Australia. ==Organisations==

Process oriented psychology is represented by a professional organisation called the International Association of Practitioners of Process Oriented Psychology (IAPOP). The Association recognises over 25 training centres around the world including the UK, Australia & New Zealand, Poland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Ireland, Japan, India, Greece, Israel, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine and the US. The first teaching organisation was founded in Zürich in 1982 and is now known as the Institute for Process Work (Institut für Prozessarbeit IPA), an accredited Training Institute for psychotherapy in Switzerland. The Research Society for Process Oriented Psychology in the UK (RSPOPUK)'s Training Programme is accredited by the United Kingdom Council of Psychotherapy, within the Humanistic and Integrative Psychotherapy Section. In the US, the first training centre was established in 1989 in Portland, Oregon, now known as the Process Work Institute, while the Deep Democracy Institute was founded in 2006. The newest Institute for Processwork was founded 2018 in Germany (Institut für Prozessarbeit Deutschland). ==Criticism and early controversy==

Criticisms of process oriented psychology include that the 'dreambody' concept and techniques are too subjective and overly positive. In 1997, a Japanese scientist involved in deprogramming members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult mentioned process oriented psychology as an example of recent psychotherapeutic paradigms that draw on Asian philosophy, Gestalt, Jung and transpersonal psychology, and claimed that, while 'these programs are not substantively dangerous', the methods may be used adversely and have the potential to be a form of 'mind control'. He then clarified that process oriented psychology was not amongst those that were dangerous. Mindell's (1993) book, Leader as Martial Artist, has been critiqued as a use of Eastern belief systems to justify capitalist business practice. There has been controversy in the history of process oriented psychology in the US state of Oregon. In 1990, a Eugene newspaper, the Register-Guard, reported that a planning permit application for the coastal town of Yachats by the founder, Arnold Mindell, was met with initial apprehension and fears of 'another Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh' although these fears were subsequently allayed. Twenty-three years later, in 2013, The Yachats Academy of Arts and Sciences invited Arnold and his wife Amy Mindell to offer a keynote lecture on their work on conflict resolution around the world. In 2001, a Portland alternative newspaper, the Willamette Week guided by the complaint of a student, reported that an Oregon school of process oriented psychology, (one of 26 worldwide schools of process oriented psychology), the Process Work Center of Portland (now known as the Process Work Institute) was being investigated by the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization (ODA) due to a complaint by a student and an anonymous letter with the primary complaint that teachers in the Masters in Process Work shared student information inappropriately, and that relationship and sexual boundaries were not clear between students.' Some allegations were not verified while others were "substantially correct". ODA recommended improvements in privacy policies and dual relationship policies between students and faculty. PWI complied with changes requested during the investigation and the degree remained continuously authorized by the state of Oregon degree authorization office. The Process Work Institute does not have regional accreditation and does not participate in DOE Title IV lending. Small schools in the Pacific NW are not eligible for regional accreditation unless they have 300 or more active students. PWI is currently pursuing national accreditation which is allowed in the US for smaller schools. Other schools of Process Work internationally such as in Switzerland, Poland, the UK, and Australia have been able to become accredited either regionally, nationally, or by psychological professional accrediting boards. The ODA website shows that in 2014 the Process Work Institute is authorised as a degree offering institution and lists PWI as one of the unaccredited private colleges approved for students in Oregon. ==See also==