Психосинтез Роберто Ассаджиоли [Психотерапия #144]

An introduction to psychosynthesis by Roberto Assagioli, exploring its theory, structure of personality, and therapeutic techniques.

Key Takeaways

Psychosynthesis complements psychoanalysis by emphasizing synthesis of personality parts.
Subpersonalities are fragmented parts of the self that can dominate behavior and cause neurosis.
Disidentification from subpersonalities is crucial for mental health and self-realization.
The true self is a constant organizing center distinct from transient subpersonalities.
Psychosynthesis techniques remain relevant and influential in contemporary psychotherapy.

What the video covers

Psychosynthesis is presented as an offshoot of psychoanalysis, created by Roberto Assagioli, a student of Freud.
Assagioli proposed that personality analysis alone is insufficient and introduced the concept of synthesis.
Psychosynthesis integrates theories from Freud, Jung, and Pierre Janet’s dissociation theory.
The concept of subpersonalities explains how people identify with fragmented parts of themselves, causing neurosis.
Assagioli’s personality structure includes the lower unconscious, middle unconscious, higher unconscious, conscious self, higher self, and collective unconscious.
Therapeutic goals focus on realizing the true self and integrating subpersonalities harmoniously.
Psychosynthesis therapy involves analysis (disidentification) and synthesis (identification) processes.
Key techniques include exploring unconscious layers, separating from subpersonalities, and forming an image of the true self.
The therapy encourages channeling subpersonality energy positively and achieving a constant organizing center in the true self.
Psychosynthesis techniques have influenced modern psychotherapy, including third-wave cognitive-behavioral therapy.

Chapters

What is psychosynthesis and how does it differ from psychoanalysis?

Psychosynthesis is a therapeutic approach developed by Roberto Assagioli that builds on psychoanalysis but emphasizes the synthesis of personality parts rather than just analysis. It integrates ideas from Freud, Jung, and dissociation theory to promote self-realization.

What are subpersonalities in psychosynthesis?

Subpersonalities are fragmented parts of an individual's personality that dominate behavior in certain states, such as anger or depression. Psychosynthesis therapy aims to disidentify from these subpersonalities and integrate them into a harmonious true self.

What is the ultimate goal of psychosynthesis therapy?

The main goal is the realization and integration of the true self, which acts as a constant organizing center, allowing a person to harmoniously connect with themselves and the world by synthesizing all subpersonalities.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

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Hello everyone. You are all familiar with psychoanalysis. But not many of you have heard of its opposite: psychosynthesis. And that is exactly what we will discuss today. "Opposite" is a strong word, because, by and large, psychosynthesis became another

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offshoot of psychoanalysis with its own theory and techniques. The creator of psychosynthesis is Roberto Assagioli, a student of Sigmund Freud. He was born in 1888. However, his biological father died two years later, so he had to take his stepfather's surname. By the age of

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18, he was already fluent in several languages, including Russian, English, German, Latin, and Sanskrit. As a follower of Freud, he finished his studies and earned a doctoral degree.

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Medicine in the fields of neurology and psychiatry. And as early as 1910, he spoke at an international congress, where he proposed his own model of the psyche, thus going against Freud's ideas. Essentially, his concept boiled down to the fact that analyzing the

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personality is not always enough, and very often an additional stage is needed: synthesis. At the same time, the word "synthesis" in this approach implies not only personal synthesis but also a synthesis of various approaches current at that time. It is worth

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noting, however, that these approaches are mainly the theories of Freud, Carl Gustav Jung, and Pierre Janet’s theory of dissociation. In short, one way or another, by combining all these approaches and introducing his own idea of synthesis, Assagioli created the

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method of psychosynthesis. As you might have guessed from my previous videos, if Pierre Janet is involved, it means the method is based on the theory of dissociation. Let me remind you that dissociation involves the splitting off of certain elements of our experience

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—like memories or actions—from our consciousness. Put simply, this is the original name for repression. It is precisely in dissociation that Assagioli sees the root of all our problems. In particular, Assagioli stated that in everyday life we tend to

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associate only with a specific element of our personality, thus distancing ourselves from the integral personality, from our true Self. He called these groups of repressed personality parts "subpersonalities." To better understand this idea, imagine a person in a state

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of affect. Imagine that a person is experiencing anger. At that moment, the person might do something terrible that they will later regret and would never have done in their normal state. This is because, in a moment of anger, the

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person is completely taken over by emotion. It is the emotion that directs their thinking, behavior, and logic. As a result, the person detaches from their true Self, surrendering control to their feelings. We can say that they have been seized by the subpersonality

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of anger. And the same thing can happen when a person identifies themselves with only one aspect of their existence. For example, an athlete identifies only with their body or their strength, while someone with depression identifies with their depression and

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sees themselves only as a patient. Assagioli noted that this very perception of self is the cause of neurosis, and that it would be correct to detach from such a subpersonality and use its energy for good. Thus, the psychologist spoke of two important

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therapeutic processes. Of the process of disidentification, which essentially involves a stage of analysis, and of the process of identification, which involves synthesis. He expressed his theory of dissociation through a new personality structure. Just like other psychoanalysts, Assagioli drew his own

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structure of personality, where he attempted to integrate the approaches of Freud, Jung, and other transpersonal psychologists, highlighting the following elements. First, there is the lower unconscious, which represents the most primitive part of our psyche. Here lie the simplest reflexes that govern

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our lives, our hidden desires and urges, and the content of our dreams and nightmares. Next comes the middle unconscious or preconscious. This is the region where all our skills and states reside. Here, new experiences are assimilated and the fruits of our

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ideas ripen. The middle unconscious can spontaneously flow into the conscious and vice versa. Next is the higher unconscious or superconscious, which is the source of all our higher feelings, such as altruism, heroism, inspiration, and so on. According to Assagioli, this

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is also where all our parapsychic abilities and spiritual power are born. The field of consciousness is the part of our experience that we are directly aware of, meaning it is the stream of our thoughts, images, desires, and ideas. The conscious self is the center

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of our consciousness, which is distinct from the field of consciousness. As Assagioli himself distinguishes them, they relate to each other much like a screen and the image projected onto that screen. Finally, there is the higher self or the true essence of a

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person. Assagioli asserts that our conscious self can disappear during fainting, loss of consciousness, or hypnosis. But the true self always remains unchanged. It is what returns to us when we emerge from those states.

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And finally, the collective unconscious was added to Assagioli's scheme, which assumes the entire unconscious experience of all people and all generations. The main goal of Assagioli's therapy is the realization of one's higher or true self. It is on

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the basis of this realization that a person begins to establish harmonious contact with the world and with themselves. Thus integrating all of their subpersonalities. This is exactly what the technique of psychosynthesis is built upon. The technique of psychosynthesis involves the analysis

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and subsequent synthesis of a person's personality. In this sense, psychosynthesis involves several procedures that can be carried out either sequentially or simultaneously.

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The first procedure involves exploring the lower unconscious, which should prepare the person to explore the middle and higher unconscious. At the same time, the main procedure here is psychoanalytic. That is to say, it primarily involves free associations.

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The second procedure is identifying the core elements of the personality and gaining control over them. Two methods are distinguished here. The first is disidentification from specific subpersonalities. Disidentification is the process of separating from a personality element that a person is

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merged with, which is also the cause of their neurosis. For example, returning to the depressed patient, the therapist must help them realize that their life is more than just depression and that depression can exist separate from them. Crucially, this separation does not

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depend on whether a trait is positive or negative. For instance, a beautiful woman who has identified with her beauty can be encouraged to separate from that beauty to find her true self.

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The second method here is working with subpersonalities. It is important for the therapist to identify a person's subpersonalities and understand which ones are in conflict. It should be remembered that having a large number of subpersonalities does not mean a

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person is ill; on the contrary, it indicates the richness of their personality. However, if a subpersonality is undesirable, one must separate from it, control it, and channel its energy for good. The third procedure is the discovery and realization of one's true self. The

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true self differs from subpersonalities due to its constancy. And it is precisely this that allows the true self to be a constant organizing center. If a person cannot reach their true self on their own, Assagioli suggests that they form an image of it. This

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could be identifying with another person, a movie or literary character, or simply a constructed image. Such a formed image of the true self becomes the organizing center around which work with subpersonalities takes place, as they are first separated and then

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integrated into the Self. By the

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procedures. These are the analysis of the client's personality parts, disidentification from them, and subsequent synthesis based on the true Self. As mentioned, forming the true self allows for the subsequent construction of a holistic personality.

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This process goes through several stages. The first stage is forming an ideal model of the true Self, where the person chooses this very model. As Assagioli asserts, for introverts this usually involves achieving inner harmony, while for extroverts, this

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model implies external achievements. Once the image of the true self is formed, it is necessary to direct energy toward achieving it. This energy is drawn from the analysis of the neurotic aspects of the person's personality. Or, to put it another way,

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from those same subpersonalities. Once you manage to analyze and separate them , you can then channel their energy toward achieving the True Self. From there, the actual work of attaining the True Self begins. And here, Assagioli identifies two paths. These are the

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internal path, where the True Self is reached through self-suggestion, and the external path, where the True Self is reached through actual behavior and change. However, there is also a fourth stage. At this stage, the harmonization of subpersonalities is achieved. That

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is, the subpersonalities now fall into a specific hierarchy in relation to the True Self and to each other. At a basic level, psychosynthesis is a type of talk therapy that, like psychoanalysis, involves understanding a person’s unconscious. However, in addition to

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this, psychosynthesis introduces many new techniques into psychotherapy. The first technique is the workbook. It is a diary, but not the kind typically used by cognitive-behavioral psychologists; rather, it is a simple diary where you record your observations, insights, and thoughts.

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By the way, automatic writing under hypnosis can also be used for keeping such a diary. Usually, the client is offered a series of topics to write about in the diary. For example, this could be your relationship with your

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own ideas, where you write down your discoveries. It could be your relationships with other people, where you write down discoveries regarding others. You might describe your observations of events—what you encountered and how you reacted to them —as well as your dreams and fantasies

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. Much like in some CBT diaries, you can track your self-development methods and successes, as well as peak experiences and achievements. The second technique, "your capabilities," suggests that during meditation, you first try to evoke the strongest negative emotions and identify with

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them, and then do the same with positive emotions. This exercise essentially helps you realize that you are capable of managing and controlling your emotions. The "Who am I?" technique is probably one of the most famous in psychosynthesis. It consists

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of answering the question "Who am I?" many times in a row. You finish this technique when, after listing your usual social roles, you arrive at something truly significant. However, unlike the standard practice, psychosynthesis also incorporates answers to this question in the form of

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thoughts, images, and bodily sensations . And the exercise itself is aimed at bringing you closer to your True Self.

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The disidentification exercise resembles a prayer from Gestalt therapy and involves silently reciting while in meditation. I have a body, but I am not my body. I have thoughts, but I am not my thoughts. I have feelings, but I am

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not my feelings. And so on. You can find more detailed text in Assagioli's books. In the subpersonality exercise, you first identify your subpersonalities, which usually correspond to social roles. Like, I am a father, I am a teacher, I am a

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husband, and so on. Then you step into each subpersonality in turn, express your opinion, and then express the opinions of different subpersonalities about one specific subpersonality. As a rule, some kind of conflict should emerge between them, and the therapist

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helps you resolve this conflict. This therapy itself is very similar to parts therapy or the empty chair dialogue in Gestalt. The ascent technique involves stepping into the role of a certain subpersonality and imagining it in ideal conditions. Usually, some kind of

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visualization is suggested, like climbing a mountain or being in a beautiful garden. But perhaps simply visualizing career success would work if you are in the role of a professional. Having reached these heights, you evaluate what positive qualities your subpersonality displayed

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and how they can be used. The role-relinquishing technique involves choosing a subpersonality, stepping into it, acting it out, and then finding a more adequate way of responding with the therapist. The technique of identification with the "I " center is very similar to systematic

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desensitization. Here, through meditation, you relax extremely deeply, then from this state of relaxation, you start recalling situations or people that trouble you, gradually lowering your anxiety. The ideal personality formation technique implies that you first form an image of your true Self,

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either based on what you found within or on an external figure you chose. Then you try to behave naturally in this role. And this situation is repeated several times a day. The synthesis in drawing technique involves trying to integrate your opposite

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qualities. For example, if you are a girl who wants to maintain chastity but also wants to express sexuality, you can draw chastity on one side and sexuality on the other, then draw something to unite these qualities.

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Various forms of visualization are actively used in psychosynthesis. For example, there is a visualization called the flowering of a flower. Here, you first imagine a flower blooming, and then you become that flower yourself. Another written exercise is the psychosynthetic biography. Here,

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you write down the events that you believe have influenced your life. What is important is not the factual recording of the event, but your interpretation of what happened. This covers issues of general development, gender identity, psychological trauma, and much more. The visualization of a

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conversation with a sage assumes that you imagine a sage in your mind and then can ask them any questions that concern you. However, it must be understood here that the sage can also act as certain internalized images, like your angry parents, and therefore

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this sage might start yelling at you. Or, conversely, they might present wishful thinking as reality and give you exactly the answers you expect from them. And so, it is very important to distinguish between a true sage and one

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who is not quite so true. The self-identification technique involves you imagining during meditation how you first associate yourself with some small grain of sand, then with a large space, and then with the entire universe. And later, the same thing is

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done with time. First with a minute, then with an hour, then with eternity. When you have already associated yourself with eternity and infinity, you let them go and look at what remains. All these exercises fit into the general technique of free

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association and psychoanalysis. And each of the exercises ends either with a discussion or with you writing down your discoveries in your workbook.

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Psychosynthesis is a very ambiguous discipline, and it is obvious that there are no studies proving its effectiveness. The only study I found states, and I quote, that psychosynthesis helped awaken spirituality and personal growth in four atheists, which, it seems to me,

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can hardly be considered such a positive result. Moreover, not only is the theory underlying psychosynthesis unscientific, but this approach is also somewhat anti-humanistic, because it proposes forming some kind of ideal self. And the ideal self, as you know

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from humanistic psychology, is generally the cause of all our disorders, because a person forms some ideal image that they cannot live up to . Yes, indeed, sometimes forming an ideal image motivates us to achieve it and brings out some good qualities in

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us. But it can also happen that you form an ideal image, and it will only frustrate you because, once again, you do not measure up to it. At the same time, it is worth saying that psychosynthesis has, generally speaking

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, contributed a great deal to psychotherapy, and its techniques have formed the basis for a number of psychotherapeutic approaches. And, for example, today they are often used in the third wave of cognitive-behavioral therapy, that is, in such directions as

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ACT, for example, or mindfulness. Still , on the whole, the rational kernel of psychosynthesis has been taken apart piece by piece today, and therefore psychosynthesis itself is now more of historical interest. So, if you want to learn the most relevant, modern, and

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scientifically grounded methods, it is better to come to the continuing professional education portal for psychotherapists and psychologists, where you will be trained by qualified specialists. And that is all. Thank you for your attention. Subscribe to the channel, like the video, and leave your

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comments. And if this video was interesting and useful for you, support the Finansovy channel by sharing it on social media. You can also buy my books , join my training or consultations, or support me in other ways. Good luck,

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everyone.

Topics:psychosynthesisRoberto Assagiolipsychoanalysissubpersonalitiesdissociationtrue selftherapy techniquesconsciousnessJungFreud

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