Walking Shadows: Archetype and Psyche in Crisis and Growth

An exploration of high intensity mental states as found in the psychiatric emergency room, in everyday life, in psychotherapy and in spiritual practice. There are certain unusual mental states that have such an extraordinary intensity, that they are numinous; they involve the presence of an archetype. These states can be beautiful or utterly terrifying, they can predispose to illness but if carefully negotiated they carry enormous potential for accelerated development. How can we understand this archetypal layer of psyche and how can we work with its power to promote psycho-spiritual growth? The author weaves the archetypal perspective into the psychoanalytic and medical models of mind to show us how the different layers of the individual and collective psyche intertwine to give us our rich experience of being human. Using everyday language and using case studies from clinical work in psychiatry and psychotherapy, the author takes the reader on a journey from: * Breakdown to breakthrough * Plato's cave to Jung's archetypal crisis * Genetics to transpersonal psychology * Hearing voices to post traumatic stress disorder * Psychoanalysis to psychedelics * The mid life crisis to the encounter with death * Quantum physics to synchronicity * Shakespeare to shamanism * Transcendent nature to mindfulness

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Preface Upstairs and Downstairs Mapping the Psyche Section 1. Intense States of Meaning 1. Visiting Heaven and Hell Adam's Visit to Hell Brief Psychotic Episode? Martin's Visit to Heaven Through the Filmiest of Screens The Psyche as a Sense Organ An Overplus of Meaning 2. Is There an Underlying Reality? Plato's Search for Truth Plato's Cave Ascent and Return Plato's Archetypes Enlightenment and Endarkenment Archetypal Crisis 3. Jung's Archetypal Voyage Carl's Story Jung's Crisis The Descent into the Unconscious Philemon and Basilides Set Setting and Integration So What Was the Matter with Jung? 4. Archetypal Crises Ruth's Story Managing Turbulence Charles and the Disappearing Dot Seeking Shiva 5. Archetypal Penetrance The Bio Psycho Social Archetypal (BPSA) Model of Psyche Martial Risings High Archetypal Penetrance (HAP) States Luisa and the Dog Mess Low Archetypal Penetrance (LAP) States 6. Synchronicity Sally's Story Encounter with the Numinous Synchronicity Last Day at the Royal London 7. A Meaning Filled Mind Field Mind or Machine David Bohm and the Implicate Order Meaning and the Evolution of Consciousness Transmissive Mind Models and Beliefs Systems 8. Transcendent Nature The Heath Heavenly Gardens Scafell Pike and the Dissolving Map The Forest of Arden Section 2. Self, Shadow and Us 9. Crisis – Danger and Opportunity The Disillusioned Psychiatrist Crisis and Suicidal Thought Dan's Darkest Night Working with the Mindset Transference and Countertransference Delusional Mood 10. Breaking Down or Breaking Through? Archetypal Crisis or Mental Illness? The Importance of Good Diagnosis Fundamentalism Kundalini Bipolar Disorder Spiritual Emergency Mixed States – Marion's Story 11. The Journey to the Self The Grail Within Atman or Self Joseph Campbell and the Hero's Journey Jack and his Magic Beans Milky White The Fool 12. Icarus and Narcissus Simon and the Madonna Luke Meets his Mother Again Max the Seeker Narcissism and Psychic Retreats Residues of the Infantile Ego Inflation 13. Into the Darkness The Shadow Gary on the Neurology Ward Collective Shadow – The Heart of Darkness Abused Children The Problem of Evil Hearing Voices The Bad Trip The Golden Boy Nigredo States Jumpers, Hangers and Stabbers 14. The Numinous Feminine The Death of a Princess Anorexia Nervosa The Shadow of the Feminine Anorexia and Sainthood Ana Cool The Anima 15. Ego Death and the Midlife Crisis The Challenge of Mid Life Stefan and the Sami The Archetypes of the Chakra System Heart Opening Egolescence Transformation in O 16. Pain and the Perinatal Police Officer Sandy and the Moment of Impact Pain in the Brain Enter Stanislav Grof The Perinatal Layer of Psyche Sandy Remoulded The Tumultuous Struggle to be Born The COEX 17. Matters of Heart Lady NHS Raymond's Last Rampage Unkindness Intelligent Kindness The Saturn Archetype Section 3. Working with the Numinous 18. Encounter with Death Dying Mindfully Children who Remember Previous Lives The Ascent of the Dragonfly Archetypes of Near Death Philippa's Story The Crystal Bowl 19. Mindfulness and the Empathic Observer Meditation and the Chattering Mind Mindfulness Practice Mindfulness in the Emergency Room Yoga and the House of Many Rooms Darkness Retreat Living Mindfully 20. The Way of the Imagination Beyond the Personal Psyche Stalingrad with Woolger Cispersonal Psyche Active Imagination The Pink Spider Shamanic Journeying Monroe and Hemi-Sync Confusion of Levels 21. Psychedelics - Gateway to the Numinous Eleusinian Mysteries Psychedelic – Archaidelic Venus in a Tablet Sacred Medicine Therapy of Substance Integration Ayahuasca Retreat 22. Breathing Esalen and the Transpersonal Movement The Holotropic Breathwork Retreat An Inner Intelligence Hysteria and Dissociative States The Neptune Archetype Pitfalls and Side Effects Kansas Transformed Notes Bibliography Index  

About the Author :
Tim Read is a medical doctor, psychiatrist and psychotherapist based in London. He was Consultant Psychiatrist at the Royal London Hospital for 20 years leading the Emergency Liaison service and the Crisis Intervention Service. He has trained in psychoanalytic therapy (IGA) and in transpersonal therapy (GTT). He is a certified facilitator of Holotropic Breathwork and has a special interest in working with expanded states of consciousness. His book Walking Shadows: Archetype and Psyche in Crisis and Growth was published in 2015.