Stages of Spiritual Crisis, and finding a suitable therapist
Anyone going through a spiritual crisis will look for help, support and the opportunity to make sense of what they are experiencing. Looking for therapy in particular can be difficult at the best of times, but particularly so if the world is whirling around you. What follows is a rough guide to what sort of support is most useful at what stage. Of course everyone’s experience will be different and no two crises are the same. (For example a milder crisis may miss out the severe difficulties of the ‘mid crisis’ stage.) But generally Spiritual Crisis does tend to follow this three stage pattern, so we hope that by describing the stages in this way; we are providing a very rough ‘map’ or guide, to help make the whole process a little clearer.
Safely Held Spaces, offer a more detailed ‘map’ should you find using a model supportive when finding meaning.
Early stages
These often get missed, and are more likely to be recognized by someone who has had previous crises. This is a really good point at which to get a grip on things. The early stage can be recognized by some of the following signs:
Not feeling hungry or wanting to eat
Not sleeping
Feeling full of energy
Wanting to dash off and go places or take on lots of things
Seeing meaning and significance in all things
Religious or spiritual feelings or ideas
Getting obsessed with things
Talking rapidly and getting carried away
Becoming self-obsessed and losing self-awareness
You appear to be making other people uneasy or uncomfortable
General hypersensitivity
Panicky feelings
Feeling alienated or adrift
Depression or loss of sense of meaning
This is a signal to reduce demands on ourselves; as far as possible cut out anything stressful and extra. Give yourself lots of time and space and talk to understanding people.
It is a time to be a bit cautious about amazing new ideas or ventures that come to mind. Slow down and take it cautiously.
That caution should extend to seeking therapy at this stage.
Someone open minded to listen and witness can be vital – but that does not need to be a therapist. Sympathetic support that will help you keep your feet on the ground – also invaluable. However, the state of turmoil, understandably, can drive people to want to seek deep answers straight away. That could simply take you further away from that safe centre ground.
Also, judgement is often not at its best at such times. When we are desperate for answers we are vulnerable and therefore inclined to become dependent or rush to conclusions. If we are at the stage where everything appears meaningful, we may be more easily influenced than when we would be normally when we are more centred. There is therefore the risk that we could be influenced to ‘buy into’ particular ideologies or dogmas. A good therapist however will always foster autonomy and independence, and have relevant professional registration or accreditation.
Mid Crisis
This is when hanging onto consensual reality becomes really difficult, but that is the task. It is important as far as possible to be able to contact both realities, and not to get sucked too deeply into the spiritual/psychotic (transliminal) one. Grounding activity, food, people etc. are what is needed here – see ‘what helps’. Exploratory therapy is not indicated at this stage and could make things worse. Practical support and people around you is what is needed.
At this stage there is always the danger of losing touch with ordinary, physical, reality and the knowledge of limitations and consequences that go with it. This can lead to risky behaviours which can have far reaching consequences. Where there are real dangers (harm to self or others) the mental health services do have a role to play, another reason for keeping a foot on each side of the reality line by yourself if possible, and/or setting up very good support.
Re-entry and Re-integration
At first this is another stage at which you need to be kind to yourself and pick up ordinary responsibilities gradually.
Coming to terms with what you have learnt and experienced and integrating it into the next stage of your life could take a while. This is the point at which a good therapist can be invaluable (though not essential).
There are a number of schools of therapy that specialise in the spiritual and transpersonal dimension, and accredited therapists with this sort of training should be particularly understanding and sympathetic (though therapists are human beings, and there is no guarantee you will ‘hit it off’, however right the training).
Some examples: Transpersonal, Psychosynthesis, Core Process, Humanistic and Person-Centred.
However, therapists from other modalities might also be helpful if they are open minded and receptive to a spiritual dimension. For instance, a person centred or humanistic counsellor or psychotherapist will listen empathically in a way that could well help you to make sense for yourself of your experience. The theory underpinning person-centred counselling is that people are self-healing, i.e. the answers lie within. Person-centred counselling therefore simply facilitates us finding them, and is about helping the person to help themselves.
The therapists just listed will almost certainly work privately, and even if within a voluntary/charitable clinic will require a fee (though GPs sometimes have counsellors offering a limited number of sessions free).
Therapy is available free on the NHS, and even if these explicitly spiritual therapies are unlikely to be accessible through the NHS, the chance to talk about what you have been through with support and guidance should be available.
Both high states of arousal/anxiety and the sort of despair that can accompany 're-entry' following a crisis, are targeted by the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy offered by the new IAPT (Improving Access to Psychological Therapies) services which are becoming more widely available. Modalities such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy and Cognitive Analytic Therapy will probably help to ground the experience in your life circumstances and things you have been through in the past, which could be useful.
An important thing to remember when seeking therapy of any kind or at any stage is that the therapist is always a facilitator rather than an expert. Some people are disappointed with therapy when they discover that the therapist does not have all the answers, as in reality, no one person can ever fully know what is appropriate for someone else’s life. What matters is that the person makes sense of their crisis for themselves, and a good therapist can provide invaluable help here.
Things to avoid
As with anything though, it is important to be aware that all therapists are different and not all therapy is helpful. It may be useful to ask yourself the following questions:
Does the therapist try to impose their own interpretations, ideologies or belief systems?
Do they use language and terminology you find unhelpful or judgemental?
Do you feel undermined or invalidated?
Remember that if you find yourself with an unhelpful therapist, you can always terminate at any time.
Finding a therapist
Although we are unable to recommend individual therapists, here are some lists to help you:
The British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP)
Find a Therapist: www.itsgoodtotalk.org.uk/therapists/
List of therapists: www.bacp.co.uk/ict/Therapy_Websites/site_search.php
The British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC)
www.bpc.org.uk/find-a-therapist
The British Psychological Society
http://www.bps.org.uk/bpslegacy/dcp
The UK Council for Psychotherapists
www.psychotherapy.org.uk/find-a-therapist/
The Psychosynthesis Trust
London: psychosynthesistrust.org.uk/counselling/
Outside of London: psychosynthesistrust.org.uk/counselling/therapists-outside-london/
The Institute of Psychosynthesis
www.psychosynthesis.org/practitioners/
Association of Core Process Psychotherapists:
https://www.acpponline.net/find+a+therapist
If you have further questions or suggestions relating to therapists and Spiritual Crisis please CONTACT US
Thank you.
The SCN team.