Chapter 2 - Profound and Intense Client Experiences

Nonordinary states in ordinary therapy

Any good therapy involves a nonordinary state of consciousness at some time and to some degree. Therapy is about change, and profound change involves a radical shift in self-view, world-view, or spiritual understanding. Nonordinary states allow ingrained habits of thought, feeling, perception, and understanding to recede, diffuse, and break down as necessary so that people can find new understanding and reclaim disconnected parts of themselves. Many of the concepts in this book apply also to these therapeutic moments of profound change in ordinary therapy, even though these moments are not identified commonly as nonordinary states.

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