What is transpersonal therapy?
Transpersonal means "beyond the personal". It describes moments when your sense of self reaches beyond you. That may be towards other people, towards life or towards something larger.
Transpersonal therapy is talking therapy that takes this spiritual side of life seriously. It is not tied to any one religion. You can come to it with a faith or without one.
The field took shape in the late 1960s, guided by psychologists such as Abraham Maslow.
Sources: Walsh & Vaughan 1993, UKCP: approaches, ATP: journal
How it works
Your therapist helps you explore your potential, and build your inner strengths and creativity. They treat your spiritual life as part of you, as real as your work or your family. You do not need to share their beliefs, or hold any.
- Everyday experience You bring what is happening in your life.
- Meaning and belief You can talk about your beliefs and what matters to you.
The approaches below belong to this wider family. Each has its own way of working.
Source: UKCP: approaches
What sessions look like
Sessions are mostly talk, as in any therapy. You bring what is troubling you, and what gives your life meaning. Your therapist works with your beliefs rather than offering their own.
The psychosynthesis approach
- Different roles You may explore the different roles you take in life.
- Space to notice You notice these parts and how you choose between them.
- Imagination Your therapist may use images you picture in your mind.
This is how the approach views the self. These parts are not separate people within you.
An Italian psychiatrist, Roberto Assagioli, developed it in the time of Freud and Jung. It aims to join a higher, spiritual awareness with your everyday thoughts.
It holds that we each have several subpersonalities, such as the parent or the leader in us. Therapy helps you step back from them and find the "I", a centre of awareness and will. Sessions often use guided imagery to meet these parts.
Sources: Institute of Psychosynthesis: basics, Whitmore: psychology with a soul, Lombard 2017, UKCP: approaches, Feinberg-Moss & Oatley 1990
Core process psychotherapy
- Present experience You talk about what is happening now.
- Awareness together You and your therapist take time to notice what you feel.
- Recurring patterns You explore patterns shaped by your past.
The work draws on Buddhist ideas and Western therapy. There is no set plan of tasks to work through.
Maura and Franklyn Sills developed it in the UK in the 1980s. It began at the Karuna Institute in Devon, which now trains therapists from Bristol.
Buddhist ideas and mindfulness practice underpin the work. It joins them with Western psychotherapy.
Sources: Gibb: Buddhism and psychotherapy, ACPP: core process therapy, Karuna: about, Karuna: mindfulness training
Who it may suit
Transpersonal therapy can be a good fit if you:
- Want a therapist who is open to your spiritual life, whatever shape it takes
- Keep asking what your life is for, after a loss or a big change
- Have a practice, such as meditation or prayer, that you want to bring into the room
- Feel something is missing, even when life looks fine from the outside
- Want to explore your potential, not only solve a problem
If you want to talk through a psychedelic experience, our page on it is the place to start.
When to see a GP first
A spiritual crisis and a mental illness can overlap. The NHS advises an urgent GP appointment if you have begun seeing or hearing things others do not.
Sources: RCPsych: spirituality, NHS: hallucinations
How it differs from faith-based counselling
Faith-based counselling, such as Christian counselling, works within one faith. Transpersonal therapy is open to any faith, or none.
It sits in the same wider family as humanistic therapy.
Source: Walsh & Vaughan 1993
Finding a transpersonal therapist
Anyone in the UK can call themselves a psychotherapist or a counsellor. So check that your therapist is on a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
Sources: POST: regulation of professionals, PSA: accredited registers
The evidence
It is one of the approaches the UK Council for Psychotherapy lists. Even so, it has little research behind it.
A 2019 review said the field lacks scientific evidence, and called for more rigorous studies. NICE does not name any approach on this page in its guidance on depression or anxiety.
Ask any therapist how they work, and how you will both know whether it is helping. Our guide to the main approaches compares the options side by side.
Sources: UKCP: approaches, Nardini-Bubols et al. 2019, NICE NG222, NICE CG113
Thanks for your interest. We're not taking on new clients at the moment.
Looking for transpersonal therapy?
We ask what matters to you, then find professionals who fit.
- I want a therapist who is open to spirituality
- I keep asking what my life is for
- A spiritual experience changed how I see things
- I want to try psychosynthesis
References
- Walsh, R. & Vaughan, F. (1993). On transpersonal definitions. Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. atpweb.org (PDF)
- UK Council for Psychotherapy (2026). Psychotherapy approaches. psychotherapy.org.uk
- Association for Transpersonal Psychology (2026). The Journal of Transpersonal Psychology. atpweb.org
- Lombard, C. A. (2017). Psychosynthesis: A Foundational Bridge Between Psychology and Spirituality. Pastoral Psychology. doi:10.1007/s11089-017-0753-5
- Feinberg-Moss, B. B. & Oatley, K. (1990). Guided imagery in brief psychodynamic therapy: Outcome and process. British Journal of Medical Psychology. doi:10.1111/j.2044-8341.1990.tb01605.x
- Association of Core Process Psychotherapists (2026). Core Process Psychotherapy. ambcpp.com
- Karuna Institute (2026). Relational mindfulness trainings. karunainstitute.co.uk
- Karuna Institute (2026). Karuna. karunainstitute.co.uk
- Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (2025). Regulation of psychological professionals in mental health care. post.parliament.uk
- Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (2024). Accredited Registers. professionalstandards.org.uk
- Royal College of Psychiatrists (2021). Spirituality and mental health. rcpsych.ac.uk
- National Health Service (2025). Hallucinations and hearing voices. nhs.uk
- Nardini-Bubols, M., da Silva, D. S., dos Santos-Silva, A., Stagnaro, O. K., Irigaray, T. Q. & Alminhana, L. O. (2019). The Altered States of Consciousness in Transpersonal Approach Psychotherapy: Systematic Review and Guidelines for Research and Clinical Practice. Journal of Religion and Health. doi:10.1007/s10943-019-00855-1
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2022). Depression in adults: treatment and management (NG222). nice.org.uk
- National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (2011). Generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder in adults: management (CG113). nice.org.uk
- Institute of Psychosynthesis (n.d.). Fundamentals of psychosynthesis. psychosynthesis.org
- Diana Whitmore, The Psychosynthesis Trust (n.d.). Psychosynthesis: Psychology with a Soul. psychosynthesistrust.org.uk
- Andy Gibb, Karuna Institute (n.d.). What relevance does Buddhism and non-duality have to a modern psychotherapy?. karunainstitute.co.uk
