A
Apotheosis
Guest
Trials of the Visionary Mind.
(In response to the question – what do you believe a psychosis to be & secondly, what Schizophrenia is in particular?)
Dr John Weir Perry -
Acute psychosis is a state in which, as Jung has suggested, the dream takes the place of reality. That is, the sense of reality shifts from the outer to the inner world or stage of experience. This is brought about by the circumstance that the ego-consciousness has become overwhelmed by the archetypal affect–images of the unconsciousness; in the case of depression, by the affects, in the case of schizophrenia by the images. I cannot see this condition as arising out of a defence against reality, or any other defensive manoeuvre. It seems rather that the whole syndrome represents instead a shift of the energy so activating the unconscious psyche that it deprives the ego-consciousness of its usual charge. To me it appears that the more acute the psychotic state, the more are the defences overridden altogether.
I see the acute “schizophrenic” episode, after working with it for over 20 years, as a high arousal state in which the lower centres & functions are activated at the cost of the higher. It is more realistically viewed as an altered state of consciousness than as a play of psycho–pathology. A comparison of it phenomenology with parallels in the altered states that are culturally accepted in various societies leads me to call it a “visionary state.”
This hyperactivation of the unconscious functions also appears in the phenomenology as emerging from the affect–image that represents itself as the centre, the archetypal image described by Jung as the self, which I prefer to call the “central archetype.” The highly dynamic process that this centre undergoes robs the higher structures & functions of their customary energy, leaving both the ego consciousness & the autonomous complexes in a state of fragmentation, & giving rise to the characteristic earmarks of the syndrome, the “thought disorder” and the apparent “dulling of the affect.”
The intent of the activation of the archetypal Centre is observable if one follows the mental content with care. It shows itself to be the psyche’s effort to refashion & renew its cultural orientation, value system, & world–image, that is, its entire structure of values, meanings & design of life. Hence the acute process is so comparable with prophetic & messianic visionary states in rapid culture change as to be indistinguishable.
http://spiritualrecoveries.blogspot.com/2006/05/dr-john-weir-perry-diabasis.html
(In response to the question – what do you believe a psychosis to be & secondly, what Schizophrenia is in particular?)
Dr John Weir Perry -
Acute psychosis is a state in which, as Jung has suggested, the dream takes the place of reality. That is, the sense of reality shifts from the outer to the inner world or stage of experience. This is brought about by the circumstance that the ego-consciousness has become overwhelmed by the archetypal affect–images of the unconsciousness; in the case of depression, by the affects, in the case of schizophrenia by the images. I cannot see this condition as arising out of a defence against reality, or any other defensive manoeuvre. It seems rather that the whole syndrome represents instead a shift of the energy so activating the unconscious psyche that it deprives the ego-consciousness of its usual charge. To me it appears that the more acute the psychotic state, the more are the defences overridden altogether.
I see the acute “schizophrenic” episode, after working with it for over 20 years, as a high arousal state in which the lower centres & functions are activated at the cost of the higher. It is more realistically viewed as an altered state of consciousness than as a play of psycho–pathology. A comparison of it phenomenology with parallels in the altered states that are culturally accepted in various societies leads me to call it a “visionary state.”
This hyperactivation of the unconscious functions also appears in the phenomenology as emerging from the affect–image that represents itself as the centre, the archetypal image described by Jung as the self, which I prefer to call the “central archetype.” The highly dynamic process that this centre undergoes robs the higher structures & functions of their customary energy, leaving both the ego consciousness & the autonomous complexes in a state of fragmentation, & giving rise to the characteristic earmarks of the syndrome, the “thought disorder” and the apparent “dulling of the affect.”
The intent of the activation of the archetypal Centre is observable if one follows the mental content with care. It shows itself to be the psyche’s effort to refashion & renew its cultural orientation, value system, & world–image, that is, its entire structure of values, meanings & design of life. Hence the acute process is so comparable with prophetic & messianic visionary states in rapid culture change as to be indistinguishable.
http://spiritualrecoveries.blogspot.com/2006/05/dr-john-weir-perry-diabasis.html