The Interpretation of a Phenomenon: Telepathy in Psychotherapy Among Therapists Trained Under Fr. Jaime C. Bulatao

Date of Award

7-1-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology

First Advisor

Karina Therese G. Fernandez, PhD

Abstract

The Filipino psychologist Fr. Jaime C. Bulatao, founder of the Ateneo de Manila University’s Department of Psychology, was known to explore various psychic phenomena surrounding consciousness, including extra-sensory perception. He suggested that consciousness was transpersonal, or beyond the person, and that this perspective of a shared collective consciousness allows for psychic phenomena, especially telepathy, to occur. Telepathy is the perception of another person’s thoughts or feelings, without the use of the known senses. In the context of psychotherapy, it may strengthen rapport between therapist and client, as well as enrich insight. This paper aims to describe and discuss a framework of Bulataoinspired psychotherapy that integrates telepathy as part of the therapeutic practice. Thus, the paper asks the question: What does the Bulatao therapeutic process of telepathy look like? Descriptive phenomenology was used to analyze the experience of licensed practicing psychologists who have trained under Bulatao. This revealed the general structure of telepathic experiences in the context of psychotherapy, which included four constituents: (a) Mental quietude and psychic openness; (b) Perceiving the client; (c) Receiving and reacting to telepathic stimuli; and (d) Anomalous insight. This paper has the potential to contribute to the knowledge and practice of clinical and counseling psychology in the Philippines. It may also inspire a conversation with the international Psychology community with regard to the potential therapeutic uses of transpersonal experiences such as telepathy via Bulatao’s transpersonal world view.

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