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The Shadow Series

Part 3: A Working Synthesis of Transactional Analysis and Gestalt Therapy

Ken Wilber

June 23, 2006 01:25

This is, I believe, the second paper I ever published, and I was fortunate enough to get it accepted in the prestigious Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, and Practice. I say “fortunate” because I was, at the time, a dishwasher. But then, I was a dishwasher during the period my first 5 books were published, so what the heck. At the Red Rooster Restaurant, if you can believe that. Finest fried chicken in a five-state area. Lincoln, Nebraska. Don't ask.

But the paper deals with two of the therapeutic systems that I found incredibly helpful in my own growth and development and shadow work. I guess my mind was already refusing to let psychological models not speak to each other; so I worked out a general synthesis between the two models that I still believe is essentially right on the money. These are also the two schools I would most recommend for shadow work, although there are many others that I would also recommend as being very helpful. And in the last analysis, the best therapeutic system is the one that works for you.

Click here for the pdf containing “A Working Synthesis of Transactional Analysis and Gestalt Therapy.”

--Ken

The Wyatt Posts:

1. What We Are, That We See. Part I: Response to Some Recent Criticism in a Wild West Fashion
2. What We Are, That We See. Part II: What is the Real Meaning of This?
3. Take the Visser Site as Alternatives to KW, But Never as the Views of KW

Follow-Up Posts:

1. The Unbearable Lightness of Wyatt Earpy. Follow-Up #1.
2. On the Nature of Shadow Projections in Forums. Follow-Up #2.
3. What Would Wyatt Do? Follow-Up #3.

The Shadow Series:

1. The Shadow Series. Part 1: How to Spot the Shadow.
2. The Shadow Series. Part 2: Integrating the Shadow.
3. The Shadow Series. Part 3: A Working Synthesis of Transactional Analysis and Gestalt Therapy.

Check out: The Wild West Wilber Report: Looking back on the Wyatt Earp Episode