In 2007, twenty
professionals from eight different countries gathered in Naarden,
Netherlands to exchange their experiences and scientific knowledge in
the field of clinical parapsychology. Perspectives of Clinical
Parapsychology: An Introductory Reader, edited
by Wim H. Kramer, Eberhard Bauer, and Gerd H. Hovelmann was the
result of this conference. Containing thirteen contributed articles
and an 126 page working bibliography, the book can be considered an
up-to-date introduction to this developing field. It can serve as a
guide for psychotherapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social
workers, and family doctors who find themselves confronted with
clients who report apparently “paranormal” emotional experiences,
but do not exhibit the traditional signs of psychopathology.
There
are a small number of professionally-staffed outpatient clinics in
Europe and South America that serve people experiencing paranormal
emergencies. However, resources for those suffering in North America
and other parts of the world are limited. Fortunately, several
chapters in the book give staff members of these clinics an
opportunity to share their methods. In the chapter Experiences
with Psi Counseling in Holland, Wim
H. Kramer summarizes the types of complaints that are common at his
counseling practice and outlines two kinds of therapeutic techniques.
Clinical psychologist Ian R. Tierney of the University of Edinburgh
offers the Lessons from a Case Study, where
he outlines the successes and failures of his therapeutic approach to
a particular counseling case in which a woman was distressed by
apparent psychokinetic events happening around her. In the Group
Therapy Approach to Exceptional Human Experiences, Alejandro
Parra presents the techniques applied by the staffed professionals at
his Argentinian institute. And the overview of Counseling
at the IGPP (Institute for
Border Areas of Psychology and Mental Hygiene at Freiburg University,
Germany) should be considered required reading for anyone interested
in establishing their own counseling practice to serve those
distressed by anomalous experiences.
The
bulk of Perspectives of Clinical Parapsychology contains
2,400 entries of Gerd H. Hovelmann's working bibliography Clinical
Aspects of Exceptional Human Experiences.
The quality of the material, which spans many different languages
and an array of mainstream scientific journals, demonstrates that
counseling paranormal experiencers has been more than just a fringe
interest for some time. In fact, the sheer volume of research
presented in this final chapter seems to run counter to the idea that
the worldwide availability of competent clinical services is
unsatisfactory. However, as noted by Hovelmann, “up to quite
recently there have been only a few systematic, coordinated
attempts...to actually provide adequate counseling and treatment
models for those who have (or claim to have) such non-ordinary
experiences. Much less has there been any concerted effort...to
transform empirical research findings, theory building and related
treatment models into practical counseling approaches” (p.190).
This book may be considered one such attempt.
Whether
or not a variety paranormal experiences can be seen as scientifically
proven phenomena is still a matter of debate. But reports of
distress resulting from paranormal experiences in otherwise
psychologically healthy people are widespread. The knowledge and methods shared in Perspectives
of Clinical Parapsychology can
assist professionals who are evaluating these kinds of reports in
clinical, counseling, and social welfare settings, and may help them
ease the suffering of those who are having a paranormal emergency.
Kramer,
W., Bauer, E., & Hövelmann, G. (2012). Perspectives
of Clinical Parapsychology : An Introductory Reader.
Bunnik : Stichting HJBF, 320 p.
To order the book, email hoevelmann.communication@kmpx.de
