Levels of

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Levels of Awareness in Psychotherapy
Mohamed Taha Siddik, Ph. D.
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Awareness is the Antidote to Nihilism
John Fudjack, 1995
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Consciousness And Awareness

• The consciousness is all that we know, it is the
  fundamental sense of presence that we feel, and
  it is a universal feeling of the sense of being.
• Consciousness "sense of presence" "the
  being-ness" the "I Am."

• Awareness "is that by which I know that I am."
  Thus the awareness is there before the "I am" (or
  consciousness) appears, and is there after the
  consciousness disappears (unconsciousness or
  death).
• So the awareness is beyond even the universal
  consciousness.

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Consciousness, Awareness Brain, Mind

• Consciousness is a state of brain, that has
  degrees
• Full consciousness
  - Delirium
• Cloudiness
  - Stupor
• Drowsiness
  - Coma

Awareness is a state of mind, that has levels.
The Mind is a natural object. It is just that it
is invisible and intangible, meaning it can pass
freely through physical objects. It is also not
composed of ordinary matter. But we must go
beyond that to explain the details both of
ordinary life and of the extraordinary phenomena
uncovered by psychical research.
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7 Levels of awareness (Yourell, 2004)

• Surface
• Reactive
• Deep Reactive
• Potentialized
• Deep Potential
• Spiritual
• Deep Spiritual

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• What is the relation between these levels ?

Is every level more expanded than the other ?
Or is it more deep ?
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It seems to be a bidirectional, three dimensional
relation with a gradually changing quality.
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Level One Surface Level
General Description

• Stereotypical reactions showing little insight
  or introspection.
• Defensiveness, whether flat or emotional.
• Clearly defined and superficial interpretation
  of events and their meaning.
• Little sense that current problems are part of a
  maturational process, or of psychological needs
  or dynamics that appear to underlie the client's
  behavior or symptoms that are related to the
  problem.
• The client may harbor a simplistic view of the
  solution.
• He may hinge on a concrete change in external
  circumstances that the client feels dependent on.

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Examples from our therapy groups
?.?. Defensiveness, Judgmental attitude,
Superficial interpretations

?.?Stereotypy, Defensive intellectualization

?.?Stereotypy, Defensive regression

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Values in Psychotherapy

• Therapists often feel helpless or bewildered,
  unless they have good experience with such
  clients
• Don't waste time in unproductive talk therapy
• Direct and concrete confrontation about the
  linkage between clients behaviors and the
  results
• Build initial rapport by accepting the client's
  superficial desires and needs

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Level Two Reactive Level

• The client gives the impression of allowing his
  awareness to move closer to alternate
  perspectives and explanations.
• The client will react to this movement, but the
  reaction depends on variables such as
• The client's level of organization
• The emotional intensity of the material

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Examples from our therapy groups
??. ? (?? ?????? ???????) Possibility that we
might accept and love her unconditionally


?? ???? ????? 05-6-12Notice he intolerance to
the intense emotionally charged practiced gestalt
game
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Values in Psychotherapy

• Clients experience emotional distress, regarding
  their own behavior, or a sense that they can
  prevent destructive situations that plague them
• Increase your client's discomfort with their
  more destructive defenses, and status quo. Help
  the client be acutely aware of the negative
  results of acting out.
• Limitations to awareness and motivation may be
  resulting directly from chemical abuse.

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Level Three Deep Reactive Level

• The client is more aware of his own process and
  material, but has not yet effectively processed
  it (inactive awareness).
• If the client has spent much time at this level,
  he is probably more able to perceive and
  understand his psychological defenses and
  underlying irrational or primitive motives.
• Client is still reactive to unprocessed
  material, and can find it more distressing.
• The client may have automatic defenses despite
  his margin of psychological sophistication,
  communication, and emotional breadth
• A loss of these defenses or other means of
  coping can collapse the client into an
  immobilized or agitated state that his current
  level of awareness does not understand
• Clients at this level often appear to be at a
  more pivotal point in life or treatment.

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Examples from our therapy groups

• ?.? - Fair awareness of her inside needs,
  conflicts and obstacles ..but this awareness is
  not yet active in terms of visible change and
  growth.
• Still reactive to unprocessed material
  (resistance)
• Automatic defenses (passive aggression, acting
  out)

?? (??? ??? ????) - Good awareness of her
internal dynamics, without active forward steps,
only interrupted, incomplete in-place ones.
? - Aware of his internal psychological
dynamics but stagnant and stuck to this
information.
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Values in Psychotherapy

• The previous level's comments largely apply here
  
• Often, your clients greater tolerance of
  awareness stems from them having sufficient
  organization and safety
• It is easier to help such a client identify and
  value the full range of treatment goals you would
  suggest.

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Level Four Potentialized Level

• Client has at least an intuitive sense that
  greater inner awareness and experience is
  valuable, and constructively responds to this
  kind of awareness
• The client may show more freedom to look at a
  situation from different perspectives and to seek
  creative solutions (active awareness).
• The client can sense that releasing tension
  could be good for their health
• As a therapist, you are more likely to feel
  "met" by this client, and sense a depth of
  humanity that seems absent at the prior levels
• Therapeutic objectives may seem more accessible,
  and the therapist may feel more optimistic
• This, and especially the following levels,
  appear to benefit most from increasing the charge
  (sense of energy, including emotion) the client
  experiences
• It seems that such client's innate adaptive
  information processing is sufficiently active
  that adding charge to their psychological make up
  serves as fuel for the client's psychological
  life and growth
• Rather than reactive, this level and up is
  responsive/ responsible.

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Examples from our therapy groups
?. ?? ?????? ????????- Adaptive information
processing to the worked-in material lead to a
creative solution with taking responsibility. -
Met by the therapist and other members
?? ????????? ???????- Releasing tension
(aggression, acting out)

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Values in Psychotherapy

• Initial experience of definite physical release
  smoother and often spontaneous cognitive
  restructuring
• Continued cognitive restructuring, enhancement
  and anchoring of the positive physical state
  reinforcing your client's increased sense of
  motivation for meaningful change.

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Level Five Deep Potential Level

• The client seems to experience a fundamental
  sense of validity or connectedness
• sense of internal safety that does not require
  stereotypical defenses
• The client at least intuitively understands the
  value of releasing chronic tension that has built
  up
• Change may seem more playful, flexible,
  collaborative or wise.
• Clients are more likely to express an experience
  that resembles energy, or at least more sense of
  aliveness

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Examples from our therapy groups
?. ?? ???????? ???? ??????- Connectedness with
nearly every group member - Validity of
internal experience
?? ????????? ???????- Releasing tension
(Hallucinatory experience)
- Internal safety -
Playful, flexible, collaborative or wise. -
Energy, aliveness
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Values in Psychotherapy

• Mental rehearsal of appropriate behavior
• Encourage your client consciously or
  unconsciously for creative problem solving, being
  able to respond to emotionally arousing
  situations in a more confident and constructive
  manner.

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Level Six Spiritual Level

• The client may cross what seems to be a profound
  boundary into a sense of a spiritual reality
• Sense of all things being connected in some way
• Clients often refer to this experience as one
  they will always remember
• Shift in their feelings about life, death and
  love
• Clients who experience this level can lose their
  fear of death and commit themselves to improving
  relationships for a higher purpose
• They may sense support from a higher power (GOD)
  that corresponds to their religious beliefs or
  that is more abstract and hard to define
• The state itself is rarely long-lasting, but the
  client may now have a sense of being either on or
  off "the path" and take measures to stay on the
  path
• The client sees the value of activities that
  move toward meaning, rather than avoiding fear
• Derive much metaphorical significance from
  everyday experiences

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Examples from our therapy groups
?. ? (our group leader) - Senses that all
things are connected in some way
- Has Different feelings about life, death and
love - Committed himself to improving
relationships for a higher purpose - Senses of
support from GOD - Prefer activities that move
toward meaning, rather than avoiding fear -
Derives much metaphorical significance from
everyday experiences
?? - Briefly touched this level, for minutes
- A deep change followed
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Values in Psychotherapy

• Validates positive cognitions in a profound way
  for your clients.
• Orient your clients to their potential for
  handling situations and for their growth, even
  their relationship to death.
• Brief, not distracting, reinforcement of
  insights and feelings verbalized. Allow client
  time in this state to increase the likelihood
  that it will become a body mind memory for future
  conscious and unconscious reference

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Level Seven Deep Spiritual Level

• Intensified experience of the previous one
• Transpersonal experiences such as contact with a
  religious figure or other symbolic experiences
• A strong sense of energy or peace of mind that
  is difficult to explain but is meaningful
• Clients may experience a reverie that provides
  waves of insight
• Clients often wish to have some time at this
  level that does not involve actively working on
  issues.

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Examples from our therapy groups
?. - Her feeling of deep
contact with GOD - Sense of energy and peace of
mind - Waves of insight - Preferred not to
involve actively working on issues
??? ????????- Sufism experience

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Values in Psychotherapy

• Many clients report this as a life-changing
  experience that enhances their philosophy of
  life.
• Validate the experience and reinforce their
  client's new patterns of behavior and feeling

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Levels of Awareness A New Key to Psychiatry
Questionable points for further research
- According to efficacy of awareness
A- Re-classifying levels
Ineffective awareness 1. Surface 2. Reactive 3.
Deep Reactive
- For educational simplification

• Surface

2. Reactive 3. Deep Reactive
Effective awareness 4. Potentialized 5. Deep
Potential 6. Spiritual 7. Deep Spiritual
4. Potentialized 5. Deep Potential
6. Spiritual 7. Deep Spiritual
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B- Direction of arrangement of the levels
From up downwards (Deeper is below)
From Down upwards (Deeper is above)
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C- General principles concerning levels of
awareness

• All of these levels present in the matrix of
  every human being. One/some are active/
  predominant. Others are not.
• Psychotherapy or any other growth experience
  does not create new levels of awareness. It only
  activates inactive levels (by introjection,
  expansion and deepening)
• Most Individuals predominantly live in/with one
  level of awareness (mostly surface) which is then
  their most active level and not necessarily the
  most effective.
• Being in a deeper level does not necessitate
  passing through previous levels
• Each level has its associated vision and
  experience.
• Tolerating this vision and experience enhance
  upward movement to the next level
• Intolerance of them leads to stagnation/regressio
  n, rigidity/disintegration and fixation at a
  specific style of life.

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D- Occupation of individuals inside/within their
active level of awareness

• One who is closer to the previous level
• One who is closer to the next level
• One who is merely centered in this level

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E- Role of introjected object-relations in the
levels of awareness

• Introjected object-relations may occupy
  different levels of awareness, according to
  variables
• Quality of outer object representation
• Quality of self representation in relation to
  the object
• Emotional content of the relation
• Perceptual significance differences
• other factors
• Their presence may
• Trigger defensive functioning (fixation,
  freezing, growth paralysis)
• Quantitatively and qualitatively expand and
  deepen awareness

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F- Nature of movement through levels

• Dialectical, synthetic (gathers, units and
  wholes)
• When healthy, in the upward direction with
  average flexibility
• The inter-level gaps resemble the boundaries/
  risks that should be individually taken-over to
  move to the above level.
• This triggers specific defense mechanisms
  corresponding to each gap.
• As movement proceeds upwards, passed levels get
  integrated forming at the end an overall whole
  that differs qualitatively from its constituents
  (fig at last slide).

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G- Transition from one level to another

• It includes un-folding of all previous levels of
  awareness (with all of their experiences,
  visions, crises) and their refolding in a newly
  integrated way.

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• As far as deeper levels of awareness are reached
  and activated, the personal awareness begins
  gradually to join the collective unconsciousness,
  the whole universe and God.

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Collective Unconsciousness
Personal Awareness
Universe
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• Dr. Mohammad Shafii writes in the Sufism
  journal The Sufis feel that it is an illusion
  to see human beings as different and separate
  from nature and the universe .
• The journey of Sufism is a return to the origin.
  A return to the level of knowledge that existed
  before physical form was manifested and still
  exists beyond the physical realms

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H- Defense mechanisms

• Surface (stereotypy)

Neurotic defenses
Intellectualization, reaction formation
2. Reactive (alternatives) 3. Deep Reactive
(large ineffective awareness)
Immature defenses
Passive aggression, acting out
4. Potentialized (Effective awareness) 5. Deep
Potential (connectedness)
Mature defenses (if tolerated associated vision
and experience)
Psychotic defenses (if not)
Altruism, humor, suppression, sublimation
projection, distortion
6. Spiritual 7. Deep Spiritual
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I- Dreams

• During sleep, Defense mechanisms are minimal.
  Deeper levels of awareness are reached and
  activated till getting so close to the collective
  unconsciousness. Dreams largely import their
  content from materials and symbols derived from
  this holistic man-kind experience.

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J- Relation to Erickson's stages of life
7. Integrity vs Despair
Growth
7. Deep Spiritual (wisdom)
6. Generativity vs Self absorption
6. Spiritual (meaning of life, death love)
5. Intimacy vs Isolation
5. Deep Potential (connectedness)
4. Identity vs role confusion
4. Potentialized (effective awareness)
4. Industry vs Inferiority
3. Deep Reactive (ineffective awareness)
3. Initiative vs guilt
2. Reactive (alternatives)
2. Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt

• Surface (Freezing due to mistrust of world)

• Trust vs Mistrust

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K- Relation to Maslows hierarchy of needs
Every level of awareness is characterized by
having its corresponding needs profile in order
to activate its whole range of potentials
Self-actualization personal growth and
fulfillment
7. Deep Spiritual (wisdom)
Aesthetic needs beauty, balance, form, etc
6. Spiritual (meaning of life, death love)
Cognitive needs knowledge, meaning,
self-awareness
5. Deep Potential (creative problem solving)
Esteem needs achievement, status,
responsibility, reputation
4. Potentialized (effective awareness)
Belongingness and Love needs family, affection,
relationships, work group, etc
3. Deep Reactive (ineffective awareness)
2. Reactive
Safety needs protection, security, order, law,
limits, stability, etc
Biological and Physiological needs basic life
needs - air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sex,
sleep, etc.

• Surface

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L- Mind States

• Based on the levels of awareness, we can
  differentiate seven states of mind.
• Each has its extension of awareness, depth of
  awareness, unique cognitive scheme, predominant
  dynamic profile, predominant needs profile,
  specific growth-crisis, specific relational theme
  (self, others, God), special defensive style and
  certain momentum of efficacy (gradually
  increasing)
• Inter-level relations exist through variable
  degrees of flexible movement and crossing the
  in-between membranes.

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• Membrane Disorders
• Membrane Sclerosis
• Membrane Perforation
• Membrane Transparency
• Membrane loss

• Movement Disorders Normally average flexibility
  and speed
• Disorders of flexibility
• Disorders of speed

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M- Psychiatric Disorders.. reviewed
Psychosis - Disintegration due to intolerance of
the vision and experience of the deeper levels
when activated
Depression Stagnation due to intolerance of the
vision and experience of the superficial levels
(1-3) when activated. - Increased awareness and
insight without corresponding efficacy
Mania Agitation due to intolerance of the
vision and experience of the intermediate levels
(4-5) when activated . - Increased awareness and
insight with some ecstasy and bizarre spiritual
experiences
Dissociation Highly permeable membranes
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N- Creativity

• Highly flexible movement with considerable speed
  between different activated levels of awareness
• Ability to re-integrate and re-organize
  experiences into new wholes
• Risk of inability to re-integrate (psychosis)
• Three variants
• Creativity that mainly affects creative
  product(????? ?????)
• Creativity that mainly affect creative
  individual(???????)
• Creativity that affects both (?????? ??????)

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O- Hemispheric Functioning
Active (Effective) awareness 4. Potentialized 5.
Deep Potential 6. Spiritual 7. Deep Spiritual
Right Hemisphere 1. intuition 2. free
3. mystical 4. creative 5. pattern
seeker 6. playful
Left Hemisphere 1. intellect 2. directed
3. logical 4. mathematical 5. Pattern
user 6. rigid
Inactive awareness 1. Surface 2. Reactive 3. Deep
Reactive

• As movement proceeds, passed levels get
  integrated forming at the end an overall whole
  that differs qualitatively from its constituents
  (integrating both hemispheric functions).

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P- Our Group Psychotherapy Model

• Whole Groups levels of awareness

• Hierarchy of used gestalt games and
  correspondence to levels of awareness (next slide)

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1- ??? ?????....?????..... I need.in order
to ?? ???? ????? ???????? ???? ?? ????? ???
??????? ?????? ????? ??????? ???????? ????????

• Surface (stereotypy)

2. Reactive (alternatives) 3. Deep Reactive
(large ineffective awareness)
2- ??? ????....?? ???? ???? ...I want but Im
afraid of ?? ???? ???? ??????? ???? ???? ??????
??? ?????? ???? ???????? ?????? ????? ?????
??????? ??? ??????
4. Potentialized (Effective awareness) 5. Deep
Potential (connectedness)
3- ?? ???...??? ??/ ?????? ?? ....Its my right
to.even if ?? ???? ??????? ?? ???? ?? ?????
??????? ????? ?????? ???? ???? ???? ???????? ??
????? ???????? ??? ???
6. Spiritual 7. Deep Spiritual
4- ??? ????.....?????? ?? ????? I decideand I
take responsibility ?? ???? ?????? ?????????? ???
???? ?? ???? ???? ???????? ?????? ????????? ??????
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-??? ????? ????? ???? (???)
?????? ??????? ??????......?????....
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Collective Unconsciousness
Personal Awareness
Universe
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????? ???