Spiritual Crisis in a Time of Spiritual Crisis

Are you experiencing a spiritual crisis? How do you know? What characteristics, emotions, thoughts, behaviors, sensations, or even dreams paint the picture for you?

Are you unclear if what you’re experiencing is genuine? Do you question it? Are you questioning…everything?

(Do you secretly fear you’re…(drum roll)…going crazy?)

In my experience, chances are, you’re not crazy in the slightest. You just don’t have a framework for understanding what you are experiencing, especially if it’s a true spiritual crisis.

Both personally and professionally, what constitutes a personal spiritual crisis (which can be and mean many different things) is a matter of idiosyncratic/subjective experience, belief, perspective, one’s bio-psycho-social environment, spiritual or religious affiliation of lack thereof, and of course, culture, as such crisis are always culture-bound. Meaning, what in one culture would be considered a bona fide spiritual crisis might, in a another, be looked at (and probably labeled) a moral failing, such as having “imperfect faith.”

At the time of this writing, the world itself, arguably, is in global spiritual crisis. COVID-19, shutdowns, quarantines, racial violence and tensions at a max, never more divisive politics, protests, riots, etc. All the makings of the classic, archetypal process of birth/destruction/rebirth in full swing destruction mode! So, if on the personal level we find ourselves in the proverbial wilderness, experiencing an unusual (for us) darkness, how do we determine if this is a “from without” or “from within” generated crisis? And how much does that even matter? (And it’s probably both anyway!) These are some of the questions I encounter daily as I walk with folks struggling to make meaning of what’s happening, with themselves and the world at large.

I do not claim to have the answers, and it’s precisely these types of hard to pin down, “Both/And”experiences that ultimately defy neat and tidy categorization, let alone neat and tidy solutions. But even before and part from Coronavirus and all its ramifications became our new reality, I’ve been working with people on mental health challemnges that very often could be re-framed as fundamental spiritual crisis. Folks dealing with depression and anxiety in particular—again, inseparable from the social environment and cultural factors—are often in fact really people steeped in spiritual crisis—feeling existentially confused, lost, alone, forsaken, unable to access their intuition and recognize the nature of the spiritual guidance always available to us all.

You might find it surprising that the characteristics of a spiritual crisis are nearly identical to that of clinical depression. The hallmark difference is that a spiritual crisis [showing up as symptoms of depression] is a crisis of the soul. It’s a deeper. far more meaning-laden suffering. It takes a keen eye and broader lens to account for all possible factors that influence and exacerbate suffering not directly attributable to any obvious situational factors. Even though such factors— a divorce, sudden death of a loved one, or many other traumatic experiences can themselves be triggers for Dark Nights of the Soul or spiritual crisis states in general.

And this is to say nothing of the more acute catalysts for spiritual crisis that come in various forms of what we call potentially Spiritually Transformative Experiences (pSTEs).

Things like:

• Shamanic crisis/illness: a form of identity crisis where the individual experiences drastic changes to their meaning system (their unique purpose, goals, values, attitudes, beliefs, identity, and focus).

• Kundalini awakening: according to Tantra traditions, kundalini energy rests like a coiled serpent at the base of the spine. When this dormant energy flows freely upwards through the seven chakras (energy centers) it leads to an expanded state of consciousness. Such acvtivationscan be latent and slow, or sudden and acute, often leading to crisis states.

• Past-life experiences: in past life regression, people experience detailed memories of other lives, often taking place in historic or indeterminate points in time.

• Near-death experience: an unusual experience taking place on the brink of death, and recounted by a person on recovery. Typically an out-of-body experience or a vision of a tunnel of light.

• Episodes of unitive consciousness: a unitive, mystical experience is usually characterized by a state of ‘oneness’ that transcends sensory or cognitive apprehension. There is often an ineffable certainty that ultimate truth has been perceived and can be applied to one’s life.

• Psychic opening: the experience of having extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses (clairvoyance, claricognizance, clairaudience, or even telepathy for example).

• Possession states and experiences with the paranormal: the experience of being controlled or dominated by perceived malevolent spirits or encounters with energies or entities existing “beyond the veil.”

• Psychological renewal through return to center: the experience of dramatic, synchronistic sequences that involve enormous energies and occur on a scale that makes one feel as they are at the center of events that have global or cosmic relevance.

• UFO encounters and abductions: subjectively real experiences of being kidnapped by non-human entities.

• Channeling or communication with spirit guides, Angels, Ascended Masters etc: the experience of serving as a medium between perceived spirit and material worlds.

• Drug addiction and alcoholism: both considered complex biopsychosocial diseases affecting the mind, body and soul/spirit.

These and other similar experiences can upend ones life and relationships is dramatic and permanent ways. Proper evaluation, exploration, and integration work is key in understanding and making meaning of these types of events and experiences for which our “consensus reality” does not provide a framework. But just as often, spiritual crisis are less dramatic. Quieter, More insidious, and ever prone to being misunderstood, mislabeled, misdiagnosed, judged, and medicalized, even by well-meaning mental health and psychiatric professionals who lack the worldview, interest, sensitivity, and/or experience to know what to look for and how to discern and differentiate mental health conditions from genuine spiritual crisis. And so often, there’s overlap. These are not often distinct, disparate experiences.

I for one, am hopeful for us all and for what’s going on in the world. If we are truly in the classic destruction stage as a species, then rebirth is on its way, and the preponderance of spirituals crisis, both within and without, is an indicator if this.

We are, on the whole I believe, awakening.

Perhaps, as a result, we will move into more communitarian, simplified, spiritual and soul-based living practices—ways of being and interacting with one another that foster greater mind-body-spiritual health, personal and cultural integration.

As a psychospiritually-inclined therapist and emerging multidimensional channel, I am prepared as I know how to be on the front lines of the New Earth!

If you suspect you might be experiencing a spiritual crisis, or aren’t sure and could use a compassionate forum in which to take a good look, my Spiritual Healing specialty might be helpful. And if you think you have had or are currently going through any type of potentially Spiritually Transformative Experience (STE) such as described above, my Support for Extraordinary Experience (SEE) sub-specialty might be just what you need.

All services are available at my home office in Franklin, TN (case by case in the midst of COVID-19) or via Secure Video/Telehealth practically the world over.

Please visit my at Therapy Outside the Box or call me directly to set up a FREE 20 Minute Consult: 615.430.2778. Or, email me at chris@therapyoutsidehtebox.com

Remember, “There’s an Outside the Box Solution to Every Problem.”

Godspeed.

Peace to you and yours,

Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP

Nashville, TN

Depression or Pandemic 'New Reality' Blues?

Depression is a many-headed beast. Though the symptoms and expressions can look similar person to person, the root causes are many fold. In fact, someone very smart person (I can’t recall who at the moment) through research found there to be approx 400 distinct root causes/major contributors to depression. How about that?

The mainstream medical-psychiatric pathology model tends to reduce depression to mere biology and genetics, while the bio-psycho-social person-in-environment model (such as I was taught in grad school) looks at socio-cultural factors, psychological strength vs deficit factors, as well as interpersonal and family history. This model is more holistic, and less pejorative, for sure. Yet, the spiritual/psychospiritual domain of life is not much considered through either of these frames. So if, for example, what you’re really experiencing is a purely spiritual/existential Dark Night of the Soul (which I’ll surely write about in future posts) the chances of it (and you) being misunderstood, medically misdiagnosed and mis-treated, are great.

After 20 or so years talking with people experiencing various degrees and expressions of depression, and having been through at least two notable bouts (and one recent profound and life-altering Dark Night experience) myself, I’ve come to see depression as an infinitely complex, meaning-laden response condition; one not reducible to any one factor or cause. Because even if we’re heavily genetically loaded for depression, as the old saying goes, “genetics may load the gun, but trauma (environment) pulls the trigger.” Meaning, we are inseparable from the culture we live in and all the ramifications and manifestations of being a person embedded in and affected by our social environment. As such, one’s personal, idiosyncratic experience of depression, and the manner in which we endeavor to understand its meaning and therapeutically respond to it should be as nuanced as the person is [understood to be] a unique individual.

And how do you measure that? Because we are all unique (paradox: just like everyone else!).

So how do we know if we are truly depressed— clinically, medically, to the degree that it needs clinical, possibly even medical attention, rather than a just little down for longer than usual, more sad than not, appropriately grieving, or otherwise exhibiting a perfectly rational response to a crazy world?

"It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society.” said Krishnamurti

Personally, I would argue that modern society, today, is perhaps no more “sick” than it ever was. Rather, a convergence of things seen and unseen has our collective ills on full display, flushed up to the surface, and into the cold, hard light off day. So if we feel depressed right now in the context of a sick society in full focus, I ask you this:

Who is the patient? Us, or our culture itself?

COVID-19 is putting constraints on—and changing— us all. Even if you believe it to be a “hoax,” or overblown, you still have to interact with others that are responding as if its a worldwide crisis. Institutions are changing, and day to day living is markedly different. Nothing is quite like it was. Now some folks are constitutionally rolling with it better than others. And some, especially those that were struggling emotionally, psychologically or relationally before it hit, are very well seeing an exacerbation of signs and symptoms of depression, to say nothing of those thrust into a survival mode due to having lost their income, or housing, and the immediacy of the all out crisis state this produces.

Political views aside (though we cannot entirely extract belief and conditioned perspectives from the equation) our baseline response to the pandemic and all the “new normal” adjustments are impacting all of us in some way or another. And our mental health, collectively and individually, is on the line the longer it goes on.

Let us apply the Goldilocks Principle here. If your response so far is “too cold” (i.e. I don’t care, not affecting me at all, nothing I can do about it), then you’re probably not depressed in the slightest. Great. But, on balance, you might have some work to do on cultivating sensitivity, compassion, empathy. Some personal growth-oriented therapy work might come in handy there.

If your response is “too hot” (i.e. You’re cripplingly depressed— don’t want to eat, get out of bed, feel utterly terrified and/or hopeless), then that depression—situationally triggered as it might be— is most likely hooking into and magnifying predisposing factors, be they genetic, environmental, and/or previously un-examined, unhealed trauma. If this is the case, I hope you seek immediate attention, and I’d be glad to offer you a Free 20 Minute Consult to assess your needs and help you make some decisions (whether or not that involved working with me).

If your Pandemic response is “just right” (i.e. You’re affected, you feel it, you might get anxious or even dispirited about what’s going on, you’re concerned for others as well as yourself, and you recognize the rather dystopian flavor of it all while maintaining a sense that this too shall pass and you’re hopeful at to what’s to come), then you’re probably alright. Probably “Pandemic Blues,” and nothing more. My guess here would be you’re someone with good, as they say “pre-morbid” functioning (i.e. you were doing pretty well in most domains before all this) and you’re probably generally worldly, reasonably psychologically-minded and emotionally intelligent, and tend toward a big picture view of yourself, others, and the world.

This might even be your awakening time. Good for you.

In the end, there’s no “wrong” response to what’s happening out there. How we see it, what meaning we make, and how we cope and respond says as much about who we are (the sum total of our genetics, history, and each and every culture-bound experience that’s shaped us, consciously or unconsciously) as anything else.

Often it’s those among us that care the deepest, that are the most sensitive and empathic, and that have been hurt the most, that experience the most severe impact, but also stand the greatest chance of thriving on the other side of crisis—be that world crisis, or the more personal Noonday Demon that is depression. Especially if we rise to the challenge of seeking and accepting help, including for our mental health, if and when we need it.

If YOU are struggling, feel depressed, or aren’t sure if you are, but recognize the need for experienced assistance, my Integrative Counseling specialty might be worth considering. Available to Tennessee residents via Secure Video/Telehealth from the comfort of your home, or in my home office in Franklin, TN on a case by case basis.

Visit me at Therapy Outside the Box to learn more about why I believe there’s an outside the box solution to every problem. Or send me an email at Chris@therapyoutsidethebox.com or call me at 615.430.2778.

Peace to you and yours,

Chris Hancock, LCSW, ACMHP

Anxiety is not to be feared!

At some point in everyone’s life, anxiety creeps in. Sometime it comes crashing in, as in the case of panic attack. But for most often, it’s a slow, insidious creep into our psyche as a result of challenges we have been either loathe to fully face, or that we’ve been unable to find resolution for, despite our efforts.

And anxiety feels scary. But it is not to be feared. Because fundamentally, it’s simply a signal. An alert, that’s somethings amiss— that there’s a real or perceived threat to our existence in some form.

I could get all trauma-languagy and neuro-technical, but I wont, lest your eyes glaze over!

What I want you to consider is that anxiety is a message. A message from a part of you that, like all parts of us, is trying to be helpful (albeit, not always in the best way).

And while anxiety can be a bear to quickly mitigate completely, especially when it reaches a certain level, and depending on the severity level of what life stressors its alerting you to, it can often be greatly reduced by a combination of any number of basic self care strategies (none of which include pills!).

First and foremost is: BREATH.

Deep, diaphragmatic breathing performed at regular intervals throughout the day. It’s free. It’s easy. It feels good. It’s cleansing. And when used correctly, it is a powerful antidote to nervous system over-activation.

Second is MOVEMENT.

Did you know that its virtually impossible for a panic attack to escalate while doing vigorous jumping jacks? The disbursement of damned up physiological energy in the mindbody system is the key here. Anxiety, especially panic, is just that: energy. Energy that wants to move, to be discharged. So regular movement is a powerful combatant anxiety to anxiety.

Thirdly is MINDFULNESS (meditation and/or ‘mentalization’).

Getting quiet, still and turning inward toward our thoughts, tuning into our body, and observing without judgement sounds easier than it is, that’s for sure. But, with practice it gets easier. Ultimately, our thoughts are not who we are! The more we can observe them from a “witness” state, without attachment, we will come to see and know this to be true. Then it gets easier to let go— to regain and remain clam, clear, focused, and in a state of relative peace despite outward circumstances or unresolved challenges.

Lastly, is an effective A HEALING AND RELEASING METHOD.

When anxiety becomes habitual, or when it intermittently resolves but comes creeping (or rushing) back in despite our best self care efforts, it’s probably time to address it therapeutically.

But that does not mean just talking about! That actually does little, and can even escalate it. Focusing on the solution rather than the problem, and working on the subconscious mindbody level, especially for anxiety, is the way to go.

I have an Energy Healing approach I’ve developed (although it’s about much more than just energy!) called Subconscious Heal and Release®. It’s a beautiful, simple but potent method utilizing my 22 years experience, my mind body awareness, a heightened intuitive capacity, and the spiritual science of the spoken word. It rapidly identifies, heals, and releases all that’s in the way of your being in alignment with what you want— whether that’s being in a state of calm and peace, or anything else, provides it’s in your “highest and best good.”

Ready to find relief from anxiety, with grace and ease? By Secure Video/Telehealth from the comfort of your own home, or with me at my home office in Franklin, TN?

Visit my website and schedule a FREE 20 MINUTE CONSULT to get your questions answered and discover how I can help you!