Discussion of “The Human-Potential Movement: Implications for Psychoanalysis”

First of all, let me summarize by reminding you that the human-potential movement consists mainly of the following: humanistic psychology, psychosynthesis, transactional analysis, gestalt therapy (F. Perls), encounter and sensitivity groups, Rolfing and other body-awareness techniques, transcendental meditation, est, and assertive training. Of these, I am most personally familiar with est (Erhard Seminars Training) having, along with other psychiatrists, spent eight hours with Werner Erhard, its founder, at a panel at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. For six of the eight hours, Erhard was subject to the searching inquiry of very sophisticated psychiatrists from various parts of the United States. For the last two hours he invited a few of us to share coffee and further discussion with him in a more informal setting. I had read everything that was available on est up to that time and have since closely questioned a number of people who have undergone the training.

I shall limit my comments here to areas in which I have some expertise, such as psychoanalysis, the existential attitude applied to psychoanalysis, and I shall touch on est and other aspects of the human-potential movement.

1) Transcendental Meditation (TM): I have not tried it, but from what I can gather from wide reading and investigation, it has transient beneficial results. It appears to be too cumbersome to be of lasting benefit to people with busy lives. Requiring two daily sessions of twenty minutes each (after mealtimes and before bedtime are inadvisable since the former results in sleepiness and the latter in a hyperaware state resulting in insomnia), I ask: where does one get the time for this on a continuing basis? It does not offer a method for genuine personality improvement, having relaxation itself as the main goal. And so, I ask: meditation for what? As Gopi Krishna, founder of Kundalini told Maharishi Yogi, founder of TM, TM is a form of self-hypnosis for the attain