Synchronicity and Telepathy

“Synchronicity takes the coincidence of events in space and time as meaning something more than mere chance, namely, a peculiar interdependence of objective events among themselves as well as with the subjective (psychic) states of the observer or observers.”6 Synchronicity, in addition to having, as someone has said, “a causal vertical connection between happenings and a horizontal connection between events,” might also involve telepathy. An understanding of the possible connection between synchronicity and telepathy would appear to have practical value for the physician in psychotherapy. Many possible clinical examples and discussions of the ramifications of this connection have appeared elsewhere.1-5; 7-17

The following four vignettes, which are not rare and which were chosen from many other possible examples, illustrate clusters of apparently related and meaningful episodes. It should be emphasized that the presumed telepathic aspects of the reported happenings occurred in a continuum. For the purposes of this report there had to be a cutoff point; consequently, many temporally related patient-physician telepathic episodes that preceded or followed the reported happenings were omitted.

PJ, a middle-aged housewife, sought help because of a severe depressive reaction. Her problems were related to the recent death of an adolescent daughter, her husband's excessive drinking and her son's antisocial behavior. In the course of psychotherapy there were countless sessions with single or multiple telepathic patient-physician episodes. In one session the patient tearfully recalled a college love affair