Roberto Assagioli (Venice,February 27, 1888 - Capolona d'Arezzo, August 23, 1974) was an influential Italian psychiatrist who was the founder of the psychological movement known as Psychosynthesis. He was the first psychiatrist to integrate religious and spiritual concepts into modern psychology. ^{[1], [2]}. Venice (Italian: Venezia, Venetian: Venezsia, Latin: Venetia) is a city in northern Italy, the capital of region Veneto, and has a population of 271,251 (census estimate January 1, 2004). ... is the 58th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1888 (MDCCCLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Tuesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Capolona is a small town and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the River Arno. ... Arezzo (Latin Arretium) is an old city in central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. ... is the 235th day of the year (236th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Psychiatry is a branch of medicine that studies and treats mental and emotional disorders (see mental illness). ... Psychosynthesis is a form of transpersonal psychology which insists on integration, or synthesis of various psychological functions in order to achieve the goal of healthy individual. ...

Biography

Assagioli was one of three Italians credited with being pioneers of the psychoanalytic movement. Psychoanalysis is the revelation of unconscious relations, in a systematic way through an associative process. ...

At the same time, around 1910, Assagioli laid the groundwork for Psychosynthesis. He saw that there was a need for something beyond analysis. This was the need for a person to become whole - to be united in synthesis. Psychosynthesis is a form of transpersonal psychology which insists on integration, or synthesis of various psychological functions in order to achieve the goal of healthy individual. ...

Assagioli maintained that just as there was a lower unconscious, there was also a superconscious. He describes this as a realm of the psyche which contains our deepest potential, the source of the unfolding pattern of our unique human path of development. Assagioli formulated his discoveries into an approach he called psychosynthesis. This term of course distinguishes it from psychoanalysis, but Assagioli did not mean thereby to replace psychoanalysis, but rather to complement and include it.

Psychosynthesis then is not simply a model of pathology and treatment, but a developmental approach which can help guide a person to understand the meaning of their human life within the broad context of synthesis - the drive towards the harmonisation of all relationships, whether intrapersonal, or interpersonal, between individuals and groups.

Assagioli was also a coworker of Alice Bailey, who had founded a New Age esoteric school called the Arcane School. In the book Discipleship in the New Age, channeled by Bailey to a small group of students, he is known by the initials F.C.D. standing for "Freedom from Ties, Chelaship, and Detachment."[1]. Alice A. Bailey Shown here on the cover of a Danish translation of her autobiography, her work has been translated into over 50 languages. ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ...

"Only the development of his inner powers can offset the dangers inherent in man's losing control of the tremendous natural forces at his disposal and becoming the victim of his own achievements." - Roberto Assagioli, The Act of Will, 2002, p. 6

Selected works

• Psychosynthesis: A Collection of Basic Writings by Roberto Assagioli ISBN 0-9678570-0-7
• The Act of Will by Roberto Assagioli ISBN 0-670-10309-8
• Transpersonal Development: The Dimension Beyond Psychosynthesis by Roberto Assagioli ISBN 1-85538-291-1

See also

• Psychosynthesis
• Humanistic psychology
• Religion and mythology

Psychosynthesis is a form of transpersonal psychology which insists on integration, or synthesis of various psychological functions in order to achieve the goal of healthy individual. ... Humanistic psychology is a school of psychology that emerged in the 1950s in reaction to both behaviorism and psychoanalysis. ... Religion and mythology differ, but have overlapping aspects. ...

External links

• Istituto di Psicosintesi The Institute of Psychosynthesis founded by Roberto Assagioli
• In Memoriam: Roberto Assagioli Dr. Roberto Assagioli, founder of Psychosynthesis
• The Institute of Psychosynthesis, London - Counselling and Psychotherapy Training and Self-Development
• A few words about Dr.Assagioli by Piero Ferrucci
• Roberto Assagioli, Psychosynthesis,and the Esoteric Roots of Transpersonal Psychology
• The Will Project was a project proposed by Roberto Assagioli to explore all aspects and manifestations of the Will.