phd in transpersonal psychology

The Institute for Transpersonal Psychology

Sofia University was formerly known as the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology (ITP), founded in 1975. Historically, the University’s academic emphasis has been on providing graduate degree programs in Transpersonal Psychology; in recent years the University has expanded its offerings into Business and Computer Science. Nevertheless, the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology lives on and thrives within Sofia University and is the “keeper of the flame” of Transpersonal Psychology that was ignited by its founders in 1975. We define Transpersonal Psychology as the scientific study of the full range of human experience, which includes the pain of trauma and dysfunction on the one hand and heights of creativity, intuition, and peak functioning on the other. The Institute of Transpersonal Psychology at Sofia University offers an undergraduate completion program for a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and graduate degrees programs for a Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology, a Master of Arts in Transpersonal Psychology, a Master of Arts in Transpersonal Psychology (Chinese Language), a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology. a PhD in Transpersonal Psychology (Chinese Language), and a PsyD in Clinical Psychology. Additionally, the Institute offers two certificates: Transformative Life Coaching and Dream Studies.

Transfer of Credits Policies and Articulation Agreements:

-Southern Nevada Community College

-Davis College, Ohio

Quick Links

What are you looking for, suggested searches.

• Academic Programs
• Community Health Clinics

Our Programs

• Undergraduate
• Professional Certificates

Anthropology and Social Change

We bring together scholars and activists to engage in co-learning, inspired by a long and beautiful history of education developed in popular universities, modern schools, universities of earth and without walls, and free schools. Our learning community is a convivial space where we collectively consider social movement histories and create a shared understanding of how to influence the movements we are a part of.

Our graduates are trained for professional careers in academia, policy, social-political journalism, advocacy, and community, legal, and environmental organizations. Our faculty have a wide range of research interests, among them urban social movements, agri-food studies, politics and filmmaking, post-structuralist philosophy, gender equality, forced migration and refugees, radical oral history, and psychoanalytic time.

4 - 7 Years

42.2 - 43.6.

We believe another world is within our grasp. Systematic research of counter-hegemonic knowledge and practices has gained supreme relevance with the world in crisis. Our PhD program will equip you with the necessary skills to participate in the "nowtopian" task of constructing social scientific knowledge that looks beyond capitalism, hierarchy, and ecological disaster.    

Asian Contemplative and Transcultural Studies

The online M.A. in Asian Contemplative and Transcultural Studies teaches and researches the contemplative traditions, practices and experiences of South and East Asia as agents for change in the modern world. The program offers a field of study for scholar-practitioners interested in experiencing personal transformation and in becoming leaders who catalyze world transformation.

Our graduates are prepared for professional careers in academia and research, activism and organizational leadership, and spiritual counseling or coaching. Our faculty  have a wide range of research interests, among them: Asian wisdom traditions, yoga studies, Integral Yoga, traditional Chinese medicine, Depth and archetypal psychologies, Western religious and esoteric traditions, folklore and mythology, ecopsychology, indigenous psychospiritualities, plant medicines, non-ordinary states of consciousness, and transpersonal and existential psychologies.

99.1 - 110.4

Clinical psychology.

Our unique postconventional program provides a pathway to licensure as a clinical psychologist while maintaining our commitment to our integral embrace of body, psyche, soul, spirit, culture, and society, based in a depth psychological perspective that integrates the conscious and the unconscious for healing, growth, and wholeness.

Graduates of our clinical psychology Psy.D. program are eligible to become licensed psychologists in the state of California as well as engage broadly in the ever-expanding field of clinical psychology in professional careers that include: therapy and assessment, supervision, management, administration, consulting, research, advocacy, and public policy. Our faculty have a wide range of research interests among them: the many intersections between psychodynamic psychotherapy and humanistic, existential, somatic, and transpersonal psychotherapies.

2.5 - 3 Years

60 (mft) or 67 (lpcc), community mental health.

CIIS’ Community Mental Health program integrates the fundamentals of psychotherapy with cultural humility and an understanding of the impact of trauma and social systems on the individual. Developed in partnership with public and non-profit mental health agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area, this program is one of five offered through the Counseling Psychology department at CIIS. 

Graduates are prepared to practice counseling in hospitals, clinics, schools, government agencies, community non-profits, and more. Our faculty have a variety of research interests, among them: social justice advocacy for Native American Communities, social support, social capital, and social sustainability in the context of intentional community, psychoanalysis, the discourse of capitalism and the California Dream.

2 - 3 Years

60 (mft) or 68 (lpcc), drama therapy.

The Master’s in Counseling Psychology with a concentration in Drama Therapy is a Board of Behavioral Sciences-approved program taught in person. As one of the first two approved Drama Therapy graduate programs in the US, we have long been investigating the dynamic and multifaceted integration of theatre and therapy. The program integrates experiential, theoretical, and clinical courses in a curriculum designed to train students to become skillful, ethical, and culturally attuned drama therapists.

East-West Psychology

The M.A. in East-West Psychology is a non-clinical-, non-license-oriented psychology degree that prepares a new type of integral psychospiritual practitioner and scholar who is educated at the intersection of the world’s wisdom traditions and sacred practices of East, West, and Earth. Our students become “meta-psychologists” who bring mentoring, healing, knowledge, communication, and mindfulness skills into a rapidly changing world.

39.2 - 40.6

The mission of the PhD in East-West Psychology at CIIS is to explore the convergence of Eastern, Western, and Indigenous psychologies and spiritualities in the spirit of dialogue and integral inquiry. Our students engage in research subjects that explore the meaning of this convergence for a diverse, multicultural, and peaceful world.

Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion

CIIS’ online master’s degree in Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion emphasizes an embodied, engaged approach in which contemplative practice and career exploration complement rigorous study. Our master's students are motivated by their deep concern for the state of Earth and their determination to find creative solutions for the future. In an engaged learning community with faculty and peers, students examine ecological issues from a variety of religious studies, social science, and policy perspectives.

Our graduates pursue professional careers in academia, the nonprofit sector, the arts, and other paths involving human-animal relations, religious rites and practices, ecopsychology, ecofeminism, environmental humanities, wilderness studies, and related themes. Our innovative and diverse faculty  work to shape the global dialogue linking spirituality, religion, and cosmology with ecology and sustainability through research in environmental ethics, socio-ecology, evolutionary cosmology, theology, and religious studies.

CIIS’ Ecology, Spirituality, and Religion Ph.D. offers a nurturing community engaged in revitalizing relationships to Earth while exploring the intersections of world religions, Indigenous traditions, eco-spirituality, eco-justice, and eco-feminism.

Our unique curriculum explores traditional cultures and emerging worldviews within a critically-informed methodological framework in order to help students understand, articulate, and address ecological trauma and transformation. Students gain skills and insight needed to transform practices, worldviews, and consciousness in service of a more just, sustainable, and flourishing planetary future.

3 - 5 Years

60 (mft) or 69 (lpcc), expressive arts therapy.

The Master of Arts in Counseling Psychology with a Concentration in Expressive Arts Therapy is a BBS-approved, 3-year, low-residency degree program for California residents. The pedagogy provides an engaging online, hybrid curriculum that weaves multimodal expressive arts, such as visual and digital arts, music, dance and movement, poetry, spoken word, and drama into all courses.

The Expressive Arts Therapy program trains future leaders in the expressive arts therapy field. Our graduates are prepared for professional careers in private practice, mental health facilities, healthcare organizations, human services agencies, and schools. Our faculty have a variety of research interests, including creativity and spirituality among African Americans, multicultural and social justice counseling, education and supervision, neuro-diverse populations, homeless women, adolescents in residential rehabilitation, and the integration of the arts into spiritual practice.

Human Sexuality

CIIS’ Human Sexuality Ph.D. is an interdisciplinary program in critical sexuality studies, exploring the intersections of power and sexuality. Through coursework, students undergo an analysis of power structures by exploring the many socio-cultural organizations of sex and gender that influence societies. 

Graduates of our Human Sexuality Ph.D. program are prepared for professional careers in research, education, clinical and organizational settings, advocacy, policy, and more. Our faculty  have a wide range of research interests, among them social and economic justice issues for the LGBTQ community, feminist conversations on power and gender, the biopolitics of HIV-prevention, reproductive journeys of transgender and nonbinary people, bioethics of sexual reorientation interventions, and bisexual representations in film and media.

Integral Counseling Psychology

CIIS’ Integral Counseling Psychology program has trained students in a vision of psychotherapy that combines major spiritual traditions of the East and West and contemporary therapeutic practices. The holistic orientation of this unique counseling program invites students to articulate their personal vision of psychology within modern theoretical approaches.

Our graduates are trained to become licensed therapists who go on to work in private practice, schools, and non-profit organizations. Our faculty have a variety of research interests, among them ecopsychology, trauma theory, dreams and imagination, mystical practices, work with incarcerated people, LGBTQIA+ and activist communities, psychedelic assisted therapy, and Transpersonal, Jungian, and Gestalt psychologies.

Integrative Health Studies

CIIS’ Integrative Health Studies program prepares students to become integrative health and wellness practitioners. Our non-clinical program is committed to bridging biomedical and alternative or complementary approaches to treatment. Students take all required courses as a cohort and experience supportive, collective learning on their way to becoming National Board Certified Health and Wellness Coaches or pursuing related careers in whole-person wellness.

Our faculty have a variety of research interests, among them: naturopathic, botanical and Ayurvedic medicine, behavioral medicine, stress physiology and neurobiology, health psychology, women's health, community-based and culturally-adapted interventions, health disparities, social connection, fitness and sports nutrition, psychoeducational and behavioral approaches to chronic disease prevention, health policy, ecological stewardship, mindfulness-based interventions, and guided imagery in psychotherapy.

Interdisciplinary Arts and Writing

CIIS’ Interdisciplinary Arts department offers a unique Master of Fine Arts degree that focuses on the vital role of inquiry in artmaking. We value the complex range of human experience that provokes art and welcome artists from all disciplines — literary, visual, performing, media, and interdisciplinary — into an innovative laboratory for individual and collaborative artmaking.

Our graduates are prepared for professional careers in journalism, coaching, arts administration, academia, and more. Our faculty have a wide range of research interests, among them: cognitive science, creativity, poetry, and the brain, pluralism in the arts, social construction of whiteness, critical media literacy, and social justice comedy.

Ph.D. in Psychology, Concentration in Integral Transpersonal Psychology

CIIS’ Psychology Ph.D. with a concentration in Integral Transpersonal Psychology is one of the few programs in the world that offers an online Ph.D. in whole-person approaches to psychology. It is a research-oriented program dedicated to systematic knowledge-building and the advancement of transpersonal psychology.

Our doctoral graduates are trained for professional careers in education and academia, activism and organizing, psychology, and fields related to personal development, social change, and environmental protection. Our faculty have a wide range of research interests, among them: cultural and historical consciousness studies, spiritual experiences, tantric meditation, altered consciousness and unusual/anomalous experiences, neuroscience of hypnosis and meditation, brain architecture and neurorehabilitation, creative process and cognition, and somatic, developmental, psychoanalytic, and trauma-based psychological theories.

Ph.D. in Psychology, Concentration in Somatic Psychology

CIIS’ Psychology Ph.D. with a concentration in Somatic Psychology is a unique online doctoral program that approaches psychology from the lived experience of being human, while incorporating scientific rigor in building a more insightful, effective psychology of the living person. Students explore the implications for understanding human complexities that emerge from serious, prolonged cultivation of direct bodily experience: breathing, touching, sensing, moving.

Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness

CIIS’ master’s in Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness has been designed to help shape the intellectual, moral, and spiritual leadership necessary for meeting historic global challenges. Drawing upon some of the most powerful ideas and impulses of our philosophical, scientific, and religious traditions, our faculty has constructed an intensive multidisciplinary course of study to help accelerate students' journeys into their leadership roles.

Our students pursue a unique interdisciplinary curriculum which prepares them for professional careers in academia, writing and research, consulting, counseling and coaching, and entrepreneurship. Our faculty  have established international reputations and a wide range of research interests in fields such as: evolutionary and archetypal cosmology, philosophy, religious studies, Jungian and transpersonal psychology, ecology, and the evolution of consciousness.

42.2 - 43.5

CIIS’ Philosophy, Cosmology, and Consciousness Ph.D. program is dedicated to reimagining the human species as a mutually enhancing member of the Earth community.

The heart of the program is its focus on knowledge that is transformative—of ourselves and of our civilization. Our program attracts intellectually engaged individuals who are to varying degrees dismayed by what they see happening in modern societies and who are striving to find meaningful ways to develop their gifts to serve the future of the world.

60 (MFT) or 71 (LPCC)

Somatic psychology.

Students in the Somatic Psychology program develop an integral approach to counseling psychology that includes evidence-based modalities and a broad understanding of individual and family systems. A range of disciplines are explored, including neuroscience, traumatology, Jungian psychology, and socio-cultural approaches. Clinical skills are emphasized, as well as key academic competencies in research and presentation.

Our graduates are trained as conscientious and culturally-aware experts in approaches to psychotherapeutic embodied cognition. Our faculty  have a wide range of research interests, including early childhood mental health, somatic and movement therapy in foster and adoptive care systems, refugees and immigrants, underserved communities, depth psychology, queer theory, neurodiversity, and creative transformation.

Transformative Leadership

CIIS’ Master’s in Transformative Leadership is a degree program ideal for passionate and innovative leaders who want to attain personal growth and practical skills in the service of a greater future. The coursework in the Transformative Leadership master’s program invites you to engage in self-exploration around what matters most to you and how you can draw on all of your internal and external resources to lead your life. Through rigorous academic study, deep personal inquiry, and a culminating Capstone Project, the program provides the framework to envision, initiate, and engage in transformative change processes. 

Our graduates go on to be passionately engaged in work that manifested as a result of their experience in our program, whether it’s leading a non-profit, teaching in academia, working for environmental or social justice initiatives, or creating their own consulting firm. Our faculty  have a broad range of research interests, among them systems thinking as a catalyst for personal and social change, consciousness, education reform, creativity and improvisation, personal growth, leadership development, future studies, coaching, and spiritual intelligence.

Transformative Studies

The mission of our Transformative Studies Ph.D. program is to develop transdisciplinary scholars committed to exploring leading-edge issues in innovative ways that combine scholarship, creativity, and self-inquiry. We invite students to take a systems view of a topic of interest, interrogating its context and complexity. From there, students will design a dissertation drawing on a wide range of qualitative and theoretical research approaches.

Our graduates are trained for professional careers as both thought and action leaders who work in fields such as broadcasting, coaching, academia, and policy. Our faculty  have a broad range of research interests, among them systems thinking as a catalyst for personal and social change, consciousness, education reform, creativity and improvisation, personal growth, leadership development, future studies, coaching, and spiritual intelligence.

Women, Gender, Spirituality, and Social Justice

CIIS’ master’s in Women, Gender, Spirituality, and Social Justice honors the spiritual impulses that have guided movements for equality and justice across the globe. This program is best suited to those who are interested in developing a visionary approach to their work as activists, educators, healers, facilitators, artists, and socially conscious entrepreneurs.

Our graduates pursue a unique interdisciplinary curriculum which prepares them for professional careers in academia and research, teaching and education, coaching and counseling, media, and entrepreneurship. Our innovative and diverse faculty  pursue research interests in the three areas of the curriculum: Women and World Religions; Feminist and Ecofeminist Philosophy and Activism; and Women's Mysteries, Sacred Arts, and Healing.

Women’s Spirituality

The Ph.D. in Women’s Spirituality is a rigorous transdisciplinary online program building students towards thought-leadership and propelling change. The program explores varied spiritual, ecological, and political perspectives rooted in care for the Earth, each other, and the Sacred. Through your coursework and unique research, you will explore transpersonal and embodied ways of knowing holding womanist, feminist, Indigenous and decolonial lenses.

Ph.D. in Psychology - Consciousness and Society

• Skip to content
• Skip to main navigation
• Wolf Connect
• Faculty & Staff
• Departments & Offices
• Programs & Degrees
• Courses & Syllabi
• Becoming UWG
• Academic Calendar

Explore West

Take advantage of what the University of West Georgia has to offer. UWG boasts 87 programs of study.

UWG offers an exciting, diverse curriculum that allows its students to flourish and become community and world leaders.

The Ph.D. degree in Psychology is focused on the study of Consciousness and Society. It is grounded in the  program's approach to psychology as a distinctively human science. It will educate future scholars and practitioners at the highest level of the discipline to make original contributions to theory and knowledge. Our graduates will serve as researchers, consultants, leaders, and teachers who can creatively facilitate transformations in a global society.

Ph.D. Program in Psychology: Consciousness and Society

Foundations

The program will reflect three theoretical approaches to analyze the intersection of consciousness and society: Humanistic, Critical, & Transpersonal. These approaches will serve as reflexive and reflective anchors to the scholarly trajectory of our students in developing their own research interests. The doctoral program draws on the humanistic-existential foundations that addresses the phenomenological grounding of consciousness and interrogates relevant research in psychology and other disciplines, from philosophy to the neurosciences. This entails drawing upon the classical texts in the discipline and studies emerging in transpersonal psychologies, with their interest in mind/body questions, and current interdisciplinary work in embodiment and mind/body. The program’s study of consciousness will also be informed by critical traditions that examine the historical position of the discipline as well as cultural representations and practices in order to understand the constitution of consciousness and the subject within institutional and social contexts. Our commitment to praxis entails a commitment to engaged forms of research such as those consonant with the Social Justice movement in psychology.

Values and Commitments

All of the theoretical perspectives that inform the curriculum indicate a fundamental value of the program, to privilege the question of one’s subjective accounting of an event, either in experiential or discursive terms. Whether in terms of reflexivity or awareness, this value links each of these traditions to more qualitative approaches to which the program's teaching is also committed. It is assumed that a truly ethical approach cannot hide behind generated knowledge but reflects values and an understanding of the historical and cultural place of the discipline and one’s own place and desires as a researcher.

In all of our classes and projects, the Psychology program will offer a more integrative and nuanced approach toward consciousness and society, including an awareness of the less explored spiritual dimensions that inform individual and community life. This promise is made good in our foundation in transpersonal psychologies with their articulation of the wisdom traditions. Our broad based sense of the place of community life for the individual translates into our support of social justice and ecological and integrative thinking. It dovetails with our effort to continually creatively address the relationship between theory and praxis through more ethically informed and engaged modalities of research.

For several decades, the Psychology program at the University of West Georgia has drawn international attention for its unique set of programs reclaiming psychology as the holistic study of human experience. Historically grounded in humanistic and transpersonal psychology, the department has integrated these traditions with critical and psychodynamic perspectives. The result is an interdisciplinary approach that incorporates literature, history, art, sociology, anthropology, religious studies, global studies, neuroscience, and Western and Asian philosophy.

The faculty hold the belief that in order to understand psychology effectively and help others, a holistic approach is essential. Classes in integrative health and eco-psychology are examples of such an approach. Within the courses offered, an emphasis is made toward what has been called "psychology as a human science" which encourages students to explore human experiences as primary sources of psychological data. The additional dimension of social and cultural research has lead into study that more closely examines the intersection of the collective and the individual and thinks deeply about social representations and practices, a must in today’s media saturated climate. Students are even required to think through the history of psychology itself: the aim is the crafting of a new kind of psychologist.

Beyond traditional classes in psychological theory and research, students are exposed to a variety of experiences that foster rigorous and creative scholarship alongside social engagement and transformation. The program’s strong humanistic, cultural/critical, and transpersonal foundations mean that scholarship is linked to social engagement. Faculty encourage and guide Ph.D. students to submit articles to national and peer reviewed journals as well as a variety of national publications for professional development. Each semester students receive opportunities to present papers and posters at regional and national conferences that represent their areas of interest and further advance the goals of evolving perspectives in psychology, human science, discursive psychology and qualitative research.

The University’s stated aim is to foster "educational excellence in a personal environment,” and this program is doing just that. The program prizes theoretical dexterity, judicious employment of psychological concepts in everyday life, attention to the ways culture and history shape the discipline and its practitioners, personal awareness of one’s subjective position, identity, values, and vocational inclinations, and knowledge of the major career areas in psychology. Students are using their skills in the community which wholly supports the University's emphasis on scholarship, critical thinking, vocational discernment, personal growth, and creativity.

See What We Look for in Ph.D. Canditates