Acceptance, courage, good will, receptivity, patience, and finally wisdom are the transpersonal qualities which life seems to demand from these individuals as their means to master mental illness. One client simply stated his hope and faith: "For every affliction, something is gained."
Some parents and siblings attested to a richer quality in their lives, a new unexpected dimension, since finding the company of others going through familiar trials. Many have learned about love and joy through realizing their power to contribute to the lives of others. Others are simply learning what it is to be given to, to open to the valuable experience that other parents or siblings have to share.
Parents who years ago would have withdrawn in fear and loathing from the mentally ill now regularly walk through the locked ward, spending time with this patient or that (often each other's children), comfortable in understanding the pain of that patient, as of their own child. Parents who have faced threats or violence from their own children, who have faced grief, rage, helplessness, and despair, become strong indeed.
To have endured loss, to have accepted the unknown, and still to find joy and value in one's own life; to have surmounted shame and humiliation, guilt, and self-blame and to have grown in self-love and self-affirmation; to have faced the darkest abysses of the mind in a son or daughter or in themselves; to have experienced the creative power and resourcefulness of a group of individuals who have joined together to rise above their pain through compassionate action; to experience within oneself clarity and the new ability to create more authentic relationships with others, including one's own family; to realize that far from being victimized by life he or she has been chosen to grow in wisdom and to share this with others coming their way " all these are signs of increased personal and spiritual growth.
Concretely, the parents in the clinic's education group were the originators in 1980 of Alliance for the Mentally Ill, a local self-help group committed to political advocacy and mutual support. Beginning with less than ten members, it has over 125 members and has functioned as a seed organization for inspiring the creation of more than 38 groups as well as a State Alliance.
A core group has written a manual for families who encounter mental illness, and it is now common for family members to lead workshops on mental illness both with or without professional co-leaders. A growing interest of Alliance families is the nutritional and orthomolecular approaches to treating mental illness.
These case examples are manifestations of what Assagioli has called the "will to good," a synthesis of love and will. An aspect of both the personal and transpersonal will, it is best taught by example. Such acts, motivated by compassion, may take on great force, gaining power in a contagious way. Examples of figures who have been known for their influence through the  «will to good » are Schweitzer, Martin Luther King, and Gandhi.
The creation of this climate occurred in the aftercare program I have been describing through the combined efforts and inspiration of the clinic staff. According to Crampton, through establishing harmonious and cooperative relationships with others and through aligning with transpersonal qualities within, "the psychic energies of the group tend to combine synergistically or like batteries connected in series to generate more power for the common (endeavor) rather than cancelling each other out through conflict."
For a treatment staff, these conditions are manifested through creativity, expressions of acceptance, caring and acknowledgment, and the open airing of conflicts and differences. The creation and sustaining of this kind of atmosphere is always, of course, imperfect, subject to all the contingencies of any work group - problems with funding, overworked staff, personal disagreements, political differences with other agencies, and so on. But altruistic activities themselves provide deep satisfaction; joining with others in this endeavor (motivated by what psychosynthesis calls "the impulse to serve") creates an atmosphere of good will which is vital and energizing and which can increase in exponential proportions.
It is the impulse to serve - the desire to contribute to the evolution, health, and well-being of others in a meaningful way - that is at the foundation of psychosynthesis. It is, as well, at the basis of the work with the chronically mentally ill I have attempted to illustrate in this piece. When held as a group context in a work setting, it can constitute a powerful antidote to the psychological toxins experienced by the mentally ill and by those who work with them.
It is, as well, a powerful antidote to staff exhaustion, which is a constant hazard in work with highly traumatized, politically powerless individuals. This is primarily so because the  «will to good » is the basis for a harmonious, joyful atmosphere. As Gandhi stated so very clearly:
"Such service to others can have no meaning unless one takes pleasure in it". Service which is rendered without joy helps neither the servant nor the served. But all pleasures and possessions pale into nothingness before service which is rendered in a spirit of joy."
Conclusion
This article has attempted a description of the psychosynthesis perspective as applied, both purposefully and instinctively, in a clinic whose mandate was to meet the challenge of mental illness. The success of this program reveals an essential truth: a focus on positive aspects, on the emerging next step, and on the potential capacity and willingness of human beings to aid one another can be the basis for meaning, hope, and growth. This is itself a strong argument for building bridges between professionals and the natural healing networks of the families of the chronically mentally ill. They have many resources waiting to be tapped.
For mental health professionals, psychosynthesis can serve as a means for utilizing, systematically, the powerful healing forces both within and between individuals. This need not be construed as a contradiction of the medical model of psychopathology since chronic mental illness needs to be precisely assessed and treated. It is, however, an invitation to expand the context of treatment such that the psyche in its totality is taken into account, including its innate potential for growth and healing.
For supervisors and participants in milieu treatment centers, the psychosynthesis approach suggests forms of management and cooperation which can bring forth the best in therapeutic staff through establishing relationships which are nourishing to clients and staff members. Such an orientation is a powerful antidote to burn out, which is especially prevalent in the public sector of the human service delivery system. This kind of work group - which is encouraged to get in touch with inner resources, strengths, potentials, and beauty in a setting marked by a high degree of acceptance, genuine concern, and sharing - can liberate healing forces of tremendously powerful dimensions.
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