Editing Process-oriented psychology (section)

===Process===
The theory of process oriented psychology centres around the idea of 'process': a meaningful, connected pattern over time that can be observed and tracked through non-intentional signals (e.g. non-verbal communication, body symptoms, dreams, accidents, conflicts).<ref name=Collins2001 />{{rp|29–30}} It is claimed that becoming consciously aware of the 'dreaming process' may help to deal with disturbances including mental and physical distress, relationship troubles and social issues.<ref name=Thompson2006>{{cite news|last=Thompson|first=Sylvia|title=Looking back at how to move on|newspaper=Irish Times|date=December 6, 2006}}</ref><ref name=Mindell1985>{{cite book|last=Mindell|first=Arnold|title=River's Way: The process science of the dreambody|year=1985|publisher=Routledge & Kegan Paul|location=London|isbn=978-0-7102-0631-2}}</ref> The theory of a 'dreaming process' began with Arnold Mindell's concept of the 'dreambody', developed from Jungian dream analysis and the observation that dreams and body symptoms were meaningfully connected.<ref name=Singer1995 />{{rp|26–9}} Mindell asserted that a therapist could work with body experiences to reveal the unconscious just as they could work with dreams.<ref name=Totton2003 />{{rp|107–108}}

Process Work's contention of a link between dreams and body symptoms is a viewpoint similar to shamanism, 'mankind's oldest medicinal doctrine, where illness reflects one's spiritual condition'.<ref name=Shafton1995 />{{rp|523}}  Mindell's theory has also been compared to another Jungian, Meredith Sabini, who similarly recognises a symbolic relationship between dream images and physical symptoms, and values their role in bringing awareness of a person's [[individuation]] process, the development of the Jungian [[Self (Jung)|Self]].<ref name=Shafton1995 />{{rp|524}} Mindell is recognised for providing a method of working psychologically with body symptoms using the technique of 'amplification'; this involves intensifying the experience of a symptom or a dream and following its expression through the various 'channels' of perception until the meaning of the 'dreambody' is revealed to the client.<ref name=Shafton1995 />{{rp|524–5}}

The idea of a 'dreambody' was generalised to the concept of a 'dreaming process': a potentially meaningful pattern within symptoms, dreams and other irrational or disturbing aspects of our experience.<ref name=Caldwell1997 />{{rp|65}}  Totton explains that for process oriented psychology, 'dreaming' refers to any 'extra-conscious signals through which our process communicates itself'.<ref name=Totton2003 />{{rp|28}} The signals of a 'dreaming process' go beyond nighttime dreams and body symptoms to include 'daydreams, imagery and flickers of awareness that come and go'.<ref name=Elbaz2010>{{cite journal|last=Elbaz-Luwisch|first=Freema|title=Writing and professional learning: the uses of autobiography in graduate studies in education|journal=Teachers and Teaching|year=2010|volume=16|issue=3|pages=307–327|doi=10.1080/13540601003634404|s2cid=143398221}}</ref>{{rp|313}}  For Process Work, 'dreaming' can be defined as 'the unconscious activity of the person, both when they are asleep and when they are awake'.<ref name=Collins2001 />{{rp|29}} Shafton comments that Mindell, along with Walter Bonime, Fritz Perls, Strephon Williams, [[Jeremy Taylor (dream worker)|Jeremy Taylor]] and Eugene Gendlin, makes the assumption that 'dreamlike symbolic processes occur in waking' and accordingly applies dreamwork techniques to aspects of conscious experience.<ref name=Shafton1995 />{{rp|335}}

The 'dreaming process' is believed to have a meaningful, purposeful direction of change, reflecting the influence of Taoism and Jungian psychology.<ref name=Singer1995 />{{rp|27–8}} The dreaming process can be understood as the Jungian unconscious 'seeking integration, and ... creating opportunities for the individual to grow in conscious awareness'.<ref name=Collins2001 />{{rp|29}}

An important conceptual distinction for process oriented psychology is between the 'primary' (intended) and the 'secondary' (unintended) aspects of a given behaviour or experience:
:people at any given moment experienc[e] a 'primary process' — aspects of our experience with which we identify — and a 'secondary process' — aspects with which we find it hard to identify and which are trying insistently to enter our awareness.<ref name=Totton2003 />{{rp|108}} 
For an individual, the primary or intended aspects of communication and behaviour will be shaped by conscious norms and values, while secondary processes will include disturbing, challenging or irrational experiences that are further from awareness and often overtly marginalised.<ref name=Collins2001 />{{rp|29}}  Process Work aims to integrate secondary processes into a person's primary, conscious awareness to reduce the disturbance and access its potential for meaning and growth.<ref name=Collins2001 />{{rp|30}}

Process Work theory includes a framework of experiential 'channels' through which the dreaming process is expressed; these channels include the visual, auditory, movement (kinaesthetic), body feeling (proprioceptive), relationship and world channels.<ref name=Totton2003 />{{rp|108}}<ref name=Bressen2004 />{{rp|14}}  Like [[Gestalt therapy]], Process Work tracks a person's experience as it shifts between different channels.<ref name=Shafton1995 />{{rp|525}}  Process Work is particularly known for using the channels of body awareness, movement and physical contact to explore psychological issues.<ref name=Payne2006 />{{rp|9}} The concept of a purposeful 'dreaming process' expressing itself through multiple 'channels' of experience is the theoretical basis for Process Work's 'far-reaching and flexible approach, which uses essentially the same capacious toolbox to work with everything from bodily symptoms to couple relationships to political conflicts'.<ref name=Totton2003 />{{rp|108}}

The theory and contentions of process oriented psychology have been described as an alternative to mainstream psychology.<ref name=Bedrick2013>{{cite book|last=Bedrick|first=David|title=Talking Back to Dr. Phil: Alternatives to Mainstream Psychology|year=2013|publisher=Belly Song Press|location=Santa Fe, NM|isbn=978-0985266707}}</ref>{{rp|1–14}} Process Work proposes that disturbing feelings, symptoms and behaviours be interpreted as 'an underlying urge toward health, wholeness, and diversity rather than pathology'.<ref name=Bedrick2013 />{{rp|8}} The theory suggests understanding the meaning of symptoms and disturbances rather than only focusing on modifying or eliminating them.<ref name=Bedrick2013 />{{rp|8}}