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Changing Self Perceptions
A controlled efficacy study of the Quadrinity Process
by Christiane Windhausen
Theoretical Underpinnings
A previous author, the Fullbright scholar Claudio
Naranjo, MD, has spoken to the issue of the underlying theory
of the Quadrinity Process. In a monograph entitled The Quadrinity
Process: A New Synthesis (1993), Naranjo elegantly lays out
the internal working of the Process as an experience that touches
the behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic and spiritual domains.
A major theme of his paper is the strength of transpersonal psychology,
as a method that brings transpersonal value, value that transcends
the self. He argues that the Quadrinity Process is methodologically
sound, and enjoys its success due to its inspired adherence to common
principles of transpersonal psychology.
Windhausen, on the other hand, inspired by the concept of the structure
of psychotherapy and the dynamics of groups, is most interested
as the Quadrinity Process as a Ritual des Uebergangs—Ritual
of Transition. She argues that the Quadrinity Process is, due to
its complexity and purpose, experienced as having existential meaning.
She posits it is during these highly structured yet meaningful experiences
that the individual participant moves forward into a new chapter
of his or her life.
She argues that in the classic initiation ritual marking the end
of puberty, each adolescent bears the full weight and responsibility
of the adult as a new and mature member of the community. In the
Quadrinity Process for adults, she argues that many participants
are in a specific phase of their life, which is experienced as a
crisis. They are often seeking a remedy for this crisis, looking
for support and a new orientation. Or, they are standing at a crossing,
such as at a divorce or serious illness, and are seeking to begin
a new life phase, fully conscious.
Therefore, similar to the classic transitional rituals of puberty,
the Quadrinity Process, especially in the first day or two, encourages
a clear separation from everyday habits and ways of thinking. This
is the move into the forest, into a contemplative mind set. This
is called the "separation phase". The continuing process
is called the "expansion phase", and finally the "reintegration
phase" is experienced.
As Windhausen sees it, the Quadrinity Process has the inner working
of the classic initiation rites; for instance, the on-going curriculum
of experiences is ever-evolving, carrying the participant to the
next level of experience. As a point of information to those who
have not taken the 8-day Quadrinity Process, the curriculum is one
in which the participant is consistently guided and directed by
the instructors to experience a myriad of planned exercises. These
planned exercises include emotionally cathartic experiences using
visualizations and recollections of parental messages and childhood
experiences. Other experiences include such activities as journal
writing. Although there are no specific secrets of the process for
an incoming participant, they are generally not told what their
next day will bring. Windhausen argues that this curricular structure,
in the absence of habitual behaviors, offers the potential for an
inner life story to unfold and evolve. These outer curricular structures
allow the participant to include inner psychic chaos (anti-structure)
which then allows the individual to continue the transformative
process in rich and various ways.
Windhausen, on a theoretical level, argues the parallels between
the therapeutic process and the initiation (ritual) process. She
suggests that the Quadrinity Process is a similar process in which
things to be feared, things to be discovered, those things that
are painful, unsavory personality characteristics and the like are
faced in this structured (read ritualistic) environment with the
likelihood that positive change will occur.
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