What is Sahaja Meditation's view of psychotherapy?
I don't believe that they really take a position for or against psychotherapy. I think it has its place along the spectrum of treatments for psychological disorders. It's been my experience that people who get deeply into Sahaja Meditation and were receiving psychotherapy gradually stopped the psychotherapy. But certainly, no one would urge someone to quit psychotherapy. They're not doctors and they don't try to be. To each his own.
Once the inner energy is awakened, the spontaneous connection of this energy to the cosmic energy source and the continuous flow of energy through the energy channels may eliminate the need for other therapies. Perhaps it's sort of like the difference between a regular push mower and a self-propelled lawn mower… the inner energy provides some sort of thrust from within to the central nervous system.
Can Sahaja Meditation replace other treatments, such as medication or psychotherapy?
I believe that Sahaja Meditation can, in some cases, inherently and effectively treat a disorder like depression better than current pharmaceutical antidepressants can. I have seen many people who were on antidepressants discover that Sahaja Meditation helped solve their problems and restore emotional stability better than the antidepressant ever did.
For people with mild anxiety symptoms, meditation has been shown to have an improvement effect comparable to psychotherapy. But I have come across some studies that have shown that meditation's effect may hit a ceiling in cases where the individual is severely neurotic and perhaps there's a psychopathology underlying the neurosis — for example, a history of trauma or abuse.
But again, I wouldn't suggest that Sahaja Meditation should replace any therapy. This is a very individual matter, and it's not the goal of Sahaja Meditation, as far as I can tell.
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