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Being Well Podcast: 6 Lessons from Existential and Transpersonal Psychology
April 6, 2026

In today’s episode of the Being Well Podcast, Dr. Rick and Forrest explore the lessons we can learn from two of Humanistic psychology’s more challenging branches: existential and transpersonal psychology. Existential psychology asks what it means to build a meaningful life in the face of death, while Transpersonal psychology wonders if the individual self is what we should be so focused on. Forrest and Rick focus on the work of Rollo May, Irvin Yalom, Abraham Maslow, and Stanislav Grof, and major themes include freedom, agency, anxiety, the limits of the “self,” and how confronting these can lead to a fuller and more meaningful life.

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Key Topics

  • 0:00: Intro and recap of humanistic psychology
  • 6:12: History and context of existential psychology
  • 12:04: Three important lessons from existentialism
  • 26:03: Agency and meaning making within existential psychology
  • 38:38: Overview of transpersonal psychology
  • 1:00:43: Three important lessons from transpersonal psychology
  • 1:11:14: Closing reflections, and a one word summary
  • 1:14:07: Recap

Forrest is now writing on Substack, check out his work there.

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