Diamond Approach

Domain VII · Transpersonal, psychedelic & altered states · A. H. Almaas, Karen Johnson · 1976 · Berkeley, California

What it is

The Diamond Approach is a contemporary spiritual path and teaching, not a psychotherapy. Its own materials describe it as "not intended as a psychotherapy", although it draws on depth psychology, object-relations theory and the Enneagram. It was founded by A. H. Almaas (pen name of A. Hameed Ali,…

Format

• The Diamond Approach publishes no phase model with session counts or transition criteria. What the sources do describe is a set of formats and two process maps.
• Formats (as taught by the school)

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• For the psychotherapist. Teachers of the Diamond Approach complete seminary training, supervision and continuing education within the Ridhwan School. A therapist who is not a Ridhwan-trained teacher should not offer "the Diamond Approach"; what can be used responsibly is (a) the publicly taught foundational practices (meditation, sensing, inquiry, repeating-question dyads) and (b) the school's maps of the inner…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• superego attacks about not practising (4.6). Working: non-adherence becomes something to explore rather than a failure.
• shame from exposure, comparison, group pressure to have a "deep" experience. Working: witnesses report their own material being touched; volunteers leave feeling respected.
• self-criticism about "doing it wrong" (treat as superego activity, 4.6); breath-holding or forcing; dizziness or panic with interoceptive focus (switch to eyes open, feet on the floor, external…
• speakers performing for the listener; listeners nodding or reassuring (breaks neutrality); sudden intense material in a partner format without a clinician present (screen and debrief). Working:…
• intellectualising (bring the client back to sensation and the three centres; the school stresses inquiry is not intellectual); comparison and goal-setting ("I should be further along"; see 4.6);…

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.