[4]: 107 It began as a development of Jungian psychology with the concept of a 'dreambody' that extended dream analysis to include work with people's body symptoms and bodily experiences.
[4][9][10] Jungian analyst June Singer commented that Mindell's work 'expands the scope of Jung's psychology to include not only the psyche but also the body, relationships and the total environment.
[42] 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).
[1]: 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.
[4]: 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'.
[1]: 29 Shafton comments that Mindell, along with Walter Bonime, Fritz Perls, Strephon Williams, 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.
[1]: 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: 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.
[46]: 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'.
[47][48] Brown and Harris (2014) explain: Process Work applications for groups have become known through Mindell's books: The Leader as Martial Artist: An Introduction to Deep Democracy (1992)[49][50][51] and Sitting in the Fire: Large Group Transformation Using Conflict and Diversity (1995)[16][52][53] Mindell's ideas of worldwork and deep democracy have been likened to the work of Danaan Parry.
'[17]: 136 Similarly, the author John Bradshaw explains: This use of the term 'deep democracy' is distinct from that of Arjun Appadurai and Judith M. Green in community development[57]: 50–51 and that of Haider A. Khan in economic theory.
This reportedly involved the expression of pain, anger and grief in a public forum with a focus on authentic, personal dialogue between individuals from opposing sides of a social issue.
[65] Conflict is understood as a sign that at least one viewpoint or experience within the group is not being adequately represented and Process Work aims to bring these 'ghosts' into conscious awareness and dialogue.
[71] There are published studies of the clinical application of Process Work to group therapy with people experiencing mental illness[72] and to the care of elders with dementia.
[73] A Japanese case study has described the application of process oriented psychology to the treatment of a woman with symptoms including major depression and an eating disorder, concluding that the method can be effective in the resolution of psychosomatic problems.
[75] The process oriented psychology approach to clinical supervision has been documented and shown to offer experiential and phenomenological techniques to work with signals, roles and the "parallel dynamics" that occur within client-counsellor and counsellor-supervisor interactions.
[79] The concept of ‘rank’ as defined and developed by Mindell has been taken up in a number of contexts including action learning,[80] the analysis of international nongovernmental organization advocacy campaigns,[81] and anti-racism diversity work.
[82]: 134–144 An Australian case study has considered the use of process oriented psychology for tackling the problems of intercultural communication in higher education; it finds that Process Work has a multidimensional concept of social rank (expanded beyond social status to include 'psychological' and 'spiritual' aspects) which promotes understanding of interpersonal communication issues and could be used to improve international student experience in Australia.
[84] The Association recognises over 25 training centres around the world including the UK, Australia & New Zealand, Poland, Switzerland, Slovakia, Ireland, Japan, India, Greece, Israel, Palestine, Russia, Ukraine and the US.
[7]: 56–60 [9]: 522 Mindell's concept of the meaningful 'dreambody' has been criticised for coming 'perilously close' to psychologising every illness; Shafton values 'dreambody work' but cautions that body symptoms are ambiguous and may be a product of stress or denial as much as a message for growth.
[95] Twenty-three years later, in 2013, The Yachats Academy of Arts and Sciences invited Arnold and his wife Amy Mindell to offer a keynote lecture on their work on conflict resolution around the world.