What I had been intuitively pursuing for several years, it turned out, had already been invented in the mid-1990s by psychology professor N.D. Linda.
Emotional-imaginative therapy is a new and original direction of psychotherapy, which allows you to achieve great and lasting results in the treatment of psychotherapeutic diseases or the correction of emotional disorders.
"The peculiarity of the emotional imagery therapy is also that all problems, without exception, are considered through their psychosomatic expression. This means that we believe that all problems are based on emotional states, and these states can only be understood through bodily experience. The transformation of emotion, understood as a psychosomatic state, leads not only to a clearly expressed psychosomatic effect, but also to a real change in personality, which leads to solving the problem at a deeper level than the level of behavior or intellect. Behavior and thinking change as if by themselves, due to changes in the deep emotional basis. The transformed emotion is again recorded in the body, and later, “by default,” determines new behavior, thinking, psychosomatic states, energy level and character traits.” /N.D. Linda/
A person's emotional or psychosomatic state may be expressed through a visual, auditory, tactile or olfactory image, and therapeutic work happens with this image. Thus, the initial state of a person is transformed from negative to positive. However, it must be remembered that mechanical or aggressive changes in images will not give anything except new illusions.
People often, when talking about their condition, use all sorts of images and allegories in their descriptions. For example: “lump in the throat”, “dagger in the chest”, “hands filled with lead”, “head is buzzing”, “heart is burning with fire”, etc. These spontaneously arising images can be used in working on painful conditions, both in the emotional and psychosomatic spheres.
When an emotion arises, the human body tenses the corresponding muscles of the body to perform a particular action. For example, fear makes a person shrink or run, anger makes him attack, scream, etc. Those emotions that are not translated into actions seem to “get stuck” in the body and give rise to many Negative consequences: psychosomatic diseases, energy blocks, muscle tension, emotional blockages.
A negative emotional state in turn causes negative thoughts, negative behavior, and unwanted psychosomatic symptoms. The task of emotional-imagery therapy is to find the initial negative emotional state and change it to positive or neutral by transforming the original image of this emotion.
Practice shows that conversations, explanations, advice and persuasion often do not help in working with emotions that are “stuck” in the depths of the unconscious and are its irrational products. Any words pass through the filters of consciousness, so their impact on the world of the irrational is very limited. Meanwhile, the unconscious speaks to us using certain images and symbols, for example, in a dream. Therefore, the transformation of images, which occurs in accordance with certain rules and laws of psychology, changes the emotional state and fundamentally solves the original problem.
You can struggle for a long time and persistently with the external manifestations of the problem, but the result will be short-lived and unstable, and the symptoms will return again and again until the initial emotional reaction that launched the entire subsequent process is worked out.
Unconscious mental defense techniques (suppression, repression and freezing of emotions) are used to ensure that “dangerous” and unwanted feelings are neutralized and eliminated from a person’s inner world. But this does not lead to getting rid of negative experiences, because emotions go deep inside, thereby giving rise to additional problems. To keep your unwanted emotions and reactions at a safe distance, the human body and psyche mobilize certain resources to restrain itself.
For example, to restrain emotional impulses, tensions are created in different muscle groups. A person wants to express himself in strong terms, but he forbids himself to do so, resulting in tension in the jaws, cheekbones and lips. Sometimes you can see how the nodules move on the face of a person who is holding back the flow of unpleasant words. It is also necessary to hold your breath, since the general decrease in energy level allows you to weaken unwanted impulses.
To reduce the influence of one’s own emotions, the human psyche uses all kinds of psychological defenses, for example, projecting your feelings onto other people. An internally angry person, for example, often feels surrounded by enemies. Thus, the initial problem that was not resolved in time will acquire new details and nuances, crushing an increasingly larger circle of the individual’s life activity.
“If you can get to the root cause that gave rise to this tangle of problems and somehow eliminate the underlying conflict, then the entire system of psychological “growths” will be eliminated. All pathogenic adaptations will crumble like a house of cards, or like Koshchei’s kingdom, at the moment when fairy tale hero will break the tip of the magic needle. The needle very successfully symbolizes that primary impulse that gave birth to everything, and was then successfully hidden in an egg, then in a duck, then in a hare, then in a chest, etc.” - N.D. writes in his book. Linda.
The process of working on a specific symptom can last from several minutes to several sessions, depending on the initial data. But the advantage of this method of therapy is that the achieved results last for for a long time, most often - forever.
Today, the method of emotional-imaginative therapy has achieved amazing results. Sometimes one successfully conducted session replaces many months of ordinary psychoanalytic conversations. Described real cases when clients, in a few minutes of communication with a therapist, got rid of diseases or psychological problems that long years could not be cured using other means of therapy.
Emotional imagery therapy can be effective in the following cases:
- Treatment of psychosomatic symptoms and diseases (for example, headaches and heart pain, stomach ulcers, allergies, asthma, breathing difficulties, PMS, chronic rhinitis, neurodermatitis, obesity, acne, etc.)
Attention! This method does not always replace treatment. If the symptom is related to an organic or neurotic disease, it is necessary to undergo appropriate treatment from a doctor. - Conflict resolution, external and internal
- Fears, phobias
- Experiencing loss, separation
- Emotional addiction
- Consequences of psychotrauma
- Resentment, anger
- Negative parenting instructions
- Working with money blocks (when a person forbids himself to be rich)
- Bad habits: binge eating ( excess weight), bulimia, smoking, drinking
Attention! This method does not guarantee getting rid of severe addictions, but it helps in working with them at a deep level.
And also many other psychological problems.
Therapy requires imaginative thinking and trust in spontaneously emerging images and symbols. Below is an exercise to help you understand how ready you are for this type of therapy. If the exercise is very difficult for you, or images do not arise at all, then this type of therapy, unfortunately, is not suitable for you. But this rarely happens.
Imagination exercise
- Imagine that your friend is standing in front of you. Now imagine him frowning. But he smiles. And now he comes up to you and puts his arm around your shoulders.
Imagine your childhood home, where you once lived. Now imagine a rocky island in the ocean. Rose bush in the garden. Sand beach. Dog barking. The warmth of a hot shower. Roughness sandpaper. The smell of lilac. - Imagine a bowl of fruit on the table. There are three yellow oranges and one bright orange in the vase. You mentally pick up an orange orange and peel it, feeling the delicious smell. A peeled orange opens on its own, like a flower, and you see a white seed inside it. You take this seed and plant it in the ground. Watch as a sprout slowly emerges from the ground. This sprout rises higher, gets stronger and fills with strength. It strives higher and higher towards the sunny sky and over time turns into a large beautiful Blooming tree. Sun rays break through its foliage and fall onto your face. You can feel a warm breeze, some smells, hear sounds. You feel good and calm, you are filled with quiet joy.
- Come up with a series of images (as quickly as possible, without thinking) that correspond to the following words:
Longing, Anxiety, Sadness, Joy, Happiness, Kindness, Love
Match the sound, tactile sensation and smell to each image.
Linde Nikolay Dmitrievich - candidate psychological sciences, Professor.
Born in Moscow, graduated from the Faculty of Psychology of the Moscow state university them. M.V. Lomonosov (1973). He studied at the graduate school of the Institute of Psychology of the USSR Academy of Sciences (currently IP RAS). The candidate's dissertation was defended under the guidance of Professor K.V. Bardin on the topic “Visual thresholds for the detection of oscillatory motion” (1983).
In Moscow humanitarian university has been teaching since 1987, as a professor since 2000, and was awarded the academic title of associate professor in 1993.
In his consulting practice, he uses a new (developed by him) method of transforming images to correct emotional states. This technique allows you to quickly and effectively relieve people from a variety of psychosomatic problems, phobias, depression, the effects of stress, etc. Many students of Linde N.D. (there are already about 200 of them) successfully work in practical psychology, providing real help to people. Works by N.D. Linda is well known to professional psychologists through a series of publications in the journal “Bulletin of Psychosocial and Correctional and Rehabilitation Work”, “Journal of Practical Psychologist”.
He regularly conducts seminars on emotional-imaginative therapy for practicing psychologists from various regions of the country on the basis of the Social Health of Russia consortium.
N.D. Linde is the president of the Center for Emotional and Imagery Therapy Linde N.D.
Books (3)
Fundamentals of modern psychotherapy
IN textbook“Fundamentals of Modern Psychotherapy” presents a fairly complete picture of the various areas of modern psychotherapy.
Classical psychoanalysis by 3. Freud, analytical psychology by K. Jung, individual psychology A. Adler, behaviorist psychotherapy, bodily therapy, gestalt therapy, humanistic psychotherapy, cognitive therapy, existential psychotherapy, neurolinguistic programming, transpersonal psychotherapy, psychodrama, emotional-imaginative therapy, E. Berne's transactional analysis, dianetics and group therapy. The differences between traditional medical and modern psychotherapeutic approaches to understanding the causes of mental illness and methods of its healing are considered.
Psychological consultation. Theory and practice
The manual provides a comprehensive understanding of the consulting process, its stages (collecting information, analyzing a request, concluding a contract, etc.).
Special attention is paid to the structure psychological problem and the creation of a therapeutic hypothesis. Distinctive feature publications - consideration of particular theoretical models of certain problems and possible methods their decisions. The main goal of the book is to more clearly show “how it’s done,” so it is filled with examples from the practice of the author and other psychologists.
Emotional imagery therapy. Theory and practice
Emotional-imaginative therapy is a relatively new and original direction of psychotherapy, which allows you to achieve very quick and valuable results in the field of psychosomatic disorders and in the correction of certain emotional disorders.
The main idea of this direction is that an emotional state can be expressed through a visual, auditory or kinesthetic image, and further inner work with this image allows you to transform the original emotional state. From a theoretical point of view, emotions are a manifestation of an individual’s mental energy aimed at performing certain actions, for example, fear makes a person shrink, and anger makes a person attack. “Stuck” emotions are not realized in action, but give rise to many negative consequences, including psychosomatic symptoms and other chronic problems.
This direction makes it possible to use the theoretical and practical discoveries of various psychotherapeutic schools, from psychoanalysis to neurolinguistic programming.
EMOTIONAL-FIGURARY
THERAPY
(theory and practice)
Moscow, 2004
ANNOTATION
This book is intended primarily for practicing psychologists, psychotherapists, and students of psychological universities, but it may also be of interest to the most ordinary people who are interested practical psychology and opportunities to provide psychological assistance themselves and other people.
Emotional-imaginative therapy is a relatively new and original direction of psychotherapy, which allows you to achieve very fast and valuable results in the field of psychosomatic disorders and in the correction of certain emotional disorders. The main idea of this direction is that an emotional state can be expressed through a visual, auditory or kinesthetic image, and further internal work with this image allows one to transform the original emotional state. From a theoretical point of view, emotions are a manifestation of an individual’s mental energy aimed at performing certain actions, for example, fear makes a person shrink, and anger makes a person attack. “Stuck” emotions are not realized in action, but give rise to many negative consequences, including psychosomatic symptoms and other chronic problems. We have discovered and systematized numerous techniques for working with images that make it possible to identify the structure of a psychological problem and solve it with the help of internal work.
This direction makes it possible to use the theoretical and practical discoveries of various psychotherapeutic schools, starting with psychoanalysis and ending with neuro-linguistic programming.
CHAPTER 2. Methodological techniques of emotional-imaginative therapy
2.1 Scheme of therapeutic work
2.1.1 Clinical talk
2.1.2 Clarifying the symptom
2.1.3 Creating an image
2.1.4 Image research
2.1.5 Checking for fixation
2.1.6 Transformation
2.1.7 Integrating the image with the personality (somatization)
2.1.8 Situational check
2.1.9 Environmental audit
2.1.10 Reinforcement
2.2 Basic techniques for transforming images into EOT
2.2.1. Contemplation
2.2.2 Mental action
2.2.3 Dialogue with the image
2.2.4 Interaction of opposites
2.2.5 Replacing an image
2.2.6 Conveying feelings
2.2.7 Tracing the fate of an image
2.2.8 Free imagination
2.2.9 Expanding Awareness
2.2.10 Magic
2.2.11 “Return of a gift”
2.2.12 Conversion negative energy
2.2.13 “Opening the presser foot”
2.2.14 Paradoxical resolution
2.2.15 Counter-instruction
2.2.16 “Growing” a part of the personality (or energitization)
2.2.17 “Redistribution of shares”
2.2.18 Organization new relationship with a part of the personality
2.3 Additional techniques
2.3.1 Play with dirt
2.3.1 Inhale the void
2.3.3 Allow the image to show its potential
2.3.4 Release the energy of feeling
2.3.5 Recognize the importance of image
2.3.6 Contemplate the rain
CHAPTER 3. Advantages and features of the method
3.1 Advantages of the method.
3.2 Additional rules
3.3 Differences from related therapeutic schools
CHAPTER 4. Emotional-imaginative therapy in practice.
4.1 EOT in the treatment of psychosomatic diseases.
4.1.1. Healing headaches, heart and other pain
4.1.1.1 Method of contemplation
4.1.1.2 Pain listening method
4.1.1.3 Pain smelling method
4.1.1.4 Mental action method
4.1.1.5 Method of expressing feelings
4.1.1.6 Dialogue method
4.1.1.7 Self-healing program
4.1.2 Working with PMS
4.1.3 Working with allergies in EOT
4.1.4 Other psychosomatic problems
4.1.4. 1 Chronic rhinitis
4.1.4.2 Bronchial asthma
4.1.4.3 Stomach ulcer
4.2 EOT in the treatment of phobias
4.2.1 Trauma model
4.2.2 Model of V. Frankl
4.2.3. Parental Instruction Model
4.2.4 Model of the “unhappy inner child” or hidden suicide
4.2.5 “Reverse desire” model
4.2.6 Hysterical phobias
4.3 EOT in working with feelings of loss and emotional dependence.
4.4 EOT in conflict resolution
4.5 EOT in working with anger
4.5.1 Response method
4.5.2 Imaginary twin method
4.5.3 Methodenergitization
4.5.4 Aggressive energy conversion method
4.5.5 Method of releasing anger through an imaginary sound or stream of energy
4.6 EOT in working with depressive states
4. 7 Dealing with the consequences of severe trauma
4.8 Dealing with the consequences of birth trauma
CHAPTER 5. Exercises for group and individual classes used in EOT
5.1 Introduction
5. 2 Cycle of relaxation exercises
5. 2.1 Relaxation according to the yoga system
5.2.2 Exercise “Cozy place”
5. 3 Multi-purpose exercises
5.3.1 Exercise 1. “Body drawing”
5.3.2 Exercise 2. “Journey along the bottom of the sea”
5.4 Exercises for working with the bodily expression of emotional problems
5.4.2 Exercise 1."Body Sound"
5.4.3 Exercise 2. “Body Emotions”
5.4.4 Exercise 3. “Body breathing”
5.4.5 Exercise 4. “Water flow in the body”
5.4.6 Exercise 5. “Body Light”
5.4.7 Exercise 6. “Body is a flower”
5.4.8 Exercise 7. “Internal space”
5.4.9 Exercise 8. “Washing with energies”
5.4.10 Exercise 9. “Energy of growth”
5.5 A series of exercises for working with emotional problems
5.5. 1 Exercise 1 “Return of feelings”
5.5.2 Exercise 2 “Return of the Heart”
5.5.3 Exercise 3. “Getting to Know Anger”
5.5.4 Exercise 4. “Fear has big eyes”
5.5.5 Exercise 4. “Circle of Joy”
5.5.6 Exercise 5. “Circle of Happiness”
5.5.7 Exercise 6. “Circle of Living Life”
5.5.8 Exercise 7. “Circle of Energy”
5.5.9 Exercise 8. “Journey to a dark land”
5.5.10 Exercise 9. “Accusations”
5.5.11 Exercise 10. “Guilt”
5.5.12 Exercise 12. “Apathy, feeling of emptiness”
5.5. 13 Exercise 13. “Feeling of uncertainty”
5.6 A series of exercises on existential topics
5.6.1 Exercise 1. “Searching for the meaning of life”
5.6.2 Exercise 2"Ending the Eternal Struggle"
5.6.3 Exercise 3 “Be here and now”
5.6.4 Exercise 4. “Let go of suffering”
5.6.5 Exercise 5. “Free swimming”
5.6.6 Exercise 6. “Giving up uniqueness”
5.6.7 Exercise 7 “Company of Friends”
5.6.8 Exercise 8. “Finding a family”
5.6.9 Exercise 9 “Tree”
5.6.10 Exercise 10 “Sense of duty”
5.6.11 Exercise 11. “Radiating kindness”
Brief dictionary of images
CHAPTER 1. Theoretical foundations of emotional-imaginative therapy
The very first position of this theory is that a person is an energy system (however, this was also stated by psychoanalysis). Emotional processes serve as an expression of mental energy and push the individual to certain actions. These actions are aimed at realizing certain desires of the individual, but the energy for their implementation is carried by emotions. Actions can consist of both body movements aimed at achieving a goal, and neurohumoral changes in the internal environment of the body, and protective muscle tension.
People strive to experience positive emotional states, which serve as the basis for adequate reactions, clear, logical thinking, and the ability to make creative decisions. In secular culture, the optimal emotional state is called happiness, in Hinduism - samadhi, in Buddhism - enlightenment, in the Christian tradition - grace. Happiness is the experience of absolute psychological freedom, defined as a feeling of unlimited possibilities. In this state, a person receives an excess amount of energy, he is simply overwhelmed with energy, and therefore, with good feelings. All things are easy and do not tire him. The world is perceived as a comfortable and safe place, other people do not cause a feeling of threat, warm and friendly feelings are directed towards them.
Whatever request the client makes, it ultimately boils down to the fact that he wants to experience this or something similar positive state. True, the request is usually formulated in a negative form: “I want to get rid of negative state, negative thoughts, negative behavior, unwanted psychosomatic symptoms.” However, theory and constant practice show that negative thoughts, negative behavior and negative psychosomatic reactions have their source in one or another negative emotional state. Therefore, the task should be set as follows: to find the initial undesirable emotional state and, despite the circumstances of life, change it to positive or neutral.
This task sometimes seems unsolvable, moreover, seemingly unethical. People are convinced that circumstances force them to feel certain emotions. For example, a beloved husband has died, how can one not grieve over this, it’s somehow even shameless! Or, a person suffers from unrequited love, so should he stop loving? Or, you were once raped, beaten, insulted, is it possible to forget this or not worry about this incident? If you agree that feelings cannot be changed or that changing them is not good, then you are dooming any therapy to failure. In this case, you can only create artificial adaptive forms of behavior that allow you to somehow adapt to a bad state, but not solve the problem.
In fact, it is possible and necessary to work with the emotional state itself, transform it, accompanying this process with some explanations, but the key method for such a direct (sometimes indirect) impact is the transformation of the image of a given emotion. Practice shows that verbal influence on emotional complexes is very difficult. Emotions represent the content of our unconscious, although they can be conscious, but by their nature they are irrational processes. Words are the content of consciousness, therefore they are weakly connected with the unconscious. Words undergo careful processing and filtering in the mind, their impact on the irrational world of emotions is limited. Images produced, for example, in dreams, are the language of the unconscious, as C. Jung said. They are closely related to emotions if they are created by an individual according to a certain technique. Therefore, the transformation of images, which occurs in accordance with certain rules and laws of psychology, changes the emotional state and fundamentally solves the original problem. How this is done will be described below.
Each emotional state allows us to bring to light certain forms of behavior. That is, pre-existing emotional states predetermine possible behavioral reactions and thoughts that can be realized by an individual based on these states. So, if an individual is in a state of fear, then this state does not allow him to elicit the reaction of cheerful laughter and thoughts about his success. Anger allows you to behave aggressively and attack. Joy allows you to laugh and have fun and communicate kindly. Sadness allows you to complain, cry, withdraw from communication, feel sorry for yourself, etc. It is difficult to imagine an adaptation where a person experiencing anger will show cheerful and kind reactions. This will be insincere behavior, and everyone will notice it, even if he copes with the task of simulating a different state. If a positive state is achieved, then the necessary reactions will arise on their own, without any additional training.
In addition, each emotional state has its own psychosomatic expression. Emotions exist in the body, and do not fly somewhere in the air. Each state is involuntarily reflected in certain muscle reactions, tension of muscle groups or relaxation, release of certain nerve mediators, increased or decreased breathing, changes in heartbeat, constriction and dilation of blood vessels, etc. Happiness is characterized by the absence of excess muscle tension, so a person feels his body light, as if non-existent, within which energy moves freely. Negative emotional states generate certain tensions in the body that serve to restrain them. The body ceases to feel light; in certain places there is a feeling of heaviness and stiffness. The body loses flexibility, softness, and natural grace of movements. The more pronounced the negative state, the more tension, the more a person feels that he is chained in a heavy iron or stone shell. Energy ceases to move freely and easily throughout the body, but is concentrated in certain organs, while its lack is felt in others. Emotional reactions proceed slowly, tightly, as if overcoming the inertia of the heavy parts of the personality.
At the same time, violent outbursts of emotions can occur, when their energy breaks through the dam standing in their way, then a person’s behavior becomes inadequate, irrational and dangerous both for others and for himself. The reason for the explosion can be some trifle, the “last straw”; the individual feels that he can no longer endure and behaves as if he has broken free from the chain. This result can be expected by a person who suppresses his emotions, but if he represses them, then he feels powerlessness, apathy, loss of meaning and emptiness. The feeling of emptiness can be recorded in one place or another of the body if local feelings have been repressed, or everywhere if a person has repressed all of himself. There may also be a feeling of depersonalization, when the individual thinks that events are happening not to him, but to someone else, and he looks at it from the outside.
Often, instead of repressing or suppressing, a person uses the technique of freezing feelings and experiences a feeling of cold, ice in certain places of the body. He remains calm, but cannot establish warm, sincere relationships with anyone. His behavior is strict and formalistic, devoid of trust and a sense of genuine contact, he avoids any manifestation of spontaneous and sincere emotions. It was as if some hard and cold piece of ice had lodged in his chest, preventing him from communicating, breathing, and even moving freely.
The unconscious mental techniques listed above (suppression, repression and freezing) serve only one purpose, so that feelings that are dangerous from the individual’s point of view are neutralized, one way or another removed from his inner world. But these methods do not lead to complete relief from unwanted experiences; rather, on the contrary, they give rise to additional problems. After this, it is necessary to create additional adaptive mechanisms to adapt to the stresses and restrictions that arise due to primary actions.
For example, to suppress unwanted emotional impulses, it is necessary to create muscle tension, which should counteract the breakthrough of this energy to the implementation of the corresponding movements. It is also necessary to hold your breath, since the general decrease in energy level allows you to weaken unwanted impulses. In addition, one should reduce the ability to experience certain types of emotions by creating some purely psychological defenses, for example, projecting one’s own feelings onto other people or even objects. Through these devices, hidden feelings will still be visible, for example, instead of anger, gloominess will be written on the face, but others will notice it. As a result, the individual’s ability to communicate will suffer, which will lead to additional difficulties in school, work, friendships, and love relationships. This will give rise to new experiences, which will also need to be dealt with, creating more and more repressions and adaptations. Thus, the problem will acquire more and more new details and capture more and more new territories of mental activity.
If you are able to get to the original cause that gave rise to this tangle of problems and somehow eliminate the underlying conflict, then the entire system of psychological “growths” will be eliminated. All pathogenic adaptations will crumble like a house of cards, or like Koshchei’s kingdom, the moment the fairy-tale hero breaks the tip of the magic needle. The needle very successfully symbolizes that primary impulse that gave birth to everything, and was then successfully hidden in an egg, then in a duck, then in a hare, then in a chest, etc.
You can struggle with the outer layers of the problem for a long time, but to the surprise of the therapist, all achievements will again and again disappear without a trace, and old symptoms, which are manifestations of adaptations, will appear again and again. This will continue until a key change is made, after which all symptoms will lose all meaning.
There can be many different dysfunctional and even malformed adaptations, almost as many as there are various mental illnesses described in psychiatry textbooks. Illness is also an adaptation, but usually it is an adaptation to some past psychological trauma or to today’s unbearable conditions, it is an adaptation to those strong feelings that cannot find a way out and realization, but at the same time do not entropize, but remain unchanged or are constantly re-produced and accumulated. Healthy people also create similar adaptations, which do not have such an acute form as in patients. These adaptations create additional problems, but do not lead to serious maladjustment that undermines the foundations of the individual’s normal functioning. The “diseases” of so-called sick people are the continuation and development of the psychological problems of “healthy” people. There is no impassable line between normality and pathology. A “disease” develops when a person has reached a dead end from which he cannot find a way out, and not because his brain biochemistry has suddenly changed. A crisis occurs when rational and tolerant adaptations no longer save, the breakdown occurs suddenly, but the personality went towards it naturally. The exception is cases of sudden severe stress to which there is no way to adapt normally.
Due to the abundance of different forms of adaptation, we will not consider them in detail, but some options will be presented in the appendix. Here we will consider the structure of the primary problem, which leads to the generation of the entire system of defenses, repressions and suppressions, new defenses, etc. It is important to clarify that we profess the principle of naturalness, considering the state of health and joy to be natural. Therefore, in all cases, we work to return a person to naturalness, ridding him of unnecessary adaptations and defenses. Only by gaining freedom and naturalness can a person solve those problems, by giving in to the solution of which, he creates pathological adaptations in his own psyche.
Any psychological problem that a person faces can be presented as an individual’s fixation on achieving some unattainable goal. This may be a desire to get something, or a desire to push something away, or both at the same time, or a desire to achieve two incompatible goals, or to avoid both undesirable options.
The problem only becomes a problem when desire cannot be satisfied but cannot entropize. A child may cry inconsolably when he balloon flew away. If this happens to an adult, then his desire also easily disappears along with the ball. An adult stops producing emotional energy aimed at holding the ball, the energy returns back to his body, and he calms down. However, adults have their own desires, which do not “dissolve” because the “ball” has flown away.
For further purposes, it is important to understand that desire always appears in the form of an emotion or feeling that pushes one to take some action. When a person says “I love you,” it is a feeling, but it is the realization of a desire. Feeling carries energy, without feeling or emotion no action can be taken. When this energy is not realized in achieving a goal, a person suffers, that is, he feels the damage he receives from wasted energy. If he does not cease to produce a feeling aimed at achieving the unattainable, then suffering becomes chronic.
If the barrier is something external to the individual and, in principle, can be overcome, and the desire is not pathological, then this is an objective problem. It can be social, economic, scientific, political, etc. problem. It is resolved externally and objectively, that is, by overcoming an obstacle and satisfying a desire. To do this, sometimes you need to earn money, sometimes invent something, sometimes resort to diplomacy, etc.
The problem becomes psychological only when the reasons for failure lie in the psyche of the individual himself, that is, the obstacle preventing the achievement of the goal is also of a psychological nature, or when the obstacle is objective, but in principle insurmountable. Obstacles of a psychological kind were also considered by S. Freud; from his point of view, these are moral prohibitions emanating from the Super-Ego. But there are psychological barriers of another kind. For example, you want to achieve something, but your inferiority complex “says” that this is impossible. An example of an external obstacle that is insurmountable is the death of a loved one, something that a person does not want to come to terms with. It is clear that it is impossible to solve such problems externally, that is, by overcoming an obstacle, bypassing or breaking it. Internal work is required, which takes place entirely in virtual reality, basic form which are images related to memories from the past, or fantasies about the future.
A psychological problem can be presented in the form of one of the five diagrams below. In all the pictures, the circle means some object desired or rejected by the individual, the vertical rectangle means an obstacle, and the arrow means the individual’s desire, or negative pressure from the object on the subject (which can also be called the negative desire of the subject).
desired objects, or to reject two possible choices (I vote against all).
Such a problematic state in all cases is a dead end. If the feelings actualized in this case are strong, a number of undesirable consequences occur, which we have already discussed above. The key factor is the energetic power of the trapped feelings and the method of adaptation chosen by the individual.
So far, we have examined only the first option, that is, the case when the subject wants, but cannot, achieve the goal. The second case, when a subject rejects an object but cannot get rid of it, concerns another series of psychological conflicts. For example, the subject may be tormented by obsessive thoughts or actions that he strives to get rid of, but the more he does it, the more they haunt him. Or, he is tormented by traumatic memories of severe loss or humiliation. A woman who has been raped constantly replays these traumatic events in her head, blaming herself for some mistakes, this becomes constant suffering.
The remaining three problem description options are some combinations of the first two. The first two options for the structure of psychological problems are indicated in the philosophy of Buddhism. As this teaching says, there are two causes of suffering: when a person cannot get what he wants, and when he cannot get rid of what he does not want. The general recipe of Buddhism is known: if you have no desires, you will not have suffering. But here we must make important clarifications.
The point in emotional-imaginative therapy is not about achieving ideal liberation from any desires, but only from those that cause suffering. In fact, each of us has many normal desires that can be normally satisfied. The simplest example is the need to breathe. For most people, this need is satisfied easily and simply, without causing any difficulties, so they don’t even notice it. However, when breathing is difficult due to a cold or asthma, then everyone begins to understand how important this need is. The task is, of course, not to stop wanting to breathe freely, but to get rid of the obstacle that prevents free breathing. This blockage may be based on hidden or repressed emotions; if these emotions are released or adequately transformed, the breath itself will become free, as has happened repeatedly in our sessions (see examples below). Therefore, every time, working with a psychological problem, one should evaluate which solution will be ecologically more correct: whether to relieve the client of emotional dependence on the desired goal, or from emotional dependence on the obstacle.
One more example. The girl dreamed of starting a family and having a loved one, but she was convinced that no one would love her because she was ugly. This was not true, but she believed so, since her father in childhood spoke negatively about her figure, in addition, he never hugged her, etc. She asked the therapist to help her get rid of her sexual desires altogether in order to live in peace. It is clear that this request was impossible; she had already reached deep depression, suppressing her natural feelings. So the therapist refused to enter into such a contract and concentrated on discrediting the father's statements, which was not easy to do because she loved him. However, when the work was done, the depression passed, she met her young man and now married.
To clearly describe our understanding of the structure of a psychological problem, we use the following metaphor. In India, this is how they catch monkeys: they hollow out a pumpkin, put the bait inside, leaving a small hole, the monkey sticks its paw into it, grabs the bait, but cannot remove the fist because it is wider than the hole. The hunter comes up and calmly catches her, because she does not think to unclench her fist. So it is with people, in their imagination they have already grabbed the bait, and with the other hand - the obstacle, and now they are caught! Each time you should think about which “paw” the client should unclench. Sometimes there can be many such “paws”, but the initial problem is still one, when it is solved, then everything else happens by itself, because the “monkey” is now free. Hence the conclusion: the basis of mental health is inner freedom.
Let us now characterize the remaining options for the formation of psychological problems. The third option is that a person simultaneously strives to achieve a goal and avoids it, which is expressed in the figure by two differently directed arrows. For example, an applicant wants to take an exam, but is afraid of it. Or, a young man wants to explain himself to a girl and is also afraid. Or, a person strives for success and at the same time wants to fail. In such cases, the therapist works against those emotions that block the success and normal needs of the individual.
The fourth option is a situation of choice between fairly equivalent, but incompatible desires. The philosopher Buridan came up with a problem about a donkey, at an equal distance from which lie two equal armfuls of hay. In theory, the donkey was supposed to die of hunger. Although this situation seems funny, in life similar cases are not so rare. For example, there are collisions when a girl takes so long to choose between two suitors for her hand that she loses both.
The problem of choice is difficult to solve because it depends entirely on the subjective assessments of the client himself. The therapist does not have the right to choose for him, but he can help the client clarify own choice. In some cases, one of the choices may be obviously harmful to the client, and then you should help him free himself from it. Sometimes it is necessary to push the client to search for completely different solutions that lie outside the plane on which the drama of choice is played out.
The fifth variant of the problem structure has a particularly difficult impact on the subject’s mental health. Because this is not a choice between pleasant options, but a choice between a greater and a lesser evil. Only two options seem possible to a person, and both are undesirable. For example, a girl would like to break up with a man with whom life seems unbearable to her, but to do this she needs to return to her father, the relationship with whom became unbearable in childhood. Or, a teenager hates his parents, who put pressure on him, but he cannot leave home and live on his own, because he does not have the means, an apartment, documents, skills for such a life, etc. Often neurosis and even complete madness develops precisely in such situations, from a feeling of hopelessness. Mental illness provides at least some way out and allows you to punish those who, in the opinion of the subject, are guilty before him.
This problem is also very difficult for therapy, since the therapist cannot usually offer an acceptable solution. In some cases, one of the situations may be only illusoryly painful, in which case it is possible to relieve the client from this dependence. It may be that he finds himself in such a situation because he unconsciously sought to get into a situation of hopelessness. Then you should rid him of such a desire. Regardless of which version of the problem the therapist faces, the essence of psychological work in all cases is to rid the individual of the dependence on the object that causes him suffering. In different schools and traditions of psychotherapy, this goal is achieved by different means. IN in this case It is proposed to work directly with the feeling or emotional state that creates addiction, through finding and transforming its figurative expression.
For most forms of therapy, dealing with emotional states and feelings presents significant challenges. Awareness, behavior and thinking changes, response, etc., which are used in traditional forms of therapy, are not effective enough if we're talking about about the correction of emotional states. However, having expressed a feeling through one or another image, we can easily transform the feeling by mentally transforming the image, while the individual is practically unable to directly influence his emotional state. If a change in state is achieved, then the individual gains freedom in relation to the problem situation, is able to produce a variety of behaviors and comprehends this situation in a new way.
ANNOTATION
This book is intended primarily for practicing psychologists, psychotherapists, and students of psychological universities, but it may also be of interest to ordinary people who are interested in practical psychology and the possibilities of providing psychological assistance to themselves and other people.
Emotional-imaginative therapy is a relatively new and original direction of psychotherapy, which allows you to achieve very quick and valuable results in the field of psychosomatic disorders and in the correction of certain emotional disorders. The main idea of this direction is that an emotional state can be expressed through a visual, auditory or kinesthetic image, and further internal work with this image allows one to transform the original emotional state. From a theoretical point of view, emotions are a manifestation of an individual’s mental energy aimed at performing certain actions, for example, fear makes a person shrink, and anger makes a person attack. “Stuck” emotions are not realized in action, but give rise to many negative consequences, including psychosomatic symptoms and other chronic problems. We have discovered and systematized numerous techniques for working with images that make it possible to identify the structure of a psychological problem and solve it with the help of internal work.
This direction makes it possible to use the theoretical and practical discoveries of various psychotherapeutic schools, starting with psychoanalysis and ending with neuro-linguistic programming.
CHAPTER 1. Theoretical basis emotional-imaginative therapy
CHAPTER 2. Methodological techniques of emotional-imaginative therapy
2.1 Scheme of therapeutic work
2.1.1 Clinical interview
2.1.2 Clarifying the symptom
2.1.3 Creating an image
2.1.4 Image research
2.1.5 Checking for fixation
2.1.6 Transformation
2.1.7 Integrating the image with the personality (somatization)
2.1.8 Situational check
2.1.9 Environmental audit
2.1.10 Reinforcement
2.2 Basic techniques for transforming images into EOT
2.2.1. Contemplation
2.2.2 Mental action
2.2.3 Dialogue with the image
2.2.4 Interaction of opposites
2.2.5 Replacing the image
2.2.6 Conveying feeling
2.2.7 Tracing the fate of an image
2.2.8 Free imagination
2.2.9 Expanding awareness
2.2.10 Magic
2.2.11 “Return of a gift”
2.2.12 Negative energy conversion
2.2.13 “Opening the presser foot”
2.2.14 Paradoxical resolution
2.2.15 Counter-instruction
2.2.16 “Growing” a part of the personality (or energitization)
2.2.17 “Redistribution of shares”
2.2.18 Organizing new relationships with a part of the personality
2.3 Additional techniques
2.3.1 Play with dirt
2.3.1 Inhale the void
2.3.3 Allow the image to show its potential
2.3.4 Release the energy of feeling
2.3.5 Recognize the importance of image
2.3.6 Contemplate the rain
CHAPTER 3. Advantages and features of the method
3.1 Advantages of the method.
3.2 Additional rules
3.3 Differences from related therapeutic schools
CHAPTER 4. Emotional-imaginative therapy in practice.
4.1 EOT in the treatment of psychosomatic diseases.
4.1.1. Healing headaches, heart and other pain
4.1.1.1 Method of contemplation
4.1.1.2 Pain listening method
4.1.1.3 Pain smelling method
4.1.1.4 Mental action method
4.1.1.5 Method of expressing feelings
4.1.1.6 Dialogue method
4.1.1.7 Self-healing program
4.1.2 Working with PMS
4.1.3 Working with allergies in EOT
4.1.4 Other psychosomatic problems
4.1.4. 1 Chronic rhinitis
4.1.4.2 Bronchial asthma
4.1.4.3 Stomach ulcer
4.2 EOT in the treatment of phobias
4.2.1 Trauma model
4.2.2 W. Frankl model
4.2.3. Parental Instruction Model
4.2.4 Model of the “unhappy inner child” or hidden suicide
4.2.5 “Reverse desire” model
4.2.6 Hysterical phobias
4.3 EOT in working with feelings of loss and emotional dependence.
4.4 EOT in conflict resolution
4.5 EOT in working with anger
4.5.1 Response method
4.5.2 Imaginary twin method
4.5.3 Energitization method
4.5.4 Aggressive energy conversion method
4.5.5 Method of releasing anger through an imaginary sound or stream of energy
4.6 EOT in working with depressive states
4. 7 Dealing with the consequences of severe trauma
4.8 Dealing with the consequences of birth trauma
CHAPTER 5. Exercises for group and individual classes used in EOT
5.1 Introduction
5. 2 Cycle of relaxation exercises
5. 2.1 Relaxation according to the yoga system
5.2.2 Exercise “Cozy place”
5. 3 Multi-purpose exercises
5.3.1 Exercise 1. “Body drawing”
5.3.2 Exercise 2. “Journey along the bottom of the sea”
5.4 Exercises for working with the bodily expression of emotional problems
5.4.1 General recommendations on doing exercises
5.4.2 Exercise 1. “Body sound”
5.4.3 Exercise 2. “Body Emotions”
5.4.4 Exercise 3. “Body breathing”
5.4.5 Exercise 4. “Water flow in the body”
5.4.6 Exercise 5. “Body Light”
5.4.7 Exercise 6. “Body is a flower”
5.4.8 Exercise 7. “Internal space”
5.4.9 Exercise 8. “Washing with energies”
5.4.10 Exercise 9. “Energy of growth”
5.4.11 Exercise 10. “Body pendulum”
5.5 A series of exercises for working with emotional problems
5.5. 1 Exercise 1 “Return of feelings”
5.5.2 Exercise 2 “Return of the Heart”
5.5.3 Exercise 3. “Getting to Know Anger”
5.5.4 Exercise 4. “Fear has big eyes”
5.5.5 Exercise 4. “Circle of Joy”
5.5.6 Exercise 5. “Circle of Happiness”
5.5.7 Exercise 6. “Circle of Living Life”
5.5.8 Exercise 7. “Circle of Energy”
5.5.9 Exercise 8. “Journey to a dark land”
5.5.10 Exercise 9. “Accusations”
5.5.11 Exercise 10. “Guilt”
5.5.12 Exercise 12. “Apathy, feeling of emptiness”
5.5. 13 Exercise 13. “Feeling of uncertainty”
5.6 A series of exercises on existential topics
5.6.1 Exercise 1. “Searching for the meaning of life”
5.6.2 Exercise 2 “Ending the Eternal Struggle”
5.6.3 Exercise 3 “Be here and now”
5.6.4 Exercise 4. “Let go of suffering”
5.6.5 Exercise 5. “Free swimming”
5.6.6 Exercise 6. “Giving up uniqueness”
5.6.7 Exercise 7 “Company of Friends”
5.6.8 Exercise 8. “Finding a family”
5.6.9 Exercise 9 “Tree”
5.6.10 Exercise 10 “Sense of duty”
5.6.11 Exercise 11. “Radiating kindness”
Brief dictionary of images
Recommended reading
Transactional analysis is a set of techniques that analyze and psychocorrect human destiny and life. This technique is actively used in narcology to treat severe addictions such as alcoholism or drug addiction.
Transactional analysis of E. Bern in addiction medicine
Transactional analysis is a therapy method consisting of three principles:
- Structural analysis – analysis of the personality and its ego states;
- Transactional analysis – assessment of interpersonal interactions, communication;
- Scenario analysis is an assessment life scenario which a person subconsciously adheres to throughout life.
The creator of the technique is Eric Berne, and the analysis is based on the theory of personality, which, depending on a certain situation, can be in three different states: parent, child and adult. Throughout life, a person alternates between one of these ego states.
Concepts
Eric Berne's transactional method of analysis is often called communication assessment, since such a technique analyzes a person based on his interactions with other people.
The main concepts of transactional analysis are:
- There are no mentally ill people, we are all normal, therefore everyone has the right to respect for their own personality and opinion. Each person has a certain importance and weight in society;
- Each person builds his life story himself, so he is able to change its scenario without relying on previously made decisions;
- Every person is capable of thinking, unless there are any acquired or congenital mutations, disorders and injuries, and also except for a state of unconsciousness.
Target
The founder of the technique, Erich Bern, stated that the purpose of such an analysis is to free the patient from addictions that he once acquired and force the patient to return to them again. A person must be taught to interact with other members of society in such a way that he receives some benefit of a psychological nature.
This psychotherapeutic technique helps the patient free himself from life scenarios that were once imposed by someone or something.
The ultimate goal of transaction analysis is the formation of a comprehensively harmonious personality, which is balanced in relation to all Self-states (Adult, Parent, Child). Moreover, the ego-state “Adult” should become autonomous.
General essence
In general, such an analysis is aimed at a deep understanding of one’s own personality, at understanding rational interaction with others, and, most importantly, at destroying and changing an unacceptable life scenario associated with any addiction such as drug addiction or alcoholism.
The use of transactional analysis in therapy allows us to identify and eliminate obstacles that interfere with a full and sober life. The essence is that a person forms new behavioral models and revises his life scenario. The patient better understands his inner world and himself, which encourages him to find a certain way out of the current difficulties and make attempts to resolve them.
The video shows the essence and goals of transactional analysis:
Fundamentals and Techniques
Each ego state is a reflection of a specific achievement, and quite often these ego states are combined, influencing each other. Alcohol or drugs have a specific effect on the patient’s ego states and consciousness. As intoxication increases, ego states are expelled. At first, consciousness eliminates the Parent, who adheres to moral prohibitions and critical condemnation.
Then the Adult is eliminated, i.e. memory and rationality. Such processes are determined by a dimmed consciousness, in which the Child does what he wants. When the alcoholic, being in the “Child” state, is deprived of both the “Adult” and the “Parent”, then he can do whatever he wants, for example, sexual gratification or forbidden actions, which he is unable to perform until he expels the “Adult” and "Parent."
A psychiatrist uses transactional analysis techniques to improve a patient's life. The analysis is carried out through a dialogue between the patient and the addict. In fact, the transactional technique was developed for group work, so experts recommend practicing similar therapy in groups of alcoholics or drug addicts anonymous.
Transactional analysis is a contract therapy in which a promise is made and then it is expected to be fulfilled. or drug addiction is seen here as an unacceptable life scenario leading to destruction which the patient must change.
Personal roles according to Bern
Basic exercises
The techniques and exercises of transactional analysis are very diverse and numerous, but they all boil down to the study of human ego states, awareness and further laying out a life plan. Any person can be in the state of an adult, a child or a parent, so it is very important to teach the patient to understand himself in each of these ego states, which are a specific part of the personality.
- To perform the first exercise, the clinician asks the patient to give an example of each ego state over the past 24 hours, and the patient must describe the feelings and thoughts present in each of these states. The patient needs to remember how he behaved while being in the “Child”, “Parent” and “Adult”.
- The second exercise is to return to each of the states described by the patient.
- The third basic exercise requires the patient to remember the last day when he was in the “positive child” state. The patient must clearly imagine and describe his behavior at this moment. Then the memories should concern the “negative child,” where he also describes his behavior, emotions, and thoughts.
- The fourth exercise is to reproduce and describe the behavior of a “negative and positive parent”, when over the past day he was in a similar state, which particular of his parents he copied at these moments, etc.
- Exercise 5 consists of constructing an egogram, which is necessary to determine the rating of each state.
- In the sixth exercise, the psychotherapist finds out whether the patient has a desire to change anything in his own egogram, and clarifies what exactly needs to be changed.
There are quite a lot of exercises; it is impossible to describe them all within the framework of this article, although general principle work is quite clear. The minimum number of classes that a patient must undergo is at least 10, or even more. Depends on the group and situation, as well as the psychoanalyst.
