Emotion-image therapy (EIT) [analytical and effective]. Nikolay Linde
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my parents didn’t want to have me, I was not planned, my mother wanted to make an abortion. I was the last born, extra, they had had children already, they didn’t want any more children. The more so because when I was born they had a very hard time, they had very little money. Later, though, they all loved me and they love me now, love me very much both father and mother. Nevertheless, I am always trying to oblige them, to make them like me, to justify, somehow, my existence. [The hypothesis is confirmed].
– [Addressing the students] In theory we call it “the myth of birth”, I told you about it in my lectures. The child takes on himself the guilt for his being born “at the wrong time” or for “the wrong birth”. As a result, depression and hidden desire of suicide emerges. In fact, you have already said about your desire not to exist…
– I am ashamed to admit that it is true. At the same time I understand that it is not right. [The hypothesis is confirmed]
– Do you understand that the rat is doing in your stomach exactly what your mother didn’t do? I mean the abortion – the rat is biting out the ovule that is frightened?
– Yes, I understand… [The hypothesis is confirmed]
– Do you want to get rid of autoaggression, embodied in the image of a rat?
– Yes, certainly! But I don’t know how…
– In this case I recommend you to tell this rat, that you will not destroy it or send it away or reject it. Tell it that it is good, and you accept it as it is, that you need it. Tell: “You are a very necessary for me rat”.
Commentary. By that time everything had become clear and the hypothesis became certainty. The symptom turned into the image of a black spot and a rat showed the conflict, the reason of the conflict was confirmed by memories about the corresponding events in the client’s childhood, which generated the chronic feeling of being not wanted. This feeling pushed the client to the hidden desire of the suicide and “the fear of the stomach”. The recommended impact must remove the chronic feeling of being not wanted and then all other consequences. The rat is the image of a rejected child who makes a symbolic abortion for the beloved parents. The whole of this scheme corresponds to the theory of Mary and Robert Goulding [34], students of Eric Berne, about the emergence of depression and a hidden suicidal desire.
– Shall I tell it aloud or to myself?
– Better to yourself…But tell me what is happening to the rat while you are telling it this.
– [She is working for some time in a concentrated way.] The rat is getting smaller.
– And are you feeling better or worse? In the stomach?
– Better…
– Then keep on telling it the same words…
– [She is working for some time.] Now there is a puppet instead of the rat.
– Do you like it?
– It is very nice.
– Oh! Your eyes started shining! How are you feeling?
– [Confused, but smiling happily.] Very well. I don’t know why, but I feel hot, as if something warm entered me.
Commentary. A warm attitude to yourself which tells even on the physiological level returns.
– Do you like this puppet? Do you agree to accept him for good, as a part of your personality?
– Yes, of course!
– What are you feeling in the stomach area?
– Excellent! No tension. The feelings are fine.
– Imagine that somebody touches your stomach, young man, for instance…
Commentary. This is the verification of how actual the changes are with the help of an imagined situation. The hypothesis was confirmed once and for all.
– [Looking confused.] Everything is fine. No bad feelings.
– Do you want these changes to remain with you forever?
– Certainly, I want it very much.
Commentary. The sincere consent of the client is sufficient for a final fixing of the results. Now explanations may be given, they will not cause resistance.
– Now I’ll explain to you what happened, if you don’t mind… There happened the rejection of the Inner Child as the result of your feeling yourself not wanted and not needed. The Inner Child began realizing the subconscious desire of self – destruction, that is abortion. So the Inner Child turned into a repulsive aggressive rat, attacking your stomach, and the stomach instinctively became tense. That is why you started to doubt if you will be able to have children. Now that you accepted your Inner Child it became your friend, autoaggression stopped, the tension disappeared. This is actually all…
If you have questions or doubts about the results, we can continue…
– No, everything is clear. I feel fine and I know that I will like that in future…I turned to another doctor and was very disappointed. Thank you so much, I didn’t believe it was possible.
– Well, wonderful, then the séance is over.
In about two weeks I asked her how she was feeling and got another confirmation that everything was all right.
Commentary. The séance took 15– 20 minutes, we solved the problem that was a most important problem for all the further life of Kate. A year later Kate gave birth to her first baby and came to her classes with a pram.
3. Verification of a hypothesis
The verification turns the hypothesis into a certainty. When the hypothesis is fully formed, it may be explained [but you shouldn’t do it every time] to the client. The confirmation of the hypothesis by the client is an important proof that it is correct. But the doctor can find some confirming arguments by other means too. It may be particularly important when your hypothesis may antagonize the client or elicit his strong resistance, in this case you shouldn’t share it with him
The doctor can “calculate” the consequences of the problem in different areas of the client’s life and make sure that he is right by asking questions. For example, if you suspect that the client suffers from some obtrusiveness, you can ask him if he does some senseless rituals to protect himself from some accident of if he suppresses his sexual thoughts. The client may confirm he is surprised by you being so shrewd.
Example. One day a woman called me about her teenage daughter’s hysterical behavior. Still on the telephone I told her: “But you don’t love your daughter because she is like her father whom you divorced”. She was shocked by my shrewdness, as she didn’t tell me anything about her former husband, and about his likeness with the daughter. I diagnosed this psychological case by some little indications: the way she spoke about her daughter, as she didn’t mention her father, by the style of the hysterical behavior of her daughter.
As we have already said when working with images the verification of the meaning of images and the confirmation of the hypothesis may be a kind of mental experiment, when a client influences the image in some way, and the result of this impact which you control, is the answer to the question whether the hypothesis is correct or not.
The criterion of the rightness of the hypothesis is the successful solution of the problem on the background of this hypothesis. This is its final confirmation. Though in case the solution was not achieved, it’s wrong to make a conclusion that the hypothesis was wrong. The correct psychological diagnosis paves the way to success but doesn’t guarantee it.
SUMMARY
1. Different trends in psychotherapy work with images.
2. Most interesting are dreams, pictures and fantasies which involuntarily reflect the personality and its problems.
3. The images created by the client are interpreted on the background of the experience of many generations of psychologists, images speak about the things which the client doesn’t notice in himself.
4. To deeper understand the