Emotion-Image Therapy. Analysis and Implementation
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A Chinese fable says about it in the following way: “Words are only traps for the meaning. When a beast is captured the trap is forgotten. Where can I find a man who forgot about words in order to talk to him?”
Our psyche prefers to talk to us in the language of images. Almost all discoveries were made when a person became relaxed and switched off his familiar fussing around thoughts, then his psyche sleeping or meditating gave rise to images whose meaning solved the task. This is how Archimedes relaxed in the bath and discovered his famous law. He was so excited that he jumped out if the bath and was running about Syracuse crying: “Evrica!” [which means “I’ve found!”]. Mendeleev saw his periodic table in his dream as a solitaire. And Bach saw his fugues in his dream as Gothic cathedrals.
They say that the inventor of sewing machine Elias Howe spent two years on his research, got broke but failed to achieve the desirable result. And once nearly in a complete despair he fell asleep in his laboratory on his drawings. He had a dream that he was somewhere in Africa, he was caught by cannibal savages who tied up his hands and legs, pushed him into a tub of water, put a lid on and began to boil it. Hot water made the ropes get loose, he freed his hands and legs pulled away the lid and began to get out of the tub. But the cannibals came running at once and started to push him back into the tub with spears, he screamed with terror and woke up. “Their spears were kind of unusual, – he thought in surprise, – they had holes in the spikes!” And he invented a needle for sewing machines! The subconscious coded the solution in images but he was lucky to decode it. We also ask the subconscious in terms of images and then interpret its answer!
Insight is an ecstatic reaction to the opened truth. In place of a dead-end there appeared unusual opportunities! Everything became clear, understandable and… nice, even beautiful! The discovery of new ways arouses the feeling of liberation and joy. The tension that chains you eases and much energy comes instead which overfills you. Now you can act, now you will gain success, victory and new discoveries. There will be no end to new space and miracles! Understanding easily gives rise to new ideas, they come in a free flow, because the dam is broken and what follows are numerous consequences of the discovery or the whole chain of liberating discoveries.
That’s why we say:
There are people who can at once understand a hint.
There are people who can understand when you explain to them.
There are people who can understand only from their own experience.
There are people who can understand only when everybody around them has understood.
And there are people who can never understand.
Psychoanalyses, humanistic psychotherapy, gestalt therapy and all trends of psychotherapy oriented towards awareness and self-knowledge work at the level of insight.
4. The level of states. However, there is a deeper level than that of understanding. Understanding may be blocked or on the contrary stimulated by emotional states. In the state of anger, it is not possible to open up for yourself tenderness, in the state of constrain and fear you cannot understand trust and calmness. Stiffness, depression, anxiety, bitterness and other similar states aren’t conductive to self-knowledge and creativeness. And on the contrary, different negative feelings give rise to numerous was of self- deceit called protections. To see yourself as you really are may be very difficult and painful, but avoiding the truth you will not find the truth. So many clients prefer to slide on the surface trying to avoid the consequences, but not to touch on the true reasons of their suffering. So they prefer to learn the skills of outer behavior or just take some medicine. Then there is no need to work on yourself. So if creativeness and insight are blocked by negative emotional states, they must be stimulated by positive states, when a person is full of joy, happiness when he is relaxed… Why then we speak about throes of creation! Indeed, there really are throes of creation, but there is no creation. Creation really starts when a person is relaxed and is getting into a state liberating his spirit. Throes or torments result from violating your nature, but creation is the result of the activity of your subconscious when it is free.
5. The level of essence. A deeper level in regard to emotional states is the level of essence. Essence is deeper than character. Character is a whole set [cluster] of typical and customary emotional states which a person identified with himself but there is always a key state that gives rise to the whole set. These customary states are rigidly tied to the complex of inner philosophy, to the worldview, with chronic muscle clamps [muscle shell], with a complex of customary reactions to different situations. For that reason, it is very difficult for person to get beyond his character and take a detached view at himself. But his essence is outside his character. And only getting beyond the character it is possible to feel your true essence which is broader and deeper than character. However, with the help of character people protect themselves from real life and feel very uneasy when they lose their habitual protective shell. Character performs only stereotype behavior, and prevents more flexible adaptation, deprives of energy and paralyzes…
Essence can also be damaged. For instance, a person may be at war with himself, may reject a part of his essence, “may be at odds with himself” so to speak. We think that in cases of serious psychic diseases it is the essence that is damaged. But many not so bad psychological problems may be connected to the problems at this level. For example, when you reject your Inner Child [see further] many psychological disturbances can take place, and this is a frequent case of a splitting of essence.
So, essence maintains a certain [quite big] set of possible states, a certain state may lead to a certain set of understandings [insights], understanding may give rise to a certain set of thoughts [cognitive constructs], a thought may give rise to a certain set of actions, and an action leads to a certain result. Poor results, as a rule, make a person come to the conclusion that his essence is good, states are correct, understanding is adequate, thoughts are exact and actions are right those which should have been taken, and but reality is somehow “bad” and should be changed. The psychologist on his part helps the person himself to change.
Now, coming back to the story about the devil… What was he wrong about? Why did he fail?
Earlier I thought that the secret was that the devil simply didn’t understand the meaning of the commandments, acted according to the pattern, at the level of behavior, never getting to the level of insight. Later I understood the problem deeper. A student from Costa-Rica [once I had such student] helped me do it. She gave me a fantastically simple answer to my provocative question! The devil’s mistake was that he remained a devil! That is he didn’t change his essence! And was not going to do so!
Indeed, one can behave properly for a very long time, one can understand why and for what he does so, but if one remains his old self, with old emotional stereotypes, then in actual fact one’s false behavior is worth nothing. “Didn’t do any good, but in his soul, he was really a kind man” – said Pushkin about himself. And this is much better than to do some good remaining a wicked man.
What can do EIT in this sense? On the basis of the scheme of levels expressing the personality we can point out that therapy through emotions and images works for changing emotional states, which are the roots of psychological problems, as well as for rehabilitating the wholeness and harmony of a person’s essence. That means we work at a deeper level than thinking, behavior and even understanding. Rehabilitating the damaged essence makes it possible for a person to open up for himself the whole lot of new positive states which guarantee more effective and healthy life.
We help a person understand himself, do nothing “behind his back” which actually is impossible. Our method has nothing to do with hypnosis, rather it helps remove hypnotic-emotional states which emerged in the course of his life.
We do try to change the client’s behavior and thinking. We do indeed, but we always seek the underlying reason of his behavior and thinking, which appears to a problem for the client. We talk about and bodily expression of these feelings, about images of these feelings and at times it’s very surprising for the client. It is this that helps to achieve real, sincere and not imagined changes of behavior. We don’t teach the client how to behave but ask him what reactions occur involuntarily, when his emotional state has changed. If these reactions correspond to his desires as well as to lows of ecology and ethics, it is the best result in EIT. Sometimes the client is surprised that his reactions became quite different, though he doesn’t have time to think how to react properly. And this is the criterion of real changes!
In EIT realization and understanding for the client is secondary, primary is the changing if states, though the physician must understand what kind of changes he is trying to achieve, how some impact on the image can change the emotional state and personality. Everything is done for the good of the client, in compliance with psychological ecology, on condition of the client’s own agreement and using his own efforts. In the framework of EIT analyzing process is very quick, and the client’s insight is not forbidden, but it is more important for the physician. The physician’s insight is followed by a delightful “a-ha reaction” and the insight of the client is sometimes followed by the feeling of horror or remorse and by the rain of tears. He understands at last what terrible for him events and feelings brought him to this life, how he spoiled his life. But everything can be improved. It is never too late.
Summary
1. Emotions are the criterion of the success of a person’s activity, the criterion of success.
2. Emotions may be the main goal of some activity; it is performed in order to get emotions.
3. The way you feel is also an emotional phenomenon, expressing the state of your organism. Chronic emotions effect health.
4. Emotions provide energy for any actions of a person.
5. Emotional states make the basis for a person’s choice of thoughts and ways of behavior.
6. Negative emotions sometimes serve as social barriers for undesirable forms of thinking and behavior. But often they restrict positive capabilities of an individual.
7. Chronic negative emotions are the reason of disturbed psychological and psychosomatic health of a person, his inadequate behavior. They may remain unchanged in the person’s psyche all his life.
8. Psyche is active. Activity is being developed from within the personality. It proceeds from the essence and expresses itself through states, understanding, thinking and acts.
9. The task of EIT is to change chronic negative emotional states and work for integration and harmonization of a person’s essence.
Chapter 2. Emotions and body
Emotion is “a bridge” connecting psyche and body.
Emotion connects psyche and body; it exists both in psyche and in body at the same time. But emotion is also energy, which becomes revealed in actions. Emotion is felt subjectively but it is expressed in very strong bodily manifestations. They are more frequent or more slow heartbeat and breathing, tension or relaxation of muscles, more intensive or less intensive blood flow in some parts of the body, more intensive or less intensive sweating, discharging into blood some mediators [like adrenalin] and so on. Emotions affect the functioning of autonomous nervous system, which controls inner organism and does not follow the orders of the mind. That is why emotions strongly affect the states of the body and cause psychosomatic diseases.
Wilhelm Reich stated that undesirable emotions are blocked in the body by chronic muscle clamps [25, 26]. The system of these clamps makes up the so-called muscle shell. This shell not only restricts the expression of sincere feelings but also creates a barrier for spontaneous and flexible behavioral reactions. It blocks free flow of energy in the body, the amount of energy becomes smaller, feelings and behavior become limited, their repertory becomes much smaller. A person feels constant discomfort because of too much tension in his body, at times pain, sometimes the feeling of heaviness and limited mobility. Muscle clamp fully corresponds to adapting activity. It expresses the character of a person, that is of typical for him emotional and behavioral repertory with its limitations and stereotypes.
If the muscle clamp relaxes, the person gets back to his initial nature, becomes sincere and natural, flexible and creative. The heaviness of the body as if goes away, it becomes light, as if fresh wind were blowing inside the body. Energy and joy fill the person. He becomes capable of getting real pleasure from living, and his behavior is adequate, it corresponds to the situation, he doesn’t go crazy, on the contrary, he thinks clearly and fully realizes what is going on. We called this state of a person uncharacteristic, this is a new and unusual term requiring an explanation.
The matter is that character becomes revealed in customary and stereotypical ways of behavior, which repeat themselves in various situations, sometimes quite adequately and sometimes not. For example, a touchy person takes offence very often and as a rule when there is no reason to take offence. Touchiness is a trait of character. An anxious person is worrying for no reason; anxiety is his trait of character. A hot-tempered man is often outraged and feels insulted because of some trifle. Hot-temperedness is his trait of character. Any characteristic manifestations of a person are typical reactions excluding flexibility and creativity. A person lives within his character as a turtle in its shell. With the help of his character, he protects himself from his own shortcomings which he faces if he is open to the world. To do it he has to suppress some feelings and limit the repertory of possible actions straining the corresponding muscles of his body in fear of his own unlimited freedom. He is afraid if freedom and doesn’t know what to do with it.
But if he casts off the yoke of his character displayed in the muscle shell, not only his body relaxes but he no longer needs stereotype protective reactions. New spontaneous adequate to the current situation reactions become accessible to him. As he reacts creatively and not in a stereotype way you can’t say what kind of character he has. He is not touchy though but he may take offence if this is adequate to the situation as he really was insulted. But even feelings of offence don’t last long, he easily forgives them and goes on communicating normally. He is not anxious but may worry if future may have in store some unpredictable dangers. For example, if he has to take an important and difficult examination. But his worrying doesn’t last very long and is not pathological, doesn’t prevent from focusing on preparing for the examination.
You can’t say about such person that he lacks in character because a weak-willed person displays weak unstable and dependable character. A non-character person can easily stand up for justice and can’t be easily bent to someone’s will because he has an independent character. He doesn’t live inside his character, his character doesn’t command how he should live, he rules over his character if he still has some stereotype reactions. So he is always different and you can’t say what stable features of character he has. The only suitable term to describe him is “non-character” that is not corresponding to traditional classifications of characters, flowing like water he reacts not in keeping with the character but freely as it is necessary here and now.
Character is stiff and stuck emotions turned to stone in the forms if muscle clamps or ousted and materialized in the forms of emptiness and muscle impotence. Very often current problems of a personality are the result of deeper defects of character. As we have already said people face the problems which reflect our character. The world gives us back our own reflection exactly like it did for the famous donkey Eeyore. As we know he looked at his reflection on one side of the lake, then went to the other side looked again… “Yes, -he said, -I knew, on this aide it is no better than on that. Harrowing sight…” For some reason, people don’t think that it is necessary to change themselves, thinking that it is the world that is wrong and must be changed. But changing the world they face themselves again, fatally facing the consequences of their character, to which they try to adjust the world. The same thing happens when social revolutions take place.
The problem is that when we speak about changing the character practically any client demonstrates strong resistance. The matter is that he views himself as his character, he identifies himself with his character and is afraid of losing himself as a result therapeutic changes. Character is also connected with main life values and scenarios, supported by some inner philosophy, profound convictions, individual life experience. At the background of character there is some basic emotional fixation from early childhood, but the client is reluctant to change it in justified fear that he can lose the whole customary system relying on which he lived all his life. He fears to be unprotected in the face if unpredictable life.
If we manage to change some basic emotional fixation, the client may feel disoriented, as if he got into absolutely different unusual world and doesn’t know how to behave.
Example 3. “A new world”
Once I succeeded to help one student to get rid of bitterness that overfilled him. He had every reason to feel bitter he had to go through very much, but bitterness interfered in his life and studies, made all he was doing more difficult. I recommended him to go to the forest and shout there letting his anger go out. To my surprise he followed my advice he was shouting for two hours and kicking something in the air. And after this process he came somewhat soft and light.
– How is life? – I asked him.
– Excellent. Very calm. So many problems went away! I have enough time for everything, it is easier for me to study, have far less conflicts. But I just don’t know how to live this way?
– Why, isn’t it better?
– It is, but I don’t know how, I can’t live this way, it is sort of unusual…
– And what is wrong, give an example?
– My dad yelled at me and I don’t know what to tell him. Just sitting saying nothing… But actually he also got silent…
– Well, that’s fine, isn’t it?
– Yes, it is. But I don’t know how to live this way! These days on my way home I see two men fighting. In the past I would interfere in the fight, and now I think: What are they fighting for, fools and fools… I just passed them by. But I don’t know how to live this way!
I had to explain to him for a long time how to adapt to the new reality. He really began to study well, later entered a postgraduate course, though he had been a very poor student before. But I still had to work with him a lot.
Now let’s get back to the Wilhelm Reich theory. He discovered relatively independent segments of the muscle armor. Each one blocks some emotions. We use this information in EIT to diagnose what caused different psychological problems.
1. Eyes. Protective armor in eyes area reveals itself in brow immobility and “empty” expression of the eyes. They look as if from behind a motionless mask. You can achieve relaxation by opening your eyes as wide as possible [like you do in great fear] to move eyelids and brow to an enforced emotional state, as well as by rolling your eyes and looking from side to side fixing your look on either wall.
2. Mouth. Oral segment includes muscles of the chin, throat and the back of the head. The jaw can be both greatly compressed and unnaturally relaxed. This segment keeps the emotional expression of weeping, yelling, anger, biting, sucking, grimacing. Protective tensions can be relaxed by imitating weeping, making sounds engaging lips, making biting movements, throwing up movements and directly working on muscles.
3. Neck. This segment includes deep muscles of the neck and tongue. It controls mostly anger, yelling and weeping. It is not possible to directly affect deep muscles in the neck, so important means to achieve relaxation are yelling, screaming, vomiting movements and so on.
4. Breast. Breast segment includes broad muscles of shoulders, shoulder blades, thorax, arms and hands. This segment holds back laughter, anger, sorrow, passion. Holding back breathing, which is an important way of suppressing any emotion, is mostly realized in the breast. The armor can relax if you work on your breathing, especially by full breathing in. Arms and hands are used for hitting a target, for tearing, suffocating, beating and passionately achieving something.
5. Diaphragm. This segment includes the diaphragm, solar plexus, muscles of the middle part of the back. Protective tension reveals itself in the bent of the vertebral to the front, when a client is lying there is a big space between the lower part of his back and the couch. Breathing out is more difficult than breathing in. The armor mainly holds back anger. It necessary to first relax the first four segments before you begin to relax this one. You do it by working with breathing and vomiting reflex [people with strong blocks in this segment are practically unable to throw up].
6. Abdomen. The segment of abdomen includes broad abdomen muscles and back muscles. The tension of the waist muscles is connected with the fear of falling down. The protective armor on the sides of the body arouses the fear of tickling and is connected with suppression of bitterness and enmity that is strong dislike. Relaxation occurs easily if upper segments are already open.
7. Pelvis. The last segment includes all pelvis muscles and lower limbs. The stronger the protective shell is the more the pelvis is pulled back and sticks out. The pelvis muscles are tense and painful. The pelvis is rigid, it is “dead” and non-sexual. The pelvis armor serves to suppress excitement, anger and pleasure. Excitement [or anxiety] emerges out of suppressing feelings of sexual pleasure. It is impossible to feel pleasure in this area before you release anger in the pelvis muscles. The armor can be undone by straining the pelvis then kicking and pushing the couch by your pelvis.
This classification is brief but with all its limits it helps to see the links between feelings, images and body. For example, practice confirms many times that strong anger including anger at yourself is kept in the diaphragm area and when you touch on this subject a person may feel acute pain in this area. A spasm of the diaphragm blocks natural breathing by “the abdomen” which is characteristic of the newly born. It can also block the normal function of letting out gall.
It is also important for correct diagnosing to know that the feeling of duty is mostly located in the shoulders area and that containing your breathing leads to controlling any feelings. So when feelings are released clients feel something like additional breathing, they say that they have never breathed like this before [see examples].
What is amazing is that when you help the client to get rid of the oppressive feeling of duty, not only shoulder muscles relax but many clients have the feeling as if they had big white wings on their backs like angels in pictures. Instead of oppression they feel an increase of energy and inspiration. It turns out that images can express not only emotional problems, but character and even the old and the new approach to life.
The theory of Wilhelm Reich and his practice are aimed at releasing held down emotions, relaxing muscle armor, and his techniques are meant to work with tense muscles. To achieve this the doctor presses on the tense muscles of the body, making the client breathe deeply and express in sounds the pain he feels. The success is achieved when the whole muscle shell is fully and steady relaxed which requires a long and hard work. Similar effects may be achieved by working with images of emotional states and it may be quicker and easier.