To understand is not enough
There are completely opposite approaches which presuppose addressing the intelligence of the patient: “Don’t you see that your fears are ridiculous, and that you can easily overcome them?“Of course, such kind of understanding is important but it is not enough for healing oneself from fear. Increasing one’s level of competence doesn’t have that much influence at the autonomic level. The head can understand that there is nothing to be afraid of, but once the object of fear is mentioned, a sinking feeling will appear in the stomach.
There’s a curious story about a patient in therapy who imagined that he was a seed and was afraid of being pecked by a rooster. After various therapeutic sessions his doctor asked him: “Well, do you understand that you are not a seed?” – “Of course, I do! I am a person!” – “Will you go home without worries?” – “No, doctor.” – “Why?” – “Because I know I’m not a seed, but does the rooster know?”
Understanding creates some background which can make further work with the autonomic nervous system more efficient but unfortunately it cannot automatically unblock the initial reactions of the body.
Synthetic practices
One should pay special attention to the following synthetic practices based on Pavlov’s neurophysiological research.
Ivan Petrovich Pavlov (1849—1936) and his supporters while studying the physiology of nervous processes came to the conclusion that in cases of impulsive obsessions, nervous processes lose their typical agility, there is certain inertia of nervous processes, and it manifests in congestive centres. (Pavlov, 1950).
Joseph Wolpe (1915 – 1997) was a South African psychiatrist who parted from Pavlov’s research of conditioned reflexes and developed a concept of neurotic fears from the point of view of learning theory. At a certain moment “a body learnt” to treat some factor with fear. Now it has to learn how to stop doing this. “If your fears are automatic emotional habits, then you will have to use different emotions to destroy these habits. If some of your fears appeared due to disinformation then we will provide correct information (Wolpe, 1982, p.87). He introduced “systematic desensitization’: a patient is brought to a very relaxed state and then he or she is subjected to a light stimulus that causes fear. Once the patient has acquired tolerance to such a level of anxiety, the dose of the stimulus is gradually increased until the patient gets accustomed to the bigger dosage and considers it low, which would then lead to a decrease of anxiety. (Wolpe, 1958, 1961). This approach was named, behavioural therapy.
It is essential that the process of adaptation is gradual, and it is based on the fact that the patient is relaxed and well informed. However, there is one issue that is left out when this approach is taken. The signal that has gone deep into the body and that has activated the autonomic system is ignored. Thus the new reaction is imposed “over” the old one. This slows down the treatment and doesn’t actually set the patient completely free from his or her internal fear fighting.
There is another method based on Pavlov’s neurophysiological approach. This is a method of working through traumas which relies on eye movement activation (Shapiro, Francine, 1996). The foundation of the method is a highly interesting observation. When a person stops looking for solutions, the frustration settles in, and his or her eyes seem to stop, and it looks as if this person is gazing into space. In contrast, when a person is trying to find a solution, his or her eyes are moving actively. In order to help a person overcome the inertia of nervous processes, he or she is motivated to move his or her eyes. The therapist moves his or her hands in front of the patient’s face and thus sets the direction of the patient’s vision. The directions can be the following: left-right, diagonally, in a circle or figure eight. The movements must be quite quick. Just as the eyes begin to move, “impulse movement” is triggered in the brain. When the stagnant focus begins to “blur”, the chance comes to work through the traumatic experience.
This approach can provide quite useful results in some cases, though it is still artificial. I have never applied it in my practice. If I reconnect the attention of the patient with the aspects that are holding his or her mind and nervous processes, then the release happens automatically, with great precision, a full-scale feedback, with the total participation of the patient and understanding of the significance of the process. Further on I will try to demonstrate it with examples.
Having paid my respects to my colleagues, who have been working on the idea of counteracting fears and other conscious fixations, I would like now to describe my own approach.
Conscious self-regulation: Psychocatalysis
Self-regulation based on the primary sensations is a mild directed alternative to other kinds of therapy which appeals to the subconscious (meditative techniques); it may also serve as a supplement to the kinds of therapy that work with the conscious mind (analytical techniques).
A patient can observe the processes that take place in his or her mind, and the result depends on the patient, on his or her decisions and not on favourable circumstances or the authority of the healer. This is a method of internal work: it’s reliable, simple, natural, and fast.
Let’s have a closer look at the details.
1.5. How one can overcome fear and enjoy living
Start with a simple drawing
Before you continue reading, I’d like to recommend you do this quick test. You’ll need a little piece of paper and a pencil.
Fig. 7. Geometric shapes which are used in the test “Constructive drawing of a person”.
Draw a person made of rectangles, circles and triangles. You can vary the size of the elements. There should be ten geometric shapes in your picture.
This test is called “constructive drawing of a person”. The authors of the test are Russian psychotherapists Victor and Helen Libin. This test is quite simple and the result can be quite useful. I introduced this test into psychotherapy and self-regulation. According to my research, such drawing is a projection of a person’s self-awareness and is an imprint of a person’s energetic profile.
How can one’s fears be reflected in the drawing? In this case the following combination of figures is typical: a round head and an oval body. Wide-open eyes and a navel serve as additional characteristics. Arms and legs are usually made of triangles.
Triangles in the picture are a sign of a lack of fulfilment, especially when compared with the more “stable” rectangles and circles which our mind intuitively uses as figures with more volume in order to depict zones of the body filled with energy. As our body can feel energy stored unevenly, we can reflect it in the picture.
Typical combinations
As an example, I would like to demonstrate several typical configurations which often appear in these drawings. They are very common, and are often reproduced by patients suffering from similar problems.
Fig. 8. Typical combinations in the test “Constructive drawing of a person”.
Anxiety and helplessness are shown with a big head and small extremities (I). Feeling unappreciated, angry and rebellious is pictured with the “inflated”