Meditation “Rose bush. Rose bush Methodology rose bush interpretation

2.1.5 Motif “Rose Bush”

In applying the symboldrama method to diagnose the dynamics of sexual identity in men, we used the “rose bush” motif proposed by H. Leiner, when the patient is asked to imagine a rose bush at the edge of a meadow, and then pick one flower from it. The symbol of a rose bush or wild rose at the edge of a meadow is deeply connected with the German archetypal culture on which H. Leiner relied.

What is important is what the flowers look like, the patient's hesitation to pick a flower (“The rose will hurt...”), his fear of getting pricked, etc. This motive is central to the treatment of sexual disorders.

Research has shown that in Slavic culture The “rose bush” motif also turned out to be highly effective diagnostically and psychotherapeutically. At the same time, we have identified the following stages in the development of the imagination process, which are essential for the development of the diagnostic process.

After a preliminary conversation with the person sitting in comfortable chair or with the patient lying on the couch, a relaxation exercise is performed using a method close to autogenic training according to J. Schultz. After which the patient is asked to imagine a “meadow”.

After the image appears, the patient gives it general characteristics, including both detailed details and feelings and subjective assessments of the image as a whole. You should ask the patient about the weather, time of year, time of day; about the size of the meadow, about what is located along its edges, about the vegetation in the meadow. The image of a meadow is a maternal-oral symbol, reflecting both the connection with the mother and the dynamics of the experiences of the first year of life, as well as the current state, the general background of the mood. The mood factor can be represented by the nature of the weather, time of day and time of year. Normally, this is the summer season or late spring, day or morning, the weather is good, the sun is in the sky; There is rich, lush vegetation around, represented by an abundance of herbs and flowers; the meadow is welcoming, even gentle, flooded with bright sunlight. After 3-5 minutes of working on the “meadow” motif technique, the patient is asked to look around and see if there is a rose bush somewhere. As a rule, the rose bush appears somewhere on the edge of the meadow. The patient is asked to describe it in detail. This description makes it possible to explore the conceptual phase of the development of sexual libido according to Vasilchenko’s classification.

At this stage, the patient is instructed to choose one of the rose colors that he likes best. The patient gives a detailed description of the chosen flower and indicates the reasons for his preference. Particularly important is the subjective emotional feeling tone associated with the object of choice. According to Vasilchenko’s classification, this stage corresponds to the platonic phase of libido development.

Difficulties in choosing a specific flower on a rose bush can be caused by fixation on the combination of conceptual, erotic and sexual phases of libido development with underdevelopment of the platonic phase. Symboldrama opens up the possibility of carrying out appropriate diagnostics and psychocorrection.

The flower should be outlined in all details, describe its color, size, shape, describe what is visible if you look into the flower's cup, etc. The color of a rose can reflect the degree of sexual maturity. It is believed that the most powerful emotions causes a person to turn red. A combination of red, yellow and orange flowers considered the sexiest. Pink flowers can symbolize infantility, “pink dreams”, the desire for others to treat you like a child; yellow roses can be associated with jealousy; white roses - chastity, platonic, spiritual relationships, idealization; orange roses are a symbol of personal strength and possible suppression of others. The leaves on the stem symbolize vital force or lack thereof. The stem itself symbolizes the phallic principle, the support, the core of the personality. The thorns on the stem of a rose symbolize the dangers that accompany passion. If there are too many of them in the patient’s imagination, then such a person is in the grip of fear and exaggerates the dangers. If there are no thorns or there are very few of them, then such a person neglects the dangers associated with sexual relations, does not notice them, and is too frivolous.

A 35-year-old patient, married, with two children, on a business trip far from home, imagined a rose bush with delicate little ones far away on the edge of a meadow. pink flowers, which he associated with his attitude towards his wife and which he wanted to approach. But after taking a few steps, he smelled a strong scent of roses to his left. Turning around, he saw a bush of luxurious red and Red roses. The patient decided to “go left” to the red bush, which revealed a problem of choice associated with the underdevelopment of the platonic phase of sexual libido.

At the next stage, the patient is asked to try to touch the stem with the tip of his finger in his imagination, run along it, touch the thorns, leaves, petals of the flower and, finally, inhale the aroma of the rose. The patient is asked about his feelings and sensations. It is also important to describe the emotional tone coming directly from the flower. Accordingly, the erotic phase of libido development according to Vasilchenko is studied.

Next, the patient is asked to pick or cut a rose, which symbolically characterizes the formation of the sexual phase of libido development. For some patients (who have not reached, according to Vasilchenko’s classification, the sexual phase of libido development) this is especially difficult to do. Sometimes the patient feels sorry that the rose will be hurt (fixation at the platonic stage of libido development, when physical intimacy and sexual intercourse are considered something dirty). Others are afraid of being pricked by thorns (they have an exaggerated sense of danger in the face of possible unpleasant consequences of sexual intimacy). One of our patients imagined many small needles on the stem of a rose, like on a cactus. He knew that, on the one hand, it didn’t hurt so much and he could endure it. But if he picks a rose, he will then have to remove the unpleasant needles from his fingers for a long time. However, this did not stop him from picking the flower. In life, the patient was also prone to risk and was ready to endure possible troubles associated with sexual relations.

By the way the patient reacts to the proposal to pick a rose, one can judge the degree of his sexual maturity, as demonstrated by the following two examples from the practice of H. Leiner. H. Leiner worked with an 18-year-old boy who had not yet reached full male maturity, which was reflected in the presentation of a “rose bush,” as can be seen from the following protocol: “I see a beautiful wide rose bush. The flowers are all white. I really like them, there is something pleasant, gentle, closed about them.” (Therapist: “Are they still closed, or have some already opened?”) “No, they are still closed, many are only in bud.” (Therapist: “Are they all white, or are there also some pink or maybe red flowers among them?”) “No, they are all completely white and delicate. I love white roses much more than pink or red ones.” (Therapist: “Could you pick one of the roses to put in a vase on your table at home?”) “No, I wouldn’t want that, they’re too tender, and so chaste. I think it would be bad to tear them up here. Maybe they won't bloom at all in my vase. You just can’t touch them.”

H. Leiner notes that no special art interpretation, everything is already contained in the expressions of our speech. The buds symbolize unpreparedness for sexual relations, immaturity. White color symbolizes chastity, platonic relationships.

And another example: H. Leiner offered the same test to a man who traveled a lot on various trips. When H. Leiner asked him to imagine a “rose bush,” he immediately imagined a crystal vase standing in his room instead of a bush. The vase was full of large, fragrant roses that had already been cut. They had already fully opened, individual petals were already falling on some, which indicated, on the one hand, that “picking a rose” did not pose any problem for him, the roses themselves were already ready, and on the other hand, there was already some satiety with sexual relations.

One of the reasons for the impossibility of picking a rose (for example, a rose to which the patient reaches out his hand bursts into flames and burns in front of the patient) may be an unresolved oedipal dependence on the mother. The man, on an unconscious level, continues to treat his mother as an object of infantile sexual affection. All his love belongs to her. The incest taboo is automatically activated - an unconscious ban on sexual relations with the mother. Therefore, associated with love for the mother, the rose is often represented as a chaste white color. Such men usually like women in whom they unconsciously “see” a mother, but in relation to whom they internally cannot allow themselves to perform sexual actions. Unresolved oedipal dependence on the mother, experienced on an unconscious level, can be the cause of erectile dysfunction. Conducting psychotherapy using the symboldrama method allows you to emotionally work through the oedipal conflict and overcome erectile dysfunction.

The patient imagined a field of white roses. A meadow, a field is a symbol of mother, a rose is a symbol of love. In the patient's unconscious, all love belongs to the mother. But due to the taboo on incest, the attitude towards the mother cannot be erotic or sexual. Therefore, the patient's libido is fixed at a platonic level, which symbolizes White color roses on the field. When the psychotherapist suggested that he look for pink or red roses somewhere, the patient said that outside the meadow (that is, outside the relationship with his mother) he “sees” red roses. But even there he had difficulties when he needed to pick a flower. The stem of the rose turned into a long rope with an anchor at the end, which, like an umbilical cord, connected it to the ground. The depth psychological approach to understanding symbolism, adopted in symbol drama, believes that the earth, “the mother of the damp earth,” are the most important oral-maternal symbols. The patient is unconsciously connected by a symbolic umbilical cord to the mother's body.

When used diagnostically, the director's principles of conducting imagination should contain a minimum of imperativeness, which makes it possible to assess the differentiation of the phases of libido development, their harmony and centrality. With passive, creative disclosure of the image, it is possible to explore the mechanisms of regression and fixation of libido in its systemic understanding. A classic example of such fixation is the impossibility of choosing a specific flower (a variant of field behavior, a violation still at the stage of the conceptual-erotic phase), or the inability to pick a flower you like because of the pain caused to it (fixation in the platonic-erotic phase, fear of sexual relations, idealization partners).

On last stage the patient is asked to take the rose into the house and place it there, which also sometimes causes difficulties for the patient. At home, the patient puts a rose in water and admires it (from a symbolic point of view, it is important whether the patient wants to trim the stem of the rose, add something to the water to make the rose stand better, etc.). This symbolically characterizes the development of mature sexuality, that is, the ability to create a stable relationship with a permanent partner, which is necessary to realize the need to create a family. For example, some men take a rose with roots, which symbolizes the intention to “take” a woman with all her roots, relatives, and loved ones. Others believe that the partner must first be raised by correcting what her parents did not do. They constantly pull back and correct their partner (“don’t talk so much on the phone”), make decisions for her, impose their idea of ​​happiness on her and push her to take appropriate actions, demonstrate that they do not respect her intellectual abilities (“you won’t understand this”) , disrespect her tastes (“how can you listen to such music”). In an image, this can manifest itself in the fact that the stem of the rose must first be cut, burned on fire, broken with a hammer, etc.

One patient, married, two children, deeply and sincerely loving wife, picked a rose from a flower bed, brought it home and put it in a vase in the bedroom. For the rest of the time he admired her. Only here the rose bloomed in all its glory. The patient is characterized by mature sexuality with established choices and a stable value system.

The above technique can be carried out in various modifications, depending on the tasks of the psychotherapist. The use of the rosebush motif has proven to be highly effective in the treatment of psychogenic erectile dysfunction, as shown by next example.

The patient is a mechanical technician by profession, 51 years old, married for 30 years, two children, 27 and 18 years old. He lives with his wife in a separate apartment and is satisfied with the living conditions. He is short (170 cm), plump, with a bald head. The reason for the treatment was dullness of orgasm and decreased erection, which did not allow insertion of the penis without additional manual manipulation. Congestion was observed in the prostate gland. One of the suspected reasons for decreased erection is a lower back injury.

He recalls that interest in a woman as a sexual partner and the desire to have sexual intercourse with her (libido) appeared at about 12 years of age. The first ejaculation occurred during sexual intercourse at the age of 14 years. Masturbated from age 15 to 21 about twice a week. Masturbation was of a substitution type, because there was no woman. From 17 to 21 years old he practiced superficial and deep petting. I received information about sex life from friends. The first sexual intercourse was at the age of 20, I regarded it as too fast. The frequency of sexual intercourse before marriage was approximately twice a week. He got married at the age of 21. He chose his wife based on her external and spiritual attractiveness. My wife's sexuality was awakened immediately. After marriage in Honeymoon the frequency of sexual intercourse was 3-4 times a week. I entered a conditional physiological rhythm (CPR), i.e. 2-3 sexual intercourse per week, almost immediately, which is one of the signs of a weak sexual constitution (during the honeymoon, the frequency of sexual intercourse sometimes reaches seven intercourse per day). The maximum excess (the number of sexual acts ending in ejaculation per day) did not exceed two. The last time or two he had sexual intercourse ending in ejaculation per day was at the age of 45. Withstands withdrawal easily for 14 days. Withdrawal is manifested by pain in the testicles, and emissions appear against the background of withdrawal. The mood before sexual intercourse is usually bad and anxious. The duration of sexual intercourse is 5-7 minutes. At the time of treatment, morning spontaneous erections persisted.

The patient prefers a wide range of acceptability (different positions, non-traditional forms of satisfying sexual needs, oral-genital and oral-anal caresses), however, in a married couple, due to the position of the wife, the range of acceptability is narrow, which is one of the factors of disharmony marital relations. The patient's preferred time for sexual intercourse is 4 a.m. The positions of sexual intercourse suit him. From unwanted pregnancy the couple is protected using the calendar method according to the phases of the menstrual cycle.

The patient is not satisfied with the wife’s behavior before sexual intercourse, since the wife does not increase his sexual arousal with her actions and caresses. However, the sexual act itself and sexual relations in general suit him. At the same time, on an unconscious level, the relationship with the spouse as a whole does not correspond to the desires and expectations of the patient.

The patient has a phenomenon of “loss of the penis in the vagina”, since after childbirth the wife did not train the vaginal muscles to contract using the W.H. technique. Masters and V.E. Johnson. The attitude in sex is characterized by the sociocultural myth of “Madonna and the Harlot”: he would like to have a wife pure, like Madonna, feminine and faithful, and to have sex with a depraved harlot, sensual, accessible, flirtatious. The patient has a gaming type of sexual motivation: he loves sexual relations play, fantasy, creativity, loves to experiment. Psychosocial type – “man-child”. When communicating with her husband, the wife takes the position of “accuser”. The patient demonstrates an infantile type of attachment.

He loves his wife, the worldview and beliefs of the spouses correspond to each other, and their moral attitudes also correspond to each other. This is largely what keeps them together. On the whole, he is also satisfied with his wife’s role position in the family. There are no extramarital affairs. He explains his loyalty to his wife by the fact that there was no desire to cheat, there was no need for other women. Sometimes conflicts that arise with my wife are related to the family budget.

Considers his appearance to make contact with women difficult, including for the purpose of getting closer (short, fat, bald). Five sessions of psychotherapy were conducted, which included three sessions of rational psychotherapy, one session using the symboldrama method (the “rose bush” motif) and one session using hypnosis.

At the fourth session, the patient was asked to imagine a “rose bush” using the symboldrama method. The patient presented red-yellow flowers, growing straight from the parquet. The image was unstable, the patient tried in vain to hold on to it. An attack of nervous trembling began. The patient sitting in the chair was pounding so hard that he had to frantically cling to the armrests. The incident made a strong emotional impression on the patient. This was followed by an analytical discussion that allowed him to become aware of his problems and also to respond emotionally to them. As a result, the patient regained his erection. At the next, last fifth session, he happily reported his recovery. To consolidate the effect obtained and diagnose the current state, a session of light hypnosis was conducted, during which the image of a rose bush spontaneously arose. This time the image was stable. There were many different flowers on the bush. The patient felt joy and pride that he could easily imagine and hold the image of any roses.

The psychotherapeutic effect of the symboldrama method is based on deep emotional processing of internal unconscious conflicts and problems. Our problems are primarily emotional in nature. Symboldrama allows you to work with them through emotional means. The very name of the method - symboldrama or Katathymic experience of images - indicates a connection with emotions and comes from the Greek words “kata” (“corresponding”, “dependent”) and “thymos” (one of the designations of “soul”, “emotionality”). Catathymic experience of images could be translated into Russian as “emotionally conditioned experience of images” or “experience of images coming from the soul.” We work with the deepest and most authentic experiences. Thanks to this, even negative experiences in the image, as in the presented example of treatment of erectile dysfunction, can have a powerful psychotherapeutic effect. Symboldrama gives us the opportunity to deeply experience, work through and accept what would remain at a superficial conceptual level when using verbal-cognitive techniques of psychotherapy.

It is a mistaken opinion that psychoanalysts are all manifestations human life reduced solely to the manifestation of sexual instinct. Mature sexuality, from the point of view of modern psychoanalysis, presupposes not only biological potency and the ability to experience orgasm, but also whole line psychological characteristics which a person needs to love and be loved. These psychological properties include:

1. The ability to take into account and respect the personality of another person;

2. Quite high self-esteem;

3. Relative independence and independence;

4. The ability to empathy, i.e. to sympathize and feel for the state of another person;

5. The ability to partially identify with another person;

6. The ability to establish, maintain and maintain relationships with other people;

7. To do this, it is necessary to successfully go through the phases of separation and individuation according to M. Mahler;

8. The ability to perceive feelings “involved” in love, as well as the ability to develop them;

9. The “depressive position” according to M. Klein must be successfully achieved and passed, i.e. the ability to perceive oneself and others as potentially “good” and “bad”;

10. Described by D.V. Winnicott's ability to be alone;

11. Oedipal conflicts must be largely overcome;

12. Relationships with a loved one should not be overly burdened by transference and projections from early childhood, and should also be relatively free from object dependency;

13. Must be positive attitude to one's own body;

14. It is necessary to be able to experience feelings such as joy, pain and sadness;

15. It is necessary to free yourself from pathological fixations at unovercome stages of development in childhood;

16. Deficiencies in previous development must be compensated and leveled out accordingly.

The main advantages of psychotherapy using the symboldrama method in the treatment of sexual disorders in men, as studies have shown, are as follows:

Psychotherapy using the symboldrama method can be carried out only with one of the partners without appropriate treatment of the other partner;

Symboldrama can be used as short-term psychotherapy with good clinical results;

Symboldrama can be used in any psychotherapeutic institution or in private practice (if the psychotherapist knows the appropriate method). In this case, no special devices or the presence of a specialized “sex clinic” are required, as is, for example, common in the USA;

At the same time, it is possible to treat a wide range of functional sexual disorders in men. Psychotherapy is not limited to any specific psychodynamics and is not limited to any selected symptoms.

Conclusion

Clinical practice undeniably proves the far-fetched opposition of classical, academic methods of domestic sexopathology and modern psychoanalytically oriented methods of psychotherapy and provides grounds for using symbol drama as a method of treatment and diagnosis. Especially effective method symbol drama was found in individuals with pronounced imaginative thinking. It also allows for therapeutic and diagnostic work with patients who have difficulty expressing their emotions and experiences at the verbal level, who find it very difficult to express their inner attitude towards women, especially in cases where it is necessary to identify subtle nuances of internal perception, assessment, attitude towards a woman as an intimate partner. The above also applies to the impossibility of obtaining from the patient any generalizations regarding his internal attitude towards a woman as a opposite sex.

Psychogenic sexual disorders do not cause painful suffering in the proper sense of the word. This symptom in most cases serves as a normal expression of the state that is currently affecting the person. Thus, the symptom contains some kind of “message” that you need to be able to understand. Psychotherapy for sexual dysfunction helps the client to change the environment around him in such a way that the desired sexual physiological response can become possible and be adequately combined with feelings.

The counseling process does not aim to create a completely new person, it only opens up the opportunity for him to become himself, i.e. gives a starting impetus for independent work the client above you. The most important thing to remember is that the decision must be made by the client himself without coercion, without excuses and without the need to shift responsibility for it to someone else. Counseling as a special type of helping relationship characterized by “core conditions”, or as a repertoire of influences that are described in various theories. To varying degrees, all counseling approaches focus on changing people's feelings, thoughts and actions so that people can live more effectively.

The most important thing to remember is that the decision must be made by the client himself without coercion, without excuses and without the need to shift responsibility for it to someone else.

Consultants, regardless of their chosen theoretical direction, attach particular importance to great importance increasing the personal responsibility of clients for the progress of their own life. Clients need to make choices that enable them to feel, think, and act effectively. Clients must be able to experience and express feelings, think rationally, and take effective action before they can achieve their goals. Customers make choices all the time. As Maslow notes; “Choosing development and growth over fear a dozen times a day means taking steps toward self-actualization a dozen times a day.”

Counselors are most effective when they can teach their clients to help themselves after counseling ends. So, the ultimate goal of counseling is to teach clients to help themselves and thus teach them to be their own counselors.

In the course of this work, we became familiar with the symboldrama method in counseling for sexual problems of men.

We also solved a number of problems - we examined the main psychogenic sexual problems of men, as well as the basic principles of the symboldrama method and the dynamics of the development of imaginative processes when presenting images using the symboldrama technique.

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Which may damage the honor, reputation, rights and interests of citizens. Emergency psychological assistance is provided free of charge. II. Techniques and methods of psychological counseling on the “Helpline”. 1. Features of telephone consultation. "Help is as close as the telephone..." ...