Handbook of Therapeutic Imagery Techniques

Anees Ahmad Sheikh

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2020
• eBook ISBN: 9781351865463
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Consists of a description of a multitude of imagery techniques that have been grouped into four categories: hypno-behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic/humanistic and humanistic/transpersonal.

Chapter 11
The Oneirotherapies

NANCY C. MUCH AND ANEES A. SHEIKH

Oneirotherapy (from the Greek oneiros meaning dream) is known far more widely in Europe than in the United States. The term oneirotherapy will be used to refer to all three methods under consideration; as a proper name, however, Oneirotherapy belongs only to the school represented by Fretigny and Virel (1968), and the capitalized version will be used in reference to their method alone. At present, descriptions of three oneirotherapeutic methods are available in English translation. These are: the Oneirotherapy of Fretigny and Virel; the Directed Daydream (or Directed Waking Dream, in French le rêve éveillé dirigé) of Robert Desoille; and Hanscarl Leuner’s Guided Affective Imagery (sometimes also referred to as catathymic imagery). The oneirotherapies are characterized by the comprehensive use of extended narrative visual fantasies with hypnoidal consciousness (deeply relaxed, subvigilant awareness). Oneiric reveries are alternated or in some way combined with interview sessions in which the fantasy contents are treated analytically or dialectically. In Europe, it is evidently a common practice for the oneirotherapist to act as a specialized technician among a team of practitioners in a psychological clinic (Fretigny & Virel, 1968).

Fretigny and Virel (1968) refer to Oneirotherapy as a “corpus of knowledge without postulates.” This designation is intended to emphasize the pragmatic or clinical-empirical origin of the procedures. The history of psychotherapeutic image techniques in Europe has been researched and summarized by Fretigny and Virel. They feel that “the field of Oneirotherapy is far from possessing unity. It is a relatively recent development, born of the confrontation of the work of several experimenters in different countries who mutually ignored each other” (p. 255). These experimenters presumably include Desoille and Leuner whose methods are reviewed in this chapter. It should be recognized that, while these theorists may have had no contact with one another, their methods certainly appear to have common roots.

The oneirotherapists believe that imagery is a special language of the unconscious, and as such its natural function is to carry symbolically transposed affect. In the words of Fretigny and Virel, “the torrent of tendencies, inclinations, emotions and passion-directed elements determine the concatenation of figurative elements” (p. 55). The practice of oneirotherapy derives from the psychodynamic position, but the oneirotherapist may use induced images far more extensively than the psychoanalyst. The oneirotherapist undertakes a systematic exploration of the personality patterns through the analysis of extended image reveries. In most cases, a number of selected inducing images will be employed in order to initiate the imagery process or to introduce important elements into an ongoing imagery sequence.

THE ONEIROTHERAPY OF FRETIGNY AND VIREL

Basic Procedure and Rationale

The present discussion will be limited to the exploratory phase of oneirotherapy, insofar as this phase is separable from the therapeutic and reconstructive phases. In actuality, there is no well-defined division. A seemingly essential preparatory measure for extended reverie is the establishment of deep relaxation. The participant is usually given some instruction intended to help him/her achieve relaxation, and occasionally extended training is necessary. The oneirotherapist provides environmental conditions he/she believes will be optimal for maintaining a hypnoidal state without, however, creating the likelihood that the participant will fall asleep. The participant is acoustically shielded and exposed to minimal illumination. Usually, he/she reclines on a couch, unless he/she is more relaxed in a sitting position. Some therapists prefer to allow the initial image to occur without intervention; in this case the first images tend to be anodyne and appear in rapid succession unaccompanied by affective reaction. Eventually, significant effectively colored material appears spontaneously, often surprising the participant with its content. Fretigny and Virel favor the use of induction or “triggering” images for initiating, if not for directing the oneiric process. At the outset, the presentation of triggering images may accelerate the development of relevant content. It is held that certain images offered as therapeutic directives will evoke responses that have reference to predictable corresponding areas of experience. The extreme of this viewpoint is taken by Desoille (1965), who believes that each of his starting images asks of the unconscious a “rather precise” question (p. 3). Others, such as Leuner (1969), seek only to establish a rather vague and general projective field for the oneiric process. The difference in these approaches will be more evident to the reader after consideration of the respective methods. Fretigny and Virel prefer a variety of triggering images with flexibility in their application. The Oneirotherapist chooses triggering images best suited to the particular case and proceeds methodically. For each area he/she wishes to learn about, a triggering image can be offered, if the relevant image does not occur spontaneously in the appropriate oneiric context. Nevertheless, Fretigny and Virel prefer to intervene as little as possible beyond initiating the oneiric process and perhaps facilitating it at times with the introduction of new elements.

Fretigny and Virel recognize the practical and theoretical questions involved in the selection of friggering images. The choice of these images thus far has proceeded on both logical (theoretical) and empirical (observational) grounds. Some practitioners, influenced by Freudian and Jungian theory of symbols, derive a set of starting images which they assume will have the same basic meaning for all individuals (again Desoille’s work is an example). In particular, mythical material common to persons of a given culture, or perhaps common across cultures, may be analyzed as to its psychological meaning (e.g., the witch and the Virgin as aspects of the mother) and then used as a kind of “universal language.” Some therapists (Desoille, 1965; Fretigny & Virel, 1968) employ fairy tale scenes and magical resolutions freely, while others (Leuner, 1969) do not encourage these unless they spontaneously occur. If the therapist wishes to choose starting images on empirical grounds, he/she can make note of the images that frequently arise spontaneously in a variety of individuals during oneiric reverie, and note to what themes these are related. Or, images may be selected logically or on clinical hunch and then empirically validated.

Fretigny and Virel (1968) have used all possible methods for selecting their triggering images. They recognized the value of the traditional analogies expressed in mythology but at the same time, they prefer to let their choice be guided by empirical procedures—they refer to “statistical sorting” (p. 236), but they do not specify the procedure. In particular, they look for those images which occur spontaneously for many individuals during extended image reveries. They believe that the frequency (across subjects) of spontaneous occurrence is a necessary condition for any image which is to be considered a common element in a language of the unconscious. Accordingly, Fretigny and Virel have identified and listed elements which in fact have been observed to appear spontaneously under analogous conditions; these they have designated “crucial images.” Some of the crucial images are: an octopus (in the “descent into the sea” condition), a cave, a treasure chest, a wise man, a monster, a veiled woman, and a witch. These images, if they do not occur spontaneously for a particular individual, can be introduced by the therapist in order to stimulate reactions to the theme they represent. On the other hand, Fretigny and Virel point out that there are certain excellent inductive images (e.g., a pitchfork stuck into the earth, a vase, or a key) which rarely, if ever, occur spontaneously. These are images which have been logically inferred or intuitively “happened upon” and later tested for their general usefulness. Broad and imprecise images involving common situations or scenes also may be used as starting points, for example, a beach or a train ride. Such images require the participant to impose his/her own structure upon the stimulus to a great extent; their vague demands offer the participant a wide range of possibilities.

Another distinction arises among the various kinds of inductive images. Some are images of objects (e.g., the key), others refer to general themes (e.g., ascending a mountain or following a stream), and still others specify only very general surroundings (Fretigny & Virel, 1968). The general supposition is that the more definite and limited the suggestion, the more precise the question represented by it. That is to say, the more explicit the limits of the starting image, the greater the pressure for the subject to represent specific preoccupations directly. Fretigny and Virel believe that too much pressure in this direction is disadvantageous because it is likely to lead prematurely to intense emotional reactions. Consequently they prefer triggering images which do not too tightly define the boundaries of the response.

Fretigny and Virel (1968, p. 65) remark (probably with reference to Desoille) that “it is tempting to imagine that 5 or 10 well-selected images would facilitate the exploration of 5 or 10 well-defined regions of the psyche (areas of psychological experience).” This presupposition, as interpreted by Fretigny and Virel, implies a certain invariability about the ordering of the human psyche and advocates a disregard for the specificity of the particular case. It seems however, that a theory of psychodynamic symbolism must presuppose a kind of lawfulness (which is invariability in another light) about the ordering of the human psyche, which achieves richness and variability with combinations and permutations of the basic elements. The invariability implied by a standard series of images (remember that these are not ends in themselves, but starting points) may be no more than is commonly assumed in psychology—that a person’s relationship to his/her mother is rather important, that what he/she thinks of his/her ability to fulfill his/her sex role is important, and the like. The criticism of invariability applies more accurately to conditions in which the theme of the five or ten images is rather highly structured, which is, in fact, the tendency in Desoille’s work. Desoille employs a series of mythical situations which place the individual within a somewhat predetermined plot. But this is a matter of directivity, the placement along a continuum from free to directed development. Fretigny and Virel are perhaps quite justified in pointing out the rigidity of Desoille’s technique in comparison with their own. Desoille uses a standard, ordered series of images which are relatively structured and have certain specified successful conclusions, while Fretigny and Virel select triggering images from among the crucial images and key images mentioned earlier, as well as from nocturnal dreams, from spontaneous images from a previous reverie, and from special structured themes resembling Desoille’s. Five cases are identified by Fretigny and Virel (1968), in which substantial directiveness is preferred.

1. The individual is of low intelligence and/or has very little education.
2. The individual has an impoverished imagination or a marked psychological lassitude (e.g., a psychaesthenic individual).
3. The individual has a recalcitrant obsessive theme.
4. The individual has excessively profuse imagery.
5. The individual tends to avoid, circumvent, or ignore crucial images (as in certain cases of resistance), (pp. 58–59)

It ought to be mentioned that the individual participating in Oneirotherapy is asked to write a report following each oneiric session. This report is then compared with the therapist’s transcriptions of the same session. The participant is asked to include his/her recollection of the actual images, an account of the emotions experienced with these images, any memories of circumstances in his/her life when he/she had had the same feelings, and any associations which occurred to him/her either during the oneiric session or while writing the report. In this manner, the oneirotherapist solicits the individual’s active help in explaining the cryptic elements of the imagery as these may relate to personal conflicts. By reading the participant’s report, the therapist acquires information that relates the present affective patterns with historical events. By comparing the report with his/her own transcription, he/she observes how the participant has slanted his/her account. The lacunae, for example, are themselves meaningful in that they point to areas which need to be investigated.

The Symbology of Significant Persons

The use of oneiric images for obtaining information about the personality of an individual requires a systematic approach to the interpretation of the image contents. Interpretation may proceed upon any of three avenues: 1) logical-theoretical analysis (as is the case with Freudian dream interpretation); 2) empirical evidence based on accumulated observations that certain symbolic representations usually refer to certain areas of experience, or that symbols are derived from their referents through certain mechanisms of transformation (e.g., the Freudian mechanisms for dreams); and 3) logical analyses of the idiosyncratic meaning of symbolic elements according to the individual’s private associations and anamnesis. Fretigny and Virel evidently used all three of these approaches. They have not fully delineated their principles of interpretation, but they have given fairly complete treatment to the representation of significant persons; an account of this aspect of symbology follows.

The process by which an important figure or event is represented in another form is termed symbolic transposition. Fretigny and Virel (1968) have observed that persons who are emotionally very significant to the individual seldom appear in their direct form. The mother, for example, who is a crucial figure for most individuals, practically never appears in her own likeness; instead she may take the shape of a sorceress, a wrinkled old woman, a maiden, or some famous historical woman. Moreover, the individual will not, in most cases, recognize the reference to his/her own mother. The father figure, too, has a repertoire of usual symbolic representations including a king, the sun, and an oak tree.

According to the observations of Fretigny and Virel (1968), persons may be signified by animal, plant, or object images on the basis of some shared characteristic or meaning. For example, a person may be replaced by an object which displays one of his/her attributes, or by a symbol equivalent in affective value (for the subject), or by a situation analogous to one in which the person had had an important influence upon the psychological development of the individual. Fretigny and Virel (1968) recognize that symbolic transposition does not act in an unequivocal manner, hence that it is not possible to establish a completely reliable lexicon of image substitutions. Additional complexities, such as idiosyncratic meanings and a tendency for symbols to be condensed, are important variables in interpreting representations. Condensation refers to the common practice of projecting a whole group of diversely related elements into a single symbolic form. For instance, one symbol may represent all of the classes of persons toward whom an individual has a similar affective attitude (e.g., a rose may represent mother, sister, virgin, nun—females who are sexually taboo). The complete personal meaning of a symbol may be grasped through an analysis of its elements and of the attitudes the individual holds toward these.

An alternative or supplementary way to arrive at th...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
• HYPNOBEHAVIORAL APPROACHES
• COGNITIVE-BEHAVIORAL APPROACHES
• PSYCHODYNAMIC/HUMANISTIC APPROACHES
• HUMANISTIC/TRANSPERSONAL APPROACHES
• MISCELLANEOUS APPROACHES
• IMAGERY ENHANCEMENT
• Index