Читать книгу Things in The Body - Андрей Ермошин - Страница 11

In case of introspection, no one found bones, muscles, vessels, nerves, but only a variety of light and darkness, heaviness and lightness, heat and cold, density and sparsity. These are the peculiarities of human self-perception. In rare cases, which apply mainly to doctors or lovers of scientific and popular medical literature, the patients begin to talk about their feelings of, for example, vessels in the head. «Are they thick or thin?» we specify in such an unusual situation. «Are there one, three, five, or ten of them?» Pretty soon, people of such «natural- scientific’ mindset stop to transfer their once acquired knowledge, and move on to describe their real inner sensations in the categories of weight, color, consistency, material, temperature, etc.

The quasi-material

The artist Kandinsky complained that in the physical world there are no colors that convey the colors of the metaphysical world. We can only talk about the similarity of sensations from the contemplation of the first and second ones, but, in any case, not about the identity of impressions24. The characteristics of the world of the “open eyes’ are used to describe things of the world of the “closed eyes.” It is obvious that we can talk only about the similarity of what is felt inside as physical pounds, centimeters, and degrees. Things of consciousness are described by the characteristics of material things.

Jung used to say the same about the so-called «landscape’ images. «The principle of conscious life is: Nihil est in intellectu, quod non prius fuerit in sensu. (There is nothing in consciousness that was not previously in sensation (lat.). But the principle of the unconscious is the independence of the soul itself, reflecting its images in its game: not the world, but itself, even if it uses the illustrative possibilities provided by the conscious world to make its images clear (emphasis by A. E.)25" In the somatopsychotherapeutic process, a patient also uses «illustrative opportunities provided by the outside world’ to clarify what they are experiencing inside. Of course, there cannot be literal understanding of the patient’s report: «I have a kilogram of wood in my head.» Both the patient and the doctor understand that they talk about sensations.

Heat in the feet

There is a contour of sensations, adequate to each of the normal human states. In particular, the state of rest corresponds to the coolness of the forehead, warmth in the hands and feet, as noted by I. Schultz and as it is advised by the proverb: “Keep your feet warm, and your head – cool.” Joy corresponds to the feeling of being filled with inner light. Love gives the feeling of subsistence of the whole being with warmth and light and readiness to fly.

Being in one of the negative states (resentment, anger, anxiety, etc.) corresponds to the disturbed contour of sensations. Feelings gather in one of the areas of the body, a person’s soul «shrinks’ and «pupates.

A touchstone

In one of the philosophical conversations my opponent declared: “Is there any criteria of truth of life of a person?” I answered him: “Yes, there is! They are the sensations in the body. If the sensations are evenly distributed, the warmth reaches the tips of the fingers and toes, and there are no concentrates plundering the filling at the level of the head, or chest, or abdomen, you are on the right path. But, if there are some concentrates, if the hands or feet are cold (or the forehead is not cool), something is wrong.”

Spinoza said: «Veritas est index sui et falsi» (Truth is the criterion of itself and of lie). This is absolutely true. The even distribution of filling in the body is the «touchstone both of itself and of lie.» However, it should be clarified if the examining is not in winter and not of a long-armed asthenic, the heat in the hands is not a result of the drug or does not occur due to hypersthenic constitution.

I would also include the patients’ relatives in the concept of a «human body’. If in their bodies the sensations are evenly distributed according to their activity, then they live right.

“Heat – heaviness’

Perhaps this is what the Hindus called prana, the Chinese – qi, Mesmer – magnetic fluid, Freud – libido, Reich – orgone, and his follower Lowen – bioenergy.

It is difficult to talk about the nature of this phenomenon. Wilhelm Reich (1897—1957) asserted confidently: «Cosmic orgonic energy exists in living organisms as a specific biological energy. By this capacity it controls the whole organism and is expressed in emotions, as well as in biophysical movements of organs26.» However, he decided on it not at once. «What is biopsychic energy?» he asked a rhetorical question. Further he answered: «This question for me, as a clinician, who had to treat sexual disorders in people, in other words, neuroses (Reich equated neuroses and sexual disorders. – A. E.), remained unanswered after 60 years of sexual research in the world of science, 40 years of development of psychoanalysis and almost 20 years of my own work on the theory of orgasm27.»

It is known that Reich’s beliefs did not found support in the medical community, although, according to Kelly (1979), nowadays there is no serious work that would refute this theory.

«The brief psychological dictionary», on the contrary, is very concrete in determining the source of energy for emotional reactions: «The level of energy mobilization (activation) of the body, necessary for the emotional functions, is provided by the autonomic nervous system in its interaction with the structures of the brain that makes up the central substrate of emotions28.» Further we will discuss the nature of bodily sensations in different emotional states.

For reasons of scientific correctness and consistent implementation of the phenomenological approach, which will be discussed below, I prefer to think about what is felt in the body when experiencing, in a different way. This is a kind of subjectively felt substance that is noticeably collected in the forehead with anxiety, in the back of the head – with overcontrol of the situation, in the temples – with irritation, in the chest – with resentment and grief, in the stomach – with fear and jealousy. I call it «the substance of the heat-heaviness’, or «HH», by the main (though not only) sensations that accompany its movement and concentration. However, the term «HH» sometimes have to be replaced by the more general one – «energy’, because it is the strength of the body response that correlates with the amount of «HH», gathered in a particular place.

This is something that determines the quantitative characteristics of the experience. It is the mass, involved in the experience of «HH», depends on how upset the state of a person. Gathering in certain places in the process of forming of pathological charges, it becomes the source of an unpleasant weight and unpleasant heat. When relaxing, the same «substance’ moves to the periphery of the former focus of tension and determines the feeling of «a pleasant heaviness’ and «pleasant heat’, described by Schultz in the book «Autogenic training». It is the HH substance that is distributed in the body in the process of calming down (we will talk about it at the therapeutic phase), acquiring the characteristics of light, air, liquid or even a thick mass, spreading in all directions, sometimes painful at first, and filling the periphery, like the long-awaited rain, irrigating fields suffering from drought.

The body is the contour map of the soul

The idea that each area of the body is simultaneously a zone of consciousness, is known since ancient times. These are Indian ideas about chakras as special energy centers, which are simultaneously centers of consciousness; Chinese ideas about energy channels in which the psychic energy “Shen’ circulates, etc. The idea of the heart as an organ of consciousness is developed in Orthodoxy. (St. Archbishop Luke (Voino-Yasenetsky); not recognized canonically.

The observations by Ferenczi, Reich and Lowen, who developed the «somatic approach» in psychoanalysis29, are significant in the context of this discussion. These authors considered the relationship between muscle tension and mental function in general. Reich formulated the thesis about the functional identity of muscle tension and emotional block. Lowen came to the idea of «functional unity of character and muscle rigidity pattern.» Earlier Freud assumed that «Self» is bodily first of all («Self and Id»): «Self», undoubtedly, is generated by bodily feelings, its sources mainly lie on a body surface». A little later we will mention Henri Bergson, who also spoke about the effects of muscle tension in the process of experiencing (back in 1889).

Those authors, consistently seeking to supplement the «analysis from above’ with the «analysis from below’ (the expression by Sandor Ferenczi), revealed the relationship between the levels of the body and experiences of various kinds. They were mainly investigating in the surface of the body: «relaxation exercises’ (Ferenci), study of «muscle shell’ (Reich), poses, body positions (Lowen).

The “good and evil’ book

Where do the equivalents of different states find their place?

Head:

– forehead – anxiety

– temples – irritation

– back of the head – responsibility, the need to control the situation

– top of the head – osteochondrosis of the spine, «poor nutrition’ of the head (later we will talk about the origin of psychic bodily sensations)

Chest: resentment, anxiety, spite, anguish, grief.

Abdomen: solar plexus area – fear, anger.

Archpriest Eugene Popov tried to present a list of «sins against the ten commandments of God.» In this book30 there were 1087 pages. If we consider that the beginnings for sins and the beginnings for neuroses are often the same, the list of neuroses may be no less. And each of them «rents’ its area of the body. Each SPT work provides new material for the creation of a detailed atlas of «continents’ and «islands’ of experiences of the human body. Here are the most common ones, although if you want you can make a detailed map of the passions. The body acts as the «contour map’, which describes the location of the structures of consciousness.

The body is a beautiful reference point. In the register of the body marks there could appear even little things like the consequences of undeclared gratitude to the abandoned places (say, school) or discarded containers (boxes, bottles, packages). These areas are located on the sternum below the level of the nipples. Hands from shoulders to fingertips are reference points for recording relationships with trees, herbs, amphibians, birds. If a person uses a tree in their household without a sense of gratitude to it, the right humerus is tightened with a birch bark, and it turns out that shoulder is bound for a reason. If a person once burned the grass, the area of «shoulder girdle’ hurts. The sins to the birds are recorded below in the forearms, to the animals – in the legs.

So, we can assume that the «book of good and evil’, which, according to the beliefs of Christians, angels and demons read on the Day of judgement and where all the sins and virtues of a persons are recorded, are they themselves, the bodies of their souls. SPT, using psychocatalysis, helps the patient «to read’ this book before it is read to them, and to change its content, to decide which pages are to be included

The periodic system of experiences

In the periodic system by D. I. Mendeleev, the qualities of some elements, such as sodium, potassium, rubidium, cesium, are similar. All these elements belong to the same category of alkali metals. However, they repeat their qualities on new registers, having a new core charge and a new number of electronic shells. The commonality of their characteristics is explained by the fact that at the external level of all these elements have the same number of electrons that can connect with other elements. The repeatability of the characteristics of experiences in the human body resembles the repeatability of the characteristics of chemical elements in periods. The experiences are found in strictly defined parts of the physical body. The experience of a seemingly close orientation, such as anger, irritation, anger, differ precisely in the fact that they occupy different “territories.” Irritation is concentrated in the temples, spite – in the chest, anger– in the stomach.

It is known that clinical psychotherapy differs, say, anxiety and fear. What is the criterion of their differentiation? Fear is objective, anxiety is objectless. In SPT, these states, which are distinguished by the patients themselves, show their non-identity in a special way. They are experienced at different levels of the body: fear – at the level of the abdomen (animal), worry – at the level of the heart (soul), anxiety – at the level of the forehead (head).

There are several such «rows.»

Multipolarity of experiences and dreams

In somatic analysis some dreams can be traced to an interesting phenomenon: the different parts of the dreams correspond to sensations in different areas of the body. As an example, there are some dreams of M., a young man, who was prone to drunkenness. He dreams that he is between two slopes of the mountains, in front of him there is a big pile of shit, and behind him there rolls a huge ball.

When asked about the feelings associated with each part of the dream, he replied as follows. The image of «the pile of shit’ corresponds to the feeling in the forehead. There is a plate of parabolic antenna there. This corresponds to his experience of self-concern: «I am aware of it, I understand it. I do not want to get there,» says the patient.

The feeling, associated with the image of «a huge rolling ball’, is experienced in the stomach. There is a huge heavy lump of fear.

The slopes of the mountains, as components of the frightening landscape, are «invested’ by the same charge as «the ball.»

Such observations allow us to admit that the state (which has arisen for internal reasons or in response to an external situation) can be experienced at several levels. For example, a person can simultaneously be anxious (at the level of the head), be worried (at the level of the heart) and be frightened (at the level of the abdomen). Three experiences of one situation – irritation in the temples, annoyance in the chest, anger in the abdomen. Three «images’ of dreams can correspond to them, as a kind of «triptych’ on a common topic.

This phenomenon of multipolarity of an experience can explain the fact that in dreams there are a lot of plot changes that are difficult to explain logically. Such changes can be «a roll call’, «a conference of the centers’ when each of them «reports the situation’ in its own way. The breaks in a dream can be associated with passing «the initiative.» Change of a plot means that «other channel’ begins to show: at first it was, say, the forehead that broadcast the program, then it was the turn of the stomach, and then heart began its program.

This is an alternative to the case where the influence of the centers is summed up and a «landscape’ is created with multiple characteristics, as in the case of M.

Greed and stinginess

It is an interesting fact how differently can a person be influenced by similar disasters, e.g., greed and stinginess. Greed is in the hands (the desire to “grab’ turns the hands into hooks), and stinginess is in the heart (the desire to hold the achieved turns the heart into a capsule). Perhaps such observations can give rich material not only to doctors, but also to teachers of ethics and morality, philologists, and other specialists.

The apparent duplication of concepts in language, according to topographic psychology, is justified by the fact that each word, if it is filled with real content (if its existence is given some life energy of native speakers), corresponds to a special place in the body of human consciousness. Despondency, grief, sadness, sadness, melancholy – it would seem synonymous, but the appeal to the feelings reveals their non-identity to each other (they receive energy from different zones, have different «weight’ and «color’).

The kaleidoscope of images

The perceived formations vary in:

– size – from a pinpoint to larger than the volume of the body

– consistency – from gaseous to rocky

– color – from white to black across the spectrum

– time of occurrence – from a few seconds to decades ago

– the part of the potential, absorbed by this formation – from 1 to 99%

– visualized images – lump, tangle, plate, plate, weights, radishes with a three-meter root and lush poisonous green foliage, jellyfish, octopus, spreading its black tentacles, hedgehog, dragon, bull, aircraft, etc.

Such data give the idea that descriptions of frogs in the abdomen, snakes in the heads, lumps in the throat, bags on the shoulders, etc., given by the unfortunate hypochondriacs, neurotics and psychotics, are not a sign of their madness or neurosis, but represent only one aspect of their state, experienced by almost everyone, including the so-called healthy people, though, not so meaningful and understandable for each of them.

Likewise, looking at the drawings of surrealists with their strange, at first glance, subjects (for example, the body in the form of a chest of drawers by Dali, or deformed bodies by Shemyakin), you come to the conclusion that they are a kind of version of realism, which is the realism of internal sensations (healthy or unhealthy is another question).

It also becomes clear which contours of inner feelings are transmitted in some modern toys and cartoon characters, usually distorted in specific way. What is «secretly’ felt with closed eyes, animators make «clear’ and visible with open eyes. So are the «good’ and «evil’ creatures with too developed chewing apparatus, blindfolded and with a shell on the back, like ninja turtles, etc.

“The layers’

A number of formations consists of “layer’” or composite elements. A woman with elongated proportions of the body (a sign of asthenic type), but quite energetic chin (epiradical) gained a huge amount of “mass’ in the back of her head (responsibility). Obviously, this state prevented her from doing “everything perfectly.” On deciding to calm down, she felt those sensations “departing’ down along her back. The wave passed. But there were some pebbles remained in that place.

«Three, five, ten, fifteen, twenty?»

«No, not twenty, just five.»

«Were they formed at the same time?»

«No, they were added in the course of life.»

«Have a look at one of them and determine when it was «laid’: days, weeks, months, years ago?»

«Five years ago, with the birth of a daughter.»

Likewise, it is possible to define all the aspects related to the formation of a particular element of the experience. It should be noted that patients do not always show interest in this. When one of the elements is determined, it becomes clear what it is about. The fate of such formations can be decided at one time. This woman decided that carrying the stones is not worth it, and she allowed them to roll away.

«Is it better without them?»

«A lot!»

«What are the liberated forces for?»

«For health.»

«Feel how it is happening.»

«I did.» The patient exhaled and opened her eyes. Those are all the issues about stones that remained to be solved.

In the chest there can be «layers’, a kind of «loads’ of experiences, for example, in the form of layers of mica.

A number of formations can be built on the type of «nesting dolls.» Outside there is a layer of younger experiences; deeper one is older and «harder.» Outside, for example, there is rubber, and inside there is iron.

Communicating vessel. The syndrome of “stone-tree’

As a rule, in the process of work, it is found out that the formation inside the body specifically violates the holistic state of the patient. The syndrome caused by the concentration of sensations of heat-heaviness in one of the zones of the body is usually dual. It is accompanied by its second component – the relative depletion of other areas of the body. In my opinion, this is a very significant observation.

In case of «overloaded head’, it can be assumed, that the feet «shrunk.» There is always a kind of combination of «overfilled’ and «empty’ zones. The image of the communicating vessel is quite suitable for the observed phenomena. The «stone’ in the chest de-energizes hands, the «spider’ or «octopus’ in the stomach takes strength from the legs, which can even shake from weakness, and from the head, which ceases to think.

In the therapeutic phase the process takes place in reverse order: calm in the abdomen leads to the filling of the periphery. We will return to this phenomenon later. Now it is important to keep in mind that if the patient talks about the «stony’ head and «wooden’ or «watery’ legs, then we are not talking about two independent phenomena, but about two sides of the same phenomenon.

The axis of interacting sensations can be in all directions: «hump’ on the back means «squeezed chest’ on the front (back-front), head like a snowball means ’dwarf’s legs’ (top-bottom), «a yoke with buckets’ on the right shoulder means «deprivation’ of the left thigh (diagonal interdependency).

Probably, the Chinese contemplate such phenomena as a violation of the balance between Yin and Yang. These syndromes are described as Biao-Li (surface-interior), Ge-Han (heat-cold), Shi Hu (fullness-emptiness), and treated them accordingly, by «heating the cold’, «cooling the heat’, «filling the emptiness’, or «deflecting the fullness’31.

The correlation between the verbal testimony of the patient and the indications of the drawing test is also rather interesting.

Libins’ test

The so-called ideographic test, which has been already mentioned above, is used in the work as well. This test was developed in Russia by V. V. Libin and A. V. Libin. A patient is given the task to draw a symbolic figure of a person of squares, circles, and triangles. The number of elements in the figure is 10. As a rule, this kind of a drawing is highly informative.

In connection with the objectives of the study, the test data are used in a special way: on the one hand, as a very convenient beginning of the work, on the other, as a verifier of information coming from the patient verbally. In general, the use of the test is aimed at the tasks of psychocatalysis of bodily sensations. Let me remind you once again that this is different from the author’s expert use of the test data.

More than 1000 patients were examined. Many of them were examined in dynamics. It turned out that there is a clear correlation between what the patients report, referring to the sensations in the body, and what they draw.

The zone of the body, concentrating the sensations now, appears in the figure «marked’ as extension (a circle) or an additional element. The «de-energized’ zone is a narrowing (a triangle). The image clearly represents the distribution of internal sensations in the body. This is especially clear if the patient is offered to draw a figure, and then to calibrate the colors used on the scale of pleasantness, just as it is done in Lüscher’s test (my modification. – A. E.). The most «unpleasant’ color shows the most problematic zone, the most «pleasant’ is a zone with positive potential. A series of drawings, respectively, is a series of problem states of the patient in varying degrees of activation. Double expressiveness – geometric and color – especially facilitates the identification of the locus of experiences. (In this edition the color solutions of patients’ drawings are not reproduced).