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Therapy through emotions and images, or emotional image therapy (EIT), is a new and original method of psychodynamic direction in psychotherapy, which makes it possible to achieve quick and significant results in the field of psychosomatics and while dealing with emotional problems. The basic idea of this method is that any emotional state can be expressed through visual, audial or kinesthetic image and further inner work with this image which transforms negative emotional state into positive.

But for this transformation to be successful it is necessary to analyze psychological reasons of this undesirable emotional state. This method of therapy is oriented at discovering the primary reason of emerging psychological problems. On the basis of images, it is possible not only to analyze psychological problem but to correct it. Thus, we can combine analysis and impact. But we cannot correct undesirable emotional state by just mechanical influence on the image. Emotional and meaningful intersubjective [interpersonal] impact is aimed at changing chronically negative emotional state; the image is just a “leverage’ for this work. That is why at present I use another name for therapy through emotions and images: analytically effective therapy. The state is changed by resolving the initial psychodynamic conflict.

From theoretical point of view emotions are the expression of psychical energy of an individual aimed at some action, for example fear makes a person contract and anger – attack. “Trapped ‘or ‘stuck’ emotions don’t express themselves in actions but generate many negative consequences including psychosomatic symptoms and other chronic problems. We have created and systematized many methods of working with images including those that reveal the structure of psychological problem and those that help resolve it with the help of inner work.

This direction doesn’t contradict other directions of psychotherapy, but makes it possible to use theoretical and practical discoveries of various schools. Seemingly simple work with images is no more than the visible part of the ‘iceberg’ but the efficiency of this method is ensured by its “underwater part’. So, to properly use this method one must know the basics of psychoanalysis; transactional analysis of Eric Berne, gestalt therapy, body therapy of Wilhelm Reich, neurolinguistic programming (NLP) and other methods. But due to some new ideas our method proves to be more effective while dealing with some problems than previous methods.

An important part of our therapy is also life philosophy that we believe in and develop for many years and constantly verify in practice. This philosophy is partly reflected in philosopho – psychological essays, which I call sutras. They are published in a separate book “Psychological sutras. Psychology for real life’ [1].

The method of therapy through emotions and images emerged from my first attempts to find psychological impact on psychosomatic state by working with images. Such methods as relaxation, autogenic training, meditation, autosuggestion, affirmation existed in the past, and still exist. What I didn’t like about them was that the impact program was given a priori. I wanted to proceed from the actual state of the body, I wanted to find a way to understand why it felt that way. I invented meditations aimed at calling forth images reflecting different somatic or psychological state. For example, I asked to imagine how organs of our body look if you travel inside them as a tiny man; what light they radiate if you can imagine this light; what sound they produce if they could produce some sound; in what “mood” they are… Some abstract psychological ideas emerged to: how you can imagine your own “self”; how “meaning of life” looks; how to recover “lost” parts of your personality, etc. Doing these exercises, I got a pleasant feeling. Sometimes I felt that I am overfilled with energy. I felt like sharing my observations with other people.

It turned out that it was possible to correct some symptoms just by focusing one’s thoughts on the created image of this symptom. For instance, it was possible to listen to the imagined sound corresponding to the headache – and the sound changed for the better and the headache disappeared without any analysis of what caused it! One could mentally stretch or loosen the badly sounding string – the sound became better and the pain went away! It was possible to smell the imaginative smell of one’s heart pain – the smell disappeared and so did the pain! It was very interesting, it was like the old method “biofeedback’ [biological feedback], when the patient was taught to mentally control his or her physiological indications shown to him or her on the monitor’s screen. In our case, no computer was needed and the choice of states and images was unlimited, the correction could take place “in the field’. The correction came within just a few minutes, but the result stayed forever. That was wonderful!

I gave seminars, set up a study group. In the course of these studies, the main model of therapeutic work acquired its form. It turned out that it was not always possible to act in a simple way, especially, when we didn’t have a psychosomatic symptom but a psychological problem. I realized that the selection of a method of mental impact on the image is determined by the psychological cause of the problem. The image itself contains a lot of information about the problem, and can be a clue to discovering true reasons of suffering. The client often does not realize that he or she is telling about himself or herself through the image, but the doctor does realize it. Thus, it was necessary to complete our approach by adding to it the procedure of analysis of the problem. This resulted in the development of the primary problems models, see below.

In 1994 I published a small textbook in which I pointed out main ideas, methods and stages of work. It was called in the old way “Meditation psychotherapy” [2]. Soon after that, I changed the title because the words therapy through emotions and images corresponded more adequately to the actual therapy process. I constantly worked with study groups this time including students, developed my theory, means and philosophy of the method.

The field of applying the method gradually broadened, I could easily rid a person from pain, allergy of phobia… Success turned my head a little, though at the beginning I most of my colleagues failed to adequately understand and accept my method. Some of my friends made use of my ideas, which I readily shared, for their own benefit, but I don’t take any offence as the main direction of the development of this method was still with me, and what they did just confirmed that I was right. Besides, in psychotherapy it is impossible to avoid borrowing. On my own part, I gained a lot by studying yoga, having lessons of gestalt therapy and body therapy by psychotherapists from Germany and Switzerland, seminars on NLP [neurolinguistics programming] by different professors, seminars on procedural therapy of Arnold Mindell. I also studied literature on psychoanalysis, symbol drama and other directions of psychotherapy.

I sought to teach students so that they could later use and develop this method and prove that it works not only when I use it. Now I have dozens of followers, and some experienced practical psychologists after having training prefer to use this method, though they know gestalt therapy, NLP, Ericksonian hypnotherapy, etc.

There appeared additional details to the method, but not all of them can be found in publications. The most detailed of them is the book “Emotional Image Therapy. Theory and Practice”. It was published in 2004 in The Moscow University for Humanities, its circulation was rather small [3]. But even in that book much was left out, for example the analytical aspect of the EIT was not fully explained. Various aspects of EIT have been covered in my other books [4,5], and in many of my articles, but only part of them are available in English [6—19]. Therefore, it was necessary to enlarge the book filling in the gaps and expanding the theoretical part, which is the goal of this new book. The method is still being developed; there will be many new things in the book.

This method is new and some of its parts are often misinterpreted. Some people think it enough to create an image and then manipulate it in any way, and everything will become fine. They think that this is my method, but this is not the case. It is necessary to master not only the method itself, but the way to use it.

Once a student I didn’t know came to me and said: “I treated my boyfriend using your method, he had a stomach-ache. His stomach-ache passed but his back started aching. How could it happen?”

– Tell me – I asked – what were the images?

– I don’t remember…

– And what methods of impact did you use?

– I don’t know…

– What problem did you reveal?

– [the look of not understanding] None…

– How can I tell you what you have done and why it happened? You should study first and only after that use the method…

It is not sufficient just to know EIT, our therapeutic work corresponds to all the requirements of any psychotherapeutic work. We face the same difficulties that all others face – resistance, transferring, projection, lack of trust, mental rigidity, prejudices etc. To be able to work in the line of EIT one must have at least basic knowledge of psychoanalysis, analytical psychology of Carl Jung, individual psychology of Alfred Adler, transactional analysis of Eric Berne, body therapy theory of Wilhelm Reich, gestalt therapy of Fritz Perls, etc.

It is impossible to apply the method mechanically, as a set of technical tools. It is necessary to treat a client with empathy, model his problem on yourself, solve it as if it were yours, and only after that solve it for the client. It is necessary to get the client’s experience, solve your own problems in this way. It is necessary to have well thought over life philosophy, to have an open heart and to be able to clearly formulate moral principles.

Any form of psychotherapy is a subtle intellectual, emotional and spiritual activity. It is an elitist profession, but the demand for such professionals is great. The number and quality of such specialists should grow. I hope that my experience and many tangible successes in EIT may help to reach this goal.