PSYCHOSYNTHESIS R. ASSASSIL

The Italian psychiatrist and psychotherapist Roberto Assagioli (1888-1974) was Freud's consistent student and did not criticize his classical psychoanalysis. However, he rightly believed that if there is analysis (separation), then there must be synthesis (connection). This is some attempt at reconciliation between Freud and Jung: on the one hand, Assagioli accepts Freud's classic psychoanalysis, and on the other hand, it complements Jung’s therapeutic approach, which involves two stages: first analytical and then synthetic.

The question arises: did Assagioli bring something new to the ideas of Freud and Jung, and can psychosynthesis be considered an independent direction?

The practice of the extreme popularity of psychosynthesis answered positively to both of these questions.

Despite the creative borrowing of the ideas of his famous predecessors, Assagioli created his theory of personality structure (by the way, introducing Alfred Adler’s idea of ​​an innate unconscious desire for self-improvement), introduced a number of new concepts, and also developed a clear practice of psychotherapeutic exercises.

Currently, psychosynthesis is widely used in various fields. In psychotherapy (both in medical and non-medical), it is used to treat psychosomatic diseases, identify and correct borderline neuropsychiatric conditions, clarify and overcome neuroses and other personality problems.

Psychosynthesis and its individual elements and exercises are used in various systems of pedagogy and education.

Due to the widespread popularization of ideas and techniques of psychosynthesis in numerous scientific and popular publications, at seminars and trainings, it has become increasingly spread as a method of self-knowledge and self-improvement of the individual.

We have already said that psychosynthesis relies on Freud's psychoanalysis. Assagioli himself believed that where classical psychoanalysis ends (finding the cause of neurosis), psychosynthesis is just beginning, helping to put the decomposed parts of the personality into a more perfect combination, while recalling that it is possible to add a “new” personality only within the limits of its personal growth, but not Moreover.

The main approaches of psychosynthesis Assaggioli are best understood by considering the personality structure proposed by him.

The personality structure of Assagioli includes:

- the lowest unconscious;

- average unconscious (preconscious);

- higher unconscious (superconscious);

- the field of consciousness;

- conscious I ;

- Higher Self ;

- collective unconscious.

Lower unconscious

The lower unconscious is close to the "Freudian" It contains the most simple animals (and at the same time vital) instincts. It contains strong energy resources, emotionally charged. At the same time, Assagioli believes that uncontrolled parapsychic processes and fantasies, which can be sources of nightmares and creativity, are conditionally localized here.

Middle unconscious (preconscious)

This is an intermediate zone of transition of the unconscious into consciousness and vice versa. Here our unconscious sensations, perceptions, and impressions are shaped into conscious (to varying degrees) mental states and skills. It is here, according to Assagioli, that “the fruits of our mind are ripening” through an increasingly clear awareness of needs, emotions, and intuitive insights.

Higher unconscious (superconscious)

If the two previous sections of personality came out (influenced) on our conscious I as if from below, then the higher unconscious influences it from above. This is an interesting fundamental addition to the structure of personality according to Freud, who rejected the unconscious only the “lower floor” of primitive emotions, with which the conscious self struggles with varying degrees of success from the position of the conscious superego (super-ego).

That is, one can say that, according to Assagioli, a person initially looks "more attractive" than Freud, since even the unconscious has not only the lowest, but also the highest form, including such innate (and not imposed Super-I ) values, like altruism , the need for beauty and creative expression, heroism (even self-sacrifice) and other high feelings and needs.

Of course, one cannot say that the lower unconscious is worse than the higher — each of them plays its own important role. Just if Freud explained the same craving for creativity by the sublimation of lower instincts, he considered Assagioli to be an independent higher instinct.

It can be figuratively imagined that, according to Freud, the Supra- I heavily pulls “by the hair” our conscious I from the swamp of unconscious instincts into a civilized state. And according to Assagioli, unconscious instincts are pulling a person not only downwards, but also upwards, towards the realization of higher needs. It is clear that such a conclusion allows a more optimistic look at the processes of psychotherapy, education, and even re-education.

Here you can see some analogy with the views of Alfred Adler (who have found further development in humanistic psychology), who believed that the man initially had a desire for self-improvement.

Assagioli believed that higher parapsychic processes are localized in the higher unconscious.

Field of consciousness

In this section, Assaggioli includes the conscious part of the personality, sensations and perceptions that are analyzed by the individual. However, he, like all psychoanalysts, does not claim that this awareness is objective.

Conscious Self (or Ego itself)

This section is in the center of consciousness. If the field of consciousness encompasses various sensations and perceptions, then its center is the reflexive Self , that is, the whole Self , "seeing itself from the side." Assaggioli visually compares the field of consciousness with the illuminated screen, and the conscious I with the image projected on this screen.

Higher self

This section most clearly shows your own achievements in psychosynthesis. Assadzhioli considers the higher self to be the true essence of man, to which he invariably returns after various deviations to other states of consciousness (sleep, fainting, affect, anesthesia, intoxication, delusions, hypnosis, etc.). It is the awareness of his personal higher self that Assagioli considers a condition of mental health.

Collective unconscious

Assagioli agrees with Jung that the individual unconscious exists not in isolation, but with a multitude of invisible threads associated with the collective unconscious both in space (unconscious connection with the psyche of contemporaries) and in time (connection with the memory of ancestors, generations, experience of all mankind).

As already mentioned, Assagioli considers the attainment of his highest (that is, the true) self as the decisive condition for the attainment of mental health. It is on the basis of this comprehension (and only after this) that the individual, with the help of a therapist, establishes the most harmonious relationship with himself, with other people, with the outside world. This is the essence of the practice of psychosynthesis.

Technically, this procedure is divided into the following steps:

- deep comprehension of his personality as a whole;

- identification of the main elements of personality and control over them;

- the selection of his higher (true) self and his attainment;

at this stage, the unification center I is revealed or formed — psychosynthesis proper (that is, the personality is formed or re-formed around the newly created or identified unifying center I ).

Consider briefly each of these stages.

Deep comprehension of personality

This work begins with an analysis of the manifestations of the lower unconscious and in many ways resembles Freud's approaches to working with Ono. Here, Assagioli agrees with Freud that the causes of various psychological complexes, neuroses are early childhood experiences, subsequently forced out of consciousness.

According to the terminology of psychosynthesis, these repressed experiences are preserved in the form of fantasy, mental images, dark forces that provoke and aggravate neuroses.

At the same stage, after analyzing the lower unconscious , the therapist leads the client to the study of the middle and higher unconscious, helping him to see his hidden creative abilities, his true vocation .

Here, Assagioli recommends not taking initiative and working under the guidance of a qualified psychoanalyst using traditional Freudian methods.

All the difference in the tasks of psychosynthesis and classical psychoanalysis at this stage, Assagioli sees that in psychosynthesis, psychoanalysis plays not the main, but a subordinate role, preparing the client for the main therapeutic work - synthesis.

Identification of the main elements of personality and control over them

These stages can take place both in strict sequence and at the same time, since the process of in-depth cognition of the personality, and then the cognition of one’s true Self-, is endless.

Naturally, in order to determine the personality elements inherent in it, but not being its essence, it is necessary to define this essence, that is, simultaneously with the identification of the elements, to improve one’s true, higher Self.

At this stage, there are two main methods:

a) disassociation;

b) work on subpersonalities.

Disassociation

This is the process of separating oneself from that element of personality that the client mistakenly perceives as its essence and which, according to the therapist, is the cause of neurosis or aggravates it. On this occasion, Assagioli writes: “What we identify with, we rule, but we can control what we identify with.”

For example, each person has lanes of failures, but under their influence, they begin to consider themselves losers and stop making even quite accessible efforts to correct the situation. Another person who has been suffering from a disease or who considers himself ill (a hypochondriac) for a certain period of time begins to identify himself with the disease. Such identifications form and aggravate neuroses and need to be separated .

The psychotherapist helps the client to understand that failure or illness is not the essence of his personality, but only its elements , from which he must first separate psychologically, and then in fact.

Some identifications of oneself with the elements of the personality may seem completely harmless and even stimulating self-improvement, but at some stage they may cause neurosis.

For example, a fashion model, a fashion model, an athlete can identify with a beautiful and nimble body. At a certain stage, it will help them in their chosen roles. However, with age (which for other professions is considered still young), they may begin to experience that their body loses its youth and perfection. And since they identify their personality with this element, many of them will consider this a personal catastrophe.

The famous Hollywood actress Marilyn Monroe, considered the sex symbol of America, unwittingly identified herself mainly with a young and beautiful appearance and began to get depressed (and take drugs) long before the critical age, realizing that the age of the actress of such a role is short.

In contrast, no less prominent film stars Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich identified viewers (and identified themselves) not only with external beauty, but also with subtle intelligence, the improvement of which is limitless. Therefore, they enjoyed success and were in a mobile state for many years.

Of course, beauty and youth were important for them too, but these were not elements of their personality, and in Marilyn Monroe this was identified with the personality itself, therefore the fear of losing it (long before the loss itself) led her to a personal catastrophe.

Thus, a woman who sees herself primarily as an object of physical attraction, is very painful about her age-related changes. If she begins to perceive herself and as a constantly improving housewife, a caring mother, and then a loving and beloved grandmother, age-related changes are perceived much less sadly and certainly not catastrophically.

Therefore, it is important to learn to identify oneself with elements of personality that are positive for mental health, and with those that are fraught with the danger of an aggravating neurosis, one should try to identify one another, understanding that this is not the essence of the personality, but only one of its elements, and . This process is not simple and requires patience and qualified leadership.

From these considerations only one step to the next method of this stage of psychosynthesis - work with subpersonalities.

Work with subpersonalities

It can be said that subpersonality differs from personality elements in that if elements are certain qualities, then subpersonality is more holistic images of self-perception.

Each of us has several subpersonalities with relative autonomy. So, our perception of ourselves as the son of our parents is different from our perception of ourselves as the father of our children. Our self-perception as a boss in relation to some employees differs from our perception of ourselves as a subordinate in relation to others.

These sub-personalities can live in harmony, without interfering with and even helping each other, and they may also conflict. And since the ancients still said: “The main thing is to live in peace with oneself,” the relationship between our subpersonalities is not “their personal” business, but the real reason for the protection of our mental health, or vice versa, the formation and aggravation of neuroses.

In one man, the subpersonality of the husband and lover do not interfere with each other, and for the other they cause a complete internal discord. Such situations are even more tolerated by women.

In one girl, the subpersonalities of the wife and daughter are "friends" with each other. The other is hostile, because her husband and her mother do not like each other, and she loves him and her, and before him sincerely protects her, and before her, him, that is, he sees the same situation through the eyes of two conflicting subpersonalities .

In a person they can get along, and they can also be in contradiction with the subpersonality of a good employee and cheerful revelers. In one case, one scolds the second for laziness and booze, and the second snaps: “Fuck you with your work. Oh, and you can not rest. In another case, these sub-personalities peacefully coexist, agreeing: "Now we will work hard, and in the evening or on weekends you can walk, nothing terrible."

Therefore, the task of the therapist is to work precisely with those subpersonalities that conflict and thereby exacerbate the psychological problems of the client.

It should be remembered that in the presence of a large number of subpersonalities in one person there is nothing wrong. On the contrary, the more subpersonalities a normal mentally healthy person has, the more spiritually the person is.

It is important that some of these subpersonalities do not enter into insurmountable conflict with each other. It is in these cases (and only in these) that skilled work with subpersonalities is required.

If it is found that subpersonality, “undesirable” from the point of view of the moral and mental health of the individual, begins to dominate the whole person, work on disidentification (removal from the interfering subpersonality) begins.

Is it not true that this is analogous to the process of disassociation with the elements of the personality? That is, the individual with the help of a therapist must be aware that this subpersonality does not fill his entire personality and may well be removed. For this, it is very important to recognize your true (higher ) Self , which will be the unifying center of the personality.

We face a difficult and long-term task, and we must honestly admit that not every client, even under the guidance of a qualified psychotherapist, manages to solve it completely. However, even partial success in this direction makes it easier to endure traumatic states.

It should be remembered that the true self is different from the elements and subpersonalities of its unchanging essence. It is this property that allows it (the true Self ) to perform the role of a unifying center for a long and painstaking therapeutic work.

The true I , according to Assagioli, is the core of personality, pure consciousness, that is, consciousness free from the influence of temporarily dominant elements and subpersonalities.

The task of the psychotherapist at this stage is to develop in the client the ability of his true self to disengage with the individual elements and to disidentify with different subpersonalities, that is, to separate from them for their analysis, control and management of them as if from outside.

Acquiring such an ability will allow you to maintain peace of mind and balance and find harmony of psychophysical self-perception, separating or at least distancing (distancing) your essence from temporal experiences and psycho-traumatic thoughts and emotions.

If the search and distancing of the true Self as a unifying center of personality does not allow “getting to the bottom” of it “inside itself”, then Assagioli recommends forming such a center “outside of oneself” in the form of the desired, most attractive for us essence of its true Self .This may be identifying yourself with your loved one; real, literary or film hero, just with some moral ideal (patriotism, heroism, success, etc.). Often, such identification occurs involuntarily, and then it can be successfully used. In other cases, it must be formed.

This invented ideal image of your higher self is called the external unifying center, around which you can also begin work on the removal of unwanted elements and subpersonalities, their control and correction.

Психотерапевт в данном случае помогает в выборе этого идеального Я , исходя из реальных возможностей (личностных резервов) клиента. Он не должен стремиться стать своей противоположностью (чего мы нередко хотим от себя или от наших близких), из этого все равно ничего не получится, кроме разочарования в себе и в методе психосинтеза.

Выбранная в качестве внешнего объединяющего центра цель личностного оздоровления и совершенствования должна быть объективно достижима: синтез (новая конструкция личности) может быть основан только на имеющихся и подвергнутых анализу личностных ресурсах.

Такой прием перестройки себя под выбранный самостоятельно или с помощью психотерапевта идеальный образ называется имаготерапией (от англ. image - образ). Зародившись в недрах психосинтеза, имаготерапия в настоящее время нередко применяется как отдельный терапевтический метод.

(Справедливости ради следует отметить, что этот метод перевоплощения во внутренний мир героя через подражание его внешнему образу и манерам поведения широко применял К.С.Станиславский в работе актера над ролью.)

Внешний объединяющий центр решает задачу примирения и координации стремлений низшего и высшего Я , снимая между ними скрытые конфликты, которые с позиции психосинтеза нередко становятся причинами неврозов и труднопреодолимых психологических проблем.

Обычно процесс формирования или переформирования личности вокруг внешнего объединяющего центра представляют в виде четырех основных ступеней.

Первая ступень

Выбор идеальной модели своего желаемого Я

Для этого надо, как мы уже говорили, подобрать образ, достижение которого потребует хотя и больших, но доступных для данного человека усилий. Нереальная, завышенная по отношению к потенциальным возможностям данного человека оценка сделает психосинтез не только бесполезным, но и вредным, так как еще более усугубит фрустрацию и безнадежность. (Не зря многие фанатичные поклонники Фридриха Ницше, поверив в свои возможности стать сверхчеловеком и не сумев достичь этой цели, кончали жизнь самоубийством.)

Ассаджиоли делит выбираемые идеальные Я -образы на два основных типа:

1) характерные для интровертов образы внутреннего, духовного совершенствования, достижения внутренней гармонии;

2) характерные для экстравертов образы лиц, достигающих общественно признанного успеха в различных сферах деятельности.

Важно, чтобы выбранный образ соответствовал (или хотя бы не противоречил) типу личности клиента - ярко выраженного интроверта или экстраверта. При этом не следует стремиться непременно отнести клиента к интровертам или экстравертам. Следует помнить, что у многих эти различия не выражены ярко, более 30% людей являются амбавертами, то есть их личности проявляют как интровертированную (внутреннюю) направленность, так и эксравертированную (внешнюю) направленность. Таким людям следует подбирать Я -образы, исходя из других наклонностей, способностей и интересов.

Second stage

Конструктивное использование всех энергетических ресурсов

Ассаджиоли указывает на два основных энергетических источника:

1) энергия бессознательного, высвобождающаяся в результате анализа, то есть «вскрытия» различных личностных комплексов и причин неврозов;

2) высвобождающаяся на разных уровнях личности энергия врожденного стремления человека к самосовершенствованию, обретению гармонии в слиянии со своим высшим (истинным) Я .

Но энергию бессознательного недостаточно высвободить. Ее еще нужно направить в конструктивное, созидательное русло или, как говорит Ассаджиоли, трансмутировать (перевести в иное качество).

В этом смысле трансмутация напоминает то, что Фрейд называл сублимацией. Однако у Ассаджиоли это не спонтанный защитный механизм личности, а целенаправленный (с помощью терапевта) процесс на пути к идеальной модели личности.

Third stage

Дополнение или развитие недостающих или «недоразвитых» элементов личности

Анализ модельных компонентов идеального Я позволяет обнаружить, что какие-то необходимые элементы недостаточно развиты или вообще отсутствуют. С этого момента начинается работа над их формированием и совершенствованием. Сюда же некоторые психосинтетики добавляют работу над устранением или уменьшением влияния элементов, мешающих гармонизации личности на пути к идеальному Я .

Для этого одновременно используются внутренний и внешний пути.

Внутренний путь - это самовнушение , что необходимые элементы идеального Я уже присутствуют и развиваются до нужного уровня. Самовнушение может использоваться и для устранения или уменьшения влияния на личность нежелательных элементов.

Внешний путь - это действенное формирование и совершенствование необходимых качеств (уверенности, смелости, выдержки, самоконтроля и др.) и психических функций (внимания, памяти, воображения и др.) путем систематической тренировки.

Здесь успешно используются бихевиористские методы как тренинга нужных умений (и качеств), так и систематической десенсибилизации или негативного подкрепления (для уменьшения или устранения) мешающих элементов.

Fourth step

Гармонизация структуры личности

На этой ступени осуществляется четкое распределение и закрепление иерархической зависимости (или субординационной соподчиненности) различных имевшихся в наличии, скорректированных и вновь сформированных элементов личности в соответствии с выбранной идеальной моделью.

Работу на этой ступени, являющейся завершением всего психосинтеза, сравнивают с творением красивой музыки из гармоничного соединения отдельных нот, которые существовали и до этого, но, будучи неправильно распределены, доставляли мучение и исполнителю, и слушателям.

Р. Ассаджиоли и его последователи разработали и широко распространили во всем мире целый ряд интересных упражнений. Приведем наиболее популярные из них.

WORKSHOP

Предлагаем несколько упражнений, основу которых составляют разработки самого Р.Ассаджиоли и его известных учеников - П.Ферручи, М.Росселли и других.

Рабочая тетрадь

Одним из простых и важных повседневных упражнений «психосинтетики» считают ведение рабочей тетради. Это необходимо для того, чтобы процесс самоанализа и самосовершенствования был более четким и эффективным. Многие интересные самонаблюдения и идеи без записей забываются.

Записи приучают четче формулировать мысли, а значит, и лучше анализировать свои состояния. Анализ записей позволяет выявить определенные закономерности своих состояний и поведенческих реакций, которые без записей могут быть отнесены к случайным.

Вдумчивое ведение записей и их последующий анализ помогают отделить главное (то, над чем надо сконцентрировать работу в первую очередь) от второстепенного.

Ведение и периодический анализ рабочей тетради позволяет лучше познать самого себя, стать откровеннее с самим собой, а значит, и быстрее выявить истинные причины проблем и наметить более четкие пути их решения.

Добавлю, что регулярное ведение аналитических записей уже само по себе хорошая рациональная терапия . Создается ощущение собственной действенности на пути решения проблем, а разложение этих проблем на составные части ведет к их «разминированию».

Это созвучно информационной теории эмоций В.П.Симонова . согласно которой сила эмоциональных переживаний уменьшается по мере повышения информированности индивида о причинах и содержании этих переживаний («не так страшен черт, как его малюют» нам наши эмоции и фантазии).

Можно сказать, что здесь метод рациональной психотерапии (стремление взглянуть на ситуацию не эмоционально, а рационально) естественно комбинируется с бихевиористскими приемами систематической десенсибилизации , то есть притупления психотравмирующих эмоций путем их систематического (контролируемого) рассмотрения со стороны.

Ваши возможности

Это упражнение строится на контрасте ощущения положительных и отрицательных переживаний.

Для этого найдите тихое спокойное место. Постарайтесь максимально расслабиться и отвлечься от посторонних мыслей.

Начинайте не спеша, поочередно включать воображение, стараясь как можно ярче представлять различные проявления сильных отрицательных эмоций, таких, как физические и душевные страдания, злоба, гнев, тревога, одиночество, безнадежность и т.п.

Then - in contrast with the experienced experiences - try to sharply switch your imagination to the same vivid personification of such concepts as joy, love, happiness, reason, creative inspiration, the pursuit of perfection, etc.

Feel and convince yourself that, just as your imagination has switched from negative emotions to positive ones, you yourself can begin to step back from your sufferings, move towards using your abilities and opportunities for self-improvement and achieving a better life.

Analyze your emotions, successes and temporary difficulties in your workbook.

Who am I?

As already mentioned, the fundamental part of psychosynthesis is constantly improving introspection. It includes clarification of its not only positive, but also negative features and peculiarities of their manifestation.

The essence of this exercise is that by choosing a quiet secluded place, you slowly begin to answer the question "Who am I?"

Having asked this question in the surrounding silence and in the silence of your own soul, do not rush to answer it with ready-made formulations, but gradually begin to show your image out of the fog of your contradictory views on it.

Help yourself with visual fantasy, seeing your face, posture, clothes, movements as if from the side.

Then try to express more clearly any of your features, exaggerating, as in pantomime.

“Trust the wisdom of your body,” said Assagioli, who believed that facial expressions and gestures often express the true nature of a person better.

The process of self-knowledge is quite long and involves the regular maintenance and analysis of your records.

We complement this “Who am I?” Exercise by viewing the drawings of oneself, or rather, expressing one’s specific character traits, photographs, videos, listening to one’s voice.

To objectify ideas about ourselves, we also add the exercises “I am through the eyes of others” and “Judge them according to their deeds”.

Having some imagination, it is quite accessible to imagine yourself through the eyes of those who know you well, to recall their positive and negative evaluations of your character and behavior and to try to analyze them with maximum objectivity. Even if you do not agree with any assessments, consider whether you gave a reason for them. In general, try to temporarily “get into the skin” of another person, and separate your image from yourself and begin to consider it from the point of view and rightness of this person. This is a very useful exercise in family conflictology.

This exercise is well helped by the following - "Judge them according to their deeds."

Assessing your attitude to others and their attitude towards yourself, analyze how your real actions confirmed your opinions about whether you love or dislike someone, about someone who loves or does not love you.

Analyze your attitude to affairs, your active or passive attitude in life with the answer in accordance with the proverb “Who wants (to do business or help another), looking for opportunities, who does not want - looking for reasons.” An honest answer to this question will show you your true attitude towards affairs and towards people (as well as their attitude towards you).

Disassociation

The starting position is the same - you need to find a quiet secluded place, it is convenient to sit down, relax, try to distract from extraneous feelings and thoughts and tune in to this work.

Further, in complete mental silence, you clearly say to yourself:

“I have a body, but I am not a body.

I have a good attitude to my body, I follow its purity and health, but I am not just a body. ”

Now close your eyes and clearly summarize your reasoning several times with one brief phrase:

"I have a body, but I am not a body."

After a certain pause, during which you seem to be again freed from all emotions and thoughts, begin to feel the following phrase:

“I have feelings, but I am not feelings.

I have different strong feelings, they change from joyful to unpleasant, from love to enmity, but my true self does not change with them.

Feelings come and go, but my Self remains. ”

Close your eyes and summarize the results of this stage, suggesting to yourself:

"I have feelings, but I-not feelings."

Do the same with respect to the perception of your intellect, emphasizing with different phrases that your intellect can be improved, changed, directed to different objects, while your essence remains unchanged.

Summarize the construction of the phrase self-suggestion:

"I have the intellect, but I am not the intellect."

With the constant repetition of this exercise associative links are fixed, and their intermediate links can be omitted, as in auto-training.

You will learn to achieve the desired identification, using only summarizing phrases:

“I have a body, but I am not a body.

I have feelings, but I have no feelings.

I have an intellect, but I am not an intellect. ”

Based on our practical observations, we began to use a slightly different translation of these final phrases, which we recommend saying (to ourselves or aloud) with pathos:

“I am the master, not a slave of my body.

I am the master, not a slave of my feelings.

I am the master, not a slave of my intellect. ”

Perhaps the orthodox psychosynthesis will condemn us for such a free translation, but we proceeded from the democratic choice of the clients themselves. Some of them held on to the classic translation for a long time, but then they still preferred our formulas. We understand that our translation introduces a different psychological attitude, and therefore we do not pretend that this is the very exercise that Assaggioli called “Who am I?”, And our creative modification, which has shown its practical effectiveness.

Subpersonalities

Select in turn your main subpersonalities: Child, Parent, Spouse, Friend, Head, Slave, Specialist in your field, Owner of a hobby (philatelist, music lover, tourist, etc.).

Slowly try to get used to the image and condition of each of these subpersonalities, feel it, look its eyes at the world, at people, at yourself, at other subpersonalities.

Try to critically analyze each of your subpersonalities: how it helps you, and how it interferes.

In this place, we advise the client to ask their other subpersonalities to criticize this subpersonality.

For example, two subpersonalities, who love both their mother and her husband (who do not sympathize with each other), can argue with each other. With proper psychotherapeutic guidance, such a dispute will allow each of the subpersonalities to more objectively see their own and someone else's rightness or bias and take this into account. A psychotherapist will help you better take advantage of each of the subpersonalities and neutralize or begin to reduce its harmful effects on other subpersonalities. Try to reconcile the subpersonalities under the guidance of the best of them.

Climbing In the garden

These exercises have a lot in common. You imagine subpersonality with which you work either in the process of climbing the mountain peaks among beautiful landscapes, or when she enjoys the beauty and aroma of flowers in a beautiful garden.

In both cases, you are trying to create a bright, aesthetically high mood for your sub-personality, which promotes maximum disclosure of the response of light and high feelings in it. In addition, during the ascent to this is added (in the opinion of the French psychologist Dizol) the “act of ascent to the highest level of existence”, as if opposed to all that is base and degrading.

Having felt your subpersonalities in such sublime conditions, analyze them, remember these high feelings, try to consolidate and constantly improve them in yourself.

This will help you your most constant interlocutor - workbook .

I am not a role

This exercise, as well as most of the previous ones, is aimed at identifying with the elements of the personality or dis-identifying with subpersonalities.

The therapeutic idea is the same - to make it clear to the client that he can separate himself from the states and behaviors that prevent him, that they have not grown firmly in him and that he is not obliged to drag them like a cross all his life.

It should always be remembered that it is not necessary to treat what does not hurt. That is, to analyze, isolate, disentangle (in the sense of separating from yourself) you need not all that fell, but only what prevents the client so much that he cannot cope with it and turns to a psychotherapist for help.

The therapist shows the client that unsatisfying, traumatic relationships with someone important to him are not fatally inevitable and insurmountable. These are only certain roles that you can try to play in a different way.

So with the help of a psychotherapist, an unsuccessful role is destroyed (or corrected) and a more acceptable role is created. The client begins to consciously play the role (parent, spouse, child, employee) that tormented him. It is convinced that this is only a role that can be played in a different way. Separates its essence from the role.

We advise you to end this exercise with self-suggestion approval:

“What I don't like about me now,

not my immutable entity.

This is just one of the roles

which i can play differently

or refuse to play at all.

I am the master of my roles, not their slave. ”

Here, to some extent, behavioral techniques are used — the selection of the needed one and the elimination of the unnecessary role by trial and error (stimulus-reaction) with positive and negative reinforcement.

Well and, of course, here, as in other exercises of psychosynthesis, there are always elements of role therapy, imago therapy and psychodrama. It cannot be said here which one of the great therapists and what borrowed from another. Almost all the classics of psychotherapy lived and created their own directions and schools at almost the same time and under the influence of the same ideas (the important role of the unconscious in the formation of neuroses and defense mechanisms, explanatory fictions, subpersonalities, roles, etc.).

Therefore, despite the outstanding, quite independent achievements of each of the therapeutic (and primarily psychoanalytic) areas, I am deeply convinced that from a practical point of view, they have more in common than different.

Identification with the center I

They pass to this exercise only after successfully accomplishing the previous ones: disassociating themselves with the elements of the personality (body, emotions, intelligence, etc.), with subpersonalities, with roles.

Realizing this disassociation, the client must realize the essence of his true self as the center of pure self-awareness and will. Must believe in its stability and strength.

He says (inspires) to himself: "From this center I can soberly observe and control my body, emotions, intellect, directing and changing their activity according to my will."

Through constant ancillary exercises on disassociating oneself with various elements, the process of acquiring a pure Self becomes more and more obedient and fast, reducing the preparatory stages.

This exercise helps to quickly disassociate even with a strongly disturbing emotion, as if removing it from itself, allowing you to look at it more coldly, from the side.

Formation of the desired quality

Usually this exercise is used to create peace, but it can also be used to develop other qualities, needs, and behavior patterns.

For the formation of peace it is recommended to sit comfortably, relax as much as possible.

This exercise is faster and more effective for those who have mastered auto-training and other psychomuscular self-regulation procedures. It includes the procedure of sedative breathing, and elements of imago therapy, that is, the presentation of your most relaxed image in a pleasant and relaxed atmosphere.

When you learn to quickly and clearly evoke in your imagination the image of “calm and self-confident”, try to remember the person or circumstances leading you out of a calm state, but this time try to remain as calm as possible. Challenge in your memory these and other objects that disturb you, training your "impenetrability", the gradual reduction of anxiety and other emotions that hinder you. This is close to the behavioral method of systematic desensitization - the diminution of sensitivity (see behavioral therapy).

The task

Think up by analogy a few exercises on the formation of other desired qualities.

All your successes and difficulties are constantly analyzed in a workbook and periodically discussed with a psychotherapist.

Forming the perfect personality

Repeat the already developed disassociation with various elements until the state of pure self appears .

Try to feel this state as clearly as possible and keep it for as long as possible.

Create in your imagination the image of that ideal I , how you would dream to see yourself. However, remember that this image should not be too detached from your real external and internal (albeit better) appearance. That is, you must present not just the image of an ideal person, but the image of your own Self, how you would like to look and behave; feel and think.

Feel "better yourself" as deeply as possible.

Describe this image as a literary hero in your workbook, from clothing and looks to inner thoughts and feelings. Try to draw it.

At this stage, it is important to feel that the model you present is both perfect and realistic (that is, within your best possibilities).

After this, begin by repeated sessions (which you can conduct independently with closed eyes) to get used to the image of your ideal self , merge with it, become one. Assagioli recommends that you repeat this exercise daily, right in bed, right after you wake up and have not yet become “infected” with the bustle of everyday anxieties and worries. To complete each such exercise must be a decisive self-suggestion that you will act, think and feel in accordance with the image of your better self, regardless of the prevailing circumstances.

It is very important to be prepared in advance for the fact that not everything will turn out smoothly at once, so it is helpful to keep a workbook in which to accumulate positive experience and analyze the causes of temporary failures and disruptions from “the height of your best self”.

As we have said, this exercise and its modifications are now widely used as an independent psychotherapeutic method of imagotherapy (from the English .image - image).

Similar approaches to implanting an actor into an image were applied by Konstantin S. Stanislavsky, with the difference that the actor did not search in the direction of his better self , but in the direction of the most organic incarnation of his ego in the role of his hero (which could turn out to be not only positive, but and negative) However, the psychophysical mechanism of such an incarnation here is the same as that of Assaggioli.

Synthesis

Some experts consider this exercise to be independent, others see in it the final part of the previous exercise on the formation of an ideal personality.

At the core of this exercise is the aspiration of every person emphasized by Adler towards finding inner harmony.

To do this, Assagioli suggests first to find the conflicting feelings and qualities of the person, and then begin work on their reconciliation.

We can often find in ourselves and in others (especially in the period of youth and youth) alternating features of rudeness and sentimentality, cynicism and elevated feelings, love and hate, self-esteem and self-deprecation, shyness and arrogance. Assadzhioli believes that the harmony of the personality can only be found by reconciling these polarities, and not by preferring one of them due to crowding out the other.

After all, Assagioli was Freud's consistent student and believed that it was precisely the feelings, thoughts and images of ourselves that were ousted from the consciousness that were undesirable for us that are the main reasons for the formation and deepening of neuroses.

Many exercises are used to reconcile our "polarities", opposites in psychosynthesis.

One of the initial, most simple and popular exercises is drawing images of your own opposites.

To do this, you take a blank sheet of paper, divide it into two halves.

In one half, you symbolically depict one of the opposite of your feelings, moods, perception of yourself, and beyond the line - their “polarity”.

Then, carefully peering (and psychologically living), then in one polarity, then in its opposite, start looking for something in them that is common or at least “reconciled”.

Now below, draw a symbolic interaction of these opposite images: they fight, swear, gloomily keep silence, shake hands, play ball with each other or in the same team, help each other, etc.

Repeatedly use this exercise, trying to find each time more and more interaction options and less contention.

From a position of one side, try to understand the other, its point of view, to convince or at least convince of the need to find peaceful solutions - after all, the field of battle is yours, and the results are your sufferings and problems in communicating with yourself and with others.

On the back of these drawings (in your workbook) keep a record of everything that you feel and think in the process of this work.

Such an analysis will make it possible to quickly identify typical recurring errors and situations provoking them, to think out solutions to prevent such situations, to search for reasonable compromises.