Pszichoterápia
a professional journal of practice based on psychotherapeutic methods
A quarterly publication 24th year, issue 4 November 2015
Contents
Editorial
Tibor Cece Kiss
ARTICLES
Theoretical study
József Krékits:Being-in-the-world of Oedipus
Theoretical study
László Bokor: Laius and Jocasta in marital therapy
Reflections
József Krékits: Reflections on László Bokor’s study: Laius and Jocasta in marital therapy
Theoretical study
Erika Stiblár: Psychological effects of folk tales – tale therapy through the lenses of soul-harmonizing tale work
Questions of practice
Andrea Kalóczkai: A description of the fairy tale therapy method called „treasure-hunting” – Archaic knowledge: The bridge between our worlds
WORKSTATION
Book symposium
Textbook of psychotherapy, 3rd edition – NoémiCsászár ♦ Katinka Kertész ♦ Zoltán Terenyi
Conference organising workshop
“It’s time” –12th conference of the journal PSZICHOTERÁPIA, 2016 6-7 May
Competition
Fruits of forced solutions: What can we gain from difficult circumstances?
PROFESSIONAL LIFE
Discussions, comments
Debate: Role of religion – does it hinder or foster therapy or consultation? – Magda Illyés♦ Rita Csőzik ♦ Márta Minimair ♦ Ferenc Süle ♦ Ildikó Zaláné Csatári ♦ Dóra Perczel Forintos ♦ Szende Elekes
Ethical questions in therapeutic practice 14 – Zoltán Danics ♦ Dániel Eörsi
News and information
Reports
Conferences –Noémi Berger ♦ Katalin Szőke ♦ Gábor Szőnyi ♦ Márta Takácsy
Theatre letter – Krisztina Pál
Book reviews –Amaryl Árkovits ♦ Nóra Fóris ♦ Zsuzsanna Kerekes ♦ Alexandra Nagy ♦ Júlia Varga É.
List of professional books and periodicals
Professional programs
Editorial announcements– Renewal of genres
Theoretical study
József Krékits:
Being-in-the-world of Oedipus
In my essay, I would like to analyse the main character’s movement from the traumatic revelation of truth to accepting his fate with dignity, based on Sophocles’s works Oedipus the King, Oedipus at Colonus, and Antigone. I analyse this question mainly from a daseinsanalytical and transgenerational point of view. As a seeing person, Oedipus is blinded by abundance and power, while later, as a blind person, he is able to see the essence of things invisible to him before: he realizes he needs to gain control over himself, and not over others, and this can happen through self-knowledge. While he himself manages to empower his fate with meaning, he cannot help his children to fight off being stigmatized and become free; this way, three of them die a tragic death. Two of his sons, on the other hand, fall by one-another’s hand as their rivalry intensifies, while his daughter, Antigone – following her mother’s example – commits suicide. That is, he cannot exempt them from the guilt-anxiety due to their origin; in fact, his negative prophecies for them become self-fulfilling, similarly to his father’s, Laius’s, case. Therefore, in the beginning, he himself identifies with the excluding and stigmatizing attitude of the community, and plants an identity of a victim in his children that will prevail as a kind of paternal curse. However, he is able to help and bring blessing to strangers, as Gods forgive the suffering hero, and forecast he will bring good fortune to the people of the land that accepts his remains. By this time, he is able to forgive himself as well, as he acted unconsciously. However, these unconscious deeds (killing his father and marrying his mother) are not identical with the Freudian concept of the unconscious because they are not about repression or not-wanting-to-know, but actual not-knowing. The act of receiving the grave symbolically means understanding the moral of one’s fate, which enables a community to survive through avoiding dangers: all suffering has a meaning and significance for the community because most of the suffering in the world is caused by other people.
Keywords: mythology – daseinsanalysis – transgenerational trauma – creation of meaning – being-oneself – narrative
Theoretical study
László Bokor:
Laius and Jocasta in marital therapy
The interventions of psychotherapeutic methods directed on mental processes are defined by their concept of human being. The psychoanalytic approach pictures the drama of Oedipus as an individual struggling with his drives. But from the point of view of family therapy the drama mirrors the mental problems of a child from a dysfunctional family suffering from the difficulties of the relationships between Laios and Iokaste.
The intrafamiliar dynamic interaction embodies the parent’s behaviour and attitude relating to the child. On the individual level these are held as partly reflected representations. The paper widens the psychoanalytic interpretation of Oedipus-complex according to the concept family therapy. The theory of family therapy is not homogeneous; it is not based on one theoretical ground. The theory of psychoanalysis is not unified or homogeneous neither. We can rather spoke about system of theories, which hold a number of thesis and standpoints.
The paper demonstrates that postponement of Oedipus’s self-development and mentallisation capacity in fact originated from missing safety because of the transgenerational fatherless history of his family rooted in the gods. This approach makes visible the environmental – family and cultural – effects that hindered attachment, mentallisation and integrated identity.
The paper states, that a work of art can present all of these only when, as the drama of Sophocles’ drama of Oedipus, is containing and referring to the unreflected individual and cultural representations, and show that Oedipus had indeed had an oedipal- complex.
On the level of the narrative the fate of Oedipus’s family is the series of traumas. The paper put forward as a hypothesis the possibility, that what is a trauma on the level of individual, is on the level of society the basic condition to the cultural and public happiness of human life.
Key words: family therapy – psychoanalysis – oedipal-complex – trauma – society
Theoretical study
Erika Stiblár:
Psychological effects of folk tales – tale therapy through the lenses of soul-harmonizing tale work
Tales and myths have lived with us since the emergence of the human race. The fact that they have survived is an evidence of their authenticity and it underlines their necessity. The „Treasure-hunting” fairy tale method is a means of using this cultural heritage of ancient forces in psychotherapy. Archetypes and symbols in tales enable us to have a closer look at the mechanism of both the personal and collective unconscious. Fairy tales expand our consciousness, they open up our personality and thus we can reduce anxiety and separation. The pictures that a tale evokes in us serve as a surface for projecting our emotions, desires, inner processes and this way they connect our inner and outer worlds. Symbols are the bridges stretching between these two worlds as they allow transformations. Emotions, instinctive energies, and archetypical behaviour patterns hidden deep down may transform into pictures. This can be followed first by visual and later by verbal creative processing of experience. Márta Antalfai, who established the method, has compared the trials and messages common in tales with the stages of personality development. In each stage there is a different Jungian function undergoing significant development. The evolvement of each function can also be detected in a carefully selected appropriate tale. In psychotherapy the messages conveyed by these tales are approached on the basis of the theoretical concept of Jung’s analytical psychology and mainly the amplification method. With the help of the fairy-tale therapy, we can identify where the patient’s development has been blocked and help them remove the impediment. The aim of our study is to present this recent group therapeutic branch and method.
Keywords: „Treasure-hunting” fairy-tale therapy method – archetypes – amplification
Questions of practice
Andrea Kalóczkai:
A description of the fairy tale therapy method called „treasure-hunting” – Archaic knowledge: The bridge between our worlds
Folktales, due to their content and dynamical characteristics can be suitable for personality development, health care and therapeutic activity. Folk tale therapies are being nourished by knowledge of many disciplines, which gives them diversity, with corresponding benefits and dangers as well. To be able to talk about a method’s authenticity, in case of tale-therapy as well, we have to be aware that the adaptation of different components and the possibilities lying in the story are met accordingly.
The presented tale-therapy approach is routed in practice-oriented tale-researches, especially of relaxation and symbol therapy. The work is based on psychological work of symbol therapy, and leads to a system approach technique, having a tale morphology framework. In the soul-harmonizing tale-work, the conscious facilitation of individual tale-experience and indirect encouragement for individual inner work are being emphasized and accordingly facilitated with a wide range of symbol-therapy tools.
When working with individuals or with groups the same very specific phases emerge: arrival, defining our departure point, followed by our own experience and interpretation on different levels, always deepening and amplifying in a circular way. All this happens in a supportive and permissive atmosphere, with a mentor who is conscious about structure and content of the journey.
Based on the research and practical experience gained so far, in the present study we emphasize the importance of setting a common language, framework, methodological adaptation across various theories, in such a way that the findings can be used reciprocally in an authentic manner. The basic concepts of this new applied field are being discussed in the present article: the characteristic features of tale therapies; the possibilities of using elements of tales as a therapeutic power; a methodology framework; premises for using them; the content, structure and dynamics of tale-work.
Key-words: symbol therapy – characteristics of tale work – conditions of tale-therapies – soul harmonizing tale work
Vissza az előzőre