Metaphorical projective maps in the work of a teacher-psychologist. Projective maps in the work of a psychologist: a complete guide

Metaphoric cards serve as a guide to create the desired context in which everyone accesses their creativity, considering any picture on the map as a visual metaphor, like a door opening into the inner world of a person.

Choosing this or that card, a person actually tells about himself, what is important to him. From his story, it becomes clearer to both us and the psychologist where he draws strength from, what his value system is, what he fears and what he believes in.

OH cards are whole family POPPY. Each deck is unique and can be used in conjunction with all other decks of metaphorical associative cards, opening up new possibilities for play and creating an endless space for our imagination to play.

The very mechanism of working with maps is a projection.

What is projection?
Projection is when we assign the properties of what I have inside to something outside.
And it is precisely due to this projectivity that the cards allow you to see the inner world of the client.

Principles of working with metaphorical associative cards

A psychologist or psychotherapist never argues with what is happening with the client.
And thus, we return to the client what he has very little - power. Working with cards, he looks, he sees something, he has some associations - he acts as an expert with us.

Maps are not a means for making a diagnosis and drawing up a conclusion, but a source of information about a person.

There are no right or wrong cards, no right or wrong choices. You shouldn't draw straight conclusions from your clients' choices, and you certainly shouldn't judge them.
There is no clearly defined sequence of actions, questions that must be asked in a certain order. Moreover, there is no rigid correlation of one or another type of cards (material) with one or another issue.

Basic strategies for working with metaphorical cards

There are two main work strategies. The client can choose cards:

- arbitrarily, openly;
- blindly, at random, when they are turned upside down, and he does not see the image.

Working with open cards is more secure, it involves more control over the situation and reduce anxiety accordingly. Therefore, on initial stages work, it makes sense to choose this particular strategy, gradually, as a safe atmosphere is created and clients relax, offering them procedures with closed cards.

At the same time, people usually consider closed-card procedures as an opportunity to “rely on fate”, “receive a message from above”, etc. And this attracts many, as it creates intrigue, spurs curiosity, and brings a sense of play to work.

Forced to work with the material “accidentally” presented to him, a person analyzes himself more deeply, answers more complex questions.

Presenting open and closed images to the client is not the only way to diversify the work with cards.

Reading, thus, the same words, people perceive them differently, putting different internal meanings into them. By building parallels between words and visual images presented on associative maps, they begin to better understand what they mean when they use certain words to denote their state.

In working with therapy cards, words play a secondary role - supporting, expanding the range of possibilities. They are introduced into the work as an addition to the "pictorial" cards. It is believed that using cards with pictures and cards with words at the same time, we involve both cerebral hemispheres in the work, thereby developing interhemispheric connections. Many procedures are described in which the client is invited to work simultaneously with one type of card and with another. However, here, as in any other psychological work, you must adhere to the golden rule: the work will be effective only when the client himself wants to do it. Usually, connecting a picture and a word is not a trivial task.

Techniques for working with associative metaphorical cards

The same principles that apply when working with metaphors in different types therapy are also applicable in working with cards as visual metaphors. The metaphor allows you to get closer to the inner world, to feel the problem as a separately existing one, to see the prospect of overcoming as a path with its own obstacles, to feel the resources. This is her strength.

Work with cards can take place in two versions: dissociated - when I look at the card, and associated - when I become it.

When we work with something heavy, difficult, unpleasant - we start from a dissociated state, for a start we just need to look at it.
And when we need to take some resource or taste our shadow (that is, what we avoid looking at), we can transfer the client to the associated state so that he becomes this.

Technique "Humanization"

For example, a client complains to you about his indecision: “I have many plans, many ideas, but life passes, and I still do nothing. I put it off until later, but “later” never comes. I'm desperate…"

The counselor may ask him to select a card representing his problem. The client selects a picture and names it "Hesitation". The consultant asks the client to talk about her problem, ask how she manages to control the situation, with what help?
When does she feel stronger, when is she weaker?
What weakens her? What is she afraid of?
The client independently investigates the problem, talks to it, let the problem itself tell him about itself.

Technique "Animation"

After all, you can not only “revive” the problem, you can also consider the drawing on the card as a wise adviser and listen to what he has to say. For example, a card has a bird drawn on it (a cat, a dog, some person, a window, a door, a road). You can ask the client: And what does this bird tell you? What does she want to do now? What can you do and what do you want to do now? Thus, a person turns to the resources hidden in him.

Technique "Voicing"

Once the client made the picture speak, you can go further and fill the picture with music. Suppose you are working on the topic " life path» with the help of «road cards», the client tells you about his childhood, about parental home about leaving home. Ask him what kind of music is played during each of the stages of his life? Who orders this music? Who chooses the performer, who conducts? Is she quiet? Loud? Pleasant? Intrusive?

Technique "Points"

Whatever the psychologist is working on, it is always useful to look at the problem from different angles, through different lenses, different prisms. After a person chooses a card symbolizing some kind of problem, you need to look at it with different glasses: “What would your dad say about this (if he saw this picture)? Mum? Husband, wife, children, boss at work? Would this card hurt them? Would you make an impression? Whose opinion would you like to know?

Technique "Zoom" (Hoot)

Like a camera lens, we can zoom in and out on a card image. After the client has chosen a card, you need to ask him to choose others (with words or pictures) and arrange them around the main one at a distance that reflects their degree of influence and proximity to the central picture. That. the whole picture becomes visible. And vice versa, you can choose a card and then, as it were, divide it into smaller parts - choose other pictures that reflect its constituent parts, levels of development, background and figure. You can rank these parts in order of importance. But the main thing is to discuss after that, what is the meaning behind all this? What feelings? What is painful? What, on the contrary, causes joy and pleasure?

Technique "Coloring"

After the person selects a card that poses a problem for him, tell him: “Imagine that this card is drawn with a simple pencil, and mentally color it in the way you want.”

The client can use any colors - those that are actually presented on the card, and completely different ones that are not there. Let him do it as he wants, because this process reflects his inner state. And we can talk about it. And you don’t have to talk, sometimes it’s enough just to “see” the situation in a new way.

Technique "Pattern expansion"

This is done in this way: the card is placed in the middle of the sheet, and you ask the client to continue the drawing, and in such a way that the entire sheet is filled. If this is a plot drawing, you can continue the development of the plot, if these are false spots and patterns, as in the EKKO set, then continue the pattern, this technique allows you to make the choice of a card even more personal, deepen your gaze, immerse the patient in a metaphor. At the same time, since he himself draws the continuation, his anxieties and defenses are weakened, and the feeling of control over the situation, on the contrary, grows.

Also, since the drawing expansion technique itself resembles the Squigel technique, invented by the English psychologist D. Winnicott, the drawing expansion procedure can be carried out in exactly the same way. D. Winnicott used this technique in working with children who refuse to cooperate, insist that they cannot and do not want to draw, and do not respond to requests to do something themselves. In such cases, the psychologist can start drawing himself. Drawing something simple (line, geometric figure), he asks the child to continue the drawing by drawing something similar.

A couple of months ago, during a development game creativity, I first met with metaphorical cards. The experience of working with this mental tool gave me vivid emotions and opened up two new amazing worlds for me.

The first is the world of paintings by the amazing Turkish artist Gurbuz Dogan Eksioglu, the plots of which attract and awaken the deep layers in the human soul. The master is the owner of more than 60 awards, including international ones. His works are often published on their pages by The New Yorker and Forbes.

The second is the world of artistic intricate images. "Reading" metaphorical cards- an exciting and addictive game, a kind of puzzle. You know, it's one thing to think intelligently about what the artist wanted to say with his painting, and quite another to open the code of intricate images in order to get an answer to your specific question.

Well, shall we play?

Make a wish or formulate a question, the answer to which you want to receive. Now choose any number from 1 to 9.
You will find pictures with numbers below, after the text, but for now I’m telling you what the point is.

Before you take a look at the metaphorical map that you got, I want to warn you against the desire to find a clue in its name, since it reflects the author's view of the artist on the world. The true meaning of the message can be read only through your perception of reality.

How to decipher the secret meaning of the metaphorical card?

Abstract from the plot of the picture and answer three simple questions.

1. What do I see?

Decompose the picture into separate objects and parts. You can write them down on paper. Be attentive to the smallest details. Describe the shape, size, color of the object and how it is placed in space.

2. What do you think about it?

At the second stage, try to compare how the true purpose of these items in real world may be related to your past, present and future, or related to an issue that interests you.

3. What do you feel?

Now turn off the logic and give free rein to the feelings. Listen to yourself. Check out the whole picture. What sensations do you experience inside yourself, how your body responds. What is it? Joy, a smile on your face, or, on the contrary, do the plot and colors of the drawing depress you? Describe all your associations and feelings on paper.

Engage your right creative brain. Remember how in childhood, drawing unpretentious plots with pencils or paints on paper, you came up with for your heroes amazing stories. Who are they. Where live. Where did they come from or where are they going. What they like or dislike, what they want. What they are doing now and what they plan to do later. Come up with! Let your imagination run wild, because everything you tell about these fictional characters is somehow related to what lies deep inside you. And most importantly, you are the author and have the right to write your story exactly the way you want to see it in the final.

To fix the algorithm - a little practice.

As an example, I will give an illustration of Gurbuz Eksioglu "Broken Stairs".

Do you think it's about hope or hopelessness?

1. What do I see?
Man. Stairs. Wall. Clear sky.

2. What do you think about it?

Man inquisitive, and his interests go beyond what is permitted. He wants to see the world with his own eyes. Most likely, this is a brave traveler, because he is ready to go towards the unknown even alone. Judging by the clothes, this is an employee who walks the usual route from home to work and back almost daily. And now he has made a decision - to abandon the usual measured rhythm of life for the sake of freedom, which he dreamed of for so long. He's almost there. He is a little scared - the natural state of a person standing on the threshold of a new and unknown. The hero is in no hurry to grab the stairs, but prudently tries to assess the situation, being in familiar territory.

What do you think of this hero?

Stairs.

Try to find an allegory for them - what is it?
Possibility get out and be free? How will this person dispose of them - will he continue to stand, trying to see at least something out of the corner of his eye, or will he still use one of the stairs more efficiently? What do you think of it?

Another interesting point - where are the stairs from, and whose are they? The answer to these questions opens up a second subtext -experience . Stairs may well belong to those who, like the hero of the picture, have gone their own way. AND…

Broke free in new life? Or returned back, not daring to go beyond the usual? Fate always gives a person the right to choose. What would you do in such a situation?

3. What do you feel?

What prospects do you see?

In my opinion, they are clear and cloudless like the sky. The wall is the only obstacle on the way, and in order to overcome it, it remains to make only small efforts.

Now it's time to look at your metaphorical map and let your thoughts and feelings go free. So, your question and your card number?

I wish you a pleasant "flight"!

1. Muses

2. Breakfast by the sea

3. Calm

4. Stitches

5. Package for you

Metaphorical cards are a new, but already proven direction in psychology, related to projective methods. Psychologists who use associative cards in their work confirm their effectiveness. The advantage of this method is that you can work with cards on your own to develop creativity,.

What are metaphorical cards?

Metaphorical associative cards (MAC) - a set of cards or postcards that depict various kinds of events, figures, faces, nature, objects, animals, abstractions. Why do we need metaphorical maps, which sometimes seem simple and primitive pictures? Psychologists say that such primitiveness is deceptive, and work with cards is multi-layered and gives a wonderful healing, therapeutic effect in a short time.

Metaphorical cards in psychology

Metaphorical cards in the work of a psychologist are a powerful and effective tool that allows you to explore the associations and images of the human subconscious. Known fact that the subconscious mind resists being manifested, and such a projective technique as MAC helps to bypass this resistance and reveal the subjective causes of ineffective patterns of behavior and response.

The purpose of working with metaphorical cards

Psychosomatics and metaphorical maps as a diagnostic method have long been used in the work of psychologists to identify a problem that served as an impetus for the development of an existing condition, an illness. Any field of psychology, whether family, individual or group, can use associative maps as a serious helping tool. Goals of working with MAC:

bypassing rational thinking;
implementation of the dialogue "internal - external";
reconstruction of past events that led to the emergence of neurosis, psychotrauma;
clarification of actual experiences and needs;
completion of "unfinished" events that take energy;
modeling the time line from the past to the future.

Metaphorical cards - types

Such different metaphorical cards - the meaning of each deck depends on the subject. There are more narrowly focused, and there are universal ones. But they are all very resourceful. The most popular among MAK psychologists:

« Persona» - a set of cards with people's faces, reflecting different emotions and states;
« Tandu / Tandu"- associative cards for working out relationships in a couple;
« Ecco / Ecco» - disclosure of creative potential;
« Cope / Cope» - work with mental trauma;
« Saga / Saga» -development of imagination and creativity;
« Morena / Morena» helps to see the resource;
« She is"- female, very resource deck;
« Windows and doors» - work with states, search for resources, new solutions;
« From the chest of the past»- study of childhood traumas, neuroses, attitudes.

How to choose metaphorical cards for yourself?

The best metaphorical cards are those that suit the goals, preferences and tastes of the person. The connection with the deck is formed intuitively, for some it is enough to take one look at the deck to feel the connection with the images that are imprinted in it. Trust your feelings, hold in your hands. In the psychologist's office, the principle of choosing a deck is exactly the same: let the eye “grab” the deck that will respond if there are several of them (usually this is the case). Many existing MAC decks are multidimensional and allow you to work out different areas life.

Metaphorical cards - how to work?

Working with metaphorical cards begins with the existing request of the client, what he comes to the psychologist with. AT independent work the principle of having a problem and a related request also applies. Metaphorical exercise cards and methods in each particular deck may differ, but in general, there are two strategies for working with metaphorical cards:

open. In front of the person, the deck lies face up. The psychologist asks a question and the client selects cards for his condition, how he feels. The technique is considered safe, completely controlled, which inspires confidence and relaxation, anxiety is reduced.
Closed, or in another way it can be called - fortune telling, this is a method of choosing cards blindly, as in traditional predictions, for example, in Tarot. This technique of choosing random cards involves deeper work and is intuitively perceived by a person as a message from above, a “finger of fate”, which makes the technique more attractive, intriguing, can increase anxiety, therefore it is used by a psychotherapist after working in an open technique.

Techniques with metaphorical cards

Divination on metaphorical cards can be done using the following techniques:

Change of point of view(M. Egetmeyer). 2 cards are drawn blindly. One symbolizes the problem, the second symbolizes the solution. A person briefly tells how he sees it - a problem-solution through the images coming from the card. Then the cards are renamed: the one that was the problem becomes the solution and vice versa. To move from one state to another, you can draw another card from another deck.
Picture. Pull a card from the pile and place it on clean slate, as it is felt from the state. The task is to finish the picture, continuing it on the sheet. Describe what happened.
Analysis of existing relationships. Blindly draw out 5 cards, for each of which there is a question, and the cards will be the answers to these questions:

“What stopped working in this relationship?”;
"My responsibility in this relationship?";
"Partner's responsibility?";
"What works in a relationship?";
“What needs to happen for a relationship to change?”

Metaphorical mind maps - learning

Metaphorical cards are best taught by certified specialists or the authors of those decks that you would like to use in your work. There are many courses on metaphorical cards and you can take them remotely online if it is not possible to attend the training in person. Various courses on art therapy that are popular today include a section on working with MAC. But the most effective learning is considered practice, gaining experience in working with cards and reading professional literature, exchange of experience on forums dedicated to working with associative decks.

Metaphorical cards - books

Association cards are projective techniques that are considered very effective tool psychologist. Each specialist has his favorite decks, not everyone has manuals, because metaphorical associative cards are more an intuitive tool. In general, in working with maps there are standard general rules. Some popular decks are so loved by psychologists, and all the experience gained is reflected in the following books:

« metaphorical cards» G. Katz, E. Mukhamatulina. The use of mind maps in consulting, business coaching, individual work with children and adults. Overview of different decks.
« Associative cards in work with hard case » N. Dmitrieva, N. Buravtseva. This guide will be helpful when working with deviant teenagers, in the treatment of crisis conditions. The book is interesting for students and already practicing specialists.
« Metaphorical associative cards in family counseling» S. Tolstaya. The guide describes effective techniques and methods of working with different decks, showing aspects of working in the following family systems: marital, parent-child and sibling.
« 50 MAC techniques for all occasions» T. Demeshko. Useful material presented in the book considers aspects of working with health, career, sphere family relations, Finance.
« From everyone's life» Metaphorical cards in group work. T. Pavlenko. The manual is replete with different techniques for working with decks and touches on the topic of eating disorders of behavior - how you can work with this through the MAC.

Scientific research on the topic of metaphorical associative maps

Metaphorical associative cards - many dissertations have been written on this topic, many author's techniques and decks have been developed. The study confirmed that the human subconscious "thinks" in symbols and images, this is the easiest language to express outside what is in, but the result is always impressive. What cannot be said and expressed directly in the course of a regular consultation is more easily achieved when working with associative maps - this is a huge therapeutic effect.

Soul Binding 19.10.2016

Dear readers, today we will continue our conversation with you in the With us section, again hosting this wonderful section, Elena Khutornaya. For those who first came to our section, I will introduce Lena: a blogger, writer, web designer, wonderful, warm and very a wise man. And Lena also edits all the articles in our magazine Fragrances of Happiness. Today Lena invites us to talk about effective method work on oneself through metaphorical and intuitive cards. Do you know something about them? Recently, I have become interested in this topic myself. I pass the floor to Lena.

Sometimes it can be so difficult to understand yourself. Some question or problem torments you and you don’t know what to do, what you want at all, what you should strive for, in what direction to make efforts. Or is it clear what is needed, but you have absolutely no idea how to implement it, where to start and when to start at all, now or maybe wait? Or has already started to do something, but then one thing does not work, then another, and doubts again take over - or is it? but is it necessary? and from that side I go? And it happens that something gnaws at you, everything seems to be fine, but some kind of melancholy does not let go, and you won’t even understand what it is connected with ...

Metaphorical cards - what is it

To solve all these and many other problems, metaphorical cards are used. This is a psychological tool, they have nothing to do with divination, card games and other such activities, so they do not deserve such prejudice at all. They are a set of pictures of different subjects, with or without texts, on the one hand, everyone has the same shirt, on the other, some kind of drawing or photo. All images, as a rule, are ambiguous and, accordingly, do not imply an unambiguous interpretation.

The method of working with metaphorical cards is based on an appeal to our subconscious, which, as you know, contains the answers to all our questions. Moreover, this appeal does not occur directly, but indirectly, through cards. When we express the associations that arise in connection with them, we seem to be talking not about ourselves, but about the map, so this does not cause us resistance. But where do all our associations come from? Of course, they are all about us and are related to our thoughts, feelings and moods. And so a person seems to be talking about cards and suddenly realizes that he is actually talking about himself, moreover, about what really worries, excites and occupies him.

Magic in every card

Here are the quotes famous psychologists who use cards in their work: “We draw certain cards for a reason. We look at a picture and words and images come to mind. And we are amazed, because they immediately get to the very essence, reveal the most intimate and hidden, slipping through all the boundaries and protections. It's a miracle. It is amazing!" - these are the words of Moritz Egetmeyer, psychotherapist, publisher of metaphorical cards.

And this is what Ofra Ayalon, Ph.D., a world-renowned expert on working with stress, trauma and crises, said about metaphorical cards: “It is amazing that different people give different interpretations of the cards. Everyone sees something of their own in them, but this is always exactly what lives in us, so there can be no wrong answers. You have all the colors in your imagination to decorate your world. We are magicians, but we do not allow ourselves to believe that magic lives inside of us. Magic exists at any given time. As a child, we remember it, then we forget, and then we remember again. The cards are the keys to open the door within us."

Metaphorical cards can't hurt

That is why, by the way, metaphorical cards are such an eco-friendly tool for working with oneself - because they cannot impose something alien to us, spoil something, harm something with their intervention, because they only open and allow us to see what is already we have. And for the same reasons, metaphorical cards can be used by both psychologists and people who do not have special training - just for themselves. Because the cards do not require any special interpretation and decoding, working with them, you only need to be able to listen and understand yourself. Each of them means only what we ourselves see in it.

Here is a simple example. I chose one of the drawings for you. Look at it and think, feel, how do you react to it? What thoughts do you have, what feelings? Is it something pleasant, you want to go after it, or does it cause you anxiety and discomfort? What is it connected with? Briefly describe your feelings.

Write about it in the comments to this article, just a couple of sentences, let's take part in this little experiment to see how it works. And look at what other people's impressions are - you will see, they will be completely different, despite the fact that the drawing, it would seem, is the same.

By the way, it doesn't of great importance, we ourselves draw a card, blindly or face up, or someone else draws it for us. Because in this map we will always see something of our own, and it will definitely be something relevant and vital for ourselves.

Metaphorical cards tell us exactly what we need to hear.

But have you noticed sometimes how suddenly clues come in life? You are driving, for example, thinking about something that worries you, looking for something that would give you confidence and determination ... And then suddenly a billboard catches your eye, and something like this is written on it in huge letters - here straight to the point, as if for you! And this suddenly amuses you, and causes a surge of strength and vigor, and adds determination to your mood.

As Nika Vernikova said, in fact, everything that we see in our life, everything that we encounter, are metaphorical cards. Because in everything we see only what is in ourselves, what resonates. And if it does not respond, then we just pass by without noticing. Another will look at the same billboard and just shrug his shoulders - and what's wrong?

Nika Vernikova "Metaphorical Associative Maps as a Reflection of Psychic Reality"

The beauty of metaphorical cards is that they allow you to work more purposefully on your condition - this is their big plus. No need to travel around the neighborhood in search of clues, but you can safely sit at the table and listen to what is going on inside us, and decide what to do with it.

Intuitive Maps

Intuitive cards are a kind of metaphorical cards. These are also drawings, abstract, in which you can see anything that meets our state and request. Each drawing comes with short sentence, which can also lead to certain thoughts. You can work with intuitive cards as with metaphorical cards, there are various techniques their applications http://e-hutornaya.ru/panno/intuitivnye-karty

But they can also perform another function - harmonizing, meditative. You can have these drawings in front of you just to create the right mood, look at them, have fun. Lay out like solitaire, as the soul tells. They are good to use for color therapy, because their colors and patterns are so harmonious and attractive that they have a very positive effect on our state of mind - just looking at them, it already gets better.

Hints from Intuitive Maps

Finally, I want to offer you two more cards. Think about them already for yourself, it is not necessary to write about it in the comments. Don't look at them just yet. Designate for yourself some problem that is relevant to you, not too global to begin with. Now look at the cards. One of them depicts what is preventing you from solving this problem - choose it for yourself. And on the other - something that will help solve it. Look and think what it is for you, what thoughts come, sensations. How can you use these hints.

Remember, nothing in life is accidental. And it is on this that the work of metaphorical and intuitive cards is based. Everything we see, everything we feel, is always very subjective and part of ourselves. And therefore, in any situation, in the first place, it is worth asking yourself precisely about this - why do I think and feel the way I do? Well, metaphorical and intuitive cards help to look for answers to these questions in ourselves, activating our subconscious, flair.

Learn more about intuitive maps at Inspiration for life website

how to use intuitive maps

For all questions please email me [email protected]

Lenochka, thanks for the topic of conversation. I was very far from the topic of cards. Somehow everything passed me by. I said that I received a parcel from Lena as a gift for my birthday. And there were so many souls. And a drawing that was created just for me, and intuitive maps, and much more. And I myself am working with these cards now, and showed them to my friends, whom they really surprised. And what are the drawings themselves, and the texts themselves. I read them, reread them and just fill up with what I need on this moment. And now she began to work with cards, ask questions, get answers, discover and think about something for herself.

Do not miss the chance to receive such cards, drawings as a gift or order them from Lena. I myself love to receive and give gifts just for the soul, gifts that you can’t buy at every step, which are selected with love.

And at home I already have a corner with Lena's gifts. So nice. And when there is something wrong in my mood, I go up, re-read the descriptions of the drawings, panels, and a completely different state comes inside. I want all of us to work on ourselves. Let it be interesting and useful!

And for the soul, we will listen today Richard Clayderman - Mariage d'Amour . Very beautiful romantic video with great music.

47 comments

Katia
27 Mar 2017 at 14:38

1 Lesson. What are metaphorical cards?

course subject

The subject of this course is the work of a psychologist with the help of metaphorical cards. This is what the next 200 pages of text will be devoted to.

Depth of presentation of the subject by the course

Undertaking the description of any subject, the author must first of all decide how detailed his model will be.

Someone wants, for example, to learn how to drive a car. Someone wants not just to drive, but to win races. Another plans to drive, win and repair himself. The fourth already knows how to do all this and decided to master tuning. The fifth dreams of becoming an engineer and learning how to build cars.

Each of these people needs different models of such an object as a car.

It is impossible to please everyone. detailed model will be too complicated for someone who wants to quickly and simply. In turn, a simple one will seem primitive to an amateur to figure it out properly.

Therefore, before starting to write, any author must make a choice.

All training courses on metaphorical maps in Russia are driving lessons. Here's the gas, here's the brake, here's the technique for turning right, here's the technique for parking. Buy a deck and touch. What's under the hood is none of your business.

I decided to do something the opposite, because at one time I myself needed fundamental guidance. I wasn't even a psychologist then.

Thus, in undertaking to write this course, I proceed from two assumptions:

1. You know almost nothing about metaphorical cards.

2. You know almost nothing about psychology.

This is a course for dummies.

Let's start with the first point. From metaphorical cards.

What are metaphorical cards?

If it is as simple as possible, thenmetaphorical (projective, associative) cards are sets of cards made of thick paper or cardboard with drawn or photographic images printed on them.

Here, for example, is a deck of metaphorical cards “Tang Du”.

Most often, metaphorical cards are made in the format of playing cards with the same cover for everyone, although it happens in different ways.

At the moment, I know about 80 different more or less popular decks that are produced in Germany, Israel, Holland, Russia and Ukraine.

By themselves, metaphorical cards have no value. If you are given a deck, you will not understand in ten years how to benefit from them. The cards are just a tool. They become useful only in the hands of someone who knows what to do with them. It can be anyone with one important feature He must understand psychology. Therefore, the cards are mainly used by psychologists.

Why do they need these picture cards?

In short, psychologists use metaphorical maps as a tool for diagnosing and correcting human problems.

To explain how such work is carried out is not a matter of one hundred pages, but main principle simple:

The basic principle of the operation of metaphorical cards

Each metaphorical card is a visual stimulus, the examination of which brings into the consciousness of a person “material” from his psyche.

A simple example. Please look at this map:

Looking at it must have triggered in your mind the realization that you have an image of a chair in front of you.

You think it's natural. And in fact, - you say, - this is news, looking at the photo of the chair, I see the chair. Fuck a miracle!

In fact, everything is not so simple. If you show the same card to an infant, he will not see a chair on it. For him, it will be just a hard piece of paper with colored spots, possibly edible. The same thing will happen when a card is presented to a representative of a primitive tribe from somewhere in the Amazon.

Do you understand? You only see a chair on the map because the chair is already in your head. This is how human perception works - we see, hear, smell, feel only what we know.

When the ship of Columbus sailed to the islands in pacific ocean the Indians on the shore ignored him. They thought it was some strange little boat. They simply had no idea what a European ship was and what size it was. In their experience, there was nothing similar except their own boats, so they decided that the same boat swam into their bay and were very surprised how such an abyss of Spaniards fit on it.

That's it with the contents of a person's memory, with his personal experience, but in general with neural connections in his brain and allow metaphorical maps to work.

Each metaphorical card is a visual stimulus, the presentation of which allows you to bring into the mind of a person the meanings contained in his psyche, and then manipulate them in accordance with the plan of the psychologist.

Images, meanings, extracted from a person's memory with the help of metaphorical maps, in the future we will call material .

We will talk about manipulation later, but now let's see how the process of invoking material into consciousness takes place with the help of a metaphorical map. At the same time, we will master the first technique, which I call "Sincere conversation about me."

Technique: Sincere Talk About Me

Hello! My name is Zatey. I am 32 years. 4 of them I work as a consultant psychologist in one of the Moscow centers. I received my psychological education in Russian University Friendship of Peoples at the Department of "Psychological Counseling". But by basic education I am a chemist-technologist of oil and fuel. I am not married, no children. In my free time, I dance hustle, attend the Muay Thai section. I love science fiction, I worked as a screenwriter on television for a couple of years.

This is how I would describe myself when I came to you for a consultation as a client.

After what you found out about me, do you think I can pay for your services? Am I determined to solve my personal problems, or do I just have no one to complain to? Should you even try to help me, or is it better to refer me to a psychiatrist?

Agree, if you were a psychologist, and I was your client at the first consultation, from my presentation above, you would not understand anything really important about me.

This is exactly what the vast majority of people's stories about themselves are. The material that we give out consciously is often false, incomplete, consists of social clichés (studied, married, worked) and is of no particular value to a psychologist.

But not always. Now I will try to tell about myself with the help of metaphorical cards. The specific technique I use to do this is called "Honest Talk About Me." I always use it in the first session to get to know a new client, explain to him how the cards work and change his internal state to be more interested and open.

Description of the “Honest Talk About Me” Technique

Purpose of the technique: meeting a new client. Creating an atmosphere of trust and intimacy. Teaching the client the basic ways of working with maps.

Order of execution: take any deck of metaphorical associative cards and invite the client to randomly extract an arbitrary number of cards from it face down (usually 5 pieces are enough). Then ask the client to turn over the cards in turn and tell frankly what thoughts about him own life come to mind when looking at the image on the back.

An example of the technique: I'm going to take a deck of "Oh" metaphorical cards right now and do this technique.

Here's what I got:

Turn over the first card:

Everything is simple here. This is the apartment I rent in Moscow. You have to pay on the 10th.

I turn over the second metaphorical card:

Bad card. It seems to me that this person is experiencing despair, it seems to him that he has suffered a complete defeat, has not coped with life. He feels that he is doomed, he no longer has the strength to get up and continue to try to change everything. I had such an episode in my life - a complete defeat in general in all spheres of life. Somehow it happened that my parents did not teach me anything at all, they did not create any material base. At the age of 40, my father burned out from vodka. Mother has always been helpless and delusional. At 27, I worked as a caramel maker in a candy factory. He poured melted caramel onto the line - his hands are still burned. All property - one pair of worn sneakers, old jeans, several T-shirts, apartment rent in Moscow, which took the entire salary, debts. And also mother, sister and brother on the content. Never had a girl.

I turn over the third metaphorical card:

This is probably an aura, all sorts of bodies there that supposedly surround our material body. I immediately remember my mother. All her life she has been afraid of the evil eye, empty buckets, whistling indoors, she believes anyone who talks about the “thin plan”, chakras. Now there is a fascination with the seminars of another guru who came to our world “from high dimensions”. It costs a pretty penny, but she has no money to treat her varicose veins or replace her dental crown with a ceramic one. And it's annoying.

I turn over the fourth metaphorical card:

On this map, I see myself as perfect. This is a metaphor for the state to which I someday want to come. Calm, wise and happy man, somehow very in a complicated way serving something that is incomparably greater than himself. For me, this is my people.

I turn over the fifth metaphorical card:

My recent desire to learn how to play the ukulula comes to mind - this is such a small ukulele with four strings. The problem is that I'm already going to the hustle, which then I have to quit. Well, to hell with it, but ... I quite often quit the job without finishing it. The ability to mobilize and do what needs to be done, whether you like it or not, is the most important thing for me right now. Let writing this course be another exercise in that.

That's all the technology.

Do you think you know more about me now? Is this important information for a psychologist?

Obviously yes. And if there are 20 such cards? By the end of the conversation, you will know more about me than my aunt from Vinnitsa.

I use this technique in the very first session when meeting a client. I lay out 5 cards for myself, let him choose. Then we take turns turning over our cards and telling what we see. I am he, I am he...

At the same time, three tasks are being solved - acquaintance, creating an atmosphere of trust and teaching a new person to work with metaphorical cards. I'm not talking about diagnosing client problems. As you can see, the material rises important.

Now watch a video example of the same technique performed by Nika Vernikova. Watch from the 12th minute:

Again, you must admit, the client voiced very important material, which, perhaps, could not have been obtained in another way.

Now do the “Honest Talk About Me” technique yourself.

Exercise to practice the technique “Sincere conversation about me”

Right now, I will randomly draw 5 cards for you from the Ox metaphorical deck. Each time before looking at a card, ask yourself, “What is this card pointing to in my life?”

To see the front of the card, simply click on it.

First metaphorical card:

Say the first thing that comes to mind when you look at the map, no matter how you feel about it. If this thought appeared first, then it is really important and has long wanted to be in the focus of your attention.

Second metaphorical card:

Third metaphorical card:

“What thoughts about your own life come to your mind as you look at this card?”

Fourth metaphorical card:

“What thoughts about your own life come to your mind as you look at this card?”

Fifth metaphorical card:

“What thoughts about your own life come to your mind as you look at this card?”

Well, how did it work?

Now it remains to practice this technique on living people. You can do this with any of your friends or relatives. It is usually perceived as interesting game, because, frankly, there are not so many sincere conversations in our life, and we all love to talk about ourselves.

Two or more people can play. The main thing is that you have a deck.

When it comes to an ordinary average client, in the process of a “sincere conversation”, he intuitively understands how to use a metaphorical map to extract “material” from himself for work, and then the consultation continues without a hitch in accordance with the structure of the session.

But this is not always the case. Sometimes it is not clear to the client how looking at the card led to the memory of being forgotten in the department store as a child. Intuitive understanding does not come.

The client looks at the metaphorical map and does not know what to say.

Well, that happens too.

In this case, my task is to quickly teach him how to extract the “material” from his psyche.

There are 5 such ways in total. We will deal with them in the next lesson.

Homework

Perform the “Honest Talk About Yourself” technique with 5 different people.

Lesson Summary

Metaphorical (projective, associative) cards are sets of cards made of thick paper or cardboard, with graphic images printed on them.

Psychologists use metaphorical maps as a tool for diagnosing and correcting a person's psychogenic problems.

The basic principle of the work of metaphorical cards is as follows: each card is a visual stimulus that allows you to call into the mind of a person the meanings contained in his psyche.

These images and meanings are called material.

Due to the evoking of material from the client's psyche into consciousness with the help of cards, it becomes possible for the psychologist to manipulate this material in such a way as to solve the client's problem.

The simplest example of extracting material from the human psyche using metaphorical cards is the “Sincere conversation about me” technique. With the help of this technique, previously unfamiliar psychologist and client get to know each other, extracting from their psyche a sincere story about themselves, very different from what they would tell without cards. At the same time, the client learns such an extraction that he will need in his future work.