SYMBIOSIS
SYMBIOSIS
© TCM 2013
Written by Annuska van der Pol, BA, PDD-IMHA
Mental Health and Addictions Practitioner, TCM P.O. Box 8825, Victoria, British Columbia V8W 3S3, Canada
Emotion is the most private feeling expressed in the most private way.
The Communication Model (TCM) focuses on emotions and feelings of an individual, as well as the sometimes symbolic nature of these emotions and feelings. For example, when someone would say “I just had a day from hell.” The next statement could be, could you please tell me more about your day from hell. Inquiring about a specific component often validates. It also invites the opportunity to explore the depth of the feeling in more detail. The exploration is a joint venture. It is about the sharing and the receiving of the expressed emotion. The sharing of the emotion also has the possibility to open up the flood gates to underlining emotions which could have been bottled up – this process has the potential to lead to an acute resolve. An acute resolve in-the-moment. It is the sharing and the helping which are both key. One individual is sharing the emotion and the other individual is receiving the emotion through empathy. This feeling of empathy is felt inside the receivers body. This feeling of the other person’s emotion is a counter-transference and this counter-transference in the form of a feeling is transferred in turn into the drawing by means of abstract lines and curves.
The interaction between two human beings is what the Communication Model is about. It is also about the creating of a drawing. The drawing is the result of the two individuals interaction together. Depending on the level of emotional distress that one experiences and the other receives as a result – what can happen is a symbiosis. Symbiosis is the inter-communication between two. If symbiosis occurs it is also directly transferred by the helper on to the paper in the form of lines and curves – in abstraction and viewed by the individual experiencing psychological pain. The purpose of the communication drawing is two-fold. First, it communicates the emotion from the individual in psychological pain through the counter-transference of onto the body and the mind of the practitioner and second it grounds and anchors the experience into a reality-based visual which seems to often bring relief when the individual in distress views it in a concrete form on paper. It is the process of reflection and interpretation of the communication experience which is externalized and communicated. When this externalization is accurate it often resonates with the individual in pain and brings a sense of relief. At the same time, the practitioner also experiences a sense of balance when the methods applied have helped the individual in distress and this is the reciprocal nature of the Communication Model.
At times the drawing becomes a safe form of externalized psychosis. The psychosis in this form is contained through the realm of the abstract pen drawing. It is the expression of psychosis to a safe, accepting, non-judgmental person-to-person interaction which leads to relief and empowerment versus tension and shame.
Psychosis is a mixing of emotion. It is the words, the feelings, the emotions and the expressions that sometimes seems not to make sense to another – however if two individuals are interacting and working within the realm of the psychosis together and there is a trusting bond and a mutual understanding and respect – the psychosis – at least in that instant – often dissolves.
This communication device is not something that is promised to happen – it is not something that is calculated and measured. Instead it is a situation that occurs out of trust, safety and mutual respect. It is a natural process which occurs out of the interactions own accord.
References
Izhakoff, S. (1993). Symbiosis and symbiotic relatedness: A bridge to schizophrenia. Pratt Institute Creative Arts Therapy Review, 1425-33.
Karon, B. P. (2007). Trauma and Schizophrenia. Journal Of Psychological Trauma, 6(2/3), 127-144. doi:10.1300/J513v06n02-08
Pijnenborg, G. G., Spikman, J. J., Jeronimus, B. B., & Aleman, A. A. (2013). Insight in schizophrenia: associations with empathy. European Archives Of Psychiatry & Clinical Neuroscience, 263(4), 299-307. doi:10.1007/s00406-012-0373-0
Renard, S. B., Pijnenborg, M., & Lysaker, P. H. (2012). Dissociation and social cognition in schizophrenia spectrum disorder. Schizophrenia Research, 137(1-3), 219-223. doi:10.1016/j.schres.2012.02.001
ACHTUNG VALUED READERS – PLEASE READ ALL OF THE MULTIPLES ENTRIES BY HITTING ON HOME AT THE TOP
[A]
This blog contains multiple pages. Just go to the top of this page and hit (click) on *HOME* and all the multiple pages will flow freely. It starts with Lady Justice with her scales and her sword.
[B]
If you want to read the work chronologically please scroll down to the start (with me in front of the painting) and concluding with Lady Justice, and scroll backwards through the work.
[C]
Also if you hit (click) the ABOUT button (icon) at the top of the page you can learn more about me and see an updated picture taken in 2014.
[D] Furthermore, it is also possible to view additional entries by clicking on Next post or Previous post.
anuvdp 