The psychological body is not visible.
In my work as a clinical psychologist, I often ask people who have experienced psychological trauma -- such a divorce – what kind of physical wound it most felt like. Often, they respond that it as if many bones in their body had been broken, or that they had a gut shot to the stomach. Yet, with these kinds of wounds, most people expect that they should be able to continue a normal life, as if their bones were not broken.
A heart attack is not a visible wound, yet it deeply impacts the physical and psychological body. After a body is wounded, it needs to rest; it often goes into a necessary state of depression to conserve energy so that more energy can be devoted to internal healing. A psychological wound is no different. A heart attack affects both the body and psyche; the psychological healing has been much more difficult for me than the physical healing.
To a large extent, I think these drawings are images of the state of the psychological body, in the same way that dreams are also images of the state of psyche. Similar to dreams, the drawings are done without conscious planning: they evolve, and they take on a life of their own.
So why I am drawing waves? What do you think?
Although the images speak for themselves, if I can find some words that also express what is going on with the images, so much the better.
(The title of this blog entry, Anatomy of the Psyche, is from a book by Edward Edinger, with the same title. Edinger is one of the most profound and original writers about Jungian psychology.)
In my work as a clinical psychologist, I often ask people who have experienced psychological trauma -- such a divorce – what kind of physical wound it most felt like. Often, they respond that it as if many bones in their body had been broken, or that they had a gut shot to the stomach. Yet, with these kinds of wounds, most people expect that they should be able to continue a normal life, as if their bones were not broken.
A heart attack is not a visible wound, yet it deeply impacts the physical and psychological body. After a body is wounded, it needs to rest; it often goes into a necessary state of depression to conserve energy so that more energy can be devoted to internal healing. A psychological wound is no different. A heart attack affects both the body and psyche; the psychological healing has been much more difficult for me than the physical healing.
To a large extent, I think these drawings are images of the state of the psychological body, in the same way that dreams are also images of the state of psyche. Similar to dreams, the drawings are done without conscious planning: they evolve, and they take on a life of their own.
So why I am drawing waves? What do you think?
Although the images speak for themselves, if I can find some words that also express what is going on with the images, so much the better.
(The title of this blog entry, Anatomy of the Psyche, is from a book by Edward Edinger, with the same title. Edinger is one of the most profound and original writers about Jungian psychology.)
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