Abstract

Things in body: new approach to emotional problems

Clinical studies show that each feeling has its own bodily equivalent.
The localisation of bodily sensations connected with different emotional states has its specificity. Worry is felt in the forehead, irritation in the temples, the feeling of responsibility in the back of the head, feeling offended in the chest, anxiety (alarm) again in the chest, fear and wrath in the abdomen.
In a number of cases the patients themselves spontaneously describe their experiences through objects. Persistent worrying can be felt as a stone in the forehead, irritation is perceived in the temples as shiny metal balls, the feeling of responsibility in the back of the head can be described as a steel plate, offence can be defined as a lump in the chest, fear as an octopus or a hedgehog in the abdomen. The burden of problems can be described as a heavy sack on the shoulders. Emotional traumas are often felt as arrows or spears piercing the heart. �Knife in the back� is the expression used by people who are living through betrayals.
On the other side clinical observations show that at the sessions of unspecific relaxation (for example during autotraining) some patients experience spontaneous feeling as if the �stones on the soul� were melt and foreign objects came out of their body. At the same time there is a typical distribution of sensations of warmth and heaviness inside body which is accompanied with filling of distal parts of the body and with the sensation of emptiness in the area of the initial experience.

The methodology of the author termed by him as somatopsychotherapy or specific relaxing re-creative psichocatalysis, based on these observations, includes:
a) a special series of questions aimed at revealing of certain quasi-material objects inside patient�s body manifesting his (her) emotional experience;
b) the evaluation of the revealed �somatostructures� from the point of view its functional or dysfunctional nature;
c) the catalysis of dissolving (lysis) of the concentrations of heaviness and heat if their further storage and feeding is recognised as useless. At the end of the work it is necessary to remove the residue of experience perceived as a �dot�, a �spot�, a �splinter� or some other small thing.
After the concentration of sensations is dissolved and the residue of the experience is removed a new state is characterised by the uniform distribution of warmth and fullness in the body. This state is an ideal background to review the living situation and to find new solutions to the old problems.
The methodology is applicable to the patients with the border-line mental diseases of psychogenic nature. It presents high effectiveness and reliability. It is an important additional means in the treatment of drug-addicted patients. Special technique is developed to apply it in pedagogical sphere and in the way of the self-healing. The methodology is described by the author in his book "Things in body" released by the Moscow publishing house �Independent Company �Class� in 1999.

Andrey Yermoshin, Moscow