Study of Symbols in Symbolic Psychotherapy: An Approach to aDiagnostic Classification

Abstract

Symbolic psychotherapy is a clinical approach based on symbolic production
through imaginative prompts also called directed waking dreamand
the interpretation of said productions, rooted in the tradition of authors
such as Carl G. Jung, Robert Desoille and Hanscarl Leuner, and
systematized in Argentina by María Ana Ennis. The present research
presents an approach to a diagnostic and conceptual classification and
categorization of imaginative productions, based on clinical observation
and phenomenological analysis from philosophical realism. Imagination
is postulated as a fundamental psychic function for mental operations
and as an underlying organizing function of psychopathological expression.
Based on clinical experience, a categorization of symbols organized
according to the following criteria is proposed: 1. diagnostic approach
(initial symbols), 2. temporality (prospective and retrospective), 3. spatial
dimension or direction (ascending and descending), 4. dynamics (structural
and situational), 5. nature of the conflict (“key symbols”), 6. action
orientation (instrumental symbols). It is concluded that this systematization
does not constitute a rigid dogma, but rather an open and flexible tool
orientated to optimize the clinical approach while respecting the patient’s
subjectivity and integral nature