May
19
2008

On a psychodiagnostic residency, where your job is just to understand people, one of the tools you use is the famous Rorschach Inkblot Test. In this test, the patient is shown a standard series of pictures created by squirting ink onto a page and then folding the page over. They are then asked to describe what they see in the blots. The answers contain all the keys to the patient’s perception. You may not see, at first, how an explanation of this technique can be of any practical value to you unless you are training to be a psychologist, but if you’ll read on I can promise you there is a payoff for us wayward seekers of personal growth.
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5 comments | tags: Health, psychodynamic, psychotherapy, unconscious | posted in Creativity, Psychodynamics, Techniques
May
8
2008
Rose writes:
Can I get treated for depression? I’ve just been prescribed new antidepressants and sedatives and I’m really frightened but feel I have no alternative as I can’t function normally.

Thanks for writing in, Rose. Your question touches on an issue that has stirred up a great deal of controversy over the last hundred years: the “talking cure,” as Freud called psychotherapy, versus pharmacological intervention. Personally, I think that both can be very useful if applied appropriately.
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3 comments | tags: Communication, meditation, pain, psychology, psychotherapy, unconscious | posted in Therapy