-IBIS-1.5.0-
rx
process interview
respiratory system
psychospiritual approaches

definition

process work respiratory system interview:
development of associations

see preliminaries:
process work: interview

The most important function of the therapeutic interview is to develop an understanding and experience of the person's pattern and process; that is, to find the individual's precise meaning of their relationship to their specific respiratory condition. The 'meaning' of the respiratory condition may be consistent with the person's own associations with their symptoms, which represent the primary consciousness. As one becomes aware of what the person is identified with, then the secondary, more unconscious signals will become apparent. When we observe the persons' associations with their condition and follow carefully what happens in the moment, the condition will then begin to appear as part of the whole process with which the person is involved. By amplifying the person's associations with the respiratory system and their individual symptoms, the primary process can be supported to completion, and new insight may be facilitated. No "psychospiritual meaning" is given for specific conditions, as the meaning of symbols/symptoms is individual and does not have a universal interpretation.

The following are some of the 'associations' or concepts which came to mind by allowing possible ideas, thoughts, visions, and/or feelings of the respiratory system to come into consciousness. As you think of the respiratory system, ask yourself what do I know about it, what are my associations? Try other channels, for instance feeling and seeing, etc. It is most helpful to examine your own and the client's associations at the time of the interview. These examples represent the reviewers' associations at a moment in time:

• airway, oxygen exchange, blood flow, breath of life, sponge
• pulmonary function, vital capacity, blood gases, flow rate
• apnea, death, altered states from breath holding, grief
• taking in breath, holding, letting go; where is it experienced?
• is breathing a labor or a love?
• what is the meaning of breathing and respiring for this person? who breathes? who doesn't? what is airborne?
• what is the belief system about the condition? is it happening to the person? is s/he aware of the shortness of breath in the body? where? how? is there a part of the person that is short of breath psychologically? who are the figures?
• what is it the patient or the belief system will not allow? what does it do for the patient?

specific conditions: for example,
asthma - what/who is the wheezing, coughing, shortness of breath? can you be the wheezer? what is the constriction? who is tight and holding? what is holding? can you make it worse?
bronchitis - coughing, sputum, what is being brought up? who/what is the infection? how does the person experience the bronchitis? what does it allow them to do?
croup - where is the voice? who barks?
emphysema - what does the patient experience? what is the extent of the respiratory distress/disability? when is it worse? how?
lung cancer - what are associations and beliefs about the tumor? how is it helpful in this person's life? what are the associated symptoms - weakness, weight loss, hemoptysis, etc., and what is the story/metaphor/information with these?
pleurisy - who is stitching pain? what is rubbing? what is the person's relationship to the pain? where does friction exist and where is it needed in the person's life?
pneumonia - who is sick, feverish, short of breath? is there pain? how does the person know they are sick? how is this experienced? are they identified with it, or did it sneak up on them?

see:
process paradigm
process work: basic principles
process work: glossary
process work: observation
process work: channel examples
process work: interventions
process work: working with signals
process work: working on the edge
process work: interview


footnotes