-IBIS-1.5.0-
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process interview
cutaneous system
psychospiritual approaches

definition

process work cutaneous 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 precise meaning of the individual's relationship to their specific skin condition. The 'meaning' of the skin condition may be consistent with the person's own associations with their condition, 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 skin 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 skin come into consciousness. As you think of the skin, 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:

• sensory, touch, temperature, pressure, contact, intimacy, nourishment
• protection, visual perception, how the self is seen, how others see one, containment
• excretion - sweating, breathing, smelly, oily, pus, ooze, weep
• integument
• hair: beauty, aging, greyness, texture
• rashes, lesions, abrasions, cuts, gooseflesh
• does the person cover the lesion? touch it? rub it? play with it? what is their relationship to it?
• what if they experienced this more completely? really itch or scratch the rash, what figure is stopping it?
• what is it that they cannot do? what is stopping them? can they identify with this role and take it over?
• what is the person identified with? what is happening to them? dreams, body symptoms, movements, appearance?
• what does this skin condition allow them to do in life?
• what is the belief system about the condition? is it happening to the person? where? how? is there a part of the person that is being protected, seen? who are the figures?

specific conditions: for example,
acne - who is blemished? who is blemisher? who is picked on? picking?
cancer - chronic irritation? growth? what are associations and beliefs about the tumor? is there a victim? feelings of responsibility (sun exposure)? vanity or life threatening disease? what are the associated symptoms and what is the story/metaphor/information with these? how is it helpful in this person's life?
eczema - irritability, itching, flaky, who is doing this? are scales happening to the person?
folliculitis - who is infected? what/who is the redness/swelling? what is the patient's meaning for this?
herpes - who blisters and oozes? relationship to stress? who is stressed? associations to immune, nervous, and reproductive systems? what is the story/metaphor/information with these associations?

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