The book "Colors, symbols and vampires, Vol.2"

Presentation

After “Colors, symbols and vampires, Vol.1” the author presents new cases of metaphorical therapy that will take your breath away.

In volume 1 the author preferred the representation of brief cases in order to get the reader acquainted with the dense language of the unconscious.

Volume 2 defies the reader’s patience and willingness to dive deep in the intense and colorful productions of the unconscious mind. Metaphorical therapy is a new approach. The patient is descending to the depth of his unconscious mind in order to cure himself resolving unresolved issues of his life.

In the following the author presents several cases of metaphorical therapy. All transcripts are authorized by the patients. The author took notes during the sessions allowing the reader to take an insight in the course of metaphorical therapy. 

Link for a free download:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/h0javrlo5xh2sof/Colors%2C%20symbols%20and%20vampires.%20vol.2.pdf?dl=0

Red Lines (part 7)

Presentation of the patient:

The patient was in cognitive-behavioral treatment when she came to the clinic. She complained about something holding her back. She was very shy and began to loosen up, when she joined a pentecostal church. The legalistic doctrine of her church kept her from reunions with her school colleges and family members, because she thought they were sinful. After one year of dating the church expected her to marry to prevent sin. Her sexuality transformed into a burden after a traumatic honeymoon. Her husband had not cut the umbilical bond with his mother, yet, causing nasty conflicts between the patient and her mother-in-law. When the patient started treatment with EMDR-J, an abuse memory with lasting consequences came up. The patient's treatment was very intense and complex. The author chose several sessions of different periods in order to give an insight in the patient's treatment.

Illustrative photograph by Jörg Garbers

Seventh session

The patient arrives at the session filled with anger and fear about returning to her hometown and she is afraid of settling there. She focused on her anger and visualizes a red colour on glass. There’s a dark colour draining and a sidewalk in the background. Somebody bursts the glass and a white colour appears. Suddenly she visualizes herself in a videogame with a gun in her hand. There are dead people. She is angry and wants to shoot. She runs over corpses in a truck. He hits a truck appearing in front of her and the truck explodes. She wants to leave, but returns to the same scene. There’s somebody in blue and blood. She puts the blood in a recipient and throws it at constructions leaving coagulated blood stains. Blood drains down the sewer. She visualizes herself surrounded by blood wanting to stir the blood and the trash. She isolates herself. The blood is drying and diminishing. The sideway and the street are clean. A truck retracts the human remains. She is afraid that the truck might also pick her up. The police, the ambulance and a helicopter arrive. She is in the middle of it. The cadavers turn into zombies. She doesn’t care about the zombies anymore. „Where does all this blood come from?“ There’s a tsunami of blood. The helicopter throws a rope. She can’t see the helicopter anymore. She turns her back to the scene. The ambulance is leaving and the patient feels at ease.

Conclusion:

The patient works in several metaphorical sessions through a abuse she suffered in childhood, her upbringing and socialization in church, her relationship with her boyfriend/husband, problems with her mother-in-law and land struggles with her neighbours. This seven sessions where chosen and transcribed by the author in order to give an impression of the intensity and  complexity of the patient’s feelings. Using metaphorical therapy as a tool, the patient was able to come to peace with her sex life, her marriage, her relationship with her mother-in-law and was able to return to her hometown without feeling bad about it.

Red Lines (part 6)

Presentation of the patient:

The patient was in cognitive-behavioral treatment when she came to the clinic. She complained about something holding her back. She was very shy and began to loosen up, when she joined a pentecostal church. The legalistic doctrine of her church kept her from reunions with her school colleges and family members, because she thought they were sinful. After one year of dating the church expected her to marry to prevent sin. Her sexuality transformed into a burden after a traumatic honeymoon. Her husband had not cut the umbilical bond with his mother, yet, causing nasty conflicts between the patient and her mother-in-law. When the patient started treatment with EMDR-J, an abuse memory with lasting consequences came up. The patient's treatment was very intense and complex. The author chose several sessions of different periods in order to give an insight in the patient's treatment.

Illustrative photograph by Jörg Garbers

Sixth session

The patient visualizes the parking lot shed and the street as carpet wrinkles. The wall is covered with flowers in unlively colours. She sees mountains and a wrinkled street. A lady sits on the wall dressed in a white dress and a black hat with yellow and pink flowers. A parade passes by. She visualizes a bordeaux-red house on the main street with white doors and windows. There’re yellow flowers and the image of a passion fruit. In the background stands a child with someone. The patient visualizes an open passion fruit showing her seeds. A grey fluid is dropping. There’s a shadow of a child and an adult. The grey goop is going somewhere. The black hat with the flowers is covering the whole person. The goop is covering the hat, falls into water and melts. There’s a yellow, black and grey shape. The grey vanishes. Black and yellow stripes remain. She expected a party, music and disco lights. Suddenly there’s a black ball and the yellow vanishes. The black ends. The flower hat reappears, the palm tree, the bordeaux house and she sees herself eating popcorn in a cinema seat. She leaves the cinema and goes to the shops. The scenery is white and pink. There’s a flower wallpaper and the colour green is filling the moment.

Red Lines (part 5)

Presentation of the patient:

The patient was in cognitive-behavioral treatment when she came to the clinic. She complained about something holding her back. She was very shy and began to loosen up, when she joined a pentecostal church. The legalistic doctrine of her church kept her from reunions with her school colleges and family members, because she thought they were sinful. After one year of dating the church expected her to marry to prevent sin. Her sexuality transformed into a burden after a traumatic honeymoon. Her husband had not cut the umbilical bond with his mother, yet, causing nasty conflicts between the patient and her mother-in-law. When the patient started treatment with EMDR-J, an abuse memory with lasting consequences came up. The patient's treatment was very intense and complex. The author chose several sessions of different periods in order to give an insight in the patient's treatment.

Illustrative photograph by Jörg Garbers

Fifth session 

The patient goes back to the neighbor triangle. She barely visualizes the house of her neighbor's daughter who spoke ill of her. She embarks in a blue car. They entered her land with laughter and insincerity. In front of the house next door parks a black car. Everything turns black. There's a swirl in the middle of the street. The ground swallows the neighbor's house and his daughter. She goes to the land straight ahead. The mud reaches the street. She wants to break down the wall with a hammer. It doesn't break easily. She looses her strength and goes to the middle and summons a higher force. Lightning approaches, but she doesn't want destruction. This neighbor is not her enemy. Lightning strikes sideways. She is writing bible citations on the wall. She doesn't want to be selfish, but she wants to keep an eye on the neighbors. They can't be trusted. She visualizes the triangle and a strong chain that needs to be broken. The chains are broken. She visualizes a flower on the parking lot wall. They are cemetery flowers.They're not beautiful and smell bad. Many people smell their scent. Now she visualizes orange-red flowers without a scent on only one side of the road.

Red Lines (part 4)

Presentation of the patient:

The patient was in cognitive-behavioral treatment when she came to the clinic. She complained about something holding her back. She was very shy and began to loosen up, when she joined a pentecostal church. The legalistic doctrine of her church kept her from reunions with her school colleges and family members, because she thought they were sinful. After one year of dating the church expected her to marry to prevent sin. Her sexuality transformed into a burden after a traumatic honeymoon. Her husband had not cut the umbilical bond with his mother, yet, causing nasty conflicts between the patient and her mother-in-law. When the patient started treatment with EMDR-J, an abuse memory with lasting consequences came up. The patient's treatment was very intense and complex. The author chose several sessions of different periods in order to give an insight in the patient's treatment.

Illustrative photograph by Jörg Garbers

Fourth session

In this session the patient addresses a family problem envolving a parking lot. She visualizes herself standing in the parking lot talking to her mother-in-law. It's dark. There are two people. The image is getting clearer seeming like a pencil drawing. Green and purple lines are minimizing the picture. A tree appears and leaves flying on the floor. There's a little blue something. She remembers the parking lot. Beneath the tree the wind takes her to the back of the parking lot. She goes to a shed where is light. There's an abyss in the little house. The floor of the house is cracking. The floor falls and reconstructs. Something dark green is getting away from the house. A shadow throws her to the darkest part of the parking lot. The scenery is very gloomy. In the middle of the parking lot a swirl is spinning. She can see the floor with little stones. She sees herself burying something in the middle of the now brighter swirl. The parking lot is much brighter and empty. There's a big palm tree and a coconut tree. She remembers the cranky man who rented the parking lot. The scenery turns dark. The patient remembers that his daughter invented lies about her. She feels the urge to bury what happened. She goes to the parking lot next by. There's a unused lot and another family making trouble. The trouble making neighbours form a triangle. It seems like an alliance. She makes an effort to diminish the triangle. She kicks the triangle and puts it in the dirt. She uses the dirt as fertilizer on the land of her father-in-law. A beautiful flower grows on the fertilizer. She thinks of giving the flower to the family. It's still early. The day is beautiful and the sky is blue. The patient visualizes herself in the house of the girl who spoke ill of her and wishes that the flower fills the whole house. A less beautiful green goes to the other neighbours. She visualizes the triangle. Some flowers open. Suddenly a skull appears. That's not good! She sees herself cutting the leaves growing on the house with a chainsaw.

Red Lines (part 3)

Presentation of the patient:

The patient was in cognitive-behavioral treatment when she came to the clinic. She complained about something holding her back. She was very shy and began to loosen up, when she joined a pentecostal church. The legalistic doctrine of her church kept her from reunions with her school colleges and family members, because she thought they were sinful. After one year of dating the church expected her to marry to prevent sin. Her sexuality transformed into a burden after a traumatic honeymoon. Her husband had not cut the umbilical bond with his mother, yet, causing nasty conflicts between the patient and her mother-in-law. When the patient started treatment with EMDR-J, an abuse memory with lasting consequences came up. The patient's treatment was very intense and complex. The author chose several sessions of different periods in order to give an insight in the patient's treatment.

Illustrative photograph by Jörg Garbers

Third session

The colors changed. The picture seems like a cartoon. There's a person kneeling down. The walls are yellow. There are several doors and a colorful wind. The patient visualizes herself entering the picture and gets to the place of the cartoon. There's a white door. Darkness pulls her. She wants to leave the kneeling position. Darkness calls her. The patient feels sad and her chest is heavy. There are things coming out of the dark door. Something is suffocating her. She wants to withdraw. The space is filling with pipes. The floor turned white. She is falling. Darkness pulls her in. She is swallowed. The hall is filling with white. She goes to the hall next to the door and enters. It's very dark, but there are little lights. She is walking. There's a floor and sometimes light behind her. It's not black anymore but grey. The place is getting smaller. There's light above and the floor is white. At her right something is going on. A little monster approaches. It's no monster, but a white cupboard. She stops in front of the cupboard. There's a little animal next to her foot. It's no animal, but an object. The hall is filled with people. Sometimes they are people, sometimes they are objects. The objects are walking in her direction wanting to talk, scaring her. Somebody goes down to the basement. She is downstairs without any fear. There's a party upstairs. She relaxes and goes upstairs. She is upstairs and wants to turn the lights on. All things are in place. A white double bed is illuminated. There are two bodies in the form of shapes. It's like messing with play dough.There's a blue butterfly, something brown moving and a baby. Something penetrated. The blue of the butterfly turns yellow, red and blue again. She is walking on green grass on a trail. A car passes. She sits on a bench. She is not alone.

Red Lines (part 2)

Presentation of the patient:

The patient was in cognitive-behavioral treatment when she came to the clinic. She complained about something holding her back. She was very shy and began to loosen up, when she joined a pentecostal church. The legalistic doctrine of her church kept her from reunions with her school colleges and family members, because she thought they were sinful. After one year of dating the church expected her to marry to prevent sin. Her sexuality transformed into a burden after a traumatic honeymoon. Her husband had not cut the umbilical bond with his mother, yet, causing nasty conflicts between the patient and her mother-in-law. When the patient started treatment with EMDR-J, an abuse memory with lasting consequences came up. The patient's treatment was very intense and complex. The author chose several sessions of different periods in order to give an insight in the patient's treatment.

Illustrative photograph by Jörg Garbers

Second session

In the second session, chosen by the author, the patient accesses her conflicts with her mother-in-law. She visualizes herself in the kitchen with her mother-in-law. There's a white spot. An empty space opens and she can't see the face. She visualizes a foto from the time her mother-in-law was sick. She feels the urge to enter the foto. There are white walls. She sees herself walking. It went dark at her left, a dark grey. A shadow appeared behind her. She went to the living room. Now there's thirty percent clarity. She feels without courage and stuck, sitting on the floor with her legs crossed. She wants to get up, but isn't able to. Somebody comes out of the dark and sits with her. Afterwards comes another person with less darkness. They're three, reading. A colorful wind coming from the foto passes by. The patient feels ready to get up and follow the colorful wind. She rises, but the person behind her who came from the darkness doesn't want to get up. She motivates the person. She visualizes three shadows of light heading towards the darkness, walking. One turns left into a hall of clarity, two carry on. They arrive at a hallway with a dark green abyss that looks like vegetation. They cling to the wall. There's no floor. The patient looks for the colorful wind. There's no way to go on. Let's go back! The floor reappears. The floor is very white. She feels insecure to step on it. She doesn't want to return. There's dark moss. The image disappears and turns grey. They are going back the way they came. When they get to the first hall, they sit again. The darkness returns. Another person appears giving a hand. They were to go back to that hallway, but it's different. The patient is not sure about the third person. There's a shadow behind her. The hallway is dark grey. She remembers what happened. She approaches a white place, but she is not getting there. There are two persons at the door to the white hall. There are two doors. One is dark and the other leads to a garden. The shadow wants to push and leaves through the garden door. There are two persons at the door, stopping with indecision, unable to take the next step. Doors open and close. The patient visualizes herself between the doors with her legs crossed.

Red Lines (part 1)

Presentation of the patient:

The patient was in cognitive-behavioral treatment when she came to the clinic. She complained about something holding her back. She was very shy and began to loosen up, when she joined a pentecostal church. The legalistic doctrine of her church kept her from reunions with her school colleges and family members, because she thought they were sinful. After one year of dating the church expected her to marry to prevent sin. Her sexuality transformed into a burden after a traumatic honeymoon. Her husband had not cut the umbilical bond with his mother, yet, causing nasty conflicts between the patient and her mother-in-law. When the patient started treatment with EMDR-J, an abuse memory with lasting consequences came up. The patient's treatment was very intense and complex. The author chose several sessions of different periods in order to give an insight in the patient's treatment.

Illustrative photograph by Jörg Garbers

Transcripts of seven sessions:

First session

When the patient starts to process her memories with EMDR-J, she visualizes the door of the living room. There's a bed. The day is pretty and the sky is blue. The walls are white. She is happy heading towards the bedrooms. The bathroom has a different floor. She went to the garage with a dirt floor. There's a shadow and vegetation behind the house. There's a flourishing tree. They ruined the pool and entered the house for dinner. Her dad seems ill. It seems like he is leaving. He isn't at home. Her parents wanted to split up. Her dad was mad and had outbursts. When the patient was fifteen, her dad asked her help to separate from her mother putting a load on her shoulders. The patient went to church, crying and praying. She knew about her mother's suffering, but she couldn't do anything about it. A miracle happened and today her parents are still together. Her therapist asked her to go back to the time when her father seemed to vanish. The patient visualizes her father's genitals and blocks. She thinks about sucking it and feels nauseous. She visualizes her dad fat and naked. Suddenly the scenery changes. She finds herself in her grandmother's house in her grandmother's bedroom. Something happened there with her uncle. She remembers the hallway and the sink where she spit. In her grandmother's bedroom are more beds, a wardrobe and her grandmother's stuff. "In the end nobody helped me!" She has a bad feeling. Her uncle told her what to do and she did it. She isn't sure, if she wanted to. She didn't want to do it. Afterwards her uncle went away as if nothing had happened. The others didn't mind. She felt guilty for doing it. "I took part. I don't deserve help!" She feels the urge to hit him, feeling her blood running in her hands, and to talk to him, making him understand the destruction he caused. She feels the urge to strangle him, to destroy his things, making sure that he loses everything. She wants to tell her dad what happened, making sure that her dad doesn't help her uncle anymore. She visualizes people defending her. She could have said "no". She edited the scene saying "no". She wanted her dad to know and to defend her. Because of the abuse she felt isolated, sad and had problems at school.

The book "Colors, symbols and vampires: Metaphorical Therapy", Vol.1

Presentation of the book "Colors, symbols and vampires":

It is possible to compare the EMDR-J metaphorical approach to an unexpected journey to the depths of the unconscious mind. It´s impossible to know what to expect and the obstacles that can appear on the way. 

The richness of details, feelings, sensations, colors and symbols that come up during the sessions, prove the ability of our unconscious to find out visual and narrative solutions to its inner conflicts. The process, most of the times confusing in a conscious level, has to be accompanied by an experient therapist. 

The author, Judith Sonja Garbers, with more than fifteen years of experience, proved its efficiency in the treatment of patients that work in the metaphorical level. In Colors, Symbols and Vampires, the author shows us some of the ways taken by the mind towards healing of traumas, in real sessions, narrated in a comprehensive way and with richness of details.

For certain, the reading will transport you to the incredible creative universe of the unconscious, through stories of love, hate, forgiveness and revenge.

"Colors, symbols and vampires", Vol.1

Link for a free download:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/2kxusfxm5mpknxb/Colors%2C%20symbols%20and%20vampires.%20vol.1.pdf?dl=0