Image interpretation

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Image interpretation or image interpretation is a method developed in analytical psychology for interpreting symbolic images.

Areas of application are imaginatively painted pictures (visualized spontaneous fantasies), also from the sandplay , as well as documented pictures from dreams and visions. The applicability to images of children is limited and requires special consideration of the child's developmental psychology . The image interpretation takes into account various aspects of the image such as B. colors, shapes, motifs, proportions, numerical or spatial relationships examined for their symbolic content.

Emergence

Important pioneers of image interpretation as a diagnostic method in psychology and psychiatry were L. Nagy , H. Bertschinger , HM Fay , W. Kürbitz and AM Hamilton . The psychiatrist and art historian Hans Prinzhorn created the first standard work in 1922 that proved that pictures express the soul . This was followed by Walter Morgenthaler and RA Pfeifer; Also L. Paneth was this pioneer.

For these authors, images were used primarily as a diagnostic tool for mental illnesses; Paneth began to include them in therapy. The psychiatrist Carl Gustav Jung also interpreted images as a means of expressing mental states and probably worked with them in his personal exploration of the unconscious as well as as a therapeutic tool and subject of cultural studies research.

Jolande Jacobi , a student of CG Jung, described a first methodical approach to understanding “images from the unconscious” in 1969 on the basis of her 20 years of experience with spontaneously painted images. This approach was largely confirmed and systematically elaborated by Ingrid Riedel in the 1980s and by Theodor Abt in 2005. Ingrid Riedel deepened the possible meanings of colors and shapes in particular. Theodor Abt drew attention to the ambivalent possible interpretations of symbols, especially the number symbolism , and developed a method in which the personal, subjective prerequisites of the interpreter should be circumvented through the methodical inclusion of various functions of consciousness.

requirements

The psychological interpretation of symbolic images presupposes the assumption of the existence of an unconscious psyche . In their capacity as “symbols” or “symbol combinations”, images are said to be vessels, i. H. Opportunities for understanding unconscious content. In this understanding, symbols as relationship bridges to the unconscious are fundamentally different from signs that indicate external facts (e.g. hiking trail markings or man / woman signs for toilets), as well as from metaphors or allegories that refer to the contents of consciousness.

methodic procedure

The fundamental problem of any image interpretation is that the human being, as interpreter, tends to rediscover his or her own prejudices and opinions, world views and personality structures in an image to be interpreted. In order to avoid these projections and as an aid to the most comprehensive possible perception of the image, Abt suggests a systematic consideration of various functions of consciousness in the interpretation work, as well as the methodical comparison of “ hypothesis ” and “ counter hypothesis ” in the interpretation of images.

System of the procedure according to Dept.

The change between the four consciousness functions of sensation (= perception), feeling (= evaluation), thinking (= establishing a relationship), intuition (= recognizing developments). These were characterized and differentiated by CG Jung in his type theory , and the formation of interpretation hypotheses and counter-hypotheses are as follows:

Step 1

- first reaction (introverted approach)

First you register and document the first, immediate, spontaneous impression.
2nd step

- First viewing:
The following is the viewing of the image and its pictorial, creative means. In doing so, the opposing possible meanings inherent in every design element or symbol should be accounted for:

  1. with the sensation function ("What is there?"),
  2. with the feeling function ("What is important?", "Where is the energy?"),
  3. with the thinking function ("How are things connected?") and
  4. with intuition ("Where does the picture come from? What development tendency does it indicate?")
  5. This leads to the creation of a hypothesis and a counter-hypothesis about the meaning of the image.
3rd step

- Deepening / second observation:
The observation of the image is deepened by repeating the sequence from step II. As a rule, new aspects emerge that were not previously considered. The observations support either the hypothesis previously established or the counter-hypothesis. According to Abt, this approach helps to distance oneself from one's own "favorite hypothesis" and thus to a more objective consideration of the picture and its possible statements.

4th step

- Summary:
The image interpretation is systematically summarized by answering 5 questions:

  1. "Where does the picture come from?"
  2. "How is the relationship to the female principle?"
  3. "How is the relationship to the male principle?"
  4. "In which direction could the development go?"
  5. "What is the quintessence of the picture for further therapeutic work?"

Analysis of pictorial means

Assuming that the picture represents an unknown content, similar to Jungian psychology , all understandable associations (i.e. the ideas of the person painting) and amplifications (i.e. archetypal level of the motif) belonging to the respective motif , which are both cultural can be shaped, but can also be important regardless of culture. By putting together the symbolic meaning of the various picture elements, they indicate the meaning of the picture as a whole:

For the interpretation of images from the unconscious, the following points of view and aspects are generally considered:

  • Material: paper and color type, frame, image format
  • Formal aspects: organization, proportions, movement
  • Space: qualities and perspective
  • Colours
  • numbers
  • Motifs

The symbolism of a single pictorial means or motif cannot be unambiguous, because symbols are always ambiguous. However, since different symbolic elements always come together in the image interpretation, several or many aspects of interpretation accumulate as indicators that, in the overall picture, speak more for one or the other interpretation.

Image interpretation in art and religion

Representations of the fine arts are also often based in the unconscious, from which the artistically active person receives the inspiration for a picture. In this respect, they come from "structurally the same layers as imaginative pictures, which are created without artistic aspirations and mostly with less skill." Both types of images represent "expressive forms of expression of the human psyche" that are expressed "everywhere in related structural patterns and symbols, [... ] because they are archetypically impressed on her ”. Therefore, works of art can be interpreted from the same point of view as spontaneously created images from a therapeutic or everyday context. Due to their symbolism related to the content of the unconscious, works of art could fulfill a clarifying and wholesome function when looking at the picture , similar to the independent imaginative painting and design of the layperson - whereas the "expressive and effective value" lies primarily with the designer, whose skills are rather secondary here . In the case of works of art, on the other hand, the unconscious content is the reason for a skillful, artistic creative activity, has a more personal value and speaks to a larger group of people.

literature

  • Theodor Abt : Picture Interpretation. According to CG Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz. Living Human Heritage, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-9522608-2-7 .
  • Jolande Jacobi : From the picture realm of the soul. Paths and detours to yourself . Walter Verlag Zurich and Düsseldorf 1963. 5th edition 1992. ISBN 3-530-39599-4 .
  • Joseph H. Di Leon: The interpretation of children's drawings . 2007. ISBN 3-927948-82-9 . Translated from the American by Sylvia M. Schomburg-Scherff.
  • Ingrid Riedel: Images in Therapy, Art and Religion. Ways of interpretation . Kreuz Verlag, Zurich 1988. ISBN 3-7831-0906-X . Revised, expanded edition. Stuttgart / Berlin 2005, ISBN 9783783125078 .
  • Ingrid Riedel: Colors. In religion, society, art and psychotherapy . Kreuz Verlag, Stuttgart / Berlin 1983. 12th edition 1995. ISBN 3-7831-0700-8 . Completely revised, expanded and redesigned version, Stuttgart / Berlin 1999, ISBN 3-7831-1732-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ H. Bertschinger: Illustrated hallucinations . In: Yearbook for psychoanalytic and psychopathological research , 3 (1911).
  2. ^ HM Fay: Réflexions sur l'art et les aliénés . In: Aesculape 2 (1912).
  3. ↑ W. Kürbitz: The drawings of mentally ill people . In: Zeitschrift für Neurologie , 13 (1912).
  4. ↑ AM Hamilton: Insane art . In: Scribner's Magazine , 63 (1918).
  5. ↑ Hans Prinzhorn: Bildnerei der Geisteskranken , Berlin 1922. Reprinted by Springer, Vienna 2001.
    and ders .: Bildnerei der Gefangen , Berlin 1926.
  6. ^ W. Morgenthaler: A mentally ill person as an artist . In: K. Jaspers u. a (ed.). Work to applied Psychiatry I . Bern and Leipzig 1921.
  7. ^ RA Pfeifer : The mentally ill and his work . Leipzig 1923.
  8. ↑ L. Paneth: Form and color in psychoanalysis . In: Nervenarzt 2 (1929).
  9. ↑ Carl Gustav Jung: The Red Book . Published by the Foundation for the Works of CG Jung and the Philemon Foundation, 2nd edition. 2010 (1st A. 2009). ISBN 978-3-491-42132-5 .
  10. ↑ z. B. Carl Gustav Jung: On the psychology of eastern meditation . Originally published in: Communications from the Swiss Society of Friends of East Asian Culture , 5 (1943). Printed in: Gesammelte Werke Vol. 11 .
    Carl Gustav Jung: The Schizophrenia . (Written 1958) In: Collected Works Volume 3 .
  11. ↑ Jolande Jacobi: From the picture realm of the soul. Paths and detours to yourself . Walter publishing house. Zurich and Düsseldorf 1963. 5th edition 1992. ISBN 3-530-39599-4 .
  12. ^ Ingrid Riedel: colors. In religion, society, art and psychotherapy . Stuttgart 1983.
    Ingrid Riedel: Pictures. In therapy, art and religion. Ways of interpretation . Kreuz Verlag, Zurich 1988. ISBN 3-7831-0906-X .
  13. ^ Theodor Abt: Picture Interpretation. According to CG Jung and Marie-Louise von Franz. Living Human Heritage, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-9522608-2-7 .
  14. ↑ Jolande Jacobi: Vom Bilderreich der Seele , p. 34.
  15. ↑ Ingrid Riedel: Pictures , p. 18.
  16. ↑ Theodor Abt: Picture Interpretation , p. 54., Fig. P. 55.
  17. ↑ Theodor Abt: Picture Interpretation , p. 47f., Fig. P. 55.
  18. ↑ Theodor Abt: Picture Interpretation , p. 49f.
  19. ↑ Theodor Abt: Picture Interpretation , p. 50f.
  20. ↑ Theodor Abt: Picture Interpretation , p. 60.
  21. ↑ They are discussed by Jacobi as well as by Abbot and Riedel.
  22. ↑ Jolande Jacobi: Vom Bilderreich der Seele , p. 38.
  23. ↑ Ingrid Riedel: Pictures , p. 8.
  24. ↑ Ingrid Riedel: Pictures , p. 15.
  25. ↑ Jolande Jacobi: Vom Bilderreich der Seele , p. 39f.