Fairy tale therapy as a method of psychotherapy has been known to mankind for thousands of years, and as a current of modern psychotherapy, it arose quite recently.
General information
If you try to find a definition of fairy tale therapy in information sources, then certain difficulties will arise. This will be due to the fact that in different contexts, this term is used differently. Fairy tale therapy is used in upbringing, in education, and in development, and in training impact, and as a tool for psychotherapy.
Let’s try to separate them one from the other:
- Fairy tale therapy as a tool for transferring experience «by word of mouth». This is a way of educating a child in a special attitude to the world, adopted by this society. Fairy tale therapy is a way of transferring to an individual (more often a child) the necessary moral norms and rules. This information is embedded in folklore tales and legends, epics, parables. The oldest way of socialization and transfer of experience.
- Fairy tale therapy as a development tool. In the process of listening, inventing and discussing a fairy tale, a child develops the fantasy and creativity necessary for effective existence. He learns the basic mechanisms of search and decision making. The same mechanisms work in adults, which is why many trainers and coaches use fairy tales in their work to help clients find a more effective way to solve life’s problems.
- Fairy tale therapy as a narrative. Listening and perceiving fairy tales, a person builds them into his life scenario, forms it. For kids, this process is especially bright, many children ask to read the same fairy tale to them many times. In some psychotherapeutic approaches (eg, Jungianism, narrative psychotherapy), these beloved children’s fairy tales are given special attention.
- Fairy tale therapy as psychotherapy. Work with a fairy tale is aimed directly at treating and helping the client. The fairy tale therapist creates conditions in which the client, working with a fairy tale (reading, inventing, acting out, continuing), finds solutions to his life’s difficulties and problems. Both group and individual forms of work are possible.
Psychotherapy with fairy tales
The fairy tale therapist in his work touches several levels at once. On the one hand, in a fairy tale the client shows his archetypes and social attitudes, they are clearly displayed and can have a key influence on the plot, on the other hand, the fairy tale touches on early childhood experiences and in the plot it is possible to trace the genesis of the client’s personality, thirdly, the client fills the fairy tale with his up-to-date content. In the content of the fairy tale, one can consider how the client lives now, what are his main experiences. And then the fairy tale therapist decides which layer to pay attention to during the session, depending on what will be most useful to the client now.
A fairy tale therapist can offer the client in different ways how to work with a fairy tale. The most common ways are:
- discussion of an already existing fairy tale;
- independent writing of a fairy tale by the client, the so-called client’s fairy tale;
- staging, dramatization of an already written fairy tale (this can be both acting out and puppet theater);
- art therapy work based on a fairy tale;
and more
Of particular importance in the work of a fairy tale therapist are client tales. Fairy tale therapy notes two important facts. The first is that all people know how to compose fairy tales. That is, this skill is part of human nature. And the second fact suggests that just writing a fairy tale itself is a powerful therapeutic effect.
T. Zinkevich-Evstigneeva advises to conduct a session on writing a client’s fairy tale in three stages:
- slowdown. This is a creative action associated with calming and setting up for the further process of writing a fairy tale. At this stage, the client can be asked to draw a picture (make a sculpture, make an appliqué or collage), the therapist can read a specially selected fairy tale to the client, etc.
- Writing a fairy tale. The client is invited to write a fairy tale. If he is having difficulty, then he can be pushed to the beginning by using the material of the first stage.
- Reading a fairy tale, completion. An important event in this session will be the moment when the client reads his fairy tale to the therapist. This is an important event for both the client and the therapist, because the client will experience excitement and excitement from the presentation of his creativity, and for the therapist it will be an encounter with the client’s internal phenomenology. The therapist, after the client has read the fairy tale, it is important to ask what this fairy tale is about for the client, whether he liked it or not.
The client’s fairy tale can be used for a variety of therapeutic purposes, which can be generally divided into three groups: psychodiagnostic, psychocorrective, prognostic.
Tales on Psychologos
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Literature
- Vachkov I. V. Introduction to fairy tale therapy, or Hut, hut, turn to me in front … — M .: Genesis, 2011.
- Grabenko T.M., Zinkevich-Evstigneeva T.D., Workshop on creative therapy. — St. Petersburg: Speech, 2003. — 400 p.
- Sokolov D.Yu. Fairy tales and fairy tale therapy. — M .: Eksmo-press, 2001; 2005. — 224p.
- Kudzilov D.B., Zinkevich-Evstigneeva T.D. Psychodiagnostics through drawing in fairy tale therapy. — St. Petersburg: Speech, 2003. — 146s.
references
- Elena Petrova Gestalt workshop of Elena Petrova. Tales.. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
- Dmitry Kudzilov St. Petersburg Fairy Tale Therapy Workshop. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
- T.D. Zinkevich-Evstigneeva St. Petersburg Institute of Fairytale Therapy. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
- Roman Candibur Fairy tale therapy in the Gestalt approach.. Retrieved November 5, 2008.
- Dmitry Sokolov Dmitry Sokolov’s page. Retrieved November 5, 2008.