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New tendency in therapy: magical cards instead of the couch
From La Nacion Argentina, Saturday, May 13, 2006
At that precise moment in which silence breaks into the psychotherapy session and there are no words that allow one to describe what one thinks and feels, a new tool helps to find a way to do it.
The “Kesem” Cards of Association are a new therapeutic resource used in Europe, Canada and the United States and already has a place in psychotherapy. In Argentina they appeared for the first time during the last Argentine Congress of Psychiatry, in the city of Mar del Plata “Kesem”, that in Hebrew designates the 18 card packs of an illustrated story which help to guide the therapy in cases of crisis. Kesem also means “magic.”
“To speak of magic in psychology? Yes, because it shows that the cards produce in the patients an effect different from the other methods”, explained Laura Landa, director of the Ikaron Institute, of Haifa, Israel, to La Nacion.
Landau, an Argentine psychologist who has been for 23 years in Israel, and used the cards in the group therapy to deal with the effects the uprooting in the South American immigrants in that country, as well as in individual therapy as a resource in cases of sexual harassment.
The use of cards “facilitate the evocation of repressed and/or denied situational images”, according to Landau during the course that she gave at the congress, when talking about the case of a patient who participated in research conducted at the University of Haifa.
But, how did the cards work in this case? “As a motivator, of images not only related in their content, but also in their associative capacity as much in terms of thought as in evocation.”
Barriers of defense
Pictures, abstract forms, landscapes, graphs of relation, words and silhouettes are some of the contents of the decks.
“The cards allow that the patient lowers his barriers of defense, that is what it is constructed in the conscious speech. When growing, we gained barriers and the cards help the person return to a stage of play, who are more projective”, indicated to La Nacion the psychologist Maria Florencia Russo, director of the Center for the Study of Therapeutic Resources (CERT), that foments the local use of the cards.
The therapeutic strategy consists of making available to the patient a particular deck, according to its personal characteristics and the situation that is intended to loosen.
The patient picks a card at random and she observes it while the therapist encourages a dialogue based on the meaning that the patient gives the image. Thus, little by little, the dialogue is constructed that silence had interrupted.
“The use of cards would be weakened if the therapist tried to interpret what happens to the patient from the chosen card –– emphasized Landau, who is part of the team of the Center for the Study of Therapeutic Resources. the person itself is the one who describes and it interprets, and the therapist is the one that listens to the conscious speech and analyzes the whole.”
Unconscious projections
Metaphors, signs and images help the unconscious to “speak” and the person can look at what was forced to remain hidden. The way to obtain it is through projection by means of which the person attributes characteristics of the unconscious to objects on the outside. The cards, that according to the psychologists are not a test, can be applied in the treatment of any pathology in adults and children. They are useful in group work, when what is wanted is to detect what prevents the group from working well, as well as with problems that are individual.
In general, the cards usually are introduced in the therapy to promote dialogue, relating, and building mutual confidence during the session, and to face situations of conflict and stress for the patient. According to the research conducted in the University of Haifa, the cards help to develop the imagination and the metaphoric thought.
“They encourage the patient to reflect on the sources of the description –– said Russo. It is habitual that the patient makes the card responsible for the history that she relates, that is where the magic of the name of this resource (kesem) resides.”
According to Laura Landau, the cards have no single (official) interpretation and neither are they mystical.
“They only help insofar that the person and the therapist can put on the table a certain problem so as to move on, even while the deepest crisis is being treated.”
Breaking the Silence
What are the “Kesem” Cards of Association?
- They are 18 [card] decks with portraits, abstract forms, and words that help break the silence of a client.
- At this time they are in use in Israel, Canada, USA, and various European countries, as a new tool in psychotherapy.
Nueva tendencia en terapia: cartas en lugar de diván
De la La Nacion, Argentina, Sábado 13 de mayo de 2006
En ese preciso instante en que el silencio se instala en la sesión de psicoterapia y no hay palabras que permitan describir lo que se piensa y se siente, una nueva herramienta ayuda a encontrar la forma de hacerlo. Las cartas kesem son un nuevo recurso terapéutico que en Europa, Canadá y los Estados Unidos ya forman parte de la psicoterapia. En el país se presentaron por primera vez durante el último Congreso Argentino de Psiquiatría, que se realizó en la ciudad de Mar del Plata.
“Kesem”, que en hebreo designa los 18 mazos de cartas de cuento ilustrado que ayudan a guiar la terapia en casos de crisis, también significa “magia”. “¿Por qué hablar de magia en psicología? En realidad porque nos da la pauta de que las cartas producen en los pacientes un efecto distinto de lo ya conocido”, explicó a La Nacion la licenciada Laura Landau, directora del Instituto Ikaron, de Haifa, Israel.
Landau, psicóloga argentina radicada desde hace 23 años en Israel, aplica las cartas en la terapia de grupos para tratar los efectos del desarraigo en los inmigrantes sudamericanos en ese país, así como también en terapia individual como recurso en casos de acoso sexual.
El uso de las cartas “facilitó la evocación de imágenes situacionales reprimidas y/o denegadas”, según comentó Landau durante el taller que dictó en el congreso, al referirse el caso de una paciente que participó de una investigación en la Universidad de Haifa.
Pero ¿cómo actuaron las cartas en método en ese caso? “Como motivador, no solamente de imágenes relacionadas en su contenido, sino también de una capacidad asociativa tanto en términos de pensamiento como en evocación.”
Wenn die Erinnerung einen beinahe erdrückt
Badische Zeitung vom Montag, 27. Mai 2002
Der Buchenbacher Moritz Egetmeyer hat Wort- und Bildkarten entwickelt, die traumatisierten Menschen helfen sollen, ihre Erlebnisse zu verarbeiten.
Von unserer Mitarbeiterin Kathrin Ganter
BUCHENBACH. Assoziative Karten für Fantasie, Kreativität und Kommunikation sind seit 15 Jahren das Metier von Moritz Egetmeyer, Inhaber des OH-Verlags in Unteribental. Die spielerischen Werkzeuge werden mittlerweile auch von Ärzten, Therapeuten und Lehrern eingesetzt. Nun hat Moritz Egetmeyer ein neues Projekt in Angriff genommen: Karten, die traumatisierten Menschen helfen sollen, über ihre Erlebnisse hinweg zu kommen.
Vor 16 Jahren begann die Geschichte der Karten mit “OH”, dem ersten Kartensatz, der auch dem Verlag seinen Namen gab. “OH steht einfach für den Ausdruck der Überraschung”, erklärt Moritz Egetmeyer. Das Prinzip von “OH” ist einfach: Auf eine größere Karte, auf die ein Begriff aufgedruckt ist, wird eine kleinere Bildkarte mit einem kunstvoll bemalten Motiv gelegt. Der Betrachter kann nun die Beziehung von Wort und Bild beschreiben oder sich eine kleine Geschichte aus-denken. Ein Beispiel: Auf die Karte mit dem Wort “Liebe” kommt das Bild eines schwer beladenen kleinen Esels. Eine mögliche Assoziation wäre, dass der Esel – als Symbol für einen Menschen – die schwere Last eines anderen aus Liebe trägt.
“Spiel” ist eigentlich der falsche Ausdruck für die Karten von Moritz Egetmeyer. Denn normale Spiele haben eine Anleitung und feste Regeln. Doch bei den Karten aus dem OH-Verlag soll möglichst wenig vorgegeben werden, um der Kreativität der Benutzer freien Lauf zu lassen, daher vergleicht sie der Verleger mit einem “Farbkasten”. “Die Karten haben weder etwas mit Orakel zu tun, noch sind sie mystisch oder spirituell”, hebt Moritz Egetmeyer ganz deutlich hervor.
Die Karten sind jedoch nicht nur ein spannender Zeitvertreib, sie werden auch von Menschen, die sozial oder pädagogisch arbeiten, verwendet. Dabei geht es nicht in erster Linie darum, dass die Assoziationen Rückschlüsse auf das Seelenleben eines Menschen zulassen, sondern dass sich dieser öffnet und kommunikations-bereit wird. Des Weiteren werden assoziative Karten von großen Firmen für Schulungen ihrer Mitarbeiter benutzt.
Literary Arts in Personal Development
Printed in LAPIDUS issue # 6, January 2004, lapidus.org.uk
Storytelling Cards – An Interview by Steve Weir
Several years ago I met a deck of cards quite unlike any that I’d seen before. The same size as traditional playing cards, the Saga deck contained images evocative of fairytales and myths.
Having been introduced to them within a therapeutic context, I remember that the cards I chose spoke to me with clarity and profundity. They invited me to understand the image through the process of my own creativity, interpreting its layers of meaning as I understood the answers I was searching for.
I’ve now used these cards both as a personal development tool and within workshops and have always found them to be invaluable jumping-off points for unleashing the power of my own creativity. Intrigued by their history, I contacted their publisher, Moritz Egetmeyer.
Moritz first discovered these ‘cards of association’ seventeen years ago whilst studying psychology in Canada. He had been brought up in the Black Forest area of Germany, and after five years of study in Vancouver, he “wanted to get back in touch with the land, so moved to a remote, beautiful island off the Pacific coast.” It was here in ’82 that island life inevitably brought him into contact with fellow islander, Ely Raman, a Mexican artist who shared a passion for German.
“Ely had produced a small edition of OH cards, and although he’d been unable to find a commercial publisher, his friends had encouraged him to keep the dream alive.”
The OH cards are a set of 88 picture cards, supplemented by 88 word cards. To play, a picture card is placed inside a larger word card. The word, such as ‘game’, ‘love’, ‘grief’ or ‘letting go’ forms the framework for interpreting the picture. A total of 7744 combinations are possible.
Moritz said, “I soon discovered that working with the OH cards produced something very special that came from inside, like a dream, but with the quality of a day dream. They provide an intuitive, spontaneous answer. Although they can be used as a game, with many players taking part, there is no strategy, no points, no right or wrong and no judgements. Their only aim is to release the imaginative creation of the participant.
My belief is that the goal of any therapy is to help the individual towards greater authenticity. The primary aim in any interaction with people is to lead them to themselves. I immediately saw that if I was to use psychotherapy in my practice, the cards were just the sort of tool that would fit within my preferred frameworks.”