By Connie L. Simons

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Abstract

Using qualitative research with an emphasis on Jungian theory, with the goal of engendering better efficacy in therapeutic endeavors, this researcher reviewed literature on the unconscious, dreams, and the need for deeper insights into oneself. Literature research regarding measures utilized to tap into this rsource was reviewed. To demonstrate the importance of understanding and insight, with an emphasis on dream interpretation to access the unconscious, Jungian theory was especially utilized. Depth psychology literature indicates that tapping into the unconscious is beneficial for therapeutic efficacy. A review of the current projective measures that are being utilitzed for obtaining better understanding of an individual was presented. It was suggested that a new tool, OH cards, would guide one to more effective and faster understanding of individuals, and a pilot study was initiated to demonstrate this. OH cards appear to help individuals tap into deeper resources. As this was only a preliminary study conducted on individuals in the psychology profession, it has many limitations. The study makes recommendations for further research with a more diverse population.

A book by Waltraud Kirschke

Information about this book, along with the following excerpts, can be found on the OH Cards North America website:

• Synchronicity – Cards drawn sight unseen can actually seem to reflect the life situation of the player who drew them, with an unexpected accuracy.
• ECCO Helps Children Through Trauma – An educational trainer in Israel discovers that ECCO cards are key in helping children who’ve been traumatized by terrorist activities.
• A Grammar Lesson with OH Cards – A 6th grade grammar teacher uses SAGA and original OH for a grammar lesson.
• MORENÁ with Six-Year-Olds – A teacher uses the MORENÁ cards to spark six-year-olds to discuss jungle life.
• PERSONA for Reconciliation – How three psychologist experts used PERSONA cards to facilitate reconciliation.
• OH Card Experiences – Edward Chan, from Hong Kong, shares OH card experiences
• OH Story | Dawn Brown – Different meaningful interpretations of the original OH deck’s clown card.
• OH Assists at a Family Gathering – A dreaded family gathering turns out to be a powerful positive experience.
• Breaking the Boundary of We Japanese – How OH cards help break the boundary between “We” and “You.”
• Cards of Association for Life-Mapping – Map the journey to a goal using six cards in a six-part storytelling structure.
• Cards of Association for Creative Writing – Using OH cards for losening creativity and for general problem-solving.
• Child Therapy and Mental Health – The use of various OH genre cards in therapy practice with children.
• OH Story | Ralf Linde – Why a trainer for Audi (the car manufacurer) uses OH cards.
• OH Story | Marco Holmer – How SAGA was used in a storytelling process with children.
• OH Story | Ely Raman – A father uses OH Cards to gain insight into his relationship with his sons.

Click the image to play the video, click again to stop it.

Morning Cocktail (live broadcast) on Dnipropetrovsk State Canal (№51) on March 14, 2011.

Blaxter posted an article about this video, “Associative cards revisited,” on the Child Therapy and Mental Health website.

When I see this card …

these associations come to mind ….

which bring up for me …

and I feel ….

You can share your response in a comment below.

(This card is from the original OH deck.)

By Guadalupe Jimenéz

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More than just a game, associative cards, also known as OH, Kesem or projective cards, are a device that can be used to accomplish a task while stimulating personal and professional development.

They are a therapeutic tool to enhance, among other abilities, communication, introspection and awareness. The first deck of cards is known as OH, a name inspired by the exclamation of surprise of those who first witnessed their effects. In 1975, as an attempt to bring art to the general public, Mexican artist Ely Raman created the cards. But it was not until 1983 that the Canadian psychologist Moritz Egetmeyer got to know them and sensed their therapeutic utility, enabling his patients to exteriorize their true “self” and feelings. Initially there were two decks of OH but over time other artists have contributed with their work to the creation of new decks, covering a variety of subject matter and therefore applications as well.

Their origins

The associative cards have nothing to do with the esoteric world, and certainly not with the Tarot. Their foundation is based on several psychological theories, among them the projectionist principles of psychoanalysis, the figure and ground principle propounded by Gestalt therapy. However, they also rely on other concepts such as those provided by Winnicott on playing, or the opposition principle of causality-synchronicity by Carl Jung.

What a session is like

Whether in a session guided by a therapist, in a group, between couples or individually, the subject matter of the various decks are used as a tool to allow people to exteriorize their true thoughts and emotions. They are a gateway to the unconscious mind. These guided sessions are carried out in a friendly way through card games, picking the cards one by one and giving them an explanation and meaning. Throughout each session the participants progress in their personal discovery as they tell their stories in their individual ways, without the interruption, reinterpretation or suggestions of others, if the session takes place in a group.

Therapeutic creativity

Specific applications of the associative cards, of which there are many, can help:

Educators: in all education matters, such as environmental awareness, intercultural learning, special education or personal student coaching.

Therapist: as a tool to promote self-awareness, expression and communication.

Artists: to stimulate natural creativity.

Social Workers: to prevent and treat addictions or traumas, to assist elderly people, employees, etc.

In business circles: in management consulting, team building processes and even in human resources.

They are effective in trauma treatment. After the tsunami in Indonesia and Thailand a group of Israeli psychologists, led by Dr. Ofra Ayalon, used the associative cards “COPE,” designed especially to treat trauma, with the disaster victims, proving their effectiveness.

By Nicole Chen
Nicole Chen has been actively involved as a trainer in self-growth programs for parents, couples, youth, and children, and has worked as a counselor in non-governmental organizations, educational institutions, and at a private counseling centre. She received a Master’s in Counselling from the University of Malaysia and is a Board-certified (Malaysia) Registered Counselor.

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Abstract

The OH Cards consist of two decks, each with 88 cards: One of miniature water colour paintings that refer to aspects of daily lives, one with words that provides a verbal backdrop for the paintings. A combination of any two decks of painting and word are capable of bringing a significant meaning for the client. In the process of working with OH Cards, the client will bring personal intuition and individual experience to bear in order to complete the meaning of the cards. The uniqueness of OH Cards is in its adaptable approach to different ethnic backgrounds and cultural traditions and is flexible to be used as a counselling tool in individual or group settings. The general objective of this paper is to create awareness among therapists on OH Cards as an alternative counselling approach that can be used as a cross cultural counselling therapy tool. The specific objectives of this paper are (1) to introduce the OH Cards approach to helping professionals, (2) to share a set of essential guidelines in using the OH Cards approach in counselling therapy and, (3) to share therapists’ experiences in using OH Cards in their helping profession.

Background

The OH Cards deck was initially published in 1981, and has become widely used as a tool for personal growth and interpersonal work. Currently it has been widely used in 33 countries and has been translated into 15 languages. It was introduced to practicing therapists in Malaysia since 2007. The OH Cards have been successfully used by teachers, story tellers, social workers, counsellors, art therapists, occupational and speech therapists, psychotherapists and hypnotherapists, trauma and relief workers, care givers and many others.

About OH Cards

The OH Cards was created by Elohim Raman in 1976 and consists of two decks of cards, each with 88 cards. On one set, there are miniature water colour paintings that reflect daily lives and on another set, words that provide a verbal backdrop for the paintings (France & Lawrence, 1993). Together, it offers 7744 possible combinations which supply different meanings and interpretation to the client. A combination of any two decks of painting and word are capable of bringing a significant meaning for the client. This is because in the process of working with OH Cards, the client will bring personal intuition and individual experience to bear in order to complete the meaning of the cards. The uniqueness of OH Cards is in its adaptable approach to people of different ethnic backgrounds and culturaltraditions and is flexible to be used as a counselling tool in individual or group settings.

A cross-cultural approach

Generally, most of the counselling approaches are rooted from Western and European values and perception of the world (Sue D. & Sue D. W., 1999, Trusty, Looby & Sandhu, 2002). In Malaysia, with groups of multiple ethnicities, the multicultural approach in counselling is a requirement and cannot be denied by practitioners. Corey (2001), believes counseling approaches can be broadened by integrating multicultural perspectives. In support of Corey’s statement, there are studies proposing that counselling educators be responsible in guiding future counsellors in the forming of a therapeutic procedure that that can be connected to all clients, counting in racial and cultural minorities (Vontress & Jackson (2004). The above justification provides an important perspective for practitioners to be aware of and be prepared with cross-cultural approaches in counselling practice. learning effectiveness through experiences.

The OH Cards have been translated into 15 languages which include Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, English, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, and Swedish to cater to the needs of different countries. Furthermore, there is a plan to translate OH Cards into “Bahasa Malaysia” to cater to the Malay language speaking client in Malaysia and Indonesia. Currently, OH Cards have been widely used in 33 countries which include Asia, Europe and other western countries. The usage of OH Cards is dependent on the therapists’ creativity. It provides the space and freedom for the therapist to decide on the ways the cards can be used and the therapist can base it on the cultural setting that he or she is living in. As a conclusion, the OH Cards are considered as a tool that can be applied to multicultural settings because it is a form of approach that can assist clients to have a deeper understanding of themselves based on their own interpretation on the encountered experience through the cards.

Therapeutic elements in OH Cards

Powerful Insight. The OH Cards itself seem very simple as a deck of cards yet it is capable in assisting clients to listen to the inner messages within them. It is capable of providing a deep insight about ones self. In client centered therapy, Rogers believed a formation of ‘insight’ in a person starts with first, understanding about self, second, requires self-acceptance, and third, continues with forming new actions to decrease dependency of help (Kathy Jo Hall, 1997). The OH Cards are capable of playing a significant role in increasing self understanding of a person by the client just listening to the messages that come within them through the cards. However, the powerful insight that is revealed in some circumstances might create uncomfortable feelings within the client. Therefore, the therapist will then have to play an important role in assisting the client regarding self acceptance and developing new behaviors.

Projection of the Unconscious. Psychoanalytical theory perceived the unconscious aspect of human beings as an accumulation of all experiences, memories and suppressed issues (Corey 2001). According to Corey (2001), there are studies that conclude that substances of unconsciousness can be obtained through a person’s behaviors and one of the ways to obtain the unconscious substance is through projective techniques. One of the purposes of OH Cards is to assist individuals to look into the unconscious aspect. There are many first time users who experienced and responded “Oh!” when using OH Cards (France, H. & Lawrence, J., 1993). In this context, the cards are used as a safe tool for personal projection. What the client sees and understands of the meaning of the cards is a form of projection of the unconscious aspect in them.

Essential etiquette and rules

The therapeutic elements of the cards are able to facilitate personal growth in a client. However it can be easily misused if the therapist does not practice good etiquette and rules in using the OH Cards. The therapist is reminded to understand the importance of following the etiquette and rules to facilitate openness and trustworthiness. There are five keys points to keep in mind while using the OH Cards (Lawrence J., & Raman Ely, 2005):

Honor each other’s privacy – The individual has the right to choose to pass or not to play the drawn cards. He or she can do it without providing any reason, nor revealing the cards. No confrontation and inquiring are allowed. Honor each other’s space and time – No disruptions are allowed.

Honor each other’s intelligence and imagination – It is important to keep in mind that there is no “correct interpretation of the cards”. Only individual’s who draw the cards will have the right to interpret the meaning of the cards. No other interpretation or re-interpretation is allowed.

Honor each other’s integrity – No contradiction or arguments of a person’s interpretation are allowed. However, inquiries are allowed to fulfill others’ (therapists / group members) curiosity of the interpretation and clarification of something that is shared to enhance better understanding of a person. Honor each other’s individuality – No assumption is made on the part of the interpreter that others would see and understand what he or she interprets.

How to use the OH Cards in therapy

There aren’t any fixed rules of how OH Cards should be used. It is very much based on the therapist’s objectives, creativity and context of using the cards. In using OH Cards as a therapy tool, here are the guidelines for the therapist:

Step 1: Prepare the client to be ready to look into in-depth issues. Ensure that the client is informed that the outcomes of the activity might create uneasiness in them. This will require clients to be courageous and have willingness to understand their self better.

Step 2: Lay picture cards and word cards each in a row facing down. Step 3: Request the client to choose a picture card and a word card.

Step 4: Combine both the cards (word first and picture second) with both card faces up. Allow the client to spend some time to connect with the cards.

Step 5: Request the client to describe the picture and later describe the word.

Step 6: Request the client to focus on the feelings that emerge from the combination of both cards.

Step 7: Request the client to relate the interpretation to the client’s present life condition. Remind the client to use the present tense and the “I” statement in expressing their feelings. If possible, try to discourage clients to use “I think” or “I should”.

Step 8: If required, the client can continue to draw another set of cards and the therapist will then continue with steps four to step seven.

Malaysian Therapists’ Experiences

As was mentioned before, the OH Cards approach is very new to Malaysian therapists. There are not many therapists that could be interviewed because of the limited practitioners in using the OH Cards. For this paper, 3 therapists have been identified to share their experiences in using the OH Cards in their counselling practice. The following are the common points that emerged from the therapists’ sharing:

Benefits of OH Cards

Gentle and respectful approach. The therapists agreed that the OH Cards provided a gentle and respectful way to journey with the client for their personal growth. In using OH Cards, the client is given a freedom to decide whether to play or withdraw from the activity. This form of freedom supplies a sense of empowerment for the client. According to the Social Work and Practice and People of Color (2004), empowerment is defined as a process where an individual forms and enhances his or her personal skills in implementing interpersonal power. The OH Cards approach allows clients to proclaim authority over determining when he or she is ready for change.

Zooming on inner emotion. The OH Cards encourages the client to connect with their inner emotion, which builds a form of respect for oneself. The client who has been in denial of his or her feelings will greatly benefit through participating in the OH Cards activity.

Revealing unconsciousness. The therapists agreed that the OH Cards was a very powerful tool in enlightening the client of unconsciousness aspects. It is very powerful in revealing the truth in a person.

Challenges in using OH Cards

Less emotion and less connection. One of the challenges encountered by therapists was when working with people who had lost touch with emotion for a period of time as they may face difficulty in connecting with the cards. It will therefore require the therapist to teach the client on how to connect with their feelings first before starting to use the cards. Having less emotional connection with the cards will definitely reduce the effectiveness of the cards in bringing awareness to the client.

The truth can be painful. The OH Cards were able to assist clients to see their true self. Some felt good of the new discovery. However there were some who felt threatened by the discovery, especially when the clients were not ready to know the truth. In this context, the therapists played an important role in observing for client readiness to look into the unconsciousness aspect before using the cards on clients. One of the advantages of the OH Cards was that it enabled a creation of awareness within the client in a very short period of time during the session. However it could also create a risk in that the client could stop seeing the therapist because he or she was not ready to see what actually happened in them. The therapist is therefore reminded to be gentle and to follow their client’s pace before deciding to use the OH Cards.

Conclusion

As a conclusion, the OH Cards is a new counselling tool that is worthwhile to practice in a counselling setting because it enables to provide important therapeutic elements in assisting clients’ personal growth. However the effectiveness of the cards as a counselling tool could be questioned because there are very few studies that had been conducted in connection with using the OH Cards in a counselling setting. Therefore, more studies are recommended to be conducted to objectively assess the effectiveness of the OH Cards as a counselling tool. Further investigation on which aspects that the OH Cards are effective in to provide personal healing to clients are also required to concretely assess the true power of the OH Cards.

References

• Corey, G. (2001). Theory and Practice of Counseling & Psychotherapy. (6th). CA: Brooks / Cole.
• France, H., & Lawrence, J., (1993). OH Cards: A process for Interpersonal Exploration. Guidance Centre: Ontario. Vol. 8 No. 4
• Kathy Jo Hall (1997). Carl Rogers. Retrieved 29 November 2008 from www.muskingum.edu/~psych/psycweb/history/rogers.htm
• Lawrence, J., & Raman Ely (2005). The little book about the OH Cards. Kirchzarten : OH Publishing.
• Sue, D. W., & Sue, D. (1999). Counseling the culturally different: Theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.
• Social Work Practice and People Colour. A process-stage approach. (5th ed), by D. Lum pp. 254-262. Copy right 2004. Reprinted with permission of Brooks/Cole-Thomson Learning.
• Trusty, J., Looby, E. J., & Sandhu, D. S. (Eds.). (2002). Multicultural counseling: Context, theory and practice, competence. New York: Nova Science.

By Alexander Gorobchenko
Psychologist, Leader of the Creative Studio “OH-STUDIO”, senior lecturer of the Psychology Department of the Women`s Institute “ENVILA,” graduate of Administration Academy. Activity and interests: psychological help, existential consulting, non-formal education, and helping specialists in the helping professions.

and Marina Evmenchik
Psychologist, Designer, Activity and interests: psychological help, personality growth trainings, gender psychology, floristics and phytodesign.

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Metaphoric associative cards are a unique tool for assisting specialists who work with groups (psychologists, counselors, coaches, pedagogues, educators, etc.).

There are different names for these cards in professional circles: “ОH Cards” (the name of the first deck), “projective cards,” “therapeutic cards,” “interactive cards,” etc. Due to the efforts of therapist and publisher Moritz Egetmeyer, the cards have spread all over the world. In our country, the metaphoric associative cards appeared relatively recently. The cards were accepted with enthusiasm by psychologists, social educators, therapists, social workers, and a wide range of people interested in self-knowledge and self-development. Metaphorical associative cards began to be used by specialists as quality, convenient, projective, and educational material. Today, there are 17 unique decks of cards we can use.

The decks of associative cards are sets of images – pictures in a card format. There are the following decks of metaphoric cards:

The description of all the decks are presented on the official website of the publisher Moritz Egetmeyer www.OH-Cards.com and on Creative Studio “OH-STUDIO” WWW.OH-Studio.narod.ru.

The history of the cards

The first deck of cards was created in 1975 by Ely Raman, Canadian professor of art history. He wanted to take art out of galleries and bring it closer to people. He considered that works of art should not be “art for art’s sake,” the subject of the passive contemplation of human beings. Art should be accessible to everyone, and that means getting it into people’s hands. The first deck of cards is called “OH” (it’s the English interjection which expresses surprise).

OH Cards were published in 1981 in Canada. This set is composed of two decks – the first consists of situational pictures (88 cards), the second consists of frames with words (88 cards) – both by Ely Raman. The words for the frame deck were selected by using a number of suggestions from psychotherapist Josef Schlichter. The word deck is in a larger format than the deck of pictures. The decks are made so that the image cards can be placed in the frame of the word cards. Therefore, this tool includes the image and the word as two poles – the emotional and the cognitive. Images appeal directly to feelings and intuition, and thus are often able to bypass the rational barrier, the “smart filter.” In  contrast, the words appeal mainly to the consciousness and the expression of analytical, rational thinking.

Thus, the combination of picture cards and word cards can be considered as the unity of cognitive and visual stimuli, which refers to both the left hemisphere of the brain (analytical, logical thinking) and to the right hemisphere (emotions, intuition). When the two decks are used together, it is possible to have 7744 different combinations. This combinations encourages people to open their creative potential.

In 1983 Ely Raman met Moritz Egetmeyer, a psychotherapist by education. He was able to see in the OH Cards a tool with which he could encourage patients into frank conversations about themselves and their problems.

According to an agreement with Ely Raman, Moritz Egetmeyer was allowed to sell OH only in Germany and Europe. After his amazing meeting with the OH Cards, M. Egetmeyer and his family returned to Germany, but found no publishers who would agree to publish the metaphorical cards.

The publishers considered the cards not to be enough in demand to make a profit because metaphorical cards don’t abide by the basic principle of card games, where there is a winner and loser. Having been refused by all publishers, Moritz Egetmeyer founded OH Verlag (OH Publishing) in Germany and began to publish the OH Cards himself. Since that time, OH Verlag has focused on publishing and promoting these associative metaphorical cards as a game and as a unique tool for working with people. So started the OH Cards journey all over the world.

The first OH Card deck appeared in Germany in 1985. Moritz and Ely introduced the game to the public for the first time at the Games Fair in Essen.

Their presentation was done in the original, therapeutic-associative format: Cards were selected blindly – one from the picture deck, the other from the word deck – and one commented on any spontaneous feelings, thoughts, or associations that arose. Many representatives of major manufacturers curiously examined the cards. But there was an unexpected complication. In the exhibition halls it was impossible to create the atmosphere of mutual trust needed when the cards are used for therapeutic purposes.

Suddenly, Moritz saved the moment by coming up with the idea of using the picture cards to tell stories, which facilitated the development of entirely new types of public games. This idea was the impetus that later led to the creation of the SAGA deck, the second deck of metaphorical associative cards. The story of the cards is ongoing – the work itself and interactions with the cards and the people who use them are encouraged and facilitated by the emergence of new concepts with the cards and new decks.

For example, psychologists and psychotherapists working in crisis situations with victims of violence and trauma appealed to the OH publisher with a request to create a particular deck of cards. Subsequently, the COPE deck was born, as a result of international co-operation between the publisher from Germany (Moritz Egetmeyer), an artist from Russia (Marina Lukyanova), and a world-renowned therapist from Israel (Dr. Ofra Ayalon).

General principles and “OH Etiquette”

If someone wants to understand what is unique about these decks of associative cards, first one must get rid of conventional thinking about how to “play” cards. Traditional games assume a competitive process of win/lose and the intrigue of one player wining through the weakness of another. The assumption with using OH Cards is cooperation, not competition and winning. Thus, all the in-group methods, games, or exercises (call it what you want, depending on use) suggest cooperation as the principle of joint, consistent, harmonious work – a willingness to support and assist one another (as opposed to competing).

Using the cards in groups with the principle of cooperation suggests a principle of activity, because each participant of joint action is its active agent, not just through listening, understanding, knowing, and studying people, but also through self-acting and helping people.

Metaphorical imagery provides visual stimulus for the projection of individual phenomena, which is one of the basic and important principles for the use of the cards. The picture card format as visual stimulus is also a symbol or metaphor. The picture card as a symbol or metaphor is an independent artistic format that has emotional and allegorical meaning, which corresponds to the phenomenon of life, in which we are able to connect objective meaning to our senses and experiences.

The use of metaphorical (safer) language in working with groups with a variety of problems can remove many defense mechanisms, build an atmosphere of trust, and create communication. Strawberries Beyond My Window is the metaphoric name of a book about metaphoric associative cards, written by Waltraud Kirschke. The metaphor “strawberries beyond my window” symbolizes what is inside us but we cannot “touch” because of the window/obstacles. Metaphorical cards allow one to get into contact with the inner world safely, gently, lovingly. Using a metaphorical space to find new ways to solve our problems and get answers, we often find quick solutions.

Art is the foundation for creativity. Exercises and games with pictures in card format create the conditions for opening creativity, for creating something new that previously did not exist. When working with the cards, allow full freedom for associations.

Sincerity is the next important principle to recommend when working with the cards. Be honest and open working with the cards and stick to a simple storyline.

It is important that each participant knows and feels he is considered, his opinion is important, and he can speak freely to put forward suggestions, to make the choice that he is unique.

Therefore, it is prohibited to interpret or reinterpret another person’s interpretation, because each of us reflects the same picture situation in our own way.

Another important recommendation is to speak in the present tense and describe events depicted by the cards as being dynamic and in process.

What distinguishes humans from other creatures? It is our subjectivity – our ability to be spontaneous and to be a reflection of that spontaneity. What surprises and charms us about small children? It is the spontaneity of their behavior, their absolute honesty and openness in any display. When we become adults – taught to react properly, to not be spontaneous – we suddenly come to the fact that spontaneous behavior is behavior that asserts its own intrinsic value, that spontaneity allows us  to make discoveries within ourselves, to develop and create. Often, we try to be spontaneous and we come up with nothing. Violation of spontaneity prevents full self-actualization, the full sense of self as a subject of itself, as a self-sufficient individuality. When we let ourselves be spontaneous in a metaphoric associative activity, as with the cards, we use more imagination than logic.

The last recommendation is allowing the option of re-choosing a card without explanation. The author of any proposed action with the cards may replace any unsuitable or unimportant cards.

The recommendations proposed by the original authors of the cards are called “OH ETIQUETTE.” They can be used by the participants in groups.

OH ETIQUETTE:

• In OH, we honour each other’s privacy. I may choose to pass, to not play the cards I have drawn. I can do this with or without explanation, revealing my cards or not.
• In OH, we honour each other. I will not interrupt you.
• In OH, we honour each other’s intelligence and imagination. I do not re­interpret (or interpret) your cards – even in the secrecy of my mind.
• In OH, we honour each other’s integrity. I do not contradict you or argue about your interpretations. I try to remember that there are no “correct” or “incorrect” interpretations of the pictures, no misreading of words.
• In OH, we honour each other’s individuality. When I interpret my OH Cards I do not assume that you see what I see, feel what I feel, read what I read.

 Field of use

There are many different ways of using the cards as projective stimulus material in groups and in individual work with adults and children. Metaphorical cards are effectively used in work with families, in psychodrama, gestalt therapy, art therapy, transactional analysis, and psychosynthesis. Post-traumatic syndrome, work with psychosomatic illnesses and addictions, problems of parent-child and marital relationships, team relationships, team-building, conflict resolution, personal growth … that is an incomplete list of areas where using therapeutic cards to address the imagination, fantasy, and the flow of associations can be very effective and useful.

Metaphorical cards have all the advantages of projective techniques, significantly expanding the therapeutic arsenal of a psychologist or therapist. The cards help to access a complete picture of the “inner world” of the client, his personal myth of the world and himself in it, as well as a subjective image of the situation from the perspective of the client. The cards help very quickly to clarify and understand the actual experience and needs of the client’s internal processes. Associative cards provide us with an opportunity to see a clear picture of any interpersonal relationship, or relationship, with ideas and images of one’s external or internal reality. Using the cards to refer to the traumatic situation through metaphor allows the avoidance of additional traumatization and creates a secure context for searching for and modeling solutions. Cards start up the internal processes of self-healing and finding one’s unique path to recovery. Working over time allows one to model and research any process in the past and in the future. People can do this by finding images of solutions, with the help of the metaphorical cards, and creating that specifically, embodying it later in reality.

Metaphorical associative cards as projective material are successfully used in trainings, interactive discussions, and individual consultations. They are a great help to those who work with other people because they allow a way to start talking (communicate) and create an atmosphere of trust and interest in self-searching and self development. The cards are a manual for creating the necessary context whereby clients gain access to their own inner creative beginnings.

Associative cards are a unique educational instrument. Firstly, cards are a reason to start a conversation in the group, even if the participants didn’t have any points of contact or common topics beforehand. Secondly, it is possible by explaining the rules of using the cards to demonstrate and illustrate the basic principles of humane, personally oriented relating (attitude), respect, and cooperation in the group as a community. Thirdly, the cards can be used as a start-up for the development of creative potential and the search for alternatives by each of the participants of a group (for example, writing a composition or essay by choosing a card blindly, or searching for new ways to resolve conflicts by working with the cards and images). Fourthly, working with the cards using the proposed rules reduces the fear of criticism. Participants learn to listen to others and to hear them. Also, the cards can be used as thematic material for the study of humanities (social psychology, family psychology and psychotherapy, organizational psychology, crisis psychology, etc.). There are a lot of ways of successfully using the cards: stimulating personal growth; coping with crisis and recovering from the consequences of trauma; correcting relationships; conflict resolution; diagnostics and assessment of professional competencies of future specialists; analysis of psychological features of representatives of different professions, cultures, and nationalities; and the development of core competencies of future professionals.

Examples of methods (games) with the cards

ORIENTAL POETRY[1]

Category: Creativity

Purpose:  The discovery and development of creativity

Time: 20-30 minutes

Number of participants: 8-14

Materials needed: For this exercise, you can use the cards ECCO, BEAUREGARD, LYDIA JAKOB STORY

Process: Participants are given the rules of Oriental poetry. Then each participant chooses a card blindly and spontaneously says a word according to the rules of versification. A card is chosen for every word or phrase from the rules.

PERSONA

Category: Interaction

Purpose: Learning to recognize personality portraits through descriptive characteristics, establishing contact and communication, and developing empathy.

Time: 30-40 minutes

Number of participants: 8-14

Materials needed: Metaphorical card decks – PERSONA, PERSONITA

Process: Each participant selects a portrait from the PERSONA or PERSONITA decks that resembles a “psychological portrait” of any of the members of the group. Do not choose based on external characteristics (height, build, etc.) that would immediately identify a specific person. The picture is selected based on a depiction of traits, habits, and psychological features that characterize the particular person (a minimum of 10 features). Then each participant presents their portrait to the group and the other members try to determine which person in the group is being depicted. There can be a comparison of the visions of the same person by various members of the group.

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So, metaphoric associative cards can be considered as a deep psychological game, as stimulating, projective material for group or individual work. The cards are not oriented to games where there’s a winner or a loser. They are created for something bigger than as use as a simple collective table game, but they are also not cards for fortune-telling, as are, for example, tarot cards. These cards are rather something completely new and breathtaking. They are a tool for accessing our own imagination and creativity; an instrument for self-actualization; a catalyst that creates an atmosphere of liberation when a user begins to speak about himself freely and openly. The card images don’t have generally accepted meanings that can be assumed independently of a concrete game situation.

The cards challenge the player to open up their meaning, namely the unique meaning they have for the player now, at this moment, in this situation. Tomorrow, it may be an entirely different meaning.

SUMMARY

By means of this material readers can get acquainted with metaphoric associative cards – that they are a unique tool and a helper of specialists who work with groups (psychologists, trainesr, consultants, pedagogues, educators, etc.), their history and origin, the main principles of use, and the field of application.