SELF-ANALYSIS

There are many ways to gain insight, to glimpse a little of our unconscious. Freud himself faithfully set aside time each day for self-analysis, a time to explore his own motives and childhood influences. I have selected a few of the best methods and briefly described how you can use them. They include: (a) psychological testing, (b) projective techniques, (c) guided fantasy (including "Momma and I are one"), (d) feedback from others, (e) reframing, (f) focusing, (g) free association and word association, (h) catharsis and abreaction, (i) early memories, and (j) other methods. These methods are grouped together because they serve the same purpose (insight) but they are not used together. They stand alone; thus, there are no steps.

Psychological testing

Most of us want to know how we measure up. There are thousands of paper and pencil personality, interest, and aptitude tests (Buros, 1990); some were already discussed in chapter 14. Taken honestly, tests are about the only objective way to compare yourself to others, in terms of depression, dependency, personality traits, prejudice, self-efficacy, optimism, self-monitoring, the use of ego defenses, etc. On some dimensions, we may have a fairly accurate impression of how we feel, say how depressed we are, but we may not know how our level of depression compares to others' sadness. That is useful information. In many areas, we have little or no idea of our own condition, e.g. many people do not know if they are internalizers or externalizers (see chapter 8) or if they are much more cynical than they realize. Since you were unaware of these characteristics, as you are your blood pressure, these aspects of your psychological health could be called "unconscious."

To complicate matters, we may be somewhat different people in different situations and we are certainly seen differently by different people, such as our spouse, our best friend, our boss, our co-worker, our child, etc. It would be helpful to know about these differences. Harary and Donahue (1994) provide this feedback, using the Berkeley Personality Profile which is part of their book. They measure the "Big Five" personality dimensions: (1) Expressive Style--introverted to extraverted, (2) Interpersonal Style--inconsiderate to generous, (3) Work Style--lackadaisical to dedicated, (4) Emotional Style--calm to intense, and (5) Intellectual Style--traditional thinking to seeing things differently. Then the same five dimensions are assessed from different viewpoints: how you see yourself inside, how you think others see you, how you would like to be, how you see yourself in different roles (spouse, worker, friend), and, finally, how others actually rate you on the same dimensions. The entire book focuses on how to interpret and use this information to self-improve and relate better. It is easy to understand.

In a similar way, another book (Hirsh and Kummerow, 1989) utilizes the Briggs-Meyer which measures Jungian personality types (see chapter 9) and provides extensive interpretations for the laymen. The book provides the test, the scoring, understanding of the scales, and help in making use of the Briggs-Meyer scores for personal insight, planning, and changing. It does not compare your self-description with other people's opinion. It may be a little more difficult to understand and use than the Berkeley, but the Briggs-Meyer is a longer and more reliable test and perhaps more psychologically sophisticated. The Briggs-Meyer is taught in Schools of Business and used widely by personnel departments and others in industry.

Where can you find and take other psychological tests? There are several collections of brief mental health and personality tests which measure a wide variety of factors: anxiety, depression, anger, introversion, risk-taking, assertiveness, self-esteem, attitudes towards others, even your unconscious, and many other traits. I recommend Cormier (1993), but other good books are by Oldham & Morris (1990), Cohen & Gladstone (1994), and Fensin & Ryan (1990). Greene and Lewis (1983) test your aptitudes and hidden talents in 8 or 9 areas, such as speed and accuracy of thinking, learning a language, scientific thinking, problem solving, artistic ability, social skills, etc. They also advise you about what kind of work you would do best. DuBrin (1989) has a self-sabotage questionnaire, followed by suggestions for handling self-defeating behavior on the job. A psychiatrist, Christ Zois (1992), has written a book that focuses more on measuring your unconscious defenses, i.e. the ways you hide buried emotions from yourself (psychological defenses are described in chapter 5). He then helps the reader see how to use that information in order to solve some of his/her problems, with a special emphasis on Short-Term Therapy.

Tests can, sometimes, also be obtained by talking to a school or mental health counselor. Scholastic aptitude and interest tests, of course, are routinely given in schools. These tests are easily interpreted. You should realize, however, that many counselors would be reluctant to assist you obtain personality tests because most personality tests are restricted to "professional use only." Many of these psychological (pathology or personality) tests would be difficult for a non-professional to interpret. Furthermore, most counselors believe the interpretation of test results to the testee should involve extensive discussion or therapy with a professional, which they may be unwilling to engage in. These are valid objections. My recommendation, if you are really interested in taking some tests, is to approach a counselor and ask if he/she would be willing to administer, score, and interpret for you the tests that you want. This will cost you $200 to $500 or more, however.

Some of the "professional" tests available from a psychologist would be quite understandable after a few hours of reading the test manual. For example, the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule is easily understood and measures the relative strength of 15 of your needs, such as achievement, submissiveness, nurturance, succorance (being taken care of), heterosexuality, hostility, and so on. The California Personality Inventory is another easily used test that measures several traits. Attitude tests are mentioned in chapter 14 and are usually easily understood. The brief summaries of personality tests scattered throughout this book are not long enough to be reliable. If any of the results concern you, however, you should see a psychologist who can give you a more thorough examination.

Computerized interpretations of many psychological tests are currently available to psychologists (cost is about $50), but reports have not yet been developed for the ordinary person. Such reports will be available before long, and when they are I think everyone should get a psychological evaluation every year as part of a comprehensive health check up, just like we get a medical check up. Done on a mass scale, a careful assessment would cost very little ($10?).

Next, we will discuss tests of a special kind which focus on our unconscious motives.

Projective techniques

We all see different things in the same picture because we have different past experiences, needs, feelings, attitudes, and hopes for the future. Our own unique emotional reactions influence how we see things; thus, projective tests give us a chance to discover our projected, often unconscious, needs and feelings. For example, suppose almost all of the stories you made up to a series of pictures involved trying to achieve high goals or receiving awards. Surely such stories suggest a strong drive to excel. Suppose all the older women shown in a series of pictures were seen by you (and not others) as being cold, demanding, angry, and belittling. Surely one would wonder about your relationship with your mother.

The "draw-a-person" has been used by clinicians for decades as a projective test. Try it. Get a large sheet of unlined paper and two or three colors you like and two or three you dislike. Draw yourself or your family. Do not use the colors because they are appropriate, like black for shoes, but use colors according to how much you like or dislike a particular part of your body or according to how much you like or dislike someone in the family. An alternative is to make an abstract drawing of yourself or your family.

There are several ways to interpret such drawings. First of all, artistic skill doesn't count but general demeanor and facial expression, such as strong or weak and happy or sad, are important. Also, the overall size of the self-drawing may reflect positive or negative feeling (little means insignificant). There are several books written about the interpretation of drawings (Keys, 1974; Machover, 1974), but I'll leave you on your own. One of the best methods is to share your drawings with a friend or a group. It is a good way to self-disclose and to get other peoples' reactions to your drawings as well as to your interpretations of your own self-portrait.

Of course, art is used as a therapy, as well as a way to understand the person (Furth, 1988).

Instead of drawing your own picture, another projective procedure is to make up a story to almost any picture with people in it. Clinicians use a series of standard pictures called the Thematic Apperception Test. Any picture will do. Select several pictures, then make up a complete story about each one, i.e. describe what the people are doing and feeling in the picture and tell what happened before the picture (what led up to this scene) and what will happen later (the outcome of the story). Make the story as good and dramatic as you can. Be sure to include how the people are feeling towards each other. You probably need to write the stories down, otherwise parts will be forgotten.

Especially if the picture is vague or ambiguous, very different stories will be made up about it by different people. For instance, suppose several people looked at a picture of a young boy looking at an open book. Some people would see the boy studying and going on to become a great scientist (achievement needs). Others would see him as dreading his homework because he can't understand it (insecurity). Others think he is really not reading but procrastinating and dreaming about playing football. Others speculate he is reading a story instead of mowing the lawn as he was told to do. Still others would suggest that there is really a comic book inside the textbook or that he is reading his first dirty book. Don't you suppose that what each person sees in the picture reflects something in them? Try it.