Awareness Techniques and Emotional Change
Journal Title: Journal of Experiential Psychotherapy - Year 2014, Vol 17, Issue 3
Abstract
Introduction. In a previous article we have presented the effects of re-enacting and reprocessing past problematic experiences in the present on the emotional stability. Further on, our focus on psychotherapeutic mechanisms of change carries on with a psychotherapist’s possibilities to help clients make the best use of their resources in the therapeutic session. Although it has been proved that mindfulness techniques are efficient, some specialists present creative meditation as having superior effects, without enough statistical data to support their position. Objectives. Our objective is to determine the effect of creative meditation on a person’s emotional state, especially in comparison with other psychotherapeutic techniques. Our hypothesis is that creative meditation has superior effects in increasing positive emotions and reducing negative emotions. Methods. An experiment involving psychology students divided in several groups (a group participating in a creative meditation, another one in a movement exercise plus an exercise consisting in relaxation, body scan, focusing and imagery; and a control group), was conducted in order to test the hypothesis. For the evaluation of the emotional state, a simple method was used: a scale containing both positive and negative emotions on which the participants rated (from 1 to 10) how they were feeling at that particular moment. Results. The statistic analysis indicates that creative meditation has made persons feel less restless, furious, nervous or stressed, more glad and joyful, in comparison with the combination of relaxation, body scan and imagery. When compared with the control group, the persons in the creative meditation group also felt less restless, preoccupied, thoughtful, sad, tired or anxious and more relaxed. Conclusions. The use of creative meditation at the beginning of the psychotherapeutic session has the effect of helping the person get in the proper emotional state to start exploring (past) problematic experiences.
Authors and Affiliations
Nicoleta Răban-Motounu, Ileana L. Vitalia
Keywords
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