- Email: [email protected]
The family clay sculpture
T/k
.Arrt
i/l P ‘J chc~rirrrop? . Vol. I I pp. 25-28. ‘3 .Ankho
International
Inc..
1984. Printed
in the C.S..A.
OIY--ASS~,~-I
j3 MI -
.W
THE FAAIILY CLAY SCULPTURE
MARGARET
FRINGS
A method of history taking and diagnostic assessment, The Family Sculpture, one of the diagnostic and treatment methods developed in Itzbiartl Jolclney: At-r OS Psyclzotilertrpy (1983),’ involves a directed meditation which results in a clay model of earliest relationships. This contains clues to present problems and how to work with them. This article describes the therapist’s method in presenting the exercise, and uses a clinical example to illustrate the analysis of four levels of content-the history of the family of origin, the projections onto current figures in the client’s life, the introjections which form a mind-set and screen to current perceptions, and, finally, identification of elements for a therapeutic contract. The clay forms often capture the inner experiences of archetypal content. Unspoken family assumptions in relation to the members as well as the central complex become objectively visible and available for diagnostic assessment in the shape and placement of the figures. The material used is ordinary potter’s clay chosen for its sensory, tactile qualities. The therapist introduces the exercise using a minimal explanation somewhat as follows: When you were a child you received instructions about how to be you from your family. You not only learned manners, how to dress and what friends to choose, but also you picked up some of your parents’ attitudes towards life, particularly their view of your worth and your importance or lack of it. One way of exploring what these messages were is by sculpting what your familyfiJ/t like when you were growing up.
KEYES.
MSW”
What we are investigating is how you came to think about yourself in the ways you do and perhaps to limit yourself in the ways you do. First, think back to a time in your childhood. somewhere between two and eight years old. Think about the members in your family. Who was around’? How old were they? How did you feel about them‘? You may also have had a particular pet who was special to you and perhaps a neighbor or an uncle. Note, on paper, two or three adjectives describing each person who was important to you, then take the clay and make a .scu~~~I~~c ~~~r/rr c~cljcctir~rs describing one particular person. The idea is not to make a figure of a person but something that gives you a feeling of how that person felt to you when you were younger. When you have sculpted each family member in turn. including yourself. put them in relation to each other to show who seemed closer to you and who was far away emotionally.
When the finished sculptures are placed in relation to each other, the essential message each person gave to the client is identified. The therapist encourages rewording the messages into the strongest injunctive form that feels accurate. The one making the sculpt is also instructed to write decisions he or she made as a consequence of how this family functioned andfelr to him as he grew up. Analysis of a Family Sculpt deals with the structure of the family system as it has been encoded within the individual. It focuses on four levels-the family of origin, the projective level, the introjective level and the changed possibilities in one’s present life situation.
*Margaret Frings Keyes is a social activist/psychotherapist with a private practice in San Francisco and Muir Beach. She has taught at University of Californir+Santa Cruz. University of California Medical Center and Antioch West. IKeyes, Margaret Frings ( 1983) /,r\t,trrd Jultr,le~t Arr ~1s P.s~ch~~r/r~rc~p~. La Salle. IL: Open Court. The method was originally described ten years ago in the 1st edition, Enrr~riotltrl Nootliug. then amplified as a therapeutic technique in Vol. I of the series New Directions in Psychotherapy published by the National Institute for the Psychotherapies, New York, 1976 and in Krcurirr 7‘hertrpir rurd Gesralr published by H. Petzold in Dusseldorf, Germany, 1975. The 1983 edition develops art processes in relation to phases of the life cycle.
26
Ll.I\RGARET
When analysis is done in a group. the therapist selects a sculpt and invites the group to relate just to the sculptural feeling of each figure and to comment on the “obvious’‘-such things as the relative size and importance of the figures, the way the space was used, similar design elements betlveen two figures and the way one figure may cut off access to another. Insight can emerge for the creator who has not seen that which seems obvious to the others. For example. when the figures are lined up “stage front“ and apparently not interacting with each other so much as with an unseen audience, one catches a glimpse of family values which emphasize “how we look to others” over “how we feel in relation to each other.” No jnterpr~tation is done during this phase of commenting “on the obvious.” The properties of the observer are revealed by what the observer chooses to observe. The inner knowledge of one’s situation, whether conscious or not, becomes visible. Archetypal forms of nurturing mother/en~ul~ng mother shapes and phallic father/wounded father appear again and again in different persons’ sculptures. Almost invariably the figure occupying the central space of the sculpture is described as hnving the power position in the family and is the key to the central complex. Usually this is a parent, but sometimes a more favored sibling. When the one creating the sculpt piaces herself or himself in the center, she or he usually has a strong ego. When the creator “forgets” to include self, the omission always has a feeling basis which needs to be investigated. The participant now has an opportunity to tell his or her story, describing the _hnli/y of oriLyiil and how he/she felt while growing up in it. The therapist listens carefully to the descriptive words and phrases used by the client. These descriptive words can also be thought of as major elements in the client’s world model.* The therapist also pays attention to what is avoided. Usually, in any family, one or more feelings are particularly difficult to express. Feelings acceptable to the family get substituted when the forbidden feelings are called for in a situation. Because these substitute feelings do not provide the correct energy to resolve the
FRINGS
KEk’ES
“g?stalt,‘. an impasse is created. This becomes a chronic. stereotyped feeling response to stress. Some people seem to be chronically angry. others depressed. others confused. The cover feeling does not get discharged because it does not match the underlying need. The unique complex of feelings, attitudes and avoidances identified in a family sculpt is much like a language for the individual. He or she tends to gravitate toward people who speak a similar tongue. The therapist begins analysis of the pt-ojclcri\,cJ Ic~.cl of the sculpt by noting that one often chooses to be with people who feel familiar and “seem like family.” Even problematic aspects. like sarcastic wit. are comfortable to the extent they are familiar. Sometimes the original correspondence among friends’ or partners‘ emotional languages may be poor, but, interacting over time, the familiar patterns are recognized and reinforced. One sometimes fails to recognize that people treat him in the same ways that he was treated by family members in the past because he tends to recreate situations with the same parameters and issues. e.g., a man’s competitive rivalry with a sister may be re-enacted with a series of Lvomen. The therapist questions: Who in your- present lit; is sending you messages that sound like those you have listed coming from your mother, your brother, stc.?
Often parental messages are currently experienced as coming from institutions such as the Church or from persons in the hierarchy of work relationships. a “boss” or supervisor. Different relationships with siblings may be I-e-enacted with peers or with one’s children. A parent’s jealousy of a child is not uncommon, particularly during teenage years of a same sex child, in relation to ens’s partner. It is often rooted in unresolved problems in the family of origin. Many of the family of origin messages, both positive and negative, are now experienced as coming from one’s marriage partner. The next level of analysis is the itrrmjccfit’c. In this, the messages. once experienced as coming from outside persons. are now perceived as what
“The isomorphic systemic aspect of this modrl can bc easily illustratsd in another excrcix in which the person makes a list of the first 50 people uho come to mind, notes 5 adjactivss for each and then doc7$ :L frequency distribution count. The words with the highest frequency of occurrence are usually found to be the descriptive Lvords of the Family Sculpt.
THE
FAMILY
CLAY
one tells oneself. A parent’s injunction “work hard!” has become one’s self-description. “I drive myself. I’m a hard worker, maybe even a workaholic.” The therapist encourages the person to explore its development and in which situations he hears these inner comments. Sometimes he values them and sometimes he feels a sense of self-sabotage. The fourth level of analysis focuses on change possibilities in present life. From it develops the compact-the agreement between therapist and client concerning what they are going to do together. The therapist approaches this by returning attention to the family of origin and focusing on each part of the sculpture, e.g.:
Moving the figures about without changing their forms enables reflection about the masculine and feminine elements and the use of power, e.g., family alliances and avoidances are apparent in placement. Clues emerge to issues the client is ready to work on. These levels of analysis are illustrated in the case of “Paul”:
distant,
ineffectual,
silent
with occasional BROTHER:
I
I
MOTHER: u.
0
*\
w PAUL:
hardworking, Diagram
happy
1. Family
outside
Sculpt
27
I. The “oh~~io~s”: Central place of brother and his size: the father as a “closed box”; a jagged and open quality to the inner part of the mother with her relatively smooth wall to the outside; and a design relationship between Paul’s figure and figure of mother. 2. &lessrrgles f&m ‘ 'ftrnlil~-of-origin": Father to Paul: “You won’t amount to much. None of the men in my family have.” Mother to Paul: “Always obey the Rules! Life will disappoint Brother to Paul: “I’ll get you but keep trying.“ mine and you can watch my dust.” Translated into major irljullctiou: KEEP TRYING BUT YOU WON’T MAKE IT. Childhood decisiorl: I’ll try hard and I’ll probably not make it. Paul’s decision was evident in his history. Having tried and failed to become an engineer, he tried and failed to become an officer in the Air Force. After leaving the service, he spent 6 years completing his law studies to “learn the rules.” He managed to pass his bar exams on the third try. The demands of his profession gave him little time for an intimate relationship, and his wife left him after 2 years of marriage. His partner also left him to join a more prestigious firm. This took place before Paul came to therapy. Paul had been the “good boy” in his family and his mother’s favorite. He never lost his temper and he worked hard. He felt that he failed to attain his goals because under stress he became “confused.” His father had lost his job in mid-life when his accounting firm merged with another company, and he never really worked again. The family was supported by the mother’s
As you look at the shape you have given your father figure and see him standing “alone,” “isolated,” “stem” (whatever description the person has used), what do you feel was missing for him in his life’? What did your father really need (to function effectively/to become whole/to feel understood and supported)? Was there someone in the family who could have helped‘? What stood in the way’? . What does this correspond to in you as an inner reality’?
FATHER:
SCULPTURE
the home,
of Paul,
bursts angry,
of anger spiteful
and competitive
lovmg to chtldren but cautiois and fearful; fun on vacations, but sad at home
“easy-going”
a middle-aged
attorney.
25
MARGARET
janitorial job at a local school and the sons’ eamings from grocery and paper delivery routes. At this time Paul feared that he might be repeating his father’s mid-life failure. and this prompted him to -‘try therapy.“ 3. Projrctir.r ir~,el of‘clrlcl1ysi.s: The poor relationship skills in Paul’s family of origin were repeated in his own marriage and the choice of a partner on whom he could project his father’s messages that he would not amount to much. He also described his wife’s behavior in the same terms as that of his brother, “competitive and although she had initially been fun to spiteful,” be with. His law partner, like his brother. was “out to win,” leaving him behind. aggressive, 4. 1tltrojcctir.c IcL*c/: Paul did not identify with his brother’s spitefulness but he did realize that he, too, was strongly competitive, albeit unsuccessful and resentful. He confessed that he was aware of an inner voice that told him he did not amount to much, and he was afraid that he was not going to achieve success in the law practice he wanted. He was filled with fears much like his mother, and felt that his unceasing work, which tired and thus justified him, was no longer working to keep these fears at bay. 5. P.s>~chothoapy contract: A new decision: To BE successful instead of TRYING. This meant using therapy effectively instead of “trystaying with points of “confuing therapy”; using the confusion feeling as a clue to sion,” buried anger. When he risked showing his anger in psychodrama, Paul found that this method worked, and he contracted for three months of weekly group sessions. At the end of this period, having made the substantial gains in his profes-
FRINGS
KEYES
sional life (“more clients and more money coming in”) which indicated he had achieved his goal, he decided to extend therapy to deal with his difficulty and fears in close relationships. Further work with clay provided a deepening connection with the feelmgs first hinted at in the Family Sculpt. Diclgtwsis is the shorthand description of what is so about a client’s situation. It includes the assets. strengths and capacity to change and deal with life circumstances. It includes motivation, the degree of felt discomfort and hope for improvement. as well as the realistic possibilities that circumstances and the therapeutic encounter offer. The Family Sculpt provides a vivid picture of the central complex in this earliest world model. It activates perceptions, emotions and thoughts about family members. Acceptable and hidden values, facilitating and limiting decisions about power. personal worth, lovableness and sexuality can be drawn from it. Often feeling knowledge in the hands bypasses the conscious mind to appear in the clay forms. Distortions from the past, evident in the sculpt, contain clues to problems in the present and how to work with them. Discussions of the analysis can focus the therapeutic work the client will do. As the client develops his sculpt, his unique resources are available as well as his problematic legacy of emotions. beliefs and behavior. The family collective is there, but also something of this unique individual which is not conditioned and which can appear in creative work, thereby liberating from conditioning. and reinstating the original creative person. The therapist serves as witness and facilitator.
.Arrt
i/l P ‘J chc~rirrrop? . Vol. I I pp. 25-28. ‘3 .Ankho
International
Inc..
1984. Printed
in the C.S..A.
OIY--ASS~,~-I
j3 MI -
.W
THE FAAIILY CLAY SCULPTURE
MARGARET
FRINGS
A method of history taking and diagnostic assessment, The Family Sculpture, one of the diagnostic and treatment methods developed in Itzbiartl Jolclney: At-r OS Psyclzotilertrpy (1983),’ involves a directed meditation which results in a clay model of earliest relationships. This contains clues to present problems and how to work with them. This article describes the therapist’s method in presenting the exercise, and uses a clinical example to illustrate the analysis of four levels of content-the history of the family of origin, the projections onto current figures in the client’s life, the introjections which form a mind-set and screen to current perceptions, and, finally, identification of elements for a therapeutic contract. The clay forms often capture the inner experiences of archetypal content. Unspoken family assumptions in relation to the members as well as the central complex become objectively visible and available for diagnostic assessment in the shape and placement of the figures. The material used is ordinary potter’s clay chosen for its sensory, tactile qualities. The therapist introduces the exercise using a minimal explanation somewhat as follows: When you were a child you received instructions about how to be you from your family. You not only learned manners, how to dress and what friends to choose, but also you picked up some of your parents’ attitudes towards life, particularly their view of your worth and your importance or lack of it. One way of exploring what these messages were is by sculpting what your familyfiJ/t like when you were growing up.
KEYES.
MSW”
What we are investigating is how you came to think about yourself in the ways you do and perhaps to limit yourself in the ways you do. First, think back to a time in your childhood. somewhere between two and eight years old. Think about the members in your family. Who was around’? How old were they? How did you feel about them‘? You may also have had a particular pet who was special to you and perhaps a neighbor or an uncle. Note, on paper, two or three adjectives describing each person who was important to you, then take the clay and make a .scu~~~I~~c ~~~r/rr c~cljcctir~rs describing one particular person. The idea is not to make a figure of a person but something that gives you a feeling of how that person felt to you when you were younger. When you have sculpted each family member in turn. including yourself. put them in relation to each other to show who seemed closer to you and who was far away emotionally.
When the finished sculptures are placed in relation to each other, the essential message each person gave to the client is identified. The therapist encourages rewording the messages into the strongest injunctive form that feels accurate. The one making the sculpt is also instructed to write decisions he or she made as a consequence of how this family functioned andfelr to him as he grew up. Analysis of a Family Sculpt deals with the structure of the family system as it has been encoded within the individual. It focuses on four levels-the family of origin, the projective level, the introjective level and the changed possibilities in one’s present life situation.
*Margaret Frings Keyes is a social activist/psychotherapist with a private practice in San Francisco and Muir Beach. She has taught at University of Californir+Santa Cruz. University of California Medical Center and Antioch West. IKeyes, Margaret Frings ( 1983) /,r\t,trrd Jultr,le~t Arr ~1s P.s~ch~~r/r~rc~p~. La Salle. IL: Open Court. The method was originally described ten years ago in the 1st edition, Enrr~riotltrl Nootliug. then amplified as a therapeutic technique in Vol. I of the series New Directions in Psychotherapy published by the National Institute for the Psychotherapies, New York, 1976 and in Krcurirr 7‘hertrpir rurd Gesralr published by H. Petzold in Dusseldorf, Germany, 1975. The 1983 edition develops art processes in relation to phases of the life cycle.
26
Ll.I\RGARET
When analysis is done in a group. the therapist selects a sculpt and invites the group to relate just to the sculptural feeling of each figure and to comment on the “obvious’‘-such things as the relative size and importance of the figures, the way the space was used, similar design elements betlveen two figures and the way one figure may cut off access to another. Insight can emerge for the creator who has not seen that which seems obvious to the others. For example. when the figures are lined up “stage front“ and apparently not interacting with each other so much as with an unseen audience, one catches a glimpse of family values which emphasize “how we look to others” over “how we feel in relation to each other.” No jnterpr~tation is done during this phase of commenting “on the obvious.” The properties of the observer are revealed by what the observer chooses to observe. The inner knowledge of one’s situation, whether conscious or not, becomes visible. Archetypal forms of nurturing mother/en~ul~ng mother shapes and phallic father/wounded father appear again and again in different persons’ sculptures. Almost invariably the figure occupying the central space of the sculpture is described as hnving the power position in the family and is the key to the central complex. Usually this is a parent, but sometimes a more favored sibling. When the one creating the sculpt piaces herself or himself in the center, she or he usually has a strong ego. When the creator “forgets” to include self, the omission always has a feeling basis which needs to be investigated. The participant now has an opportunity to tell his or her story, describing the _hnli/y of oriLyiil and how he/she felt while growing up in it. The therapist listens carefully to the descriptive words and phrases used by the client. These descriptive words can also be thought of as major elements in the client’s world model.* The therapist also pays attention to what is avoided. Usually, in any family, one or more feelings are particularly difficult to express. Feelings acceptable to the family get substituted when the forbidden feelings are called for in a situation. Because these substitute feelings do not provide the correct energy to resolve the
FRINGS
KEk’ES
“g?stalt,‘. an impasse is created. This becomes a chronic. stereotyped feeling response to stress. Some people seem to be chronically angry. others depressed. others confused. The cover feeling does not get discharged because it does not match the underlying need. The unique complex of feelings, attitudes and avoidances identified in a family sculpt is much like a language for the individual. He or she tends to gravitate toward people who speak a similar tongue. The therapist begins analysis of the pt-ojclcri\,cJ Ic~.cl of the sculpt by noting that one often chooses to be with people who feel familiar and “seem like family.” Even problematic aspects. like sarcastic wit. are comfortable to the extent they are familiar. Sometimes the original correspondence among friends’ or partners‘ emotional languages may be poor, but, interacting over time, the familiar patterns are recognized and reinforced. One sometimes fails to recognize that people treat him in the same ways that he was treated by family members in the past because he tends to recreate situations with the same parameters and issues. e.g., a man’s competitive rivalry with a sister may be re-enacted with a series of Lvomen. The therapist questions: Who in your- present lit; is sending you messages that sound like those you have listed coming from your mother, your brother, stc.?
Often parental messages are currently experienced as coming from institutions such as the Church or from persons in the hierarchy of work relationships. a “boss” or supervisor. Different relationships with siblings may be I-e-enacted with peers or with one’s children. A parent’s jealousy of a child is not uncommon, particularly during teenage years of a same sex child, in relation to ens’s partner. It is often rooted in unresolved problems in the family of origin. Many of the family of origin messages, both positive and negative, are now experienced as coming from one’s marriage partner. The next level of analysis is the itrrmjccfit’c. In this, the messages. once experienced as coming from outside persons. are now perceived as what
“The isomorphic systemic aspect of this modrl can bc easily illustratsd in another excrcix in which the person makes a list of the first 50 people uho come to mind, notes 5 adjactivss for each and then doc7$ :L frequency distribution count. The words with the highest frequency of occurrence are usually found to be the descriptive Lvords of the Family Sculpt.
THE
FAMILY
CLAY
one tells oneself. A parent’s injunction “work hard!” has become one’s self-description. “I drive myself. I’m a hard worker, maybe even a workaholic.” The therapist encourages the person to explore its development and in which situations he hears these inner comments. Sometimes he values them and sometimes he feels a sense of self-sabotage. The fourth level of analysis focuses on change possibilities in present life. From it develops the compact-the agreement between therapist and client concerning what they are going to do together. The therapist approaches this by returning attention to the family of origin and focusing on each part of the sculpture, e.g.:
Moving the figures about without changing their forms enables reflection about the masculine and feminine elements and the use of power, e.g., family alliances and avoidances are apparent in placement. Clues emerge to issues the client is ready to work on. These levels of analysis are illustrated in the case of “Paul”:
distant,
ineffectual,
silent
with occasional BROTHER:
I
I
MOTHER: u.
0
*\
w PAUL:
hardworking, Diagram
happy
1. Family
outside
Sculpt
27
I. The “oh~~io~s”: Central place of brother and his size: the father as a “closed box”; a jagged and open quality to the inner part of the mother with her relatively smooth wall to the outside; and a design relationship between Paul’s figure and figure of mother. 2. &lessrrgles f&m ‘ 'ftrnlil~-of-origin": Father to Paul: “You won’t amount to much. None of the men in my family have.” Mother to Paul: “Always obey the Rules! Life will disappoint Brother to Paul: “I’ll get you but keep trying.“ mine and you can watch my dust.” Translated into major irljullctiou: KEEP TRYING BUT YOU WON’T MAKE IT. Childhood decisiorl: I’ll try hard and I’ll probably not make it. Paul’s decision was evident in his history. Having tried and failed to become an engineer, he tried and failed to become an officer in the Air Force. After leaving the service, he spent 6 years completing his law studies to “learn the rules.” He managed to pass his bar exams on the third try. The demands of his profession gave him little time for an intimate relationship, and his wife left him after 2 years of marriage. His partner also left him to join a more prestigious firm. This took place before Paul came to therapy. Paul had been the “good boy” in his family and his mother’s favorite. He never lost his temper and he worked hard. He felt that he failed to attain his goals because under stress he became “confused.” His father had lost his job in mid-life when his accounting firm merged with another company, and he never really worked again. The family was supported by the mother’s
As you look at the shape you have given your father figure and see him standing “alone,” “isolated,” “stem” (whatever description the person has used), what do you feel was missing for him in his life’? What did your father really need (to function effectively/to become whole/to feel understood and supported)? Was there someone in the family who could have helped‘? What stood in the way’? . What does this correspond to in you as an inner reality’?
FATHER:
SCULPTURE
the home,
of Paul,
bursts angry,
of anger spiteful
and competitive
lovmg to chtldren but cautiois and fearful; fun on vacations, but sad at home
“easy-going”
a middle-aged
attorney.
25
MARGARET
janitorial job at a local school and the sons’ eamings from grocery and paper delivery routes. At this time Paul feared that he might be repeating his father’s mid-life failure. and this prompted him to -‘try therapy.“ 3. Projrctir.r ir~,el of‘clrlcl1ysi.s: The poor relationship skills in Paul’s family of origin were repeated in his own marriage and the choice of a partner on whom he could project his father’s messages that he would not amount to much. He also described his wife’s behavior in the same terms as that of his brother, “competitive and although she had initially been fun to spiteful,” be with. His law partner, like his brother. was “out to win,” leaving him behind. aggressive, 4. 1tltrojcctir.c IcL*c/: Paul did not identify with his brother’s spitefulness but he did realize that he, too, was strongly competitive, albeit unsuccessful and resentful. He confessed that he was aware of an inner voice that told him he did not amount to much, and he was afraid that he was not going to achieve success in the law practice he wanted. He was filled with fears much like his mother, and felt that his unceasing work, which tired and thus justified him, was no longer working to keep these fears at bay. 5. P.s>~chothoapy contract: A new decision: To BE successful instead of TRYING. This meant using therapy effectively instead of “trystaying with points of “confuing therapy”; using the confusion feeling as a clue to sion,” buried anger. When he risked showing his anger in psychodrama, Paul found that this method worked, and he contracted for three months of weekly group sessions. At the end of this period, having made the substantial gains in his profes-
FRINGS
KEYES
sional life (“more clients and more money coming in”) which indicated he had achieved his goal, he decided to extend therapy to deal with his difficulty and fears in close relationships. Further work with clay provided a deepening connection with the feelmgs first hinted at in the Family Sculpt. Diclgtwsis is the shorthand description of what is so about a client’s situation. It includes the assets. strengths and capacity to change and deal with life circumstances. It includes motivation, the degree of felt discomfort and hope for improvement. as well as the realistic possibilities that circumstances and the therapeutic encounter offer. The Family Sculpt provides a vivid picture of the central complex in this earliest world model. It activates perceptions, emotions and thoughts about family members. Acceptable and hidden values, facilitating and limiting decisions about power. personal worth, lovableness and sexuality can be drawn from it. Often feeling knowledge in the hands bypasses the conscious mind to appear in the clay forms. Distortions from the past, evident in the sculpt, contain clues to problems in the present and how to work with them. Discussions of the analysis can focus the therapeutic work the client will do. As the client develops his sculpt, his unique resources are available as well as his problematic legacy of emotions. beliefs and behavior. The family collective is there, but also something of this unique individual which is not conditioned and which can appear in creative work, thereby liberating from conditioning. and reinstating the original creative person. The therapist serves as witness and facilitator.