Anxiety is a child of evolution

Anxiety is a feeling familiar to absolutely every person. Anxiety is based on the instinct of self-preservation, which we inherited from our distant ancestors and which manifests itself in the form of a defensive reaction “Flight or fight.” In other words, anxiety does not arise out of nowhere, but has an evolutionary basis. If at a time when a person was constantly in danger in the form of an attack by a saber-toothed tiger or an invasion of a hostile tribe, anxiety really helped to survive, then today we live in the safest time in the history of mankind. But our instincts continue to operate at a prehistoric level, creating many problems. Therefore, it is important to understand that anxiety is not your personal flaw, but a mechanism developed by evolution that is no longer relevant in modern conditions. Anxious impulses, once necessary for survival, have now lost their expediency, turning into neurotic manifestations that significantly limit the lives of anxious people.

This test consists of stimulus material (eight color cards) and a methodological manual, which contains a description of the test, testing procedure, processing, and interpretation of results.

Using this test, you can determine the child’s emotional well-being not only at the moment, but also identify his preferred emotional state, as well as his evaluative attitude towards kindergarten, family, upcoming schooling, etc. (Appendices 1-8).

Diagnosis of the emotional state of a preschooler and his evaluative activity (attitude) towards:

ü level child’s comfort in kindergarten;

ü to the future schooling;

ü situations in family;

to kindergarten during the adaptation period

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E. D. Polyakova, educational psychologist

MBOU Primary school-kindergarten in Essentuki, Stavropol Territory. 2016.

Diagnosis of the emotional state of preschool children

M. Luscher color test

Areas of use.This technique can be used:

1. when studying the level comfort child at home, in kindergarten;
2. when identifying the emotional attitudes of preschoolersin relation to upcoming schooling;
3. during diagnosis family situations;
4. to identify the child’s relationship with kindergartenduring the adaptation period;
5. to identify people prone todepressive states and affective reactions.

general description

This test consists of stimulus material (eight color cards) and a methodological manual, which contains a description of the test, testing procedure, numerical indicators and their calculation, processing, interpretation of results and applications (1-8). Interpretation tables make it possible to simplify the processing of test results as much as possible.

Time: 5-8 minutes.

The Luscher color test can be used individually. Along with individual examination, group examination is allowed.

Guidelines. Test procedure:the experimenter shuffles the colored cards and places them with the color surface facing up in front of the subject, after which he asks him to choose the one he likes best out of eight colors, i.e., selectmost pleasantcolor out of eight. The experimenter puts the card with the selected color aside, turning the color side down, and writes down its number in the protocol table. The color selection procedure is repeated. If the subject cannot choose the most pleasant color, the experimenter suggests choosing the most pleasant one. unpleasant color and then suggests moving on to choosing nice colors.

After 2-3 minutes the experimenterrepeats the study: again lays out the cards with the color side up and invites the subject to choose their preferred colors again, explaining that the subject should not remember the order of the layout in the first choice or consciously change it.

To calculate the total deviation from the autogenic norm (SD)it is necessary to compare the order of places that colors occupy in the child’s choice with the “ideal” arrangement(34251607). First, the difference between the actual occupied space and the standard position of the color is calculated, then these differences (their absolute values, without taking into account the sign) are summed up. The CO value varies from 0 to 32 and can only be even . The CO value reflects a stable emotional background, i.e., the prevailing mood of the child.

The stimulus material for the test consists of standard multi-colored squares cut out of paper with sides ranging from 28 mm to 50 mm. In diagnosing children, an incomplete set of 8 colored squares is usually used. The main colors are considered (in order of the number assigned to them):

1. blue
2. green clearly preferred colors
3. red preferred colors
4. yellow
5. violet neutral colors
6. brown
7. black negative colors
8. gray (zero)

The first two colors are considered clearly preferred, the third and fourth are preferred, the fifth and sixth are neutral, and the seventh and eight cause antipathy and a negative attitude.

A simplified examination procedure (for eight colors) comes down to the simultaneous presentation of all colored squares on a white background to the subject with a proposal to choose the one he likes the most, which is pleasant. The selected square is turned over and set aside, then the procedure is repeated. A series of squares is formed in which the colors are arranged according to their attractiveness to the subject.

The psychological interpretation of the resulting series of subjective color preferences is based, firstly, on the assumption that each color has a certain symbolic meaning, for example: red - the desire for power, dominance, green - perseverance, perseverance, etc.

Secondly, it is believed thatrange of color preferencesreflects the individual characteristics of the subject. At the same time, it has functional significance position occupied by a specific color. For example, it is believed that the first two positions of the series determine the individual’s goals and ways of achieving them, and the last two are the suppressed needs symbolized by these colors. Selection in area primary colors is associated with conscious tendencies, and among additional - with the sphere of the unconscious.

The first choice in the Luscher test characterizesdesired state, second - real . Depending on the purpose of the study, you can interpret the results of the corresponding test and select an assessment system by comparing the results of the desired and actual state of the child.

1. Assessing the results of the emotional state.

4 points - at the beginning of the row, blue, yellow, purple colors. Black, gray, brown - at the end of the row.Favorable emotional state.

3 points - red and green colors are allowed in the first positions. Shifting gray and brown to the middle of the row.Satisfactory emotional state.

2 points - shifting black to the middle of the row. Blue, yellow, purple are in last positions.The emotional state of the child is unsatisfactory- the help of a psychologist or teacher is required.

1 point - black and gray at the beginning of the row; the child refuses to comply.The child is in crisis, the help of specialists (psychologist, psychotherapist) is required.

Appendix 1. Stimulus material. Color cards.

Appendix 2. Table of the protocol for studying the emotional state of the child. Luscher color test.

Procedure for presenting cards

Ordinal color number according to Wallneffor (an indicator of psychological well-being)

Interpretation of positions. Emotional State Scores

Conclusion of a teacher-psychologist about the child’s emotional state (IPB)

At the beginning of the row there are blue, yellow, purple colors. Black, gray, brown - at the end of the row 4 points

Red and green colors are in the first positions. Shifting gray and brown to the middle of the row 3 points

Shifts black to the middle of the row. Blue, yellow, purple - in last positions 2 points

Black and gray at the beginning of the row. The child refuses to complete the task 1 point

Serial number of the selected color(selected row positions)

Appendix 3. Table of functions of primary presentation colors.

The “+” function in Table 3 of the Luscher color test means an intensification of the need expressed by a given color, “x” - the experience of states associated with its satisfaction, “=” - the irrelevance of the need at the moment, “-” - the impossibility or undesirability of satisfying the need, negative attitude, and therefore her frustration.

F-ya	Colors
	Blue	Green	Red	Yellow
«+»	The desire for peace. Intense need for pleasant communication and satisfaction, stable positive attachment, desire for harmony, sensitivity.	Tension of will. Self-affirmation, vanity, spontaneous desire to play a certain role, flexibility of volitional manifestations in difficult operating conditions.	The pursuit of emotions. Active participation and high activity, willpower and a sense of satisfaction in achieving the goal.	Perceiving arousal to relieve tension. Waiting for meetings, opening up, fussiness, running away from problems, illusory expectation of the future. protects hopes for success, spontaneous satisfaction from participation in activities.
"X"	Readiness for peace without tension, pleasant relationships and satisfaction of basic needs for communication	Self-determination, self-control.	Stagnation, frustration, irritability, conflict.	Readiness for contacts.
«=»	Superficial connections and relationships, the desire to isolate oneself, to step aside	Low level of aspirations, passive attitude towards the established order and regime.	Nervous irritability, needs careful handling, lack of desire for communication and activity.	A critical attitude towards the choice of contacts and hobbies.
«-»	Anxiety, fussiness, lack of deep “cordial” connections, dissatisfaction with relationships with peers and one’s activities.	Restricted self-expression, defensive tension, denied recognition. People around you are perceived as exerting cruel, heartless pressure, forcing you to do what you don’t want.	Over-irritability, feeling of weakness, feeling of helplessness. Offended, having difficulty coping with business. Tired and poorly oriented in the surrounding environment.	Restless waiting. Thematic fixation, limitation of self-disclosure. Stiffness, overexcitation, withdrawal.

Appendix 4. Functions of additional presentation colors.

Colors	Grey	Violet	Brown	Black
Function	Negative attitude towards the team, partial integration	Sensitization. Magical-erotic identification.	Physical needs of the body.
«+»	Fencing off, cautious restraint, isolation, secrecy, social isolation.	The desire to charm, sensuality, suggestibility.	Regression to physical needs, escape from problems.	Expression of protest, negativism, impulsive-aggressive behavior.
"X"	Limited emotional readiness for contacts. Shutdown.	Sensuality.	Need for comfort and physical satisfaction.	Protest and withdrawal from a partner or situation
«=»	Emotional readiness to communicate. Interest in social relationships.	Holds back his feelings. Reflection of feelings. Scrupulousness. Sensitivity and touchiness.	Discharge of physical needs.	The ability to tolerate restrictions and make compromises. Agrees with the terms.
«-»	Emotional excitability, desire for social success.	Suppression of sensitivity, control of feelings. Aesthetic, ethical or logical desire for order.	Suppression, repression or inhibition of physical needs.	Rejecting interference and restrictions, ignoring threats, entrepreneurship.

Appendix 5. Questions to identify the emotional attitudes of preschoolers in relation to the upcoming schooling

1. Do you want to go to school?
2. Do you want to stay in kindergarten (at home) for another year?
3. Do you like it when people read books to you?
4. Do you ask yourself (yourself) to have a book read to you?
5. Why do you want to go to school?
6. Do you like school supplies?
7. If you are allowed to use school supplies at home and not go to school, will that be okay with you? Why?
8. Who would you like to be when playing school with the kids: a student or a teacher? Why?
   

Appendix 6. Questions when researching a child’s comfort level in kindergarten:

1. Do you love going to kindergarten?
2. Would you like to work in a kindergarten when you become an adult?
3. Are you friends in the group? Who are you friends with?
4. Do you often quarrel?
5. Are you having a good time in the group today?
6. Will you go to kindergarten tomorrow?

Appendix 7. Questions for diagnosing the situation in the family:

1. What color would mom choose?
2. What color would dad choose?
3. Do you like it when guests come to you?
4. Who would you go to the carousel with: mom? dad?
5. Where do you like to play: at home? in kindergarten? visiting?
6. What kind of apartment (house) do you have? What does it look like?
7. Would you like someone from kindergarten to come visit you?

Appendix 8. Questions to identify the child’s relationship with kindergarten during the adaptation period:

1. Do you like going to sex, why?
2. Do you think the children in your group are good or bad?
3. Could you give a friend a toy for good?
4. When you are punished, what mood do you have, how do you feel?
5. If the teacher praises you for something, what mood do you get in?
6. You are expected in the group every morning, are you welcome?
7. Do you choose your own toys?
8. Will you also come to kindergarten tomorrow?

A study using the CRT (Color Test of Relationships) technique by A. Etkind is used to diagnose, at the model-figurative level, the nature of the relationships of children and adolescents with people significant to them, parents and peers, as well as with their own “I”. The value of this method is that with its help it is easy to detect the contradiction between the verbal, that is, the verbally expressed picture of relationships and the unconscious, hidden in the subconscious. Timely diagnosis of problems in communicating with others will help solve the problem of childhood and adult neurosis.

Characteristics of the color relationship test by A. M. Etkind

The author of the experimental methodology of the color relationship test (CRT) was the Soviet psychologist Alexander Markovich Etkind, a graduate of the Faculty of Psychology of Leningrad University, a well-known Western cultural scientist since the 90s, and the author of publications on historical and cultural topics.

Every thing has its own color. Everyone has feelings too. Silence is white.

Alessandro D'Avenia

White like milk, red like blood

The scientific and practical goal pursued by A. Etkind was the possibility of restoring poorly realized or poorly verbalized features of interpersonal relationships among patients in clinical psychiatry. Then the test became popular in consultative psychological practice with adults, and later became widespread in studies of the psychology of children and adolescents.

Outstanding psychologist and culturologist A. M. Etkind

The CTO technique is based on the hypothesis that the most important characteristics of subconscious psychological processes are reflected in color associations. Numerous psychological experiments have confirmed the existence of a direct connection between the perception of color and a person’s emotions. The color impulse forms an associative pair of color - emotion, bringing a person’s true attitude towards others from the realm of the subconscious and secret into a field understandable to a psychologist, which makes it possible to study the results and provide timely assistance if it is required.

The results of these studies formed the basis of the psychodiagnostic method of the Luscher color test. According to Luscher, each color carries encoded unconscious information, and he also developed a way to interpret each color.

A. Etkind proposed using the method of color associations to decipher unconscious information about interpersonal relationships and self-esteem of the subject, which would help to understand the underlying causes of internal or external conflict or emotional stress of the individual.

He proceeded from the following assumptions:

• behind each color chosen by the person being studied for a particular character or event, there is archetypal information, which will become an indicator of the interpersonal relationships of the person being tested;
• the test taker builds his own rating based on sympathy for one color and rejection of another, and interpersonal relationships are projected onto this scale and analyzed according to color priorities.

Procedure for the Color Relationship Test

Color psychodiagnostics of relationships can be started with children aged five years and older. Studies of children suffering from neuroses aged from three to fifteen years showed that children already at three to four years old perceived the color analogue task with interest, as a game. In play, the child “opens up” and often unconsciously expresses those feelings that he avoids talking about directly. Even autistic children who have difficulty verbalizing their relationships responded easily to the color test.

Colors can be compared to the vitamins a child needs for his growth and development.

Bazyma B. A

Psychology of color. Theory and practice

Organization of testing of children of different ages

Diagnostics using the color relationship test for older schoolchildren is practically no different from conducting a similar test with adults, while for preschoolers and younger schoolchildren the procedure is extremely simplified and adapted.

Organizing and conducting testing involves a strictly individual form of work.

A set of cards of eight colors should be prepared, which are used in the so-called “Luscher short color test”. The colors have their own numbering:

1. Gray (conditional number - 0).
2. Blue (1).
3. Green (2).
4. Red (3).
5. Yellow (4).
6. Purple (5).
7. Brown (6).
8. Black (7).
9. Lay out the cards on a table with a light surface or a white sheet of thick paper in a random semicircle. Cards should not overlap or run into each other.

To carry out CTO we use eight-color Luscher cards

Lighting is preferably the closest to natural, but direct sunlight falling on the table or in the child’s face should be avoided; with artificial lighting, glare from lighting fixtures should be avoided.

Preparing a list of characters and concepts that will be used

Previously, the researcher, in a personal dialogue with the test taker, compiles a list of significant characters from the immediate or distant circle of social contacts for the latter. It may include family members, friends, a sports coach, a teacher, an educator, a nanny in kindergarten (depending on the age of the child), that is, those who play a certain role in the life of the person being studied. The same list includes projections of the test taker in time and space.

For schoolchildren the following concepts will be interesting and meaningful: “you are at school”, “you are with friends”, “you are at a school holiday”, “you are at a competition”, “you are on holiday with your parents”. The preschooler should be offered the situations “you are playing with friends”, “you are in kindergarten”, “you are visiting your grandmother”, as well as the concepts of “your favorite toy”, “your pet”.

A pet is a significant concept for a preschooler

This information is written down on a separate sheet of paper. The contents of the list depend on the child’s personality and hobbies, his age and testing objectives.

For example, if the student’s educational interests are humanitarian in orientation (which can be learned from a conversation with the teacher), it is advisable to include questions about a favorite book, writer, poet in the test - sometimes the opinion of the author of a book is no less authoritative for a teenager than a parent’s.

If a child plays sports, the circle of significant people includes a coach, teammates, and the list of concepts includes competitions and training. It happens that children engage in some type of activity not out of their own preferences, but in order not to conflict with parents, to whom figure skating or a school with a mathematical bias seems to be the best start in life for their children. The child does not like their choice; he is in constant internal conflict, doing something he doesn’t like for the sake of his loved ones.

If there is a suspicion of violence and aggression at school (parents can contact a school psychologist with such a problem), the test is aimed at determining relationships with the external circle of friends (acquaintances). The list of persons will include classmates, older and younger schoolmates, and teachers. The situations selected are “school”: “you’re at recess,” “you’ve been called to the blackboard,” “you’re walking alone from class late at night.” Of course, such important, painful questions must be interspersed with neutral ones, about family, hobbies, so that the teenager does not withdraw into himself and refuse testing.

Brown, gray, especially black color of association is a reason to sound the alarm, look for and eliminate the causes of stress and depression. Thanks to the test, the child’s subconscious will give the direction in which the source of trouble is located.

Unlike children of preschool and primary school age, older schoolchildren do not perceive the test as a game with colors. but as an opportunity to understand yourself, understand your experiences, and a competent psychologist will respect this perception of the test by almost adults. “Help me get to know you - and I will help you with this,” - testing of the oldest schoolchildren should be structured in this vein. Questions about the future profession, about plans after graduation, about relationships with the opposite sex can be included in the test, but this must be done tactfully, not condescendingly, on an equal basis. Both the psychologist’s tone and his authority with the child are important here.
It should also be remembered that boys are no less sensitive and vulnerable than girls. But due to upbringing and social stereotypes, they tend to hide their feelings.

If you can play with the baby, then you need to cooperate with the older child. Children of high school age are rarely tested by a psychologist just for fun. When a teenager comes for help, he must make sure that he is taken seriously.

Teenagers' problems should be treated with special respect

The psychologist can further coordinate or clarify the list by asking leading questions to the child’s family and teachers. The number of items in the list recommended by experts is no more than 18–20 and no less than 12.

Stages of diagnosis according to A. M. Etkind

The testing itself is divided into three stages: research of associations, a short rest (5–7 minutes) and determination of the rank of cards (establishing color preferences).

Association Study

Eight-color Luscher cards are randomly laid out in front of the test taker. The psychologist turns to the child with a request to choose a card that best matches the character of a particular person from the list, clarifying that each color can be chosen more than once.

It is important to find out whether the child understands what character is and whether he replaces this concept with the perception of a person by his appearance (color of clothes, hair).

If it is difficult for a child to abstract from external signs, and the psychologist found this out by asking leading questions, you can paraphrase the instructions as follows: “Choose the color that most suits you when you think about your mother.” The characters on the list are named in order of increasing importance, that is, the least significant ones are named first. All decisions of the test taker regarding his choice are digitally recorded in the corresponding column of the protocol.

The psychologist asks the subject to choose a color card that matches a character or concept from the list

Establishing a scale of color preferences

After the end of the color association stage, the child is distracted for a few minutes with another activity or conversation. Then his attention is returned to the color cards, but now the task will be to arrange them in order of degree of pleasantness, starting with the most acceptable. There are two ways to define a color scale.

In the first option, the child chooses the card that is most attractive to him, it is removed, and the choice is recorded digitally in the first column of the protocol. A similar selection procedure is repeated four times, thus filling in the first four columns of the protocol sequentially. Of the remaining four color cards, the child is now asked to choose the most unpleasant one, the result is recorded in numerical form in the rightmost column of the protocol.

A similar procedure is repeated three more times, filling out the remaining sections of the protocol step by step, now from right to left. As a result, a digital series is obtained that corresponds to the color-associative sympathies of the subject.

This algorithm can be used for children who have problems making a choice when you hear them say: “I like all the colors, there are none that I don’t like.”

In the second option, the researcher asks the child to indicate the card that he likes more than the others. After selecting the subject, the card is removed, a similar procedure is repeated six times until only two cards remain. Each time the result is entered into the protocol starting from the leftmost column. Of the remaining two, they offer to choose the most pleasant one; the last remaining card is entered under the digital value in the rightmost column.

This option is provided for children who have difficulty switching attention or with a high degree of mental inertia.

What adapted methods exist for preschoolers

With children of the younger age category (4.5–6 years old), you can use an adapted version of the technique, which is based on the CTO and is called “Circles of Relationships.” The psychologist invites children to draw bright beads for each of their social “I” (son - daughter, friend - girlfriend, etc.) in the most suitable color.

This will reveal an unconscious level of perception of one’s role and significance in the family and among peers. By comparing children's oral stories about relationships with relatives and friends with their own color analogies, the researcher will discover their consistency or disagreement. In addition, the technique allows you to establish the desired relationship using a hypothetical formula: “Now tell me what you dream about, how you would like it to be,” or orient to the future using the option: “Now it’s like this, but someday it will be...”

Also of interest is the modification of the CTO for preschoolers - the game “Flower-Eight Flowers”, proposed by A. O. Prokhorov and S. V. Velieva, where the color cards are made in the shape of the petals of a fairy-tale flower. The course of the study and processing of results are similar to those carried out in the Etkind test.

Processing and interpretation of results

The results of the color relationship test are recorded using protocols that are personal for each test taker.

Options for recording CTO results

Data on the test results are entered into a special protocol, to which valence and normative choice lines are attached. It happens that the test subject selects several color cards for one concept or character at once. In this case, you need to write down all the choices, but clarify which one is most preferable, and note this in the protocol.

Protocol for color relationship test according to A. M. Etkind - table

№	Color	Stimulus words	Valence/ Normativity		Color meaning
1	Blue				Sadness, interest, high morals, Liberty
2	Green				Interest, dominance, introversion, tough family relationships
3	Red				Joy, anger, extroversion, high strength with high activity, structure
4	Yellow				Surprise, high activity with low strength, low moral focus
5	Violet				Selfishness, insincerity, low strength with low activity
6	Brown				Weakness, dependence
7	Black				Fear, anger, high strength with low activity
0	Grey				Sadness, fatigue, weakness, passivity, misunderstanding

To record the results of the “Flower-Eight-Flower” game, the authors of the study recommended a different protocol; perhaps it will seem more convenient to someone. We bring to your attention a protocol with approximate data from the CTC for preschoolers.

Protocol for recording the results of the modification of the CTO test “Tsvetik-Osmitsvetik” - table

Formalized analysis

The color rating is a number on an individual color line and is a formal indicator of the test. In the specialized literature, this indicator is called valence. The concept of valence is closely related to normativity, that is, the average norm for choosing colors in descending order of preference established through numerous experiments.

Table: normativity of Luscher test colors

Color number according to Luscher	3	4	2	5	1	6	0	7
Normativity colors	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8

That is, normally, a subject with a stable, healthy psyche will choose red first, followed by yellow, green, and so on.

The most important indicator is the place that color occupies in a series of personal choices in relation to gray, the archetypal characteristic of which is traditionally associated with weakness, neutrality, indifference and alienation in the emotional sphere. Gray acts as a symbolic boundary separating the field of the emotionally positive, active from the emotionally passive and negative. Thus, significant characters or concepts located in front of gray in the individual line of associated colors are determined as the most important and positive in the child’s perception.

Well-being in family relationships has a beneficial effect on the baby’s psyche

When testing children, they discovered a curious dependence of color-associative choice on the complexity or simplification of mental reactions. If a child chooses several color cards for one concept, this can serve as an indicator of the strong potential of the subject’s creative abilities. According to psychologists, the complexity parameter increases with age; a low value of this parameter may signal general emotional negativism towards the study.

Qualitative test analysis

It is worth paying attention to the fact that color-associative responses should be interpreted in their interrelation, that is, holistically. The higher the level of personal sympathy and preference a child experiences for one or another character, the higher the color it is designated. A relative who inspires a feeling of fear and alienation will be associated with a low color on the individual color association scale.

A comparison of conscious assessments of relationships, which are given at the verbal level, and unconscious ones, which reveal themselves in color analogies, often reveals contradictions, dissonance in the description of characteristics or models of relationships, for example: “Mom is caring, attentive, affectionate,” and the color association is brown color.

Interesting results are obtained from the analysis of the color analogy of the test subject with himself, that is, with which color he symbolically relates himself. A low color rating that a child chooses in determining self-attitude indicates a low level of self-esteem and problems with self-esteem. A color that matches the color symbolic image of one of the parents indicates a strong emotional connection, intimacy and mutual understanding.

Closeness, trust and mutual understanding are the main thing in family relationships

The position of the child’s self-esteem color relative to the parent’s color indicates the pattern of intrafamily relationships:

• higher in place than the parent colors - according to the principle “I am good, they are bad”;
• below - “I am bad, they are good”;
• between them - the child seeks protection from contradictory, complex relationships.

Diagnostically significant and important is not only the color rating, but also this color itself, which contains valuable information that allows you to decipher in detail the characteristics of self-attitude and intrafamily relationships. Analysis of statistical data obtained as a result of studying the emotional reaction to a color stimulus demonstrated that the majority of subjects naturally and statistically consistently indicate the relationship between color and emotional and personal characteristics. Each color acts as an indicator of the emotional manifestations of a relationship.

For example, red will indicate the strong-willed, energetic, overwhelming dominance of the father or the impulsive, spontaneous behavior of the mother. Gray will demonstrate the presence in the family of distance, misunderstanding and indifference in the relationship between the child and parents. Green will talk about strictness and severity, excessive control and suffocating guardianship.

The color relationship test will tell you about the true situation in the child’s family

The symbolic meaning of flowers in Luscher’s interpretation and their ethical and personal characteristics

• Blue - peace, comfort zone, freedom, honesty, kindness, justice. Internal feelings of psychological satisfaction, harmony and security prevail, there is no tension or psychological pressure. Symbolizes interconnection, affection, strong and lasting relationships. Rejection of blue may be a symptom of an unmet need for intimacy and warmth.
• Green - self-affirmation, self-confidence, desire for possession, leadership, superiority and power, emotional callousness. Green behavior strives to manage and control important objects or processes. Green color in the lower registers (7th, 8th place) means recognition of one’s own powerlessness, subconscious shifting of blame to others and hatred of them. Such people seek compensation in surrogate activities, such as the love of travel and frequent trips.
• Red is the embodiment of vital energy and strength, the element of fire. Expresses high intensity and fullness of life, masculinity, desire for success, victory, desire to penetrate, conquer, transform. If red is preferred, then the person who chooses it experiences a powerful impulse to action; seventh or eighth place speaks of a lack of vitality, for example, in exhausting and debilitating chronic conflicts.
• Yellow - light, lightness, liveliness, liberation and relaxation, openness, sociability. The first place of yellow signifies a strong desire for happiness, the last places signal disappointment, inner emptiness and isolation.
• Purple - magic, indecision, infantilism, egocentrism, daydreaming. Insincerity, intuitive perception of the world.
• Brown - passivity, dependence, conscientiousness, desire for bodily comfort, coziness, satisfaction.
• Black is a symbolic expression of the idea of ​​“nothing”, refusal, defense, protest, isolation, psychological closedness, stubbornness, hostility, unsociability.
• Gray - colorlessness, isolation, neutrality, passivity, irresponsibility, lack of initiative, low self-esteem

However, it is worth noting that the direct meaning of color, which is presented in Luscher’s interpretation, should be used with caution when testing children, especially preschoolers. The child’s personality is not formed to the extent that one can talk about the stability of emotional reactions, so transferring the direct characteristics of color to the interpretation of children’s responses will not be correct enough.

A direct interpretation of color when analyzing the study will be completely justified in older schoolchildren, whose personal qualities are almost identical to adults. A. Etkind considers it acceptable to use only general symbolic characteristics of colors in children; they will indicate the general tendencies of the child’s personality, which is still in the process of formation and development.

The system of relationships is endowed with a mobile nature and develops throughout a person’s life, significantly influencing the social existence of the individual. The study of the emotional coloring of a person’s relationships with people significant to him, as well as with himself, reveals both a conscious and hidden layer of these relationships. Etkind's technique has proven to be a fairly effective and compact way of diagnosing an inadequate relationship between the verbal and unconscious levels of interpersonal relationships.

Introduction

2.Max Luscher color test

Glossary

List of used literature

Introduction

We recognize the world around us not as it really is, but as we see, hear, and feel it. And we see it in many colors, we react differently to the colors in which it is painted.

The ability to “see” in a newborn is manifested in the fact that the child first distinguishes between contrasts: “bright” and “dark.” Then he begins to notice movement, then outlines and shapes. And the very last stage of development is the ability to distinguish colors. Thus, the ability to distinguish contrasts is the most ancient type of vision.

Color vision is associated with both areas of brain activity: both higher and primitive. The ability to distinguish colors, identify and name them - as well as perceive them from an aesthetic point of view - are all functions of the cerebral cortex and are more the result of human development than his instinctive reactions. The reflex response to color is controlled by more primitive areas of the brain.

The purpose of the study is to understand whether light affects the human psyche, to find out what such influence leads to, and also to study the Max Luscher color test.

.The ability to use color to diagnose personality.

.Study of the Luscher eight-color test technique.

.Diagnose anxiety level, personality traits, mood.

The relevance of the work lies in the fact that the Luscher Eight-Color Test is used in many areas of human activity, and we, as psychologists, should know where, how and why this technique can be applied.

1. The influence of color on human life

Have you ever wondered why you choose clothes of a certain color scheme? Do you feel comfortable in orange or just black? Preferences in clothing and the interior color you choose can tell a lot of interesting things about your character traits and even your state of health. The language of color is universal; it is perceived equally regardless of nationality and culture.

Color influences play an important role in a person’s life: color can influence decision-making, change your reaction or cause it. Under the influence of a certain color, blood pressure may rise or appetite may decrease/increase. We do not focus on color in everyday life, and we understand the full importance of its impact only in the absence of colors: for example, on a cloudy, rainy day, we feel a decrease in mood, energy, depression, and the world around us seems unfriendly.

There is an opinion that the attitude towards color is an innate human characteristic. Each person has stable preferences that make up a “personal color scale” as one of the manifestations of individuality. Yes, lovers white They easily fall into ecstasy, they have a well-developed imagination, they are dreamy.

Lovers Pink colour - romantic, subtle natures. Violence in any form is completely unacceptable to them. Pink colors are preferred by people who spend their entire lives in the world of dreams, fairy tales and miracles. They love comfort and homeliness. Admirers Red - power-hungry people who strive for leadership all their lives. They rarely suffer from remorse, being self-confident and ambitious. Red lovers want their emotional lives to become more intense. Aggression is the problem of such people.

Blue preferred by travelers, scientists, and religious figures. Dark blue - the color of the artists. These people are very cheerful, energetic, and value success and wealth. Impressionable natures, affectionate, loyal, but easily discouraged in moments of failure.

Blue - the color of reasonable and self-confident people, however, they are characterized by some vulnerability, especially noticeable in cases where they are trying to deceive them. Fans of blue are soft-hearted people who do not remain indifferent to the sorrows of others. But those who do not like the color blue are thus protesting against boredom and monotony.

Those who give preference to brown color . As a rule, they are distinguished by rigor and frugality. Brown is the color of mature age and thoughtful decisions.

Creative individuals gravitate towards gray tones . This color is considered cleansing. According to another opinion, those who prefer gray deliberately fence themselves off from external influences in order to maintain inner peace.

Green color chosen by people who tend to withdraw into themselves. These people are warm-hearted, noble, and for the most part good parents and friends. Lovers dark green stubborn and persistent. Combined with gold, it is the color of bankers and successful people in business. They are respectable and respectable, they love nature and peace. The other pole is people who are straightforward, self-confident and have a desire to forcibly improve others.

Yellow - the color of reason and optimism. Yellow fans are cheerful people. The color yellow distinguishes an original, imaginative, creative and idealistic personality; it reveals a desire for independence and hope for a happy life.

For lovers purple the spirit of creativity is inherent. He attaches great importance to everything unusual and unconventional.

Color can be effectively used in interior decoration to improve performance, create conditions for relaxation, and improve mood. Psychologists advise that when choosing clothes, arranging an apartment, even when buying a car, you should focus not on current fashion, but on your own intuition. Colors that are too bright, flashy, and far from natural colors tire the eyesight and irritate the nervous system. Soft tones soothe and help restore strength.

Prevention of nervous tension requires taking into account the nature of the effect of color on a person. The optimal range of colors that have the most beneficial effect on a person are green, yellow-green and green-blue colors. In addition to the physical properties of color (wavelength), its quality and aesthetic value must be taken into account. Monochromaticity should be avoided, since monotony becomes boring, causing, to use the terminology, “protective inhibition” (a term introduced by I.P. Pavlov to designate a complex of phenomena that occur in nerve cells under certain conditions. To these conditions he included overloads that cause cessation of activity cells (Extraordinary inhibition), as well as the state of sleep and some others).

Each color has its own energy and can even change our mood and physiological processes occurring in the body. There is a direction of unconventional therapeutic effects called color or chromotherapy, which, by the way, is also recognized by traditional medicine. So, when covering the nursery with cheerful yellow wallpaper, think first about the psychological comfort of your child.

Color therapy (chromotherapy) - a relatively new technique in modern medicine that uses the effect of the color spectrum on the psycho-emotional and physical state of a person. Color therapy is based on the axiom that each color has its own wavelength, which carries its own energy and has a specific effect on the body, and light as a whole is a set of synchronized electromagnetic oscillations of different frequencies. That is, light and color are nothing more than energy. Clinical trials confirm the beneficial effects of color flows, primarily on the nervous and hormonal systems, and color therapy helps solve a number of cosmetic problems. With the help of color therapy, neurological diseases, insomnia, hypertension, and peptic ulcers are also treated.

Color therapy is a medical field that uses the effect of colors on a person’s psycho-emotional state and well-being. For example, there are special types of colored lenses for glasses, the individual selection and wearing of which has a beneficial effect on the state of the psyche. Color is used to treat insomnia, hypertension, peptic ulcers, and many neurological diseases.

The foundations of color therapy were laid in the East (India, China) in the 4th-3rd millennium BC. Such outstanding scientists of the past as Hippocrates and Paracelsus also paid tribute to color therapy. Avicenna prescribed treatment to his patients with certain flowers, depending on the nature of the disease and the mental state of the patients. Baths with colored water were used, windows were covered with colored curtains, and dressing patients in clothes of a certain color was also considered effective.

The basis of color therapy is the associative perception of color by a person: both genetically determined (like unconditioned reflexes) and acquired in the process of life in the form of conditioned reflexes and psycho-emotional associations. For example, red has a pronounced psychostimulating effect and activates the activity of almost all organs and systems of the body. These reactions are quite natural, since in the process of human evolution he had to observe an abundance of red during fires, volcanic eruptions, and during especially bright sunsets and sunrises - harbingers of a sharp deterioration in the weather. This is a genetically determined associative psycho-emotional reaction, but individual, sometimes paradoxical reactions can also be observed. They depend on personal experience and are fixed as a conditioned reflex. For example, a person who is attacked on a green lawn may retain a lifelong dislike of the color green.

After many experiments, from 4,500 tones and shades, he chose eight that have the most pronounced effect on the physiological and psychological functions of the human body. Research conducted by Luscher and other scientists has proven that colors can change the parameters of a person’s state, influence the emotional and mental sphere and well-being.

1.1 The influence of colors on the psycho-emotional and physical state of a person

Bright red color increases heart rate, breathing, blood pressure and generally has a stimulating effect, energizes, has a revitalizing effect and warms up. It strengthens the heart and circulatory system. Therefore, experts recommend using its properties in the morning when you need to wake up quickly, or to maintain general tone; it is associated with healthy ambitions, movement, determination and the planet Mars. If your feet are cold, try wearing red socks and you will quickly feel the warming effect of red. But for those who suffer from high blood pressure or various types of bleeding, the color red is not recommended. It is better to replace it with orange of a well-chosen shade or use it in extremely small doses.

Orange causes a feeling of joy and well-being, awakens the joy of life and fun. Helps with depression, apathy and loss of appetite. energizes, activates brain activity, promotes concentration, increases creative activity, causes a certain enthusiasm, goodwill, and encourages dialogue. A bathrobe and towels of this color help those who have difficulty getting out of bed in the morning to finally wake up. From a healing point of view, orange helps improve digestion and will help with colds, because... causes a feeling of warmth.

Yellow - the most optimistic color, it creates a cheerful, upbeat mood and helps to concentrate attention. Improves mood, has a positive effect on the nervous system and internal organs. Radiant yellow color awakens mental activity, invigorates and revitalizes the mind and soul, and brings good mood. This color is not very suitable for young children, as it has a negative effect on their mood: children cry more often. You should not paint the rooms in your apartment this color. Place a bouquet of yellow flowers in your room.

At the same time, doctors recommend chromotherapy with this color for depression, as well as to improve the functioning of the digestive system, which it primarily affects. Should not be used for insomnia or acute stomach problems.

Green has a refreshing and calming effect. It has a powerful anti-stress effect, as it calms the nerves and eliminates overwork and fatigue. This color is most often associated with life, birth and nature, as it symbolizes growth, development, money (dollars), prosperity and well-being. A walk in the forest compensates for the lack of green color. Choose bedding in a rich green color or hang a green lampshade in your bedroom. Recommended as a remedy for relieving stress and solving other emotional problems. According to experts, regular procedures using green color will help you become more balanced, and thanks to this, get rid of a number of problems with the cardiovascular system. Don’t forget that green is the most relaxing color (even to the point of having a hypnotic effect), so don’t use it in the morning if you need to react quickly during the day or need to make important decisions.

Blue and blue colors cause a feeling of coolness and calm, and to a greater extent than green. Blue reduces inflammation and helps with sleep disorders, as well as headaches. Blue is most often associated with honesty, frankness, and devotion.

It calms the mind and has an overall refreshing effect.

For those who are completely influenced by the color blue, there is a danger of an unrealistic perception of the world around them, through the so-called “rose-colored” glasses. Blue is the favorite color of melancholic people. It has a relaxing, calming effect, but at the same time, in large doses, it affects the hormonal system. It helps with insomnia, relieves inflammation and fever, and is useful for children, even the smallest ones, when they are teething.

Violet has a relaxing effect on the psyche. Violet tones promote better concentration and significantly reduce mental stress. It is associated with luxury, elegance, and royalty, but on the other hand, it sometimes creates a feeling of artificiality.

2. Max Luscher color test

The color selection method is an adapted version of the Luscher color test.

The developer of the original version of this test, Max Luscher, is a doctor and sociologist. Born on September 9, 1923 in the Swiss university city of Basel. At the university he studied sociology, philosophy of law and religion, and clinical psychiatry. His dissertation “Color as a Psychodiagnostic Tool” was highly appreciated by professors of psychiatry, philosophy and psychology with the following comment: “This work will go down in the history of psychology.” In 1947, at the first world congress on psychology, Max Luscher, at the age of 23, first presented the basic principles of color diagnostics, which was the result of five years of research into the perception of color by normal people and psychiatric patients. After this, Luscher diagnostics gained international fame and quickly spread throughout the world.

The eight-color test is an extremely interesting technique, based on an experimentally established relationship between a person’s preference for certain colors (shades) and his current psychological state.

Of the projective tests available to psychologists, only the test by the Swiss psychologist M. Lüscher in a short time /10 minutes/ can give such a deep and extensive characterization of his internal dispositions, free from the conscious control of the subject. The use of the test is not limited by intellectual, linguistic, age, or state of the test subject. The test subtly works even with colorblind people and those who, as it seems to them, deliberately choose not what they like.

All over the world, the Luscher Test is successfully used for:

* self-diagnosis and correction of your psychological state;

* analysis of family conflicts and reasons that complicate the organization of one’s personal life;

* monitoring the dynamics of the volitional and emotional sphere of athletes during training and during competitions;

* selection of candidates for psychotherapeutic groups, for a more adequate selection of psychotherapeutic influences;

* conducting forensic psychological examinations;

* analysis of the internal state of difficult-to-educate adolescents and (minor) adult criminals with the aim of targeted, in-depth correction of their behavior.

The Luscher test is based on the assumption that color choice reflects a person's state of mind. This test is widely used in modern psychology for the purposes of career guidance in personnel selection, staffing production teams, in ethnic and gerontological studies, and in making recommendations on the choice of marriage partners. Since its inception more than twenty years ago, the test has been improved and refined, but at its core it has not changed. The assessment has been expanded and specialized, but the theoretical background to the test has stood the test of time. There is no reason for any revision. Solid factor-analytic statistics from various institutions have now, two decades after its creation, discovered and confirmed the theory and reliability of the Luscher test. Despite the presence of some shortcomings of this method, it is one of the most convenient and frequently used methods, both in color psychology and in general psychology.

From several hundred shades, Luscher chose eight strictly defined tones. The four primary colors - red, yellow, green and blue - carry the maximum psychodiagnostic load. To increase the information content, four additional colors have been added to them - gray, brown, purple and black. The test is to sort these eight colors into four groups: first choose the most pleasant ones, then simply pleasant ones, then indifferent ones, and the last ones will be the rejecting colors. Each group has two colors. When all the colors are laid out in a row according to the degree of sympathy, you can begin the interpretation. The test is carried out in natural light.

Instructions: Take a look at the cards. Choose and set aside the color that suits you best. There is no need to go into deep thought and associate color with fashion trends, the color of wallpaper, clothing, and so on. Just choose a color that feels good on its own at the moment. Set the collected card aside. Then choose the cutest one from the rest and put the card aside, to the right of the previous one. Repeat this procedure until all eight colors are ranked in descending order of pleasantness.

What does the color range tell you?

The arranged sequence of colors is called a series of color preferences. The location of flowers will reveal to you five personality characteristics:

· The main goals, aspirations, desires and behavior dictated by them - the first and second colors tell about this;

· The current internal state and the situation that has developed around you are the third and fourth colors;

· Restrained qualities, expressed in psychological clamps - the fifth and sixth colors;

· Denied or suppressed needs, sources of anxiety and stress - the seventh and eighth colors;

· The most pressing problem is the first and eighth colors.

color psycho-emotional lusher anxiety

Interpretation of the color of cards of the first and second color:

The color you rate as most pleasing represents your intentions or the psycho-emotional state you are trying to achieve. The second card in the language of color will show you the main method of achieving the goal.

Interpretation of the color of cards of the third and fourth colors:

The second pair of cards reflects your internal “weather” at the moment and how the current circumstances will force you to act. The psychological state cannot be described with one color, so the cards are considered in pairs.

Interpretation of the color of cards of the fifth and sixth colors:

These are neutral colors. They are not rejected, but they do not correspond to the current situation. These colors embody qualities that are in reserve. The states they designate are not relevant, or external circumstances do not allow them to manifest themselves.

Interpretation of the color of the seventh and eighth color cards:

These colors are distasteful. They express needs that you are forced to hide, suppress, otherwise, as you think, you may fail or lose face. The seventh and eighth colors open the most hidden corners of the subconscious, where information is stored about the causes of failures and emerging diseases - consequences of nervous overload.

Forecasting the effectiveness of actions. Autogenic norm.

The effectiveness of actions is assessed by deviation from the autogenic norm. It is very useful to calculate the autogenic norm on the eve of serious events, so that in case of an unsatisfactory result, you can reconfigure yourself to a positive one.

The autogenic norm of color preferences was established by the Austrian psychologist Wallneffer. The degree of deviation from the norm reflects the level of unproductive mental stress. The greater the deviation, the more energy is spent on fighting internal problems and overcoming fatigue to the detriment of achieving life goals.

How is deviation from the autogenic norm calculated:

Let's say you laid out the following color range: blue, purple, green, red, yellow, black, gray, brown.

In the autogenous table, in the first line the colors are in ideal combination, in the second line we enter the number of the place of each of your colors and calculate the difference, not taking into account the signs in front of the resulting number. It turns out like this:

Autogenous normRedYellowGreenPurpleBlueBrownGrayBlackPlace of color in the autogenous norm 12345678 Place of color in the range of preferences 45321876 Deviation from autogenic noma 33024202

We add the resulting difference together: 3+3+0+2+4+2+0+2=16. The result obtained is called the total deviation (SD). The SD value can be found in the table below, ranging from 0 to 32 points.

Number of points Interpretation 0-6 You are active, your reactions correspond to the circumstances, the success of your actions is high. The emotional mood is positive. Able to withstand mental stress for a long time. In an extreme situation, you completely focus on completing the task. Difficulties do not stop you. 8-12 An active attitude prevails. In an interesting activity, you do not experience difficulties with memorizing and reproducing information. Do not strive for thrills.14-20In a familiar environment, the transition from one type of activity to another is carried out without difficulty. If necessary, they are able to overcome fatigue through an effort of will, but this carries with it a long “train” of fatigue. You need a physical separation of work and rest time.22-26Energy potential is low. For this reason, you are forced to force yourself to do certain things. Failure to switch off volitional control increases fatigue. The emotional background is characterized by increased excitability, anxiety and uncertainty. In a stressful situation, nervous breakdowns are likely. 28-32 Increased fatigue, sudden mood swings, difficulty focusing on one thing. In this case, there is a “fixation” on emotional experiences. There are no clear goals. Emotionally, anxiety, anticipation of trouble, a feeling of helplessness and a lack of desire to do anything predominate. In an extreme situation, you are unreliable.

Anxiety and compensation

Any of the primary colors in the last three places, and any additional color not in the first three, indicates the presence of anxiety. This anxiety is caused by the unsatisfaction of some significant need. What kind of need this is is indicated by the card you put in the last place. The nature of compensation for the need is indicated by the color that you put first.

Luscher suggests assessing the severity of anxiety and compensation as follows:

Primary color in 6th place or secondary color in 3rd place;

Primary color in 7th place or secondary color in 2nd place;

Primary color in 8th place or secondary color in 1st place.

Count the total number of characters! at home. If you have at least one! Luscher recommends considering the first and last colors of the row together. This allows you to detect the most pressing problem - a thorn that sits in the subconscious, blocking internal resources and does not allow a person to open up and become successful.

Below is a table from which you can find your alarms and compensation.

Test

. How many color cards are used in the M. Luscher color test?)5)9

c)8

d)13

2. Which of the following colors are the primary colors in the Luscher technique?

a) Yellow, green, purple, blue) Red, black, yellow, gray) Green, yellow, red, gray

d)Yellow, red, green, blue

3. In what year did Max Luscher first present the basic principles of color diagnostics at the first world congress of psychology?

a)1947

b)1958)1891)2001

4. What reflects the degree of deviation from the autogenic norm?

a)Result obtained with a specific color choice

b)Level of unproductive mental stress

c) The interaction of certain pairs of colors with each other) Reflects complete hopelessness in the future

5. Who introduced the concept of autogenic norm and applied it to the Luscher color test?

a)Wallneffer

b) Ilyin) From) Jacques

. What is the name of the technique that uses the influence of the color spectrum?

a) Chromotherapy

b) Aerotherapy) Manual therapy) Bioresonance therapy method

7. What was the name of Max Lüscher’s dissertation, which he defended at the first world congress on psychology?

a) Personal dependence and liberation from it with the help of color therapy) About the nature of personality aggressiveness) Color. Basis for the treatment of nervous disorders) Color as a psychodiagnostic tool

8. Which of the listed colors are considered additional in the Luscher technique?

a)Gray, pink, black, purple) Black, grey, purple, brown

c)Crimson, brown, yellow, red)Gold, pink, crimson, yellow

9. In what order will the colors show the current problem of the individual at the moment?

a)First, third)Eighth, sixth) Eighth, first

d) Eighth, second

Where does the color red stand in the autogenous norm?

a) 2b) 1 c) 3d) 5

Glossary

Individuality- a peculiar combination of individual properties of a person that distinguishes him from other people.

Reflex- an automatic response of the body to the action of any internal or external stimulus.

Stress- a state of mental (emotional) and behavioral disorder associated with a person’s inability to act expediently and wisely in the current situation.

Experiment- a method of studying a certain phenomenon under controlled conditions. Differs from observation by active interaction with the object being studied. Typically, an experiment is carried out as part of a scientific research and serves to test a hypothesis and establish causal relationships between phenomena.

Emotions- elementary experiences that arise in a person under the influence of the general state of the body and the process of satisfying current needs.

Brain- the central section of the nervous system of vertebrates, formed by nerve and glial cells and their processes. In vertebrates (including humans), a distinction is made between the brain, located in the cranial cavity, and the spinal cord, located in the spinal canal.

Testingused to determine whether a test item meets specified specifications. The objectives of testing do not include determining the reasons for non-compliance with specified requirements (specifications). Testing is one of the sections of diagnostics.

Imagination- the ability of consciousness to create images, ideas, ideas and manipulate them; plays a key role in the following mental processes: modeling, planning, creativity, play, human memory. In a broad sense, any process occurring “in images” is imagination

Projective test- one of the methods of psychological diagnostics that allows you to get the most complete picture of the psychological characteristics of a person.

Anxiety- an individual psychological feature that manifests itself in a person’s tendency to often experience severe anxiety for relatively small reasons. It is considered either as a personal formation, or as a feature of temperament associated with the weakness of nervous processes, or as both at the same time.

List of used literature

1.Nemov R.S. Psychology. In 3 books. Book 1.: General fundamentals of psychology: textbook. for students higher ped. textbook establishment / R.S. Nemov.- 5th ed. - M.: Humanitarian. Ed. Vlados center, 2007. - 687 p.

2.Chudnova A. Luscher cards are the key to the secret layers of a person’s subconscious. How to find out everything about yourself and your loved ones and help yourself - quickly and reliably / Anna Chudnova, Sergey Dyachenko, Yuliana Azarova.-M.:AST, 2010.-157 p.

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Psychological color and drawing tests for adults and children Shevchenko Margarita Aleksandrovna

Diagnosis by mandala colors

Diagnosis by mandala colors

Mandala translated from Sanskrit means “magic circle”. The circle is the primary symbol of unity and infinity. A sign of absolute and perfection. Moving in a circle means constantly returning to yourself. Only by looking inside oneself can a person recover and gain new strength and energy.

There are painted mandalas used for concentration and healing, mandalas made from colored sand, mandalas of conditional mind enlightenment (bodhichitta), mandalas of absolute mind enlightenment, etc.

Currently, there are many methods for diagnosing one’s psychological state and knowing oneself. One of these methods is diagnosis based on the pattern and colors of the mandala. If you draw it and paint it in different colors, you can expand your knowledge about yourself as a person of color.

Each mandala is a composition of symbols, geometric elements and colors that cause changes both on the physical and on a more subtle level. When carrying out diagnostics, the size of the circle, the thickness of the connecting lines, drawn shapes, symbols and colors used are taken into account.

The symbols in the mandala drawing have the following meaning:

The circle means integrity and security;

The cross indicates your indecision;

A five-pointed star speaks of self-confidence;

A square means the movement of energy, a state of openness or closedness;

The triangle also means movement. If the apex of the triangle is directed upward, this means a desire for creation, if downward, it means destruction;

The spiral indicates the development and dynamics of the internal process;

The heart symbolizes love, happiness, gratitude, enlightenment;

The eye in the center of the mandala or in the center of some figure in the mandala design symbolizes the sun, sometimes clairvoyance;

The various images of animals in the mandala drawing are your reflection of the visual representation of our unconscious.

The choice of colors in a mandala gives a lot of information about the personality and state of mind of the author of the drawing, so when drawing it you should not think about the meaning of the colors, but try to be extremely sincere in reflecting your state of mind. When drawing mandalas, people often resort to their favorite colors, but children almost always use all the colors of the rainbow. Of particular psychological significance are the primary colors, that is, yellow, red, blue, which will always be present in the mandala drawing of a healthy person. Therefore, during diagnosis, great importance is attached to the predominance or absence of one or another color. The colors in a mandala drawing can reflect all the experiences of both the past and the present moment. That is why the mandala drawing should not be considered as something unchanging. After some time, it may be different, reflecting the changes that have occurred. This can be clearly seen from the drawings of mandalas of one of my clients in the following example.

Example. Here are two drawings of mandalas made with colored felt-tip pens by a fifty-year-old woman at different times (see color plate, Fig. 1, 2). She drew the first mandala drawing before she became interested in dancing, and the second - three months later, during the phase of active training. Comparing the two drawings, you can see how the symbols, shapes and colors have changed in the second drawing. So, in the first case, the mandala consists of various small geometric shapes with sharp edges. In addition, there are images outside of it, which indicates the woman’s unfavorable psychological state and anxiety. And the colors of the first picture look darker compared to the second.

In the second picture (see color plate, Fig. 2) you can see a completely different picture: new symbols of large sizes have appeared, for example, an eye and a treble clef symbol, which reflects a woman’s close connection with the world of music and dance, bright and saturated colors. Thus, the yellow and blue colors in the mandala design indicate her good health and mood. As the woman herself says, her intuition increased after she began dancing. She became more active and mobile.

D. Kellogg, studying the effect of a mandala on a person, identified two main types of mandalas in diagnostics: symmetrical and compositionally complex. The first type of mandalas reflects the current moment in time and situation, and the second - conscious and unconscious aspects of the personality. The left half of the mandala reflects unconscious processes. Right - conscious. When diagnosing a mandala, attention should first of all be paid to the location of its center, and then to the symbols, shapes, signs, lines and color.

You can draw a mandala while listening to relaxing music using watercolors, colored and wax pencils, felt-tip pens, and pastel crayons. The choice of colors is absolutely free.

Red color in a mandala drawing means the energy of transformation, action and purification. If the color red is absent in the picture, then this indicates passivity, as well as a lack of strength for self-realization.

Pink color– its predominance in the mandala drawing presumably indicates increased sensitivity, shyness, vulnerability, and the need for care.

Orange color reflects faith in one’s strength, will and ambitions, activates sociability and the desire to create. It is the color of joy, goodwill and optimism.

Yellow– energy, sun and warmth. The appearance of yellow in the picture indicates individuality and independence, reflecting the search for inner liberation. The predominance or absence of yellow indicates great willpower and high intelligence of the author of the drawing.

Green color– renewal, sensitivity and inner harmony. Its appearance in a mandala drawing indicates the desire for internal balance and harmony in the soul.

Blue in the mandala drawing symbolizes compassion, a feeling of motherhood and selfless love.

Blue color– the color of peace and tranquility in the soul. In the mandala drawing, the dark blue color reflects experiences associated with a threat to life, and also indicates unfavorable psychological conditions in childhood.

Purple colour in mandala designs indicates spiritual renewal, but at the same time indicates an escape from reality.

Purple reflects nostalgia, memories, desire for spirituality.

White– spirituality, purity, light.

Grey– neutral color, speaks of the absence or suppression of emotions, indifference and inertia. The frequent use of gray in mandala designs is found among drug addicts, since long-term use of heroin leads to emotional emasculation.

Brown color– a reflection of the need for emotional security. The use of brown, especially in the center of the mandala, may indicate low self-esteem, but sometimes reflects a revision of habitual values.

Black– the color of darkness, emptiness, intuition and rebirth. The black background in the mandala is especially conducive to the revelation of spiritual resources; moreover, unlike white paper, it encourages the use of lighter colors, which against a black background seem to glow and appear as if from the darkness.

From the book Cognitive Psychotherapy of Personality Disorders by Beck Aaron

Diagnosis When a person comes to treatment with low self-confidence and an apparently high need for support, a diagnosis of SPD should be considered. For example, Karen, a 45-year-old married woman, was referred to treatment by her physician for panic attacks. IN

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Chapter 16. Diamond center of the mandala Essence is Emptiness Everything else is unimportant…. In this world of deception, emptiness is what your soul desires. Rumi's "Emptiness" echoes what the Tantric mystics said - that "there is a universal emptiness, all that exists."

From the book Personality Theories and Personal Growth author Frager Robert

Diagnosis True to his belief that a theory must be useful to be worthy of attention, Kelly called diagnosis "the planning stage of psychotherapeutic treatment" (1955, p. 14) and viewed it as fundamentally important.

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18. The dynamic nature of the fractal mandala So, “...experiments of recent decades have revealed the dynamic essence of the world of particles. It is clear that in this “...eternally vigorous circle of life”251 such concepts of classical physics as “material substance” and

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Diagnostics Questionnaire for assessing impulsivity You are asked 15 questions. If the answer is affirmative, place a “+” sign next to the question; if the answer is negative, put a “–” sign next to the question.1. Do you notice some haste in making decisions?2. Is it typical for you to

From the author's book

Diagnostic Test: Empathy Ability Rate each of the statements as follows: “I don’t know” – 0, “no, never” – 1, “sometimes” – 2, “often” – 3, “almost always” – 4, “yes” , always” – 5. Make sure you answer all points.1. I like books about

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Reflection of the child’s emotional state by the preferred colors in the drawing. A child’s color drawing will always reflect his mood and emotions. When drawing, a child already at 3-4 years old chooses the color that most accurately reflects his mental and emotional state.

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Black mandalas Mandalas are made using the grattage technique. Mandalas help to reveal extrasensory potential, stimulate the main sources of the subconscious, and include self-regulation mechanisms. You can look at a mandala drawing for five minutes at any time

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5. Mandala Drawing: The Expressive Power of Art Mandala is a Sanskrit word. Literally meaning "circle" or "completion". In its most general sense, the term can be used for any pattern that has complex geometric symmetry, e.g.

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16 Diamond center of the mandala The essence is Emptiness, Everything else is unimportant... In this world of deception, emptiness is what your soul desires. Rumi's "Emptiness" echoes what Tantric mystics said - that "there is a universal emptiness, all that exists