Life script analysis - Part 2

To get a bigger version of this drawing go to, Picture and click on ‘All sizes’.

What do you mean about the comment for the cat?

In this situation I would do the script analysis through a dialogue with Kahless. I don’t know you well enough to use a purely interpretative approach. If I do know the person well then I am prepared to make more interpretative statements. I know I have done a family photographs script analysis with you in the past so I do know a bit about your life script but I by no means know you well. Thus I will make statements or ask questions and if you have a response (its OK if you don’t) then from that we will come up with the early decisions you made and thus identify your life script. So it is a collaborative process rather than a purely interpretative one by me.

The whole incident is about oral issues. The force feeding of a child. The fact that it happened 4 times a year for a number of years gives it much more psychological weight and could be quite a significant event event in terms of the development of your life script.

I must say I did delight in your sister’s response to such ‘feeding’. Such defiance! She didn’t reject such feeding by vomiting the purple medicine in the toilet bowl or even on the floor but she managed to get the kitchen curtains.

As it suggests oral issues that means we are talking about an early stage of development, indeed the earliest as the oral stage is the first stage. This suggests the potential for a significant level of maladjustment. Potentially a third degree impasse and preverbal issues.

This can be viewed in terms of Erik Erikson’s theory of the 8 stages of psychosocial child development. The first stage being the stage of trust vs mistrust thus there is the potential for our first early decision - “Don’t trust”. This can manifest as being too under trusting or too over trusting or trusting untrustworthy people. What ever it might, there is the potential for problems around trust in human communication.

The only facial features shown on any of the people is a mouth on mother and it looks like there is a mouth on the sister? Which might indicate further evidence for the significance of oral issues. If these exist then one is looking for problems around feeding, the mouth, eating and so forth. Eating disorders, problems with weight, problem with defiance and authority. As the scene is food related it could also result in digestion problems as you mention the feeling you had when confronted with this scene was “a horrible stirring in the pit of my stomach”.

The other potential difficulty one looks for with oral issues is addictions particularly where the mouth is involved. That is alcohol or an addiction to cigarettes. If the cigarette addiction is based on maladjustment at the oral stage then the treatment would be the amelioration of such issues. That may require preverbal treatment methods such as holding.

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Response

I put the cat in the picture a little bit tongue in cheek, although the need to take this medicine was blamed by my parents on the cat. I tend to steer clear of cats as an adult if I can and avoid touching and stroking them.

At the time I was horrified by my sisters behaviour but as an adult I, too delight in her defiance with a wry smile. I have learnt as an adult that all her 'God Squad' religious behaviour as a teenager (she hung out with such types) was really a front to get out of the house. So she had a cover story (as did my brother) to stay out late. I wasn't that smart.

"Don't trust" isn't something I must say I am actively aware of, though I am an extremely private person. Whilst I have absolutely no problem sharing whatever here and I am not bothered in the slightest if anyone asks me anything here. But then again my on-line life here is compartmentalised and no-one in my RL everyday world know's I am Kahless. I have a number of on-line identities too. I could vanish whenever I wanted. People at work don't know much about my life. So I guess I am wary of trust. I am definitely not over trusting and I assess people before I trust them, so generally don't trust untrustworthy persons. I also 99% of the time don't reveal anything to anyone that I would be concerned about other people knowing.


Yes there is a mouth on my sister. Funny really, I hadn't noticed lack of facial features until you pointed it out. What I think it is worth saying is that - in general terms - my brother and I tend to be more like our father and my sister tends to be more like my mum.

My brother is obese as an adult.

My father tended to be on the chubbier side and my mother always nagged him about his weight.

I remember my mum always saying my sister was 'picky' with her food.

I am within my normal weight range but at the moment probably at the high end, though I tend to vary within a stone weight range.

I do actually have a motto around food. "I eat what I want, when I want." I guess I didn't have that control as a kid so I certainly am going to have it as an adult. There are certain foods - like ham sandwich, bowls of cereal and pizza (my favourites) which I like to prepare myself. Mrs K will offer to do it, but I like to do it myself. I will only eat certain foods. I hate it if people touch my food. I eat fast. I prefer to eat alone and don't like to talk while I eat. And I eat what I want, when I want!

I have a digestive disease - Crohn's Disease - which was first diagnosed when I was 16. I was pretty ill until around 21 when I had 4 foot of large intestine removed. The disease isnt active now but I do have issues due to a shortened bowel - ie I live with diarrhoea.

My father had in later life (after my op) a part of bowel removed due to a blockage. His twin brother has had bowel cancer.

I have no problem with authority - I was always a good child and obeyed. I do so generally as an adult too.

I nearly drew the scene when I opened the door to the local newsagent holding both my brother and sister by the scruff of the neck and wanting to speak to my parents - he had caught them stealing sweets. My brother also had another such incident as a teenager when the school caught him stealing money from the tuck shop.

No-one in my family have criminal convictions so I guess ultimately tow the line. BTW my brother is an accountant now!

I am a smoker - I had my first cigarette at 18.

Neither my brother nor sister have ever smoked.

My parents gave up smoking when I was about 5.

I would not feel comfortable with a treatment method of "holding" - I am not really a touchy feely person - except of course with my dogs where I shower affection and allow them to adore me! I also don't do intimacy very well.

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My response:

It seems I have missed the original point of the exercise which was a thought about early decisions. So there that young girl is and all those things were going on in front of her.

What sense did she make of it all?

With all that, what conclusions did she come to?

How would she finish this sentence, “It just goes to show you that....”?

What did she decide about herself and others and life as a result of this repeated event?

If you can answer these questions then you have an early decision. It is the cognitive conclusions that the child comes to in reaction to such adverse circumstances.

In the HTP test one would notice that all the figures have no facial features except for the two with mouths and also there are no hands drawn. The brother does not even have arms. Such things are all about human contact and the exchange of strokes one could say.

This combined with the fact that the house is drawn basically like a box and has very little homeliness about it. These things could indicate something like human relationships that are emotionally bereft and possible stroke deprivation.

This would immediately highlight for me your comments about preverbal therapy such as holding and your aversion to it. If you should ever end up in therapy it might be something to look at. In addition a therapy style can also allow the client to develop the ability to self soothe. Those who cannot do such things when they get into emotional distress find it very hard to get out because they have difficulty soothing self and hence they tend to stay in the emotional turmoil for longer.

The early decision here would most likely be something like, “Don’t be close” or “Don’t feel”, “Don’t get your needs met” and so forth.

The other point from the HTP test is the centrality of the figures. You are font and center and the actual incident is off to the side. You have also circled your name unlike anyone else. I know from the family photograph script analysis we did that in the photos you were also often front and center. In the HTP test this would indicate psychological importance of the figures in your mind.

I know from what you have stated in the past one could at times also see for you a “Don’t be important” early decision. This is inconsistent with what I am saying now so you may be a contradiction in this way. The good child who does the right thing often is also not noticed much they tend to be a wall flower. From what I have seen of you, you are not that! You will be ‘front and center’ at times being quite noticeable. So any early decisions about lack of importance or worth are certainly not 100%.

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