Eidetic Psychotherapy Anees A. Sheikh 1. Introduction As Pavlov (1936) remarked, there are “two categories of people—artists and thinkers. Between them there is a marked difference. The artists. . .comprehend reality as a whole, as a continuity, a complete living reality, without any divisions, without any separations. The other group, the thinkers, pull it apart, kill it... . This difference is especially prominent in the so-called eidetic imagery of children. Such a whole creation of reality cannot be completely attained by a thinker” (p. 113). It is evident that Pavlov recognized the integrating, nature o the eidetic, its power to heal the schism generated by verbal thought processes. Pavlov’s view of individuals may also be applicable to society. Perhaps “a whole era of man can think itselt into a trap, and spin without resolving anything, instead creating new problems. When an age deceys and uses words as a manipulative weapon to perpetuate what has already lost relevance, the eidetic becomes the symbol of much needed fresh experience” (Ahsen, 1974, p. 282). It appears that after having been severed from visions, warped by words, and stifled by semantics for a long time, Western man is ready to restore his wholeness by returning to the nonverbal springs of his existence. “We witness the return of the dream; we experience the image which pre- cedes the word. If the word splits subject from object, the image re- stores us to the primal oneness of our deepest self” (Luce, 1968, p. 1). ‘Anes A. Sheikh + Department of Psychology, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53233. 197198 ‘Anees A. Sheikh In the realm of psychotherapy, the last decade has brought a rap- idly increasing interest in the uses of image techniques (Sheikh, 1977). A numter of distinct advantages of utilizing mental images during therapeutic interaction have emerged (Singer, 1974). For example, it has been pointed out that details concerning affect and fantasy may be contained in the image but not be available in verbal thought (Sheikh and Panagiotou, 1975). Imagery may provide access to significant pre- verbal memories or memories encoded at developmental stages when language is not yet predominant (Kepecs, 1957). It appears that espe- cially vivid or traumatic experiences tend to be encoded in imagery Imagery procedures seem to be particularly suited to dealing with psychosomatic problems (Ahsen, 1968, 1972, 1973). Images are less prone to be filtered through the conscious critical apparatus than is, linguistic thought. Since images, unlike verbal logic, are spatial and simultaneous rather than sequential and linear representations, they have greater isomorphism with the qualities of perception and, there- fore, a greater capacity for experiential accuracy (Lipkin, 1970). Eidetic psychotherapy, originated by Akhter Ahsen (1965, 1968, 1972, 1977a, 19776), relies solely upon the elicitation and manipulation of a type of mental imagery that he has termed “eidetic.” Out of the discovery of the functional attributes pertaining to these images, he has evolved a highly complex and innovative system. It fully deserves Lazarus's tribute: “Compared to Akhter Ahsen’s penetrating analysis of imagery formation and eidetic processes, all other clinical uses of imagery appear singularly embryonic” (Lazarus, 1972, p. v). But before Ahsen’s contributions can be accurately understood and evaluated, it seems necessary to have some ground for comparison with what has gone belore and to specify a current consensual definition and classi- fication of mental imagery. 2. Mental Images and Their Classification Richardson (1969) has compiled the research on imagery and or- ganized the criteria for its classification. However, he does not fail to emphasize the imprecision inherent in the classification along the cri- terion dimensions in use. He begins with a simple definition of the mental image: it is a quasi-sensory or quasi-perceptual experience that occurs in the absence of the stimulus conditions that would elicit the corresponding true perception. Images may occur in any sense mod- ality, including synesthetic combinations and internal somatic signals, e.g., hunger and pain, or they may reproduce an affective experience.Eldetic Psychotherapy 199 ‘Some types of images are elicited by or related to recently or presently perceived external stimuli. For example, in the visual mode, illusions, after-images, eidetics, and mescaline images are in some manner based upon present or recent perceptions. Eidetics and after-images occur when the stimulus has been removed. To a limited degree in eidetics, and more markedly in illusion and mescaline imagery, the image may be superimposed upon, but not be isomorphic with’ perceptual ele- ments. ‘The unreal nature of images with respect to the stimulus conditions does not necessarily render the quality or intensity of the image dif- ferent from the genuine sensation, perception, or affect. The halluci- nation is a case in point; usually a difference does exist in one or both of these aspects of the experience that distinguishes it from reality. Nevertheless, as early as 1910, Perky showed that under certain con- ditions normal subjects were unable to distinguish a perceptual phe- nomenon projected upon a screen from their own image. The study ‘was replicated by Segal and Nathan in 1964. An image is likely to be distingushable from a percept, on the basis of intensity and stability. But the cistinctions are not always present: an intense image may have stronger responses associated with it and command more attention than a barely noticed percept. Affective imagery may become suffi- ciently intense to fully reproduce a genuine affective response. Hallu- cinations, hypnagogic images, eidetics, and images charged with much emotional response may be as vivid as the perceptual counterparts. Nineteenth-century investigators Titchener and Wundt attempted to specify distinctions of quality between percepts and images; in particular. they investigated stability (see Richardson. 1969). The sta- bility criterion holds best for the visual mode. A visual percept seems to become more distinct when fixated, but a visual image is likely to elude anattempt to fixate it. However, some visual images, particularly eidetics, may last for a few minutes, and are susceptible to focusing, and scanning. In other than the visual modality, even the percepts are unstable, It is apparent that the dimensions that distinguish imagery from perception and affect are continuous rather than dichotomous. Richard- son has shown that the dimensions for imagery classifications have the same trait. On the basis of twentieth-century investigations, Richard- son has identified four classes of mental images, which may be com- pared in respect to clarity, vividness, localization, fixedness or stability, completeness of detail, susceptibility to scanning, and degree of like- ness to the sensory percept. The identified classes are as follows: (1) after-imeges, (2) eidetic images, (3) memory images, (4) imagination images.