Integrative Psychiatry :

The Power of Symbolic Imagery

Sudha Prathikanti, MD

Integrative Psychiatry

a healing paradigm that uses both conventional and complementary medicine

approaches in the treatment of psychiatric

conditions.

Integrative Psychiatry Treatment PlanIntegrative Psychiatry Treatment Plan

. . Conventional Psychotherapies Conventional Psychotherapies Conventional PharmaceuticalsConventional Pharmaceuticals Botanical/Herbal RemediesBotanical/Herbal Remedies Vitamins and Dietary SupplementsVitamins and Dietary Supplements Nutritional Counseling Nutritional Counseling Yoga and Exercise Yoga and Exercise Meditation and Relaxation Meditation and Relaxation AcupunctureAcupuncture Guided VisualizationGuided Visualization Use of Symbolic ImageryUse of Symbolic Imagery

Mandala DrawingMandala Drawing Dreamwork Dreamwork Myths and Fairytales

Only what is really oneself has the power to heal.

-Carl Jung

The human mind is functioning symbolically when some components

of its experience [the symbols]

elicit consciousness, beliefs, emotions, and images respecting other

components of its experience

[the meaning of the symbols]

-Alfred North Whitehead

It seems clear that we cannot distinguish reality from our

symbolization of it.

Being human, we can think only in symbols, only make sense of any

experience in symbols.

-Robert Bellah

VISUAL SYMBOLS:YIN-YANG

VISUAL SYMBOLS:SWASTIKA

22E = mc

VISUAL SYMBOLS:

MATH

Icons are the visible but disguised tracks of

archetypes.

-Carl Jung

Archetype as FigureArchetype as Figure

The Earth Mother

The Divine Child

Archetype as ProcessArchetype as Process

The Hero’s Journey

The Descent into the Underworld

The primordial image, or archetype…

constantly recurs in the course of history and appears wherever creative

fantasy is freely expressed.

In each of these images there is a little piece of human psychology and human

fate, a remnant of the joys and sorrows that have been repeated countless times in our ancestral

history.

-Carl Jung

The Goddess in India:

Saraswati

The Goddess in India:

Lakshmi

The Goddess in India:

Kali

CASE DISCUSSION:

One woman’s encounter with the

Divine Feminine