Word Association Test On Skin Disease
Word Association Test On Skin Disease
Words Do Matter
By Audrey
“This test in which the organ of the skin played a vital role as psychic mediator was developed by Carl Jung when he worked as a psychiatrist at the Psychiatric Hospital in Zurich at the turn of the century. It was to mark the beginning of his understanding of the psychic material which presented itself to him, in the course of his work, and during his subsequent psychiatric investigations and studies.
Between the years 1902 and 1907 Jung’s early work produced the extraordinary and exciting demonstration that the skin’s electrical activity changed remarkably when certain specific words, (charged with emotional overtones for the subject) were spoken in the course of the test. It became clear that mental activity particularly the process of recall evoked the simple verbal stimuli was consistently and continuously reflected by skin changes. Jung’s paper on his psychological investigations with the galvanometer was originally published in English in a neurological scientific journal.
The purpose of this research was to ascertain the value of the so-called “psycho-physical galvanic reflex as a recorder of physical changes in connection with sensory and physical stimuli.
The organ of the skin is the one bodily organ above all others which serves as the paramount psychic reflector; a crystalline mirror which permits the visualization of psychic disturbance in a singularly graphic form.
The many and varied skin disease processes which beset the organ either of a transient or apparently permanent nature, provide a unique and in-depth understanding of the psychic life of the individual concerned. They express underlying anxieties, hidden fears, unrecognized emotions of every hue, and indicate the unconscious psychic complex. The skin reflects, as does a mirror, the unconscious psyche of man. It has always been the habitude of the physician to look through the skin at the underlying soma. Now it is the task of the dermatologist, and those interested in the skin, not to be satisfied solely with the dermatosis, but to look through the skin, at psyche.”
From the book Skin Disease by Anne Maguire
Watch the movie “Dangerous Method” and there is a scene that describes how this experiment works.
Short clip
A useful article to glance at.
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Audrey