Authors: Frank Tallis
Curiously, the Rorschach test has now become something of a cultural icon. The image of a symmetrical ink-blot is frequently seen adorning book covers, T-shirts, and CD covers, and it is guaranteed to appear at least once in almost every television documentary on the mind. Even Andy Warhol (a man who knew a thing or two about iconography) produced a series of Rorschach paintings.
Sadly, the Swiss psychiatrist who created this contemporary icon – the enigmatic Hermann Rorschach – did not live to enjoy its cultural popularity. He died only nine months after the first edition was published, at the lamentably young age of thirty-eight.
Another method of provoking the unconscious into revealing its secrets is through subliminal stimulation. This technique involves the presentation of words or images below the awareness threshold, after which patients are instructed to guess what they have just been shown. If, for example, the word ‘father’ is presented subliminally, and the patient guesses that he or she has been shown a word like ‘bully’ or ‘hatred’, it might be supposed that such responses reflect feelings of hostility and, more importantly, hostility that under normal circumstances might not be expressed because of the operation of a defence mechanism. Thus, subliminal provocation can be used to test theory and confirm a psychoanalytic diagnosis.
A good example of how this procedure has been used in practice was published in 1959 by the psychologist H. R, Beech. Beech was interested in the hypothesis that anorexia nervosa is – at least in part – caused by an unconscious confusion between sex objects and food. Anorexic and control subjects received subliminal exposures of various words, after which they were asked to guess what they had been shown. Results confirmed the psychoanalytic hypothesis. Interestingly, those suffering from anorexia thought they had been shown food words after the subliminal presentation of sexual words – an effect which was not observed in healthy controls.
Another psychological test that seeks to tap directly into the unconscious is the defence mechanism test (DMT), The DMT involves the presentation of a picture that shows two figures; a foreground figure (sometimes described as the hero) and a background figure whose expression can be either benign or threatening. The image is presented several times, with each presentation being exposed for an incremental duration. The first presentations are subliminal; however, subjects are still requested to comment on what they have been shown.
Research has demonstrated that when the background figure is threatening, descriptions are more likely to be inaccurate (i.e. elements of the image are distorted or transformed). This phenomenon appears to be consistent with psychoanalytic theory insofar as the perceptual distortions provoked by the presence of a threatening figure may represent the operation of a defence mechanism; anxiety is reduced by transforming the threatening face into a less threatening or more acceptable alternative.
If, as psychoanalytic models suggest, psychiatric problems are associated with the automatic deployment of defences, then the level of distortion reported by DMT respondents will be correlated with the severity of their illness. Moreover, it is implicit that the more defended an individual is, the more out of touch with reality he or she will be. Subsequently the DMT has been employed as an assessment instrument in two quite different settings. First, as a diagnostic test in clinics, and second, as an occupational test for personnel who must demonstrate accurate perception of the environment -particularly under threatening conditions.
After an exhaustive fifteen-year study, the DMT was incorporated into the Norwegian and Swedish airforce selection procedures. The DMT was used specifically to assess pilots applying for flying duties. Follow-up studies have demonstrated that those who perform badly on the DMT (i.e. experience more distortions when the threatening face is in the background) make worse pilots. Such individuals not only exhibit higher levels of absenteeism and psychosomatic illness but, more importantly, show above-average involvement in flying accidents. Similar results have also been found studying deep-sea divers.
Presenting subliminal material to test a theory or to diagnose or assess personality is, of course, controversial; however, such controversy is relatively tame compared with that aroused by the idea of subliminal treatment. First, there is the ethical problem; like subliminal advertising, subliminal treatment is, by definition, non-consensual. Second, there is the problem of credibility: the claim that a single statement or image, exposed for a few thousandths of a second, can have a lasting and beneficial effect on illnesses that are often chronic, complex, and severe seems at first sight to be preposterous. Moreover, the standing of subliminal therapy has not been helped by its cause célèbre, which must rank among the most bizarre discoveries in the history of psychology and neuroscience.
Subliminal therapy, in the form known as subliminal psychodynamic activation (SPA), was developed in the 1960s and 1970s by the late Lloyd Silverman – a psychoanalyst at New York University. Silverman was initially interested in using subliminal stimuli to test – and hopefully confirm – various psychoanalytic ideas about the role of conflict in mental illness. For example, it had been suggested that unconscious aggressive and incestuous urges were important factors in the respective formation of schizophrenic and homosexual ‘symptoms’. (Needless to say, contemporary psychologists are inclined to view homosexuality as a preference rather than a psychiatric illness.)
Silverman devised two stimuli which might arouse aggressive or incestuous urges. Tlie first depicted an angry man with bared teeth preparing to stab a woman, accompanied by the words ‘Destroy Mother’, The second depicted a nude man and woman in a sexual pose, accompanied by the words ‘Fuck Mommy’. Because such violent and libidinal urges are taboo, Silverman’s logic was that they would necessarily produce intrapsychic conflict, which would in turn increase symptom severity.
The stimuli that Silverman devised were then shown to schizophrenic and homosexual patients for 4 milliseconds – the idea being to ‘stir up’ unconscious aggressive and libidinal wishes. Projective tests were administered before and after subliminal stimulation as a measure of psychopathology.
Silverman and his colleagues found that the ‘aggression’ stimulus activated schizophrenic psychopathology, but had no effect on homosexuals, while conversely the ‘incest’ stimulus activated homosexual psychopathology but had no effect on patients with schizophrenia.
While Silverman was stirring up intrapsychic conflict, thus making his patients feel worse, he was also thankfully experimenting with more benign uses of subliminal stimulation (i.e. employing the same principles to make his patients feel better).
In the 1960s, there was much interest in psychoanalytic circles concerning early development and the importance of maternal bonding. This coincided with Silverman’s own growing interest in mental states associated with fantasies about ‘merging with mother’ – described by analysts as symbiotic or merging fantasies. Typically, such fantasies evoke feelings of oneness with an idealised nurturing and all-protecting mother.
Silverman speculated that it might be possible to promote feelings of security and contentment in patients by activating unconscious merging fantasies; a goal that he believed could be achieved by subliminal presentations of a key image or phrase. In the end, Silverman chose the words ‘Mommy and I are one’ – a phrase that he arrived at through chance, rather than design.
The phrase ‘Mommy and I are one’ was originally spoken by a patient of Silverman’s wife – Doris K, Silverman – also an analyst. The patient in question was a troubled young woman whose mother was extremely domineering and sought to control almost every aspect of her daughter’s life. In her therapy sessions the patient kept on using the phrase ‘Mommy and I are one’ to describe the intense nature of their mother-daughter relationship. When Doris Silverman mentioned this to her husband he immediately recognised a phrase that could be used as an economic expression of the symbiotic wish. Thereafter Silverman used the phrase as a subliminal message in many of his subsequent studies, and in the literature it is now known as the ‘merging fantasy stimulus’.
Initially Silverman used subliminal exposures of’Mommy and 1 are one’ with patients suffering from schizophrenia. Careful observations and testing showed a definite improvement in all symptoms, but most notably a reduction in thought disorder. Thus, patients became more coherent and lucid. Inspired by early successes, Silverman and his colleagues then went on the try the merging fantasy stimulus with other patient groups, where subliminal exposures could be used exclusively, or in conjunction with other therapeutic procedures (not all of them based on psychoanalytic theories).
An intriguing example of their work was published in a 1974 edition ofthe prestigious
Journal of Abnormal Psychology.
Twenty women with insect phobias were allocated to either an experimental or control group. All were given a form of behaviour therapy known as desensitisation. Typically, patients construct a list of situations, ordered to reflect increasing levels of anxiety. Such a list might begin with ‘seeing a spider’ and end with ‘touching a spider’. Patients begin by imagining the first item on their list, but at the same time perform a series of relaxation exercises. This has the effect of inhibiting anxiety. Patients then work their way up the list, pairing relaxation with situations associated with increasing levels of anxiety. Exposure to feared objects or situations can be in imagination, or in real life. Either way, desensitisation sessions of this kind can result in a marked reduction of fear.
In Silverman’s study the desensitisation procedure was modified. Instead of receiving relaxation exercises, the experimental group received 4-millisec-ond exposures ofthe phrase ‘Mommy and 1 are one’. The control subjects were treated identically, but received 4-millisecond exposures of the theoretically inert phrase ‘People are walking’. At the end of treatment, the experimental group showed significantly more improvement than the control group.
Silverman also carried out another series of studies that, while not employing the merging fantasy stimulus, seemed to confirm a cornerstone of psychoanalytic theory – the Oedipa! phase of development. This extends from the third to sixth years, during which infant males experience strong hostile feelings (in addition to the more readily recognised benign feelings) towards their fathers, whom they perceive as competitors for their mother’s love. Silverman wanted to discover whether activating ideas in the unconscious relevant to Oedipal conflicts could interfere with the execution of a simple task: throwing darts.
A large number of male students were recruited, who then participated in a dart-throwing competition for a financial reward. Some students received subliminal presentations of the phrase ‘Beating Dad is wrong’, while others received ‘Beating Dad is OK’. It was suggested that the idea of winning could be made to resonate with Oedipal implications by subliminal stimulation. Thus, if winning was coloured by the taboo connotation of beating Dad for Mother’s forbidden sexual favours, then unconscious inhibitory mechanisms would immediately come into operation so as to impair performance. The opposite, of course, should also be true, where permission will obviate guilt and subsequent inhibition of performance. A control group receiving subliminal exposures of’People are walking’ was also included in Silverman’s experimental design.
Results entirely supported psychoanalytic theory. The ‘Beating Dad is wrong’ group performed worse than controls, while the ‘Beating Dad is OK’ group performed better than controls.
Since Silverman’s pioneering work in the 1960s and 70s, there have been numerous investigations of the therapeutic properties of the merging fantasy stimulus. The most well-researched patient group are individuals suffering from schizophrenia, for whom outcome studies show consistent beneficial effects; however, patients suffering from depression, anxiety (including simple phobias), addictions (such as alcoholism), and eating disorders (including obesity) also show comparable levels of improvement. Finally, in addition to amelioration of symptoms, positive effects of a more general kind have been observed. These include easier self-disclosure, better rapport with others, and increased assertiveness. Used on non-psychiatric subjects, the merging fantasy stimulus has been associated with improved memory and improved academic performance.
In a major review article published in 1990, Richard Hardaway suggested that there is now overwhelming evidence for a slight but consistent effect. Although it is probably the case that the benefits of subliminal exposure to the merging fantasy stimulus have been overestimated in many reports, the fact remains that Silverman undoubtedly discovered a real effect. Hardaway was forced to conclude that ‘Future research designed to replicate basic experimental effects is deemed superfluous.’ In other words, instead of questioning whether the effect is there or not, the academic community would serve science better by trying to establish how the merging fantasy stimulus works.
This is a sentiment shared by psychologist Joel Weinberger – originally a junior associate of Silverman – who has suggested that the time has come to demystify subliminal psychodynamic activation. To date, advocates have been all too willing to accept Silverman’s original explanation for its efficacy or simply assume that some kind of’magic’ takes place. Weinberger suggests that the beneficial effects of subliminal presentations of ‘Mommy and I are one’ might be mediated by mood. Raised mood is known to facilitate the emergence of a wide range of helpfu! behaviours (for example increased flexibility of thinking, greater willingness to solve problems, and better judgement). Thus, Weinberger suggests that although the merging fantasy stimulus is able to elevate mood, this might be the limit of its power. All subsequent benefits are probably derived from raised mood, rather than the activation of unconscious fantasies. Moreover, Weinberger’s own empirical work has so far confirmed his hypothesis. Even so, the question of how the merging fantasy stimulus raises mood in the first place remains an interesting and as yet unanswered question.