Pathways out of Psychic Crises

Susanne Barknowitz works as a respiratory and psycho-therapist in Innsbruck, Austria, and is the lead author of the book “Pathways out of Psychic Crises – Help during Anxiety and Depression”. In this interview she speaks about her therapeutic work.

Mehmet Yesilgöz

GrailWorld: I would like to start the interview with a little self-experiment! I am anxious about this interview, although you are quite a pleasant person from whom nothing threatening seems to emanate! How is it that nevertheless, at this moment, I feel this subtle anxiety? Am I still normal, or does this also happen to others? How can I retain the capacity to act?

Barknowitz(laughs): Do not worry, that happens to quite a lot of people! This “anxiety” of which you presently speak is much more likely to be excitement or a certain feeling of tension, that is, what is commonly known as “stage fright”. You can counteract this quite simply by, for example, focussing completely on the interviewee and the content of the discussion, and not observing yourself. As soon as you pay complete attention to your fellow man and to the matter at hand, the compulsive self-observation passes and the natural flow of conversation is restored.

GrailWorld:  In the book “Pathways out of Psychic Crises” you describe how an anxiety neurotic would do anything to avoid suffering. What sense could there be to personal suffering in life?

Barknowitz: Suffering never takes place without a quite definite reference to one’s own life, to the experience of the person. Emotional upheavals, such as the death of a loved one, illness, or other painful experiences are parts of one’s own biography. Nothing happens randomly. If the one affected is prepared to assimilate these experiences positively then he has a great possibility to recognise something important, and through this, the opportunity to change something in his life for the better. Dull suffering gives way to a clear answer and one can move on, strengthened.

GrailWorld: How does one deal with existential anxieties that are stirred from the outside or dependent on unpredictable factors, for example, a moody boss?

Barknowitz: Together with the patient, I seek to consider the problem not only from the outside. Usually, there is a completely different problem hiding behind the apparent problem. If a man adjusts to his moody boss to the point of abject servility, then he must quite naturally be desperately unhappy – even unhappier than if he were unemployed for a while! A majority of career aspirations sacrifice the inner self, which eventually rebels through the body or through psychological disturbances. To all intents and purposes, my most important objective is that people find the courage to bring to life the abilities they bear within themselves, as I am convinced that this is actually an obligation! When they begin this work on themselves, new possibilities emerge almost lawfully.

GrailWorld: When a person, after decades of idleness, begins to rediscover his innermost being as the result of a certain circumstance in his life, is he not suddenly confronted by a void, or what? After all, for many years he has cultivated a very different “concept of survival”. His social skills and his perceptive capacity can indeed only be quite poorly developed, since they were hardly required in the old “mode” of living.

Barknowitz: He does not require any concept for his life! He only needs to feel, to perceive what is appropriate and sound for him. I have no appropriate concept or patented recipe ready for him, either! I can simply encourage him to follow his inner necessities. That may initially sound somewhat banal, however, in reality this process of change is quite amazing. It is simply quite moving, when the real person within begins to live again as he actually is. This true ego is with almost everyone, through adaptation for the most varied reasons, very much stifled. The lack of identity is thus one of the main causes of a person getting into “disturbances”. This adaptation goes on for years, decades and even lifetimes, and all this so as not to be hurt, to be recognised and to have a place in society. This mechanism is so deeply embedded in almost everyone, that visible disturbances develop from it that block the inmost self in its possibilities of unfolding. Today, hardly anyone is still himself! However, it is amazing what new possibilities arise when someone sets out on the path, when one senses the question: What really is my task in this life? Where is my place? What really are my very own talents?

GrailWorld:  In the book “Pathways out of Psychic Crises” you address a dimension that is not often acknowledged in psychology – the spiritual dimension. In this connection you speak of faith in the Creator, reckoning definitely with a healing trust in God. How do you work with this in your practice?

Barknowitz: The stream is always connected to the source! It is the same with us also! This is a picture that clarifies my perspective. When we open ourselves deep within, we can experience how our innermost being seeks a connection upwards with the fountainhead, and also, how it is drawn from there! Viewed in this light, the deepening takes place when one follows the trail to the source in the quiet of one’s own room.

For example, I attempt this by putting the patient’s hand on his physical centre. In this way, the patients can immerse themselves in their inner space. After this, I give them the image of the stream, which means a lot to most of them! Through this natural connection with the source, the innermost being is able to find its way by itself. There is this wonderful phrase: “To be natural means to follow the living attraction of the Light!” The moment the inner self opens itself longingly, it seeks a connection to the source … pictures are often more moving than theoretical sentences.

GrailWorld: In a macabre way, death is indeed the only thing certain in life! Many experience the inevitability of death and the uncertainty of the hereafter as frightening or forbidding, and therefore avoid every thought of the finite nature of their own physical existence. How do you deal with people who are trapped in such fears and to whom the thought of a life after death does not mean a thing?

Barknowitz: As a matter of principle, I work a lot with questions. I would immediately ask such a patient exactly what he was afraid of. Is it fear of suffering? Is it fear of the process of dying, or of death itself? Or is it rather the fear that something in life remains unsettled? Usually it is this fear in particular! The fear is rooted in one’s own life, in which something resonates that is unsettled or unsolved, for example certain feelings of guilt – something still oppresses the person or still clings to him. As a rule, most people have not concerned themselves with the fact that they live more than once on earth, so that in old age, the fear of death can become very harrowing. I remember a woman who was very afraid of dying. It was important for me to know what exactly she was so afraid of.

In her first response, her fears were for her children. She feared to have to leave them alone. I asked her whether she believed that the children would not be able to cope alone? She did not believe that. Finally, she expressed her fear of parting, of separation. This recognition was so strong that she felt that she must have experienced such very painfully before.

GrailWorld:  Is it sometimes possible to address otherworldly conditions directly within the framework of therapy?

Barknowitz: There is a really beautiful example from Mrs. Elisabeth Lukas*, who normally does not work with the “otherworldly” subjject: A man completely lost in grief came to her practice and told her of the loss of his little, four-year-old daughter. The girl had fallen into a tank on the site of their house which was still under construction, and as a result, had drowned. The father was in complete despair, blamed himself for his daughter’s death since in the tragic moment he had not kept sufficient watch over her. Thereupon Mrs. Lukas told him: “I cannot comfort you, because what happened to you is so terrible! I can only give you a piece of advice: go into a room in your house in which you feel closest to your daughter, and in which you can be all alone. Call your child and speak to her of that which so burdens your heart!” Six weeks later the man returned to Mrs. Lukas, naturally still quite sad, but he was no longer in such despair. He informed her that he never would have believed it possible, but his child was really with him! She placed her hand on his forehead, which he could still feel at that moment. He told his daughter of his grief and the unforgivable guilt he brought upon himself that day, to which the child lovingly replied: “Father, but you still love me!”

∗Dr. Elisabeth Lukas is a renowned logotherapist.