Comment

Dieckmann did not read a theoretical paper on active imagination, but he showed a film of the paintings and the modellings of a woman patient who had taken to this method spontaneously. From this material, from Dieckmann's comments, and from the woman's remarks about it the dynamics of the ongoing process are conveyed most convincingly.

It is also very interesting to see how images which arise from the unconscious are influenced by the conscious personality, how their appearance can be inhibited if the symbolic content is too painful, and how they change when faced and affect conscious attitudes. Another fascinating aspect of this woman's work was how collective symbols become expressions of her own personality.

Lastly, her modellings were of particular interest because they were highly charged with meaningful symbolism as well as remarkable from an artistic point of view. These two qualities are not usually found together without one or other predominating, but this woman was able to give equal value to both. During the course of that period of the individuation process which Dieckmann describes, his patient's behaviour pattern was considerably modified, and moreover she developed her modelling talent in such a way that she succeeded in finding a market for her work.

The patient was a married woman in her late forties who had had five children. When Dieckmann took her on she was near-psychotic, had attempted suicide several times, and was suffering from various psychosomatic illnesses.

Her childhood background was appalling; both her parents were missionaries in Indonesia and belonged to a very strict Protestant sect, and they had left her with foster-parents in Europe who were unloving and cruel; after she had married she felt neglected and unappreciated by her husband. In spite of all these disadvantages, she related well to her analyst from the outset of treatment, taking to using brush and clay immediately though she had never painted or modelled before.

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