We all have blockages that block our happiness. They are fears rooted in us, values that govern our choices and behaviors without us noticing. Forest test tries to unravel some of these issues from the theory that created it: relational psychoanalysis, a contemporary stream of psychoanalysis.
According to this theory, our psychological suffering is rooted in a mental architecture that underlies consciousness, we need to access it and understand it in order to integrate the problem and continue to advance and evolve.
- For those who have never heard of this projective and relational test.
- Let us begin by saying that it is not exactly a conventional instrument.
- The forestry test does not have enough reliability and traditional scientific validity to be used normally in clinical practice.
- Its relevance cannot be unknown in the context in which it was created and the theoretical framework it means.
- It’s definitely worth meeting.
Relational psychoanalysis is a more or less recent form of psychotherapy that has led to a breakthrough or rupture in psychoanalysis itself, at least as we know it, whose main objective is to boost the emotional development of the human being and, to do so, must undo the knots and mental blockages that limit us and cause pain. In this psychological approach, for example, we don’t have the traditional psychoanalytic concepts of that, the self and the super-me.
The goal of relational psychotherapy is to reconstruct the patient, so the psychotherapist will guide the individual so that he can interact and count on his environment in the healthiest way possible, this will make the patient can see the world from all angles without fear, helping them to move to the darkest areas of the world that previously did not dare to cross.
Therefore, the boque test is a good exercise from which we can get to know each other a little better, especially the architecture that underlies our person.
The forest test, in addition to measuring a dimension, skill or dexterity, aims to act as a projection of the emotional world of the person, here, in our space, we have already talked on more than one occasion of the so-called projective tests. Examples of these tests are tree testing and family testing, which are essentially psychological tools used to complete a patient’s evaluation.
Applied in isolation and outside the clinical context, several concomitant strategies, such as maintenance, observation and other psychological tests with scientifically proven reliability and validity to arrive at an appropriate diagnosis or at a starting point from which the intervention can be initiated, would never be valid.
In relational psychoanalysis, this test is usually one of the most commonly used for the following reasons listed below:
The forest is a scenario with a mystical and emotional component very clear for any culture. Carl Jung himself explained in his book “Archetypes and the Collective Unconscious?”That since ancient times, these kinds of scenarios enclose our greatest dangers and our deepest fears. In a way, traversing this environment implies a return to the ancestral past in which we can rediscover the depths of our being.
In psychoanalysis it is considered that the forest is the very reflection of the subconscious, it is the symbolic relationship that is manifested in many cases in our dreams, and also where our phobias come from: the fear of the dark, falling into a hole, the fear of certain insects or wild animals, sinking, etc.
“The clearest way to get to the universe is to cross a wild forest. “- John Muir-
The forest test is done using the visualization technique, the therapist will have pencil and paper on hand to guide the patient on each question, and then write down each answer that occurs throughout the process.
The test is quite simple, and all it takes is to create a comfortable and safe environment so that the person can undertake this inner journey with tranquility and naturalness.
The first step is to invite the patient to see a forest, a quiet environment surrounded by trees through which it evolves in solitude, once there several questions will be asked:
In conclusion, we can see that the questions that make up the Boque test are part of a very revealing inner journey, if the patient collaborates and performs the exercise effectively and gives himself to the activity, we will obtain enough information that can be interpreted later with him.
We can understand the emotional state of the person from the form and condition of this forest. What do you mean, the forest burns and at night?What if it’s green and daylight? We will see what the patient’s fears are, who is his main reference and what is the most important and decisive scenario for him.
All this information, as well as the context built on interviews, other tests and clinical observations, can be very useful for relational psychoanalysis therapists.