From the author: Imaginative thinking as a way to regulate emotional states. Working with visual images in self-regulation of mental states; analysis of psychotherapeutic practices Psychologists and psychotherapists sometimes encounter people who are not inclined to verbal communication. Such situations occur especially often when counseling children and adolescents. Working as a teacher-psychologist at the Interschool Training Center, I also encountered such situations. It was necessary to use projective, visual psychotherapeutic methods in diagnosis and psychocorrection. Therefore, I consider the study of the topic: “The role of imaginative thinking in the regulation of emotional states” to be relevant. As J. Piaget proved, imaginative thinking is characterized by the reversibility of operations carried out in the imagination and the ability to mentally perform operations that are not feasible in reality. Another important feature is the establishment of unusual, even “incredible” combinations of objects and their properties in order to create a metaphor or symbolization. The famous researcher of visual (figurative) thinking, Gestalt psychologist R. Arnheim provides a lot of data proving that figurative thinking sometimes has an advantage over conceptual. Imaginative thinking is used in the analytical psychology of C. G. Jung, at the highest level of autogenic training according to I. H. Schultz and in the “Catathymic Experience of Images” method by Hanskarl Leuner. Leiner describes his method as follows: “The concept of CPO is based on the tradition of deep European psychology . The content of waking dreams can be seen as a symbolic representation of unconscious or preconscious conflicts. Compromise formations between affective-instinctive impulses and defensive processes reflect both actual emotional problems and genetic deep forms of conflicts that go back to early childhood. The KPO system is based on two main principles: 1. A person is capable of developing fantastic ideas in his imagination, which are known not only as night dreams, but also as daytime fantasies. With the help of his imaginative ability, a person can each time anew create his image, starting from himself, and get to know himself in the course of a subtle dialectical process.2. As a result of empirical observations of images containing fantasy, a number of specific rules and patterns have been developed. They are subordinated to the primary process with the help of non-interpretive influence. E.I. Zuev, the developer of the domestic method of bioenergy system therapy (BEST), spoke about the role of visual thinking: “Immersion in imaginative reality is an integral part of in-depth diagnostics, since the patient “gives out” those images that are embedded in the structures of the subconscious.” A new direction in psychotherapy, Psychocatalysis - a psychotherapeutic method of working with sensations, also uses a person’s ability to think creatively. Ermoshin A.F., the developer of this method in his book “Things in the Body” writes: ““Stone on the soul” is one of the images of experience most often presented by patients, but by no means the only one. “Jellyfishes”, “octopuses” of fear, sitting in the stomach and launching their “tentacles” into all parts of the body, “clouds” of anxiety in the chest, forcing the patient to wring his hands and rush around the room, “mass” of anxiety, spreading his forehead, preventing him from falling asleep , “lumps” of resentment in the chest, preventing one from breathing, “balls” of despair in the throat, squeezing tears from the eyes, “snakes” of doubt in the head, “eating away” the brain, “steel plates” of controlling the situation in the back of the head, increasing blood pressure to a pre-stroke state , “lead shoulder straps” of responsibility on the shoulders, flattening the spine - all these are also quite common descriptions by patients of their own feelings” through images. And further: “Awareness of what is felt in images is not a sign of mental illness. Rather, on the contrary, the ability to be aware indicates mental health. If we talk about diseases, then in factIt turns out that “snakes in the head” are more likely a sign of a pre-stroke condition than of schizophrenia. At a certain stage of observation of substantive descriptions of experiences, it turned out that the results of self-examination of what is felt in the body can serve, firstly, to activate the processes of natural self-regulation in the body (through the inclusion of a feedback mechanism) and, secondly, to organize accelerated changes in mental status patient through focusing on this process.” E.V. Lopukhina, E.L. Mikhailov in the collective monograph: ““Playing in Russian.” Psychodrama in Russia: stories, meanings, symbols” notes: “In the work of a psychodramatist, it seems to me important to have an attitude towards the material, based on the understanding that mental structures exist without details. They exist as certain archetypes, patterns, conglomerates, an arrangement of some feelings, and not at all in the form of cinematic episodes. That is why, if it is not possible to build a specific regressive scene and even the sculpture of a family fails, there is another move. It remains possible to work on a symbolic level with metaphors, for example, to express one’s state in a metaphor. "What does it look like?" - we ask. “It’s like I’m falling into an abyss,” the protagonist replies. And you can build a symbolic scene of psychodramatic enactment of a state metaphor, which will still contain the structure and pattern or “dance” of the problem. Further: “Working in symbolic language shows the greatest respect for resistance. She appears to be very secure on an emotional level. The protagonist, as a rule, is unaware of how accurately everything in his symbolic scene is visible, represented, and manifested. And then you can put it in the “mirror”, show, for example, a scene with a metaphor for the state, and ask: “What does this remind you of?” And then it is often possible to evoke a specific image... It is impossible to bypass such a direction of psychotherapy, which uses imaginative thinking, as Fairy Tale Therapy. In my work with teenagers, I used this direction both as a method of psychocorrection and as one of the methods of psychodiagnostics. Etc. . Zinkevich-Evstigneeva in her book: “Projective diagnostics in fairy tale therapy” describes the roles of figurative and logical thinking: “Usually most of the information that is transmitted through metaphor is perceived by the right hemisphere of the brain, which is responsible for figurative thinking and emotions. This is especially true for children up to twelve years old. The fairytale therapist needs to create a symbolic bridge between the hemispheres. This is the main rule of working with fairy tales. Use the thrill of imaginative perception and high-quality logical analysis.” In the book “Training in Fairytale Therapy,” she describes the meaning of meditative fairy tales for children and adolescents: “Meditative fairy tales, reflecting images of “ideal” relationships between parents and children. These are images that can later become spiritual landmarks. Such tales are especially necessary for children and adolescents from disadvantaged families in which there is a lack of emotional comfort, support and warmth. Positive images from fairy tales penetrate the unconscious and form there the real “energetic foundation of the personality,” compensating for the lack of parental warmth. Knowledge of “how it can be” gives the child faith in good relationships between people and the potential opportunity to someday build such relationships.” The famous modern psychologist and psychotherapist William Stewart builds his work in psychological counseling on the use of the functions of imaginative thinking and imagination. In his book Working with Images and Symbols in Psychological Counseling, he explores the world of imagination, images and their use in psychological counseling: “Images really break through the control of the mind, which often blocks the entrance to the senses. Clients are fully aware at all times of what is happening and where their imagination is leading them, although they do not know why or the outcome. Working with images. 8.11.08