Fairytale therapy for adults and older people: psychological fairy tales

What is a method?

Fairytale therapy is a method of psychological influence on a person that promotes the development of a person’s personality, creative abilities, correction of individual problems, as well as relieving tension, due to the accumulation of which psychosomatic disorders appear.

Many people believe that fairy tale therapy is used when working with children, but this is not true. It can be called “childish” only because it affects the childish nature of a person, his inner child .

In order for an adult to agree to fairy tale therapy, the psychologist must establish close contact with the client. Basically, this skill is possessed at a high level by experienced psychologists with extensive experience in the field of psychological counseling.

In this case, the patient will not be embarrassed and the result of work in this direction will be positive. Therefore, before a psychologist begins to work with fairy tale therapy, he needs to learn how to establish contact.

The main tool of this method is a fairy tale or parable . The events of a fairy tale evoke emotions in a person, and the characters and their relationships are projected by the patient onto his own life.

It often seems to a person that this situation is very similar to the one that is happening to him.

Thanks to a fairy tale, the patient can solve his problems. Fairytale therapy is used for individual and group work.

The advantage of fairy tale therapy in the second type of work is that a person from other group members receives new ways to solve a particular problem that were not previously open to him.

In order for the client to have a positive attitude towards this way of working with his problem, the therapist first turns it on inadvertently .

This is due to the fact that many adults categorically refuse this type of work, considering fairy tales meaningless.

You can work with a fairy tale in several ways :

Analysis and discussion of a fairy-tale situation.
Tell a fairy tale to one person or to several.
Tell a fairy tale, and then come up with a sequel to it, and the last teller must complete the story.
Group creation of a fairy tale.
Telling a fairy tale from the first person (heroes) with their preliminary distribution among group members.
Rewriting fairy tales.
Staging a fairy tale using puppets or as a performance.
Drawing fairy tales, i.e. While reading, the patient is asked to imitate what he imagines.

Fairytale therapy allows you to form a fresh look at the situation and reflect the patient’s internal conflict.

Fairytale therapy as a technique includes two stages: awareness of the situation in which the client is and therapy, i.e. solving a client's problem.

Meditative stories before bed.

Close your eyes. Now imagine that you are not lying in bed, but on a white cloud. It is very soft, gentle and gently rocks you. There are many stars in the sky. They sing their favorite melodies to you and illuminate the blue transparent river with their radiance. The fish splashed and played in it all day, but now they are tired and swim to rest. Their eyes close. They fall asleep right on the shells. A bird flies over the river. She looks into the water and sees a sleepy kingdom at the bottom. The bird also yawns and flies to sleep in its warm, cozy nest. The sound of the wind subsides, the stream stops babbling. There are no more waves on the river. She became quiet and calm. Along with the river, the forest also fell asleep. All his animals hid in their holes, because they, like birds and fish, need to gain fresh strength, and sleep gives this strength. Fish and animals love to dream. That's why they fall asleep before everyone else. When people fall asleep, they dream of something interesting and magical. In a dream, many secrets and mysteries are revealed. And the faster you fall asleep, the more interesting things you will see in your dreams. The cloud slowly lowers you into bed, wishes you interesting dreams and also falls asleep. The sun is sleeping too. When it wakes up, it will wake you up with its warm rays. Only the moon does not sleep. She tells fairy tales to everyone sleeping. When you fall asleep, the moon will tell you a story too. Sleep well baby. Sweet dreams to you.

"Anything can happen"

Topic: enuresis.

In the fairy-tale Gardener there lived different vegetables: pot-bellied Tomatoes, flirty Carrots, clumsy Pumpkins, rosy-cheeked radishes and green-eyed Beans. And many, many more different cultures. They lived amicably and cheerfully. And they didn’t grieve at all, because in their Gardener it was warm, light and cozy. The residents of this small town loved to visit each other, frolic on the lawns. play with butterflies and swim. At the same time, they did not forget to grow and get stronger. But most of all, Ogorodnik loved the rain. And the rains here, I must say, were also fabulous: on Mondays there were only milk rains, on Thursdays and Saturdays - lemonade rains, on Tuesdays - tea mixed with coffee rains, on Wednesdays and Fridays it rained morsiki, and on Sundays there was a fine jelly rain: In the middle Kranik lived as a gardener in a beautiful little house; he monitored the supply of water to all the vegetables in the city. And he also collected liquid in a large tank. When it was filled to the brim, the faucet opened the valve and all the water was distributed to the right place and the right house. All the vegetables in Ogorodnik were pleased with the precise and well-coordinated work of the Crane. The main thing in Ogorodnik was the Manager, who lived in a high tower. He vigilantly followed everything that happened in the town: how the power plant worked. whether the streets and pavements are cleaned, whether it rains on time. He also checked the operation of the faucet: whether it opened the valve properly and released liquid from the tank to the right place. The Manager contacted all of Ogorodnik’s services by telephone, giving clear orders and instructions. And everything was fine, if one day, whether it was on Tuesday or Thursday, now no one will remember this for sure, a strong wind blew and the connection between the Manager and Kranik was disrupted: the phone malfunctioned, at night Kranik fell asleep so soundly that I didn’t hear the phone ringing, in a dream he released all the water from the tank directly into Ogorodnik. And in the morning there was a scandal! All the indignant residents of the town gathered around the Crane. The pot-bellied tomato muttered under his breath: “I just put on new pajamas today. Look how wonderful they are, striped.” And you. Faucet, soaked her! How am I going to sleep in it now, and Rosy-cheeked Radish squealed all over the street: “I just got a new hairstyle!” Look what's left of her! That's terrible! And the hardworking grandmother Cabbage silently hung out the wet bed to dry. Kranik was very ashamed. He apologized to everyone and thought about it all day. By nightfall the Manager called him. And he gave strict instructions to listen to the phone ring and monitor the valve so that the liquid was poured into the right place. But it all happened again! The next morning everyone again shamed and scolded the faucet. This made him feel very bad. From then on, Kranik became sad. And everyone else began to think about how to help him. The manager replaced the phone and strengthened the ringing, but Kranik still didn’t hear it. One day, a wise uncle zucchini came to the tap and asked: - Tap, when you wake up in the morning, what is the first thing that wakes you up9 - Probably the sun. — Kranik answered after thinking. “But there’s no sun at night, which means there’s no one to wake me up.” - Yes. but you can make an artificial sun! - answered Uncle Zucchini. - Like this? - Kranik was surprised. - you just need a light bulb to light up at night along with the bell - a little sun! - Hooray! Yes Yes! You need to do this today! Thank you, Uncle Zucchini! - the faucet shouted as he ran. On the same day, the manager gave instructions to hang a bright yellow light next to the telephone near the faucet. And the Manager installed a computer at his place, on the screen of which all the city services were visible. Night has come. The whole city quietly fell into sleep. Our faucet also fell asleep. Only the manager was awake. He kept a watchful eye on the computer screen. He watched the large tank at the tap fill up. And when the liquid reached the edges. The manager pressed the right button, and in an instant the telephone in the house near the faucet rang and a bright light came on. - come on, Faucet! And.., Faucet WOKE UP! Hooray! The satisfied faucet did everything clearly: he opened the valve and drained the liquid into the tank. After that he went to bed. And in the morning, all the city residents were pleasantly surprised - the city was dry! And immediately everyone felt happy: after all, they had been sleeping in rubber bags for a long time. This means you can put on your beautiful pajamas and nightgowns again. Everyone rushed to congratulate Kranik. And life got better.

Meditative stories for children before bed

This meditative story was invented without a plot as such, so that the child’s mental activity would rest, and only the imagination would work. To do this, turn on quiet, quiet music and it is better if the one who puts the child to bed lies down next to him and slowly, with pauses, begins to talk in a quiet voice. Let's dream up a little together. To do this you need to close your eyes. Closed? Now let’s imagine that we are not lying in bed, but on a white cloud. It is very soft, gentle and rocks us slightly. There are many stars in the sky. They sing to us their favorite melodies and illuminate the blue transparent river with their radiance. The fish splashed and played in it all day, but now they are tired and swim to rest. Their eyes close. They fall asleep right on the shells. A bird flies over the river. She looks into the water and sees a sleepy kingdom at the bottom. The bird also yawns and flies to sleep in its warm, cozy nest. The sound of the wind subsides, the stream stops babbling. There are no more waves on the river. She became quiet and calm. Along with the river, the forest also fell asleep. All his animals hid in their holes, because they, like birds and fish, need to gain fresh strength before the morning, and sleep gives this strength. Fish and animals love to dream. That's why they fall asleep before everyone else. When people fall asleep, they dream of something interesting and magical. In a dream, many secrets and mysteries are revealed. And the faster you fall asleep, the more interesting things you will see in your dreams. The cloud slowly lowers you into bed, wishes you good night and also falls asleep. The sun is sleeping too. It will wake up only in the morning and wake you up with its warm rays. Only the moon does not sleep. She tells fairy tales to everyone sleeping. When you fall asleep, the moon will tell you a story too. I will also go to sleep and dream, and tomorrow I will tell you what I dreamed. Sleep well, baby. Sweet dreams to you.

What is it used for?

Fairytale therapy is used to correct:

Emotional-volitional sphere: combating fears, anxiety, aggressiveness, low self-esteem.
Intrapersonal and interpersonal conflicts.
Relationships between spouses, children and parents.
Psychosomatic diseases (coronary heart disease, gastrointestinal pathologies).
Relationships in teams.
Mental illnesses (depression, panic attacks, anxiety-phobic disorders).

In addition, thanks to fairy tale therapy, you can prepare a person for intense stressful situations. After working through possible problems and their solutions, it will be easier for a person to bear the problem.

If a person, as a result of analyzing a fairy tale, is unable to determine a way out of the problem, then in any case he can build a more correct strategy of behavior to prevent the recurrence of the same situation in the future.

Fairytale therapy allows you to develop a person’s creative abilities .

Thanks to this, he becomes more relaxed with the people around him.

Very often, fairytale therapy is carried out with older people, especially those who find themselves in a boarding house.

Many studies have been conducted on this matter and a positive effect has been confirmed : patients become more cheerful and gain strength for further existence.

The general goal of fairy tale therapy is to correct behavior and get rid of fears that are embedded in the unconscious.

When working with adults, fairy tale therapy is used to determine a person’s character and reveal his essence. This can be done by reading and discussing an existing fairy tale. Those. in this case we can talk about the diagnostic function of fairy tale therapy.

However, fairy tale therapy allows you to restore a person’s faith in a positive outcome of the problem. If the patient resists when working with a psychologist and does not open up completely, then a fairy tale is used so that this energy is directed towards the person’s reflection.

Meditative fairy tale for pregnant women

This tale can be read in the process of psychodynamic meditation on living the embryonic experience and the birth process. A mother can read it to her child before bed in response to the question: “Tell me how I was little.”

About a little lump...

Once upon a time there lived a little fluffy ball. He was very small, warm and surprisingly pretty. He lived in a cozy, warm little hole, where he felt comfortable and calm. He woke up, ate, played, tumbled, fell asleep again and woke up again. Sometimes the lump just lay in its hole and listened to the sounds coming from outside. These sounds were familiar and pleasant. They fascinated the Kid and were so close. He heard the sound of water, the flow and babbling of streams, rhythmic tapping. And sometimes from afar he heard a barely audible gentle voice, like the ringing of a silver bell. But as time passed, the little lump grew and it began to feel a little cramped in its cozy hole; it could no longer tumble as freely as before. Now, in addition to familiar, familiar sounds, new, unfamiliar ones began to penetrate into the hole. They were strange, wonderful and extraordinarily diverse. Some sounds were especially pleasant. And the lump listened to them for a long time, holding his breath. But there were also not very pleasant sounds, and then the lump tossed and turned, trying to plug its ears, or knocked on the walls of its hole, wanting to stop these sounds. But as soon as he knocked, he heard that gentle, pleasant voice again. Now it sounded louder and clearer. And the lump immediately calmed down. Some more time passed, the lump became quite large, and, of course, it no longer fit at all in its small hole. Now every day he heard many different sounds coming from outside. He's used to a lot of things. And he became very interested in what was there, behind the walls of his hole? He really wanted to look at the one who had such a wonderful silver voice. But as soon as the baby approached the door of his hole, he became scared and did not dare to go out. And one fine day the Good Fairy appeared to the baby. She took his hand and said: “Have you grown up and want to get out of your hole?” I can accompany you. You feel that the path ahead will not be easy. But I will always be with you and help you. The world you will enter will not be as cozy and calm as your mink. It is big, filled with different sounds, colors, smells, tastes and sensations. And when you grow up, you will have friends. You will learn everything you want and see a lot of amazing things!.. Well, are you ready? The lump's heart began to pound, he firmly grabbed the Fairy's warm hand, opened the hole door, and, inhaling more air, took a step outside... A huge and beautiful world accepted him, and the wonderful trills of a silver bell voice filled him with joy. The baby felt loved and desired...

Meditative tale for falling asleep “The Gnome”

Slowly the light goes away. Stars light up in the dark sky. There are many, many of them. But only one shines so brightly and tenderly for you. After all, every person has their own star. You have it too. A little Dwarf lives on it. This is your Gnome. He has kind eyes and gentle little hands. White beard, and a cap on his head. Blue, pink, yellow... There are as many colors as there are stars in the sky. At the end of the cap is a tiny silver bell. The blouse is belted with a strap and shimmers with mysterious moonlight. And on her feet are shoes with golden bows. You go to bed. The head touches the pillow, and your star extends its rays to you. This is a star staircase along which your Dwarf is hurrying towards you. Do you hear? Top-top-top... This is the Dwarf hurrying towards you along the starry ladder. And his shoes bring you sleep, turning your pillow into a white soft cloud. It gently rocks you on the rays of your star. The Dwarf's small hands gently stroke your head, eyes, eyelids. He loves you, all night long he quietly whispers good stories in your ear. Quietly, quietly. Only for you. After all, this is your Gnome. He tells how during the day your star bathes in the golden rays of the good Sun. What magical flowers grow in his starry garden, how many sunbeams run across their petals. What fabulous songs are sung by his friends - the birds. With what love and care he looks after you all day! And how patiently he waits for the evening to come down to you from the star, to hear your breath, to feel the warmth of your skin... And to talk, to talk to you... And in the morning, when the star hides in the magic threads of the sun, only the quiet ringing of a silver bell will tell you: “I’m here, I’m waiting for you, I’m keeping you, I love you.”

"Butterfly"

In a distant magical land, where there are many bright fragrant flowers, where the sun shines, a light breeze blows, and where the sky is always blue, there lived a Butterfly. Bright and beautiful. The people of this country loved her very much and were always happy to see her. But just recently, she was a big shaggy caterpillar and lived on a tall old tree. The caterpillar had many legs, but it could not crawl far. And she so wanted to see the whole world! Find out how they live over the mountains, far from their magical country. Both in fairyland and in life, many caterpillars turn into pupae. Our caterpillar also turned into a chrysalis. Lying in a cocoon, she dreamed of seeing the world. And very soon her dreams came true, she turned into a beautiful Butterfly. Now she could fly high, high and see much more than before. She often saw a rainbow in the sky, and they became friends. And so, one day, having said goodbye to the inhabitants of a magical land, the Butterfly went on a journey.

Meditative story for children before bed

This meditative story was invented without a plot as such, so that the child’s mental activity would rest, and only the imagination would work. To do this, turn on low, calm music and it is better if the one who puts the child to bed lies down next to him and slowly, with pauses, begins to talk in a quiet voice. Let's dream up a little together. To do this you need to close your eyes. Closed? Now let’s imagine that we are not lying in bed, but on a white cloud. It is very soft, gentle and rocks us slightly. There are many stars in the sky. They sing to us their favorite melodies and illuminate the blue transparent river with their radiance. The fish splashed and played in it all day, but now they are tired and swim to rest. Their eyes close. They fall asleep right on the shells. A bird flies over the river. She looks into the water and sees a sleepy kingdom at the bottom. The bird also yawns and flies to sleep in its warm, cozy nest. The sound of the wind subsides, the stream stops babbling. There are no more waves on the river. She became quiet and calm. Along with the river, the forest also fell asleep. All his animals hid in their holes, because they, like birds and fish, need to gain fresh strength before the morning, and sleep gives this strength. Fish and animals love to dream. That's why they fall asleep before everyone else. When people fall asleep, they dream of something interesting and magical. In a dream, many secrets and mysteries are revealed. And the faster you fall asleep, the more interesting things you will see in your dreams. The cloud slowly lowers you into bed, wishes you good night and also falls asleep. The sun is sleeping too. It will wake up only in the morning and wake you up with its warm rays. Only the moon does not sleep. She tells fairy tales to everyone sleeping. When you fall asleep, the moon will tell you a story too. I will also go to sleep and dream, and tomorrow I will tell you what I dreamed. Sleep well, baby. Sweet dreams to you.

Meditative fairy tale

Today we are going back to a fairy tale. Imagine that you find yourself in a magical land. You lie in a magical clearing and see a high, clear blue sky above you, hear birds singing and trees talking, and a stream babbling. You feel the aroma of ripe strawberries or freshly baked bread nearby, which comes from the hut of the Sorceress who lives on the edge of the forest, reach out, pick and put a large aromatic berry in your mouth and feel the sweetness of ripe strawberries, while the silky young grass gently tickles our hands, feet, face. You feel light, warm and pleasant. You close your eyes and fall asleep. And you have wonderful dreams. Good night.

Material prepared by: educational psychologist Ilia Iskhakovna Kamaleva

Goals

In fairy tale therapy, several types of fairy tales are used, which are suitable for adults and differ from each other in their purpose of influencing the client :

Psychocorrectional , the purpose of which is to correct a specific psychological problem, i.e. finding a way out of a problem situation.
Psychotherapeutic , affecting a person’s relationship with the environment and himself, as well as affecting the human psyche and containing wisdom (parables, legends).
A meditative fairy tale that helps relieve a person’s tension after stressful situations.
It can also be used after a hard day at work. The important point is that the narrator must have a certain timbre of voice so that a person can be completely immersed in the tale.

Irina Badanova, practicing psychologist - about fairy tale therapy

Hello, friends!
The human brain consists of two hemispheres. The left is responsible for logic, and the right for the emotional-imaginative sphere. In the modern world, people are accustomed to using almost exclusively the left hemisphere, ignoring the right.
This gives an advantage in learning and performing applied tasks, but it greatly impoverishes our daily life, deprives it of color and light, flattens our feelings, deprives us of the opportunity to enjoy both the process and the result, find a non-standard way out of a difficult situation, and establish rich emotional relationships with loved ones.
Fairytale therapy is a very lively and pleasant method that allows you to find a direct path to unconscious needs and resources, bypassing many psychological barriers. The heroes of fairy tales do not feel like such, they do not know that people from another world are interested in them.
Just imagine that your life can also be a fairy tale for someone. Who you are? The Enchanted Princess, Baba Yaga, Ivan Tsarevich or the Gray Wolf? A dragon with three heads or a little mouse? Are you going to seek your fortune across the three seas or are you guarding treasures? Are you performing a feat to save your betrothed or are you waiting for deliverance? Are you leading a squad into battle, solving a mystery, or languishing in a dungeon? Do you own a magic item, or are you the item yourself, magical or unusual?
Like Andersen, even a simple match can tell the story of life and death. Through a fairy-tale image you can understand a lot about yourself. What am I, what do I need? What are my strengths and weaknesses? What brought me to this place, to this situation. What am I hoping for, and can I get it in real life?
Fairytale therapy not only deepens our knowledge about ourselves, but can also help us see the situation from a different angle and find an unexpected and elegant solution. There are many examples when a fairy tale helped to get through the most difficult moments in life. Identifying with your favorite character allows you to try on his best qualities. And it’s not a sin to use this for both adults and children; it’s not for nothing that masquerades, reenactment fights, cosplays and the like are so popular among adults.
There was a time when each of us perceived the world as a miracle. Of course, we are talking about childhood. Then we experienced disappointment, parting with the fairy-tale world, like the heroes of “The Chronicles of Narnia”, who stand in front of the door to the real world. But time after time they return to a fairyland to find a resource to continue ordinary life, to find themselves.
Psychology invites you to visit this wonderful world of childhood, the world of fairy tales, where there is a place to meet the innermost and the opportunity to work hard and receive a generous reward. Good luck, dear friends, the wind is coming through the crack, the door is ajar, would you like to come in?

Principles

Practicing psychologists identify several principles of fairy tale therapy:

Providing information about life values.
The principle of life force. It lies in the fact that the patient, turning to a psychologist, suffers from a lack of vitality, and that is why he cannot independently change his life. With the help of a fairy tale, the client can restore his strength, i.e. accumulate internal resources.
Versatility, characterized by the fact that the psychologist examines the fairy tale from different angles. Thanks to this principle, the patient begins to look at some problematic situation from different points of view.
The connection between mental and social reality.

Examples of fairy tales for adults and older people

Psychologists for fairytale therapy suggest using folk tales, which allow the client to convey life experience.

Examples of psychological fairy tales for both adults and older people include:

"Rock Chicken";
"Kolobok";
"By magic";
"The Tale of Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water."

In addition, you can also use original fairy tales , such as “The Little Mermaid” (H.-H. Andersen), “The Christmas of the Beasts” (M.-L. Ver).

Some manuals for practical psychologists on fairy tale therapy provide other examples depending on the problem and the age of the person.

In the manual T.D. Zinkevich-Evstigneeva “Workshop on Fairytale Therapy” in the appendix you can see a fairy tale for older people who have problems with adults, called “The Old Queen”.

You can find a large number of psychological fairy tales on the Internet. They can also be used to work with patients.

Fairytale therapy for adults: let’s summarize

Now you know that fairy tale therapy for adults is no less relevant than for children. It allows you to look at your problems from the outside and find the right way out, helps you relax and fully rest your soul, develops creativity and teaches you to live your emotions. Thus, we can say that this is an amazing and extremely effective direction in psychotherapy, which can help everyone make life brighter, more colorful and richer!

On our website you can sign up for a consultation with Irina Badanova or any other psychologist with a 10% discount on the first session by voicing the promotional code MirInsideYou.