UM Centre
Unfolding-Motivation Centre
practical centre for Psychotherapy, Pedagogy, Medizin and Human Ethology
Observation of unfolding-motivated phenomena
Unfolding phenomena were first identified in 2015 during individual hypnotherapy sessions. A distinct dynamic of abstract images during imagination was observed in various patients, which could not be categorized as either fantasy or memories. Six months later, the first spontaneous movements were observed during a hypnotherapy session. In the subsequent year, the described phenomena of images and movements were considered as two separate occurrences that happened coincidentally. It wasn't until 2017 that it was recognized that these phenomena had the ability to develop into complex patterns of movement.
This insight led to the further development of theories regarding the evolutionary connections of these phenomena, their healing properties, and their relation to developmental plasticity. This understanding, in the year 2020, resulted in the description of the unfolding process, its components, phenotypic reorganization, and ultimately the classification of individual unfolding phenomena.
Over the course of eight years of observing these phenomena, psychotherapy sessions were conducted with patients of various symptoms and ages. The observation was structured according to categorizing the function into individual modular sets and subunits within the framework of the entire unfolding motivational process during hypnotherapy.
Based on observations made during individual psychotherapy sessions and supplemented by a frequency-sequential analysis of communication in relation to the individual needs of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, which the author had previously conducted in her dissertation (Chovanec, 2005), the motivation underlying these unfolding phenomena during hypnotherapy was examined in greater detail. The analysis of communication sequences performed in the dissertation allowed for a recurring sequential classification of individual being-needs, which now forms the basis for a model of phenotypic reorganization with its different phases. Building on these findings and assumptions, being-motivation as well as growth-motivation according to Maslow (1971) were reclassified into a new category, expanded with additional functions focusing on reorganization and renewal: The so-called Unfolding Motivation.
Drawing from various theories of developmental plasticity, considerations were made about an unfolding process and a mechanism of reorganization that emerged in phylogeny and was shaped in ontogeny.
The described phenomena occurred spontaneously during hypnotherapy. These described unfolding phenomena are classified as a new approach to the subject from the perspective of hypnotherapy. In this context, the procedure was linked to Ericksonian Hypnotherapy (Erickson, Rossi, Zeig) and its specific techniques. Additionally, the role of psychotherapists in promoting all three parts of the motivation model, growth motivation, deficit motivation, and unfolding motivation, was examined in more detail. The specific methodological steps are discussed in a separate treatise.
The aim was to describe the phases of phenotypic reorganization of unfolding phenomena and to relate them to the unfolding motivational process. Furthermore, one of the objectives is to describe the occurrence of individual unfolding phenomena within therapy and illustrate them with relevant examples.
The entire unfolding motivational process observed in hypnotherapy is subdivided into individual unfolding motivational modular sets within the framework of modularity and plasticity of a system, which in turn consist of modular subunits and modular sub-subunits.
Categorization of Unfolding Phenomena
After observations during psychotherapy sessions, a categorization of these phenomena was made into five sets: an activating set, a balancing set, a healing/sensory set, a cognitive set, an innovative set, and a being-awareness set. Furthermore, these were further divided into subunits.
The goal of our center is to continue researching these phenomena, apply them practically in therapy, and create a collection, a so-called human "ethogram" of unfolding phenomena that occur during hypnotherapy. This should serve as a growing source of information for psychotherapists and researchers. Another objective is to initiate cooperation for this project and offer collaboration to universities, institutes, students, and educators in both study and research.
Dr. Erika Chovanec
Vorgartenstraße 29-143/3/1-2
1020 Vienna
Tel: 004369911692185
Email: info@unfolding-motivation.com
www.unfolding-motivation.com
Unfolding Motivation Center
More information to follow (stay tuned)...