What is Rabindrik Psychotherapy?

Rabindrik Psychotherapy 

Definition

Rabindrik Psychotherapy is a  process of Self awakening in treating psychological disorders and mental distress through the use of therapeutic 

postulates extracted from the literary works of Rabindranath Tagore. Therefore, Rabindrik Psychotherapy is concerned with flow of mental images across layers of consciousness. It 

doesn't indicate Rabindrasangeet or Rabindranath Tagore. Here, therapeutic postulates are extracted and tested in patients with complaints of Psychiatric disorders. 

History 

In 2004, Debdulal Dutta Roy, Indian Psychologist, observed that patient suffering from neurotic and psychotic disorders could identify determinants of own mental distress, regulate cognitive processes, emotional expressions and behavior by regular singing of Rabindrasangeet, songs composed by noble laureate Rabindranath Tagore. 

He noted cognitive structuring and restructuring occurs through the different flows across three layers of consciousness.

Key words:

Consciousness: It is awareness of mental functions to event in surroundings. In Rabindrik psychotherapy, consciousness can be understood with the analogy of boundless ocean.

Consciousness layers: In Rabindrik psychotherapy, consciousness has three levels in which flow occurs. They are Murta, Raag and Saraswat. 

Murta: It is the outer layer of consciousness. It is the seat of attention, sensation and perception.

Raag: It is the inner layer of consciousness. This is seat of feeling, affect or emotion, memory, thinking, image processing. 

Saraswat: It is the inner core layer of consciousness. This is the seat of aesthetic , harmony and peace. 

Flow: It is the movement of the locus of consciousness. The movement is of two types - laminar and turbulent flows.

Laminar flow: Laminar flow is characterized by smooth flow of the event elements. The elements move smoothly to adjacent event. The velocity of flow is very low. Usually, it occurs when locus of consciousness lies at Saraswat layer. 

Turbulent flow: It is characterized as irregular fluctuations of event elements. Velocity of flow is very high and fluctuating. It is continuously undergoing changes in both magnitude and direction.

Buoyant force: Buoyancy, or upthrust, is an upward force exerted by event elements  that opposes the weight of a partially or fully immersed event. Thus the pressure at the bottom of a column of event is greater than at the top of the column. Similarly, the pressure at the bottom of an event submerged in a fluid is greater than at the top of the object. 

Postulates 

Any psychotherapy is based on certain assumptions about human behavior. Rabindrik Psychotherapy emphasizes on changes in Consciousness. Debdulal Dutta Roy through counseling to mentally disordered clients explored few postulates. 

1. Consciousness elements are free floating.
‌2. Consciousness is unbounded. It has no boundary.

3. Consciousness is composed of three layers Murta, Raga and Saraswat.

4. Image characteristics of the event change across layers of consciousness.

5. Locus of consciousness moves across layers through flows.

6. Man has power to customise environment and regulate flows across consciousness layers.

Human nature 

In analysis of human behavior, Debdulal Dutta Roy explored some characteristics of human being. During Rabindrik Psychotherapy, therapist should pay attention to them. They are:

1. Man is pursuer of newness.

2. ‌Man is pursuer of completeness.

3. Searching newness makes man incomplete that acts as the driver to find out completeness.

4.Incomplete to complete is a cyclic process.

5. Murta image has structure but no affect or emotion.

6. Apperception occurs when Murta image is associated with feeling in Raag layer.

7. Saraswat image indicates harmony of object and environment.

8. Experience of Consciousness is like a journey from incomplete to complete across three layers.

9. Incoming images  are changed when it came out from saraswat layer.

10. Incoming image creates buoyant forces.

11. There will not  be any stigma in therapy.

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Process of change 

To him, consciousness can be understood with the analogy of boundless ocean.

He explored the topography of consciousness. It consists of  three layers -Murta, Raag and Saraswat. Initially stimulus or event enters into the Murta layer, next it is filtered and moving to Raag layer. Finally it reaches at Saraswat layer of consciousness. During, the movement, event changes its characteristics by creating different patterns of flows in consciousness. Event characteristics are changed with the logical reasoning metaphors and flows in Rabindrasangeet. Alternate consciousness occurs in singing Rabindrasangeet. Alternate consciousness assists the patient to test and retest own logical thinking.

Rabindrik Psychotherapy is not therapeutic interventions by music rather integration of 

performing arts covering dance, drama, music, painting, sculpturing following the therapeutic postulates. It is holistic in nature. In Rabindrik psychotherapy, therapist can use drama, dance or dance drama for interventions.