This is a strange story caused by the nightmare of psychological counseling visitors. If it is attributed to Owen Aron's autobiographical novels, is it a surreal mixture of visitors and cases he has seen, books he has read, cats he has owned or seen, etc? It's still too weird anyway. I actually took a nap after reading in the early morning, but I didn't dream.

This story, which originated in the clinic, has gone far beyond the scope of the clinic, and perhaps it should be understood from the perspective of dream analysis. At the same time, the protagonist Dr. Reich's "anti-empathy" led him to act against professional ethics for visitors, but his kindness made him personally help a family get rid of the curse. His conversation with the strange cat is more effective than that with the visitor Harston.

Ernest Reich, a psychologist, in order to understand the reason why the patient Harston wanted to stop seeing a doctor, let him return to the state of being frightened by the nightmare when he first came to see a doctor and what happened before the nightmare. Harston recalled that he met Artemis, a fairy woman, in a restaurant in the center of Mirgu that day, and was taken to her residence, where she enjoyed a wonderful dinner and sex, but then she was dragged into a horrible nightmare: she was chased by a fierce big cat to the edge of a pool, and from a distance she saw that the naked woman like Artemis in the pool was actually a robot, and her chest was not milk, but corrosive radioactive liquid. Harston ran for his life and didn't say goodbye when he woke up.

Opening this memory allowed Harston to stay in the clinic, but it brought Ernest a "dream of saving the United States by heroes". He pushed himself and others (he had been hurt by his girlfriend's leaving without saying goodbye) and thought that Harston might do harm to Al themis. When he couldn't guide Harston to face and deal with it, he prepared himself by collecting information, found Artemis, and repeated similar experiences and dreams of Harston, although he did some preventive measures and didn't smoke Artemis. A few days after driving away from Al themis's home after a day's dream, he found that he had almost forgotten Al themis like Harston.

Unlike Harston, who left without saying goodbye forever, Ernest went back to apologize to Al themis and learned the family secrets of Al themis related to nightmares:

Themis's grandmother Clara was born in a bad family, and her biological father and uncle were cruel to her. She had to leave home and live alone with her cat Sika. The good times didn't last long, but they met their dangerous neighbors, vulgar and greedy kovac and his evil big cat Mel Gaish, who coveted Clara and Sika respectively. In order to get rid of the daily howling of Melgaish, Clara secretly carried Melgaish's cage to another city 200 kilometers away and threw it into the Danube.

Unexpectedly, this is a desperate revenge of a strange cat with nine lives. It found Clara and cursed that she and her daughter, grandchildren and generations would never be with any man twice. Generations of women in the family are in heat every month, but the men they please will leave and never look back. Clara was cursed and destroyed from then on. She sold her body for a living and gave birth to Magda, the mother of Artemis. She didn't know who her father was. When she grew up, she was sent to a distant school and spent the rest of her life in new york under the spell, leaving only a letter to tell her the truth and sending money every month during school.

Ernest broke the spell, met Artemis for the second time, and after being awakened by the roar of Melgaish, he had a conversation with Melgaish (of course, it was still in a dream).

Ernest calmed himself down, invited the strange cat with the food he brought, and thanked that no one took good care of it. This made Melgesh begin to pour out his life experience, hating Clara for hindering his and his master's sexual desire. Ernest tried to persuade the strange cat to stop taking revenge from the point of view that the perpetrator was grandma, but failed. Starting with the thought of Heidegger, a philosopher they all know, he led him to think about his attitude towards life and death (Meirgesh is a knowledgeable cat, familiar with Heidegger's cat), and pointed out that what this strange cat did was nothing more than to give play to the cat's instinct, and Clara did the same in essence to protect her cat from harm. Human life is only once. Clara traded her only life for a blow from Melgesh, and her former debts were written off.

Melgesh still stubbornly believes that revenge should continue, and he is satisfied with his life of revenge. Ernest asked him how to spend his contented ordinary life, and Melgesh said that he was "waiting for the call of his dream" all day. Ernie pointed out that he faced the subconscious fear of death in his last life, which made him "afraid to enter life". What is more meaningful is to "use this curse to avoid reaching the end of your last life". Ernest guided Mel Gexu to continue thinking about the philosophical proposition of life and death. He pointed out that there will be many centuries before and after our birth that have existed or will continue to exist. We are too afraid of the darkness behind us to take care of the front:

Hearing this, Melgesh stood up, opened his mouth as if yawning, muttered to himself, and strode to the window: "Maybe I should go." .

Mel Gaish left the dream, Ernest and Artemis got up, and Artemis felt that she was free, so please don't leave Ernie, who promised to come back after buying breakfast.

This ending means that everyone has gained freedom from the entangled relationship, which is often achieved through psychological counseling and treatment. From Irving Aron's therapeutic thought, it is based on a new understanding of life and its significance; At the same time, it is also a prerequisite to find the entanglement between Al themis's family and the strange cat in her magical fate.

Although I am not good at dreaming, I seldom interpret dreams. But this paper mainly makes some symbols and metaphors through the intention of dreams. We need to try to understand the relationship between these two stories and the dreams caused by them.

(1) Look at the relationship between Ernest and the visitor Harston-the process from shedding to continuing treatment and then stopping treatment;

Put forward to stop the clinic: Harston and Ernest have not established a relationship of mutual trust, and Harston doesn't like Ernest's idle California style and thinks he is unprofessional; Ernest thought Harston was reserved, stingy and frustrated.

Save the client: Ernest insisted on the last face-to-face consultation with a supercilious attitude, gave honest feedback to the other party without being forced, and successfully guided Harston to recall the panic attack before the first visit, which is the reason why Harston continued to receive treatment.

The doctor crossed the line: Ernest replaced his feelings in the follow-up interview, hoping to replace Harston to make up for the harm to Artemis, and devoted himself to the plans and actions near Artemis, which obviously interfered with Harston's attention and treatment, which was the final reason for the suspension of the consultation-interview relationship.

(2) Let's look at the relationship between Ernest and Artemis-this is the cross-border driven by Ernest's anti-empathy.

Ernest initially thought that Harston should repair and make up for the damage to Artemis, but Harston didn't want to, which triggered Ernest's own impulse to save the United States. Ernest got some information from Harston to look for Artemis, which made a cross-border behavior. His original intention was not completely selfish, and he even used it to discuss with his peers, but he still went his own way despite the dissuasion of his peers. This is a strong anti-empathy drive, not necessarily a conscious utilitarian heart, but a personal color.

Here, therapists use abnormal practices that violate ethics to complete their work with strange cats. I wonder if it reflects that Owen's treatment thought has surpassed the traditional consultation norms in thought and practice. But some more outrageous behaviors are impossible in reality (such as Ernest having sex with Artemis, which is absolutely forbidden in the relationship between consultation and visiting). Of course, it was caused by consulting work), but he still left it in an obviously fictional story.

(3) Talking about strange cats: the core idea of Owen Aron's existential psychotherapy and the reality of the case.

In the dialogue between Ernest and the strange cat, the basic ideas and methods of "existential psychotherapy" by Irving Aron are presented, which are only developed with fictional and strange stories. This point is supported by real consulting cases.

The background and causes of various family dynamics in this story are also very common phenomena. Although Irving Aron is not a therapist oriented to family system dynamics, he seems to see the possible reasons of family dynamics in a case and find the crux, so that all relevant people in the system are released and free. I wonder if he believes in this part or has doubts and stays in a fictional story?