What is PITT?

In PITT in particular self-relationship and the ability for self-calming are emphasised through the medium of a supportive relationship and are stimulated using imagination to reconstruct them and to thus initiate a healing process of emotional scars. Compassion of the therapist and the patient for him/herself in the form of imaginative reparenting occupies a central position in the therapeutic work.

As part of this, importance is attached to the paying of attention to the transference and countertransference process. The knowledge gained as a result is used to stimulate the patient to initiate a change in dealing with him/herself, both imaginatively and action-related. Compassion and consolation but also recognition of the wrong suffered are strongly emphasised and practised in the treatment of the adult self with the "younger", injured elements of the self.

Central to this is the concept of an "inner stage" which becomes a common imaginary space in which the patient can "play" having been stimulated and supported, as necessary, by the therapist. In this way she or he becomes more capable of action once again.

It is astonishing what people are capable of achieving if they only put their mind to it. PITT also includes the "imagination" to believe that very many patients, despite a great deal of damage caused, are composed of much more than this damage and that they possess self-regulating powers. However, it is in the hands of the therapist to promote this or to more or less eliminate its flow. "Binocular vision" (Fürstenau, 2007), i.e. the awareness of strengths and problems, is therefore a principle of PITT. This involves the transfer of auxiliary ego functions in the form of encouragement for the discovery and use of the patient's own self-regulating powers, in particular for self-calming and for dealing with compassion.

Imagination, more precisely the power of imagination, is suited for interconnecting understanding and feelings and for the incorporation of the body into the therapeutic work.

Mindful awareness of the body and physical needs is therefore continually stimulated, the effects of imagination on the body and its well-being are immediately perceptible and help the patient to engage in a conscious and active manner with more effective and healing concepts.