Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and the problem girl.

Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test and the problem girl.

Let us recall that, Baum Test is the most successful Access Test that really brings out the Unconscious into figural representation. Words have their limitations and verbal reports, because somehow Conscious  allows for Ego interference and hence censure etc. Drawings and such other visual representations, because of its nonverbal nature, succeed in catching glimpses of the unconscious or subconscious elements in the psychic interiority of the person. 

As I have already explained, the the drawings in Loganathan and Sivakumar's Baum Test, which has specific instruction for each Baum not only succeeds in capturing in visual form the contents of the unconscious but also  the UNDERSTANDING which is HISTORICAL, the past, the ongoing and the FUTURE possibilities that awaits the person as his/her own possibility. 

The effecting  of an ACTION   not only brings what the person desires but also LEADS  him to something as its CONSEQUENCE which may be  pleasant or painful.  This is the importance of Baum D.

Baum A is a representation of the persons own PAST, baums B and C the ongoing, and certainly D, the yet to come. And all the four are interlinked like a chain.  As I have  already explained in the lectures, if D means something nasty, disasterous then the treatment consists in changing the present course of action as in C. Hence there is no magic  here but only making  the person UNDERSTAND and CHANGE his present course of behaviour to avoid the unpleasant future.

With these preliminaries I shall describe these Baums briefly and then come to their  meanings in relation to your questions.

Baum A: quite standard-- large clean trunk with globular crown inside which are round fruits . The crown is abstract-- no detailing of the  branches leaves etc. The fruits are actulally  clean circles.

Meaning: the crown is the Yin and the trunk is the Yang (the same as Bindu and Natham) and both are in healthy union. This means  the subject ( a Chinese girl probably  around 20 years old who just finished something like the A levels) quite normal and mentally quite healthy. However the circles may indicate some kind  of sadness, melancholy  or plainly some worries, or preccupation with sexual matters and hence indulging in sexual fantasies.

Baum B:  Similar to A except  for  large and small  patches of concentric circles inside the trunk. The fruits are scattered and the crown pressed here and there so that it is not that globular anymore- flattened in some places.Also there are some attachments, the top one with a circle inside.

Meaning: the patches of four concentric circles inside  the  trunk  indicates that she has done something  WRONG, something NOT approved by the parents and which she wants to  HIDE  from everybody. For a girl of this age it is normally clandestine love affairs and immoral sexual activities. Considering that there are FOUR it may be that she is playing around with several boys simultaneously,  maybe  just out of sheer boredom as shown in baum A.

Baum C. Back to clean trunk and large fruit-like circles inside the  crown. The crown is wavy at the edges  and  where it meets the trunk there are lines indicating branches.  One large  fruit-like circle is dropping to the  ground.

Meaning:  This dropping fruit, as you have rightly interpreted means actually dropping off.-- she wants to leave home maybe to indulge in her  sexual activities without the control of her parents. There  must already be anger on the part of the parents asking herself to behave, have self contol etc. Maybe they will also  begin to be strict with her etc.

Baum D: You can see the crown is TWO suns together with sharp and spiky rays, sharp like knifes. Inside the crown we have triangles. The trunk is shaded throughout with criss-crossing lines.

Meaning: This represents HOT radiating suns, a form of Yang. It means a flare up of intense anger , a fight between  her parents and herself in which she may be  thrown out of the house. Or she may decide to leave her parents to live on her own.

Here you can see the development, one leading to another.  Her sexual desires have been suppressed probably by the demands of the studies and examinations. Once that pressure was over, the suppressed sexual desires come to the fore and make her  enjoy sex however in clandestine manner and  which  in turn leads to the problems I have described.

Tips for Counselling:

Call her aside and tell her what AWAITS her-- she  having a serious flare-up with her parents and thereby being deprived of their continued love and support.  Ask her to tell you the TRUTH and make her understand how rash she is being. Later the counsellor can have a chat with her parents too so that they understand her needs  as well. Maybe they are unduly strict.

Ullaganar.

Former University Science Lecturer.

Edited by Ari Marappan.