Clients‟ experience of counselling within a narrative framework

8.9.1 Poetry and the unconscious 
When looking at Thomas Hardy‟s poetry Shulman (2003; 145) writes of the „dream-like quality‟ 
of Hardy‟s work created by the images used. This dreamlike quality is seen as being the 
unconscious at work in Hardy‟s poetry. The unconscious in this sense feels difficult to apprehend 
if all that may be looked for is a dreamlike quality. However Maltby (2003) suggests that: 

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“the unconscious is, by definition, not known to us. We can only know it in terms of 
its products” (51). 
So perhaps one of poetry‟s products is a dream like quality. But there must be other products of 
the unconscious. Canham (2003) reminds us that it was Freud who discovered that words had the 
capacity to reveal more than their most apparent meaning. And perhaps Freud‟s „free 
association‟ (1986; 131) is also suggestive of the attitude of the poet whose thoughtful and 
internal attitude may appear to be that of day dreaming. In counselling the words and phrases of 
the client, however apparently unimportant are the material the counsellor works with. Phillips 
(2000) suggests that the images, metaphors, mixed meanings and enigmas are the essence of 
counselling. But perhaps they are also the essence of poetry and the unconscious.
In her tenth entry Who Am I wrote about feelings, about herself and about what she thinks others 
try to do to her. But the images and words used seem to create different feelings to those she says 
she feels. Perhaps her unconscious is revealing other feelings: 
Extract 51. From WAI journal to show possible unconscious feelings
Line 1.
Felt good, tired but also a
Line 2.
little rail - roaded.
Line 3.
Many people appear to feel the 
Line 4.
need to motivate me. Why?
Line 5. 
I just feel tired + am taking 
Line 6.
time for myself. 
She expresses how she feels with words like „good‟, „tired‟ and „a little rail-roaded‟. But it feels 

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difficult to be a little railroaded as railroaded feels such a powerful word. In lines 3 and 4 she 
feels weighted down with sadness as she makes a statement and then asks why. She ends by 
saying she feels tired and what she is going to do about it. But the feeling of sadness remains and 
there is also a sense of loneliness perhaps created by the „many people‟ (line 3) who try to 
motivate her but who appear not to be listening to her. The feeling of loneliness also seems to be 
evoked by the word „railroaded‟ as this may suggest being shunted to one side by others. The 
idea that others do not listen is not written but feels hidden between the lines and even in the 
words. Perhaps it is embodied in the writing. This could suggest that the unconscious message of 
sadness and loneliness is how her unconscious is feeling. 
Alice, in her ninth entry appears to be aware of what is happening for her in her counselling but 
perhaps she also wipes away the real importance of what is happening:
Extract 52. From A journal to show possible unconscious messages 
Line 1.
Feeling of strength 
Line 2
. Feeling lighter 
Line 3
. Why is it so? 
Line 4
. That‟s just the way it is
Line 5.
Not carrying ***‟s burden will
Line 6.
unburden her too.
Line 7.
Love for counsellor
Line 8
. Crying inside
She notices the change in her feelings but does not acknowledge how this has happened (line 4), 
giving no credit to the counsellor. It almost feels as if she unconsciously wipes the counsellor out 

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but then later says she loves her (line 7). Although „feeling lighter‟ she is „crying inside‟ which 
suggests sadness. The mixed meanings create a wealth of sadness as if she is only just beginning 
to uncover what is hidden within her. The last line changes the whole entry. Her unconscious 
seems to tell a very different story to the one she tells on the surface.
The participants seem to bring together the similarities found in poetry and counselling by 
unconsciously using the „nuances of language‟ (Canham and Satyamurti 2003; 2). The journals 
condense their feelings and use symbolism on an unconscious level. Ogden (2001) makes this 
similarity between poetry and counselling very clear: 
“We are known as we had not known ourselves because, up to that point, we had not 
been ourselves as fully as we are becoming in experiencing the poem and as the 
poem experiences us. Similarly in the analytic relationship, patient and analyst as 
individuals each read and are read by the unconscious of the other” (177). 
This seems to describe how I was able to read the unconscious of the participants in their 
narratives, and embody them. For example, in the thirty first entry of her journal Wriggling Fish 
writes about black plastic bags: 
Extract 53. From WF journal to show an embodied message 
Line 1.
Anger, hurt.
Line 2.
A cushion 
a person 
Line 3.
I hit out and remembered. 
Line 4.
Black plastic bags !! Tears! 
Line 5.
I actually admitted to „hate‟! 

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Line 6.
I don‟t „do‟ hate !? 
Line 7.
Separation anxiety - even the dogs ! 
Line 8.
The need to put „right‟ 
Line 9.
To see „differently‟. 
Line 10. 
The generations ?? How? 
Because of the amount of anger and strong feeling felt in the reading of this whole entry I felt 
that the black plastic bags were an important symbol of something/someone that had to be 
thrown away or let go of. I felt an embodied sense of horror, perhaps created by the first three 
lines. I also felt that there was a fear of being alone because although she appears to slip 
defensively into theory in line seven with „separation anxiety‟ the fact that she follows this with 
„even the dogs‟ changes the line. The exclamation of „even the dogs‟ seems to suggest so much 
more than the dogs, and so much feeling. In her response to the analysis Wriggling Fish told me 
that this had been about letting go of her husband‟s clothes after his funeral. So my sense of her 
having to let go, of many strong feelings, and a fear of being alone were perhaps embodied 
messages from her unconscious to mine.
As I read and became well acquainted with each of the journals I experienced a great deal of 
emotion which was not clearly present in the words alone. But it seems to be present in the 
juxtaposition of the words to each other. Little Girl, who used very few words and wrote as an 
accomplished poet, highlighted this unconscious embodiment for me. My sense of the anguish 
and pain at the loss of her mother in childhood was so present in her writing. She agreed in that 
she had not realized just how much the loss had, and still influenced her.