Reconstructing Life and Society with SAT Therapy:

Foundations of the New Generation CBT

Munakata, Tsunetsugu, Dr H Sc

President, Academy for Health Counseling
Professor & Chair, Department of Human Care Science, University of Tsukuba, D511,
1-1-1 Tennoudai, Tsukuba, Japan 305-8577 e-mail: munakata@hcs.tsukuba.ac.jp

Summary
All mammals, including humans, instinctively control through attachment behaviors their fear of
not being able to subsist. Under normal circumstances, a child’s principal care provider is his or
her parents or guardians. However, if the latter are emotionally unstable, the child, who is
supposed to be the care recipient, unwittingly becomes the one that provides the emotional carethe parents or guardians covet. As a consequence, even after the child becomes an adult, he/shewill unconsciously seek out an emotionally unstable family member or colleague at work and builda codependent attachment relationship replacing the former parent-child relationship in which one
relies on the other and vice a versa. Such relationships, however, create a whirlpool of unduestress accompanied by “insecurity, distrust and exploitation.” To be able to overcome subsistence
fear and build a stable attachment relationship marked by “ease, respect and gratitude,” theindividual needs to change the facial expressions and images of “tension and irritability” he/sheremembers of their parents or guardians to those of “smile and serenity.”
SAT is a structured imagery therapy used to promote reconstruction of stable attachment
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relations through the application of a subjunctive mood that takes clients back throughevolutionary time to their ancestors and ultimately to their particles. A certified SAT therapist uses
a retrospective image projection technique, including pictures, paintings, religious paintings, andcomic books, to help clients discover their parental surrogate representations. By having clientsobserve these parental surrogate representations instead of the expressions and images of theiractual parents or guardians, the SAT therapist helps clients reduce their negative emotions,
thereby helping them to break up their codependent attachment relationships. SAT therapy isthus a new-generation CBT (cognitive behavioral therapy) that promotes rational thinking
compatible with the client’s genetic disposition.

Keywords:
attachment, codependency, parental surrogate representation, cognitive behavioral therapy,
SAT therapy

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Introduction
Since ancient times, society has been organized in such a way that people have to rely on others
to gain access to scarce rewards. In such a society (hereinafter referred to as“other-reward-seeking society), people have to compete or fight with each other to gain access to
scarce rewards such as evaluation, praise, honor, income and status. In another-reward-seeking society, people cannot help but be stressed out. But what if we could build
a society where people help each other to gain access to unlimited rewards such as self-growth,
self-satisfaction, gratitude, empathy, inspiration, pleasure and sense of accomplishment. Even insuch a society (hereinafter referred to as “self-reward-seeking society”) people will still be understress, but stress here would be benign enough to allow people to learn from their mistakes anddevelop a genuine sense of well-being. According to surveys conducted by the Cabinet Office,since the 1980s, the tendency of Japanese to seek richness of mind, such as spiritual growth,
gratitude and inspiration, rather than material affluence has increased significantly over thepassed 30 years. Indeed, expectations have heightened for the creation of a self-reward-seeking
society.
However, in a traditional other-reward-seeking society, where people have to rely on others
to gain access to limited resources, top priority is put on social adaptation. Consequently, fromour early childhood, parents and guardians, in the name of discipline, refuse to let us “just be
ourselves,” and subject us, to a greater or lesser extent, to emotional and physical abuse thatconditions us to physical fear. Thus we are afraid to express “our true selves,” which inherently lie
deep in our hearts. We are unable to change, even if we wanted to. As our self-conflict deepens
and our malignant stress intensifies, our stress disorder continues to expand. However, it canInternational Journal of Structured Association Technique No.337

also be said that as our stress disorder continues to expand, we are actually accumulating energy
for self-growth. In order to realize a self-reward-seeking society where people can universallyexperience a sense of well-being by realizing their “true selves,” in this paper I would like to takeup the theory of SAT therapy, along with its methodology, as a form of cognitive behavioral
therapy that will help clients solve their unresolved issues over codependency attachment
relations, which will enable them to survive in an other-reward-seeking society.
In recent years, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) has been applied to help peoplechange their thinking habits from those that cause them to suffer malignant stress to those thatare more adaptive to their situation. However, while it is true that CBT has helped people change
their thinking habits in the short-term by making changes that, on paper, appear rational, CBT
may also lead to somatization and acting out of stress. This is because, when the forebrain,(which is involved with reasoning) and the limbic brain (which is involved with emotions) are in
opposition, the latter trumps the former. This is why a new generation of cognitive behavioral
therapy is needed that will not only change our thinking habits but also directly alters ouremotions.

1. Attachment is indispensable for life
Attachment runting syndrome
A runt – the smallest and weakest animal of a litter – will die a few weeks after birth even when nochange has occurred in the environment. This is because the runt is too weak to stimulate themother’s nipple for milk and induce her to engage in the attachment behavior associated with

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grooming. A form of human bonding called attachment is formed between a mother and a childvia oxytocin secretion not only at the time of delivery but when there is physical contact including
when the baby suckles. Unless this attachment bond is formed, the mother will be less and lessinclined to give the runt physical care such as grooming. As a result of this neglect, the runt will
experience so much stress that it becomes difficult for its body to secrete growth hormones. The
same thing occurs in human offspring as evidenced by the fact thatmany children inorphanages have been reported to suffer from a low level of a growth hormone known as
nonorganic hypogenesis (Stanhope et al., 1994; Albanese et al., 1994). These runting syndrome
cases demonstrate the importance of getting parents and guardians to engage in attachment
behavior to control subsistence stress and ensure survival.
That said, I think forming a stable attachment relationship after birth requires almost a
miracle. Of course, trying to make that miracle happen may be admirable, but it is better to takethe view that each client has an attachment relationship suited for him or her situation.
Nevertheless, depending on the nature of the attachment relationship formed, the client will insome cases end up leading an unexpectedly complicated life.

What Is Attachment？
Johan Bowlby (1969) named the “emotional bond” formed between mother and child“attachment,” arguing that even infants inherently seek to form proximity relationships withselected targets. In other words, to gain their affection, infants behave in a way that will bringthem closer to their caregivers. There are a number of attachment behavioral patterns that are

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formed in this process. According to the famous technique for measuring the quality of
attachment that Mary Ainsworth (1978) developed by applying her Strange Situation method,
there are four types of attachment patterns: “avoidant attachment,” “secure attachment,”
ambivalent attachment” and “disorganized attachment.” Attachment behavior is “behavior thatseeks to gain a sense of security in time of fear by drawing the caregiver’s attention and seeking
proximity. By repeating this behavior, the infant is assured that the caregiver will provide
protection, thereby enhancing its ability to cope with stress.

Roundabout way of forming attachments
What happens to children when their parents or guardians mentally and physically reject them byrefusing to accept them “as they are” and are thus subjected to such severe emotional andphysical abuse that they are unable to form safe and secure attachment relations with theirparents or guardians?
First of all, they will show behavioral patterns in which they personally try to void
attachments out of feeling of dread. Being suspicious of caregivers they encounter, they mightshow self--repressive behaviors, that is, behavior patterns in which they try to suppress theirlonging to be looked after by their parents or guardians. They do this because they havedeveloped a sense of caution in their past relationships with their parents or guardians, and havetransplanted these unstable attachment relationships to their other relationships. In extreme
cases of avoidant attachment, fearful of being rejected by their caregivers, and out of a sense of
caution, children develop a belief that they should not turn to their caregivers for help and soInternational Journal of Structured Association Technique No.3

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unconsciously begin to suppress their longing for care. These children then begin to show
alexithymia behaviors in which they try not to show any emotions and work very hard to do things
by themselves.
When parents or guardians refuse to accept children as they are, the latter may also show
problem-avoidance behaviors that cause them to act independently and become insensitive totheir own problems. They may also show problem-avoidance behaviors that compel them to act
as if their problems were not really theirs, and show depersonalized behaviors in which, insteadof relying on their parents or guardians to give them care, they turn to themselves. Because of
these behaviors, children become insensitive to tensions associated with stress and continue toaccumulate such more stress that they manifest physical disorders, which in turn lead to stressdisorders and diseases associated with adult lifestyle (Munakata, 2004, 2006; Munakata,
Kobayashi, 2007). But these can be regarded as illness behaviors that seek attachments in aroundabout way by drawing the attention of caregivers and promoting formation of proximity
relationships.
Children who fail to form legitimate attachment relationships not only distrust others but
also become more inclined to deepen their sense of self-denial, thus driving them to seek carefrom caregivers in a distorted manner known as parasuicide, which includes cutting one’s wrist,
planning to commit suicide, and increasing accident proneness. Or, because of their inability totrust others, they refuse to rely on people’s kindness and end up developing substancedependence on alcohol, drugs and the like that affect their psychoneurotic system.

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2.

Trauma dependency syndrome and codependency bondTrauma dependency
I’m sure most of you have heard the term “runner’s high.” Human beings possess a stress
reaction system that discharges a chemical substance called endorphin in the brain to relieve
pain and bring comfort when they find themselves in a highly stressful, life-threatening situation(Perry & Szalavitz, 2006). Those with a traumatic experience of being powerless in the face oflife-threatening danger to themselves or to others have experienced being in a highly stressful
situation where a chemical substance is discharged in the brain to relieve pain and bring comfort.
This is why when those with serious traumatic experiences are delivered from their high levels ofstress, they develop a sense of irritability, fear, excess arousal and feeling of helplessness notunlike the symptoms addicts experience when they stop taking morphemes or heroine. However,
because trauma patients do not suffer the same withdrawal symptoms as drug addicts do, they
compulsively seek even higher levels of stress. Consequently, they become more inclined to
become addicted to trauma (Van der Kolk & Greenberg, 1987).
Children with serious traumatic experiences can’t bear being in a quiet place. They areprone to risk-taking behaviors like fighting, bullying, gang warfare, delinquency, wrist cutting,accident proneness, depression and suicide attempts, as well as tobacco, alcohol and drug
dependency. They avoid quiet atmospheres, draw the attention of caregivers by acting
precariously, and try to stay attached to them by forming proximity relationships. In addition, atleast physiologically, they maintain the highly stressful condition they’re in and retain the highInternational Journal of Structured Association Technique No.3

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level of endorphin secretion in their brain in order to overcome their irritability, sense of fear, andfeeling of helplessness.

Trauma-bonding
Out of fear or disgust, children who have been sexually abused by their fathers may be expected
to be completely repulsed by sex. But contrary to such expectation, sexual abused trauma
survivors tend to engage in promiscuous sexual behavior even with complete strangers (e.g.,
fellatio). They engage in such acts not as an expression of affection, but rather as an “act ofsubmission.” By acting this way, survivors of childhood sexual abuse learn that adults who arepotentially dangerous may not turn out to be their worst enemy.
The following behavioral pattern is generally observed among many Japanese. Trauma
survivors raised by physically abusive fathers and mothers who refused to come to their rescue
tend to engage in self--repressive behavior known as “act of submission” in which they send
strong authority figures expressive messages in the form of facial, voice, and bodily movements
to let them know how harmless and submissive they are, thereby leaving a favorable impression
on the other party.
Because they experienced relationships based on fear, survivors of childhood traumatic
experiences such as sexual abuse, abusive upbringing, and neglect are unable to form stableattachment relationships based on an original sense of reassurance. As a result, they form
distorted codependency relationships (both dependency they want for themselves anddependency they want to force on others) known as trauma-bonding that goes beyond social

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convention. Trauma victims tend to form codependency relationships with other trauma victims.
Perhaps, they do this because, on a gut level, they feel they cannot form such relationships withanyone who does not have similar traumatic experiences. In other words, based on theexpressive messages of caregivers conveyed in the form of facial expression, voice and bodily
movement, trauma victims, as members of the disadvantaged, on a gut level, foresee receiving
care from caregivers who are themselves trauma victims. They feel in their bones that suchcaregivers will without a doubt rescue the disadvantaged, and in the process they come to know
intuitively how to exploit their caregivers to their advantage. Since caregivers who are themselves
trauma victims can gain self--satisfaction or be rewarded in the form of being healed by having
the underdog trauma victims become depended on them, the latter anticipate that caregivers will
come to rescue them, just as drug addicts seek relief by turning to drug dealers.
Although the act of one trauma victim rescuing another trauma victim may appear altruistic,
the former is actually rescuing himself. His is a narcissistic behavior. When a rescuer rescues aperson who is disadvantaged in order to rescue himself, he is doing this only to satisfy himself.
Thus, when such a rescuer is unable to get satisfaction, the person who is supposed to be
rescued is not rescued; instead, he is more likely to be betrayed. Regardless whether
relationships are based on social functions – such as those between husband and wife, parent
and child, and master and pupil – or therapeutic relationships, as long as they are codependency
relationships, those with traumatic experiences, because they are disadvantaged, may, uponseeing the expression of the disadvantaged, react by trying to rescue the disadvantaged.
However, caregivers who are supposed to rescue trauma victims from their sufferings, because

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they cannot get satisfaction themselves, are apt to turn into trauma caregivers who are apt to bea source of fear and sufferings for trauma survivors.
If trauma survivors are able to form only distorted attachment relationships dominated byfear, they may develop Münchausen syndrome, which forces patients to draw attention ofcaregivers to themselves in the hope of forming proximity relationships with them by engaging inparasuicidal behaviors, or they may develop Münchausen syndrome by proxy, a variant of
Münchausen syndrome, that forces them to draw attention of those around them and form
proximity relationships with them by caring for children or adults who have experienced tragedy. A
person affected with Münchausen syndrome in proxy ensures that her child will become ill,thereby forcing the child to take tests and undergo treatments that are not really necessary. While
the affected person takes care of the child, those around her direct their concerned look toward
her and begin to hug her as a sign of encouragement. This response is precisely what theaffected person seeks.
According to past studies of Münchausen syndrome in proxy, patients with serious
symptoms may experience tragic consequences. In one study, the researchers recorded on video
the behaviors of 39 mothers apparently afflicted with this disorder. When the video was shown,one of the mothers actually confessed to killing her child (Southall et al., 1997). In Japan, Europe
and the U.S., there are cases where nurses and other caregivers, possibly with Münchausen
syndrome in proxy, have driven patients to tragic ends.
While those afflicted with codependency pathology may commit the most heinous acts oftyranny imaginable, it is also true that, as they wander astray, they may be observed performingInternational Journal of Structured Association Technique No.3

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the most beautiful acts of kindness humans are capable of performing (Perry & Szalavitz, 2006).
In my view, trauma victims can only be rescued by trauma victims. Only those who haveexperienced traumatic events themselves will stay around those with trauma dependency
syndrome. Whether they are husband and wife, parent and child, master and pupil, or intherapeutic relationships, they are expected to overcome their anxiety, distrust and exploitation of
the codependency type of attachment relationships and in the process establish stableattachment relationships of reassurances, respect and gratitude. Toward this end, it is necessary
for both parties to become aware of their mutual longing for codependency.

3.

How to overcome codependency

Other-reward-seeking behavior and self-reward-seeking behavior
Although there are individual differences, children are usually motivated to act in ways that willreinforce the reward responses in which the expressions and images of the faces, voice andbodily movements of their parents or guardians express “happiness.” Or they may be motivated
to avoid responses of revulsion that express the doubt, anger and sadness of their parents or
guardians. In other words, children choose behaviors that reinforce the formation of attachments.
Even when they become parents or guardians, themselves, they are motivated by the reward
responses of their significant others in social groups like school, society, and post-marriage
families, resulting in the formation of other-reward-seeking behaviors that help reinforce
attachments
On the other hand, from our childhood days, it is through self-reward-seeking responses,

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such as solitary play, playing with friends, adventure, art and sports activities, and caring forplants and animals, that we can enjoy ourselves and become motivated to act in ways that willreinforce these responses These responses help increase our sense of self- trust and enable us
to develop into mature individuals capable of controlling the countless stressors we encounter inlife. These motivations enable us to form self--reward-seeking behaviors after we mature into
adults.
Since other-reward-seeking behaviors conform to the evaluation of others for forming
attachments, it is easy to avail oneself to the resources of others. That said, it is others who
possess positive resources – e.g., praise, favorable impression, repayment, honor, status, income– and negative resources – e.g., threat, punishment, restraint, disregard, discrimination,indifference. Consequently, with other-reward-seeking behavior one is easily swayed by theevaluation of others, which is often accompanied by tension and insecure feeling, resulting inaccumulation of even more stress. Also, since other-reward-seeking behaviors require theevaluation of others, those who engage in them are apt to suppress their true feelings, thus
resulting in self- denial and further aggravation of their depression.
By contrast, in the case of self-reward-seeking behaviors, it is difficult to get rewards fromothers but easy to give rewards to oneself – rewards like pleasure, interest, inspiration, resolve,
sense of accomplishment, growth, self-satisfaction, gratitude and empathy. Since you yourself
possess the resources involved in self-reward-seeking behaviors, self-rewards are easy to get,provided you are able to learn from your mistakes. This is why self-reward-seeking behaviors do
not lead to accumulation of stress as with other-reward-seeking behaviors.

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People cannot tell between Self and Others – Mirror Neurons
If you have experienced physical trauma in the form of emotional and physical abuse, you will be
too afraid to take up self-reward-seeking behaviors, and will likely be frightened, anxious, harbora sense of guilt, resignation, and so on, and as a result, you will not be able to act appropriately.
You need to become aware that emotions such as fear, anxiety and sense of guilt are conditionedby the fear written on the expressions of your parents or guardians constituting the trauma they
have experienced.
The areas of the brain that are activated differ in accordance with the difference in theexpression of revulsion people make. In either case, it is now clear that, through the mediation of
mirror neurons, the same location of the brain is activated in both the person making theexpression and the person looking at the expression (Carter, 1998). In other words, when we lookat the expression of revulsion in the faces of others, we end up having the same feeling of
revulsion. If the relationship with parents or guardians is such that if we are always looking at theexpression of revulsion on the face of others, the expression on our face will also become
expression of revulsion. This is why children who grow up looking at expressions of revulsion on
the faces of their parents or guardians find themselves making similar expressions.
How will your body react when you look at the picture below of a woman with an
expression of revulsion (Fig. 1)? You might feel stiff in the shoulder. Your heart might start
pounding. You might have difficulty breathing. Your hands and feet might start feeling cold. YourInternational Journal of Structured Association Technique No.3

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whole body might stiffen. How will you react if the person in Figure 1 were living next to you? How
would you feel? What kind of body sensation will you have? What about your facial expression?

Fig. 1 Woman with an expression

Fig 2. Family with a smile on their facesof revulsion
How about when you look at smiling faces those in Figure 2? What about your body sensation?
And what kind of expression will you have on your face? For no apparent reason, you can feelyourself beginning to smile, can’t you? This is the effect mirror neurons may have. In other words,
your self-image is created by the image you have of your parents or guardians.
When your mother has a fight with her mother-in-law or with your father and mother is
attacked by father, and mother looks sad like the woman in Figure 1, the mirror neurons of theirchildren will show the same kind of excitement as their mother’s emotions. From then on, for thechildren, the mother becomes someone they have to protect. The only way they can now form
attachments with their mother is by protecting her. And the mother ceases to be a “parent” withwhom they can form attachment relationships and a “parent” who will give them comfort andsense of stability. In a word, they can no longer expect their mother to look after them. This is aform of emotional neglect. To remain attached to such a mother, the children are compelled toform a self- image that seeks rewards from others. Unable to seek help from others, they haveInternational Journal of Structured Association Technique No.3

49difficulty recognizing other people’s feelings. Excessive positive thinking makes them avoid facing
problems. They show a sympathetic nervous tone characterized by self- dissociation, which
compels them to constantly watch over themselves.
When boys mature into adults and find codependent partners who resemble theirmothers, they find them endearing and develop an illusion that they are in love with them. By
contrast, girls grow up to become mothers closely resembling their own mothers and findcodependent partners who are apt to act violently toward them.
On the other hand, how do children relate to their fathers? If they’re the type who seek
attachments with their father even as they revolt against him for reproaching their mother, theirmirror neurons, empathizing with the father, will try to develop an other-reward-seeking type ofself with whom their father will feel comfortable and safe. From then on, for the children, thefather becomes someone they have to protect. The only way they can form attachments with theirfather is by protecting him, and from that moment, the father ceases to be a “parent” with whom
the children can form attachment relationships that provide comfort and sense of stability, and thechildren can no longer expect their father to look after them. This too is a form of emotional
neglect. Moreover, if a boy tries to protect his mother, the father will verbally or physically attack
him. By being emotionally and physically abused in this manner, the boy will grow up not having
formed any other father image than that of his abusive father, with the result that he will end up
being just like his father, or find a partner who is obedient just like his mother. This is how thecodependent attachment relationships are handed down from generation to generation.

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Self-image can be changed by a proxy image of parents or guardians
Those who have a positive self-image with a strong sense of self-affirmation tend to be selfconfident and are likely to anticipate that their future will open up for them. Thus they are free ofanxiety and full of hope. They are proud of their past and filled with gratitude. Also, they have noregrets, are patient, free of uncertainty and depression. They have excellent mental health.
By contrast, those who have a negative self-image with a strong sense of self-denial
always tend to expect the worst about their future. They easily harbor fear, anger and sadness,and therefore are unable to gain a sense of well-being. Individuals like this have a self-image
marked by self-repressiveness that can be thought of as attachment relationships that bringneither comfort nor sense of stability (repressing the self to gain recognition of those around you),difficulty with emotion recognition (working hard without relying on the help of those around you),self-disassociation (maintaining composure by regarding your problem as somebody else’s
problem), and problem avoidance (coping with a particular situation ignoring the underlying
problem and with undue positive thinking). It has become clear that, in all cases, the more
pronounced these traits characterize the self-image of an individual, the more severe his or her
depression gets (Munakata, 2003: 2004).
As noted above, the self-image of a client is likely to correlate with the image of his or her
parents or guardians. That is to say, those who have a bad image of their father or mother also
have a bad self-image and lack a sense of well-being. For example, it is now clear that those who
remember their parents having an expression of revulsion like the facial expression on the
woman in Figure 1 tend to have such physical symptoms as headache, stiff shoulder, lower-backInternational Journal of Structured Association Technique No.351

pain and allergy, and have a deeply repulsive self-image, and lack a sense of well-being(Munakata, 2009).

SAT therapy
In SAT therapy, the counselor applies a subjunctive mood* to determine what would happen if aclient is taken back through evolutionary time to their ancestors and ultimately to his or her
particles, and as a result, the client’s past is changed in a way that improves the client’s own life
situation. A retrospective image projection technique is applied to help the client visualize his or
her parents or guardians as people who provide care unconditionally. On the basis of this image,the client discovers his or her parental surrogate representation in photographs, paintings,
religious (Buddhist) paintings and bronze statues that resemble the image the client originally hadof his or her parents or guardians. The client is instructed to continue looking at the parental
surrogate representation so that the brain will receive visual stimulations frequently enough thatthey will become firmly fixed in his or her brain. Instead of looking at the facial expressions of hisor her actual parents or guardians, everyday the client looks at the parental surrogate
representation in photographs, paintings, religious icons, comics and the like that have the same
facial expressions as the ones the client imagines his or her true parents or guardians have.
Forming an attachment relationship with the improved parental surrogate representation helps theclient feel better and more refreshed, which in turn enables his or her body to relax. The brain iseasily affected by mirror neurons, and this is especially prominent in facial expressions. By
imagining the facial expressions of his or her parents or guardians to be like those of persons

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who provide care unconditionally, the client is able to improve his or her self-image to resemble
the smiling faces shown in Figure 2. In this way, the client learns to fix in his or her mind thosesmiling facial expressions as the self-reward-seeking type of self-imaging script (Munakata, 2009).
Of course, together with raising his or her expectations for self-growth, the client seeks further
improvement of his or her self-image, which in turn may inspire the client to come up with an
upgraded version of the substitution expressions and images that he or she had already decidedon.
*Note:The retrospective journey through time covers the entire evolutionary process ranging from the Big Bang toparticles to atomic nuclei to atomic elements to molecules to proteins to living organisms, and to humans. In thisjourney, the client is guided to recall up to the time of his or her ancestors, and through his or her parents or
guidance, to his or her own births and growth. The client is then taken back to any one of the earlier evolutionary
stages, where he or she improves the image of his or her parents or guardians, and in turn improves his own
self-image script. Below are four ways of rewriting one’s self-image script:
1.

Re-resolving imagery therapy: This is a technique for supporting clients’ efforts to change their present
self-image script by counseling them to re-learn how to solve

unresolved problems dating back to theirchildhood days and thereby also changing the self-image script of their parents or guardians.
2.

Three-generation script imagery therapy (formerly, rebirth and re-rearing therapy): This is a technique forsupporting clients’ efforts to change their present self-image script by altering the image script they have
had of their parents or guardians by urging them to go back three generations to re-resolve the crisis in thewomb recalled during the womb-regression therapy.

3.

Pre-generation retrospective imagery therapy: This is a technique for guiding clients to change theirpresent self-image script by altering the image script of their parents and guardians by urging them to go
back in time to re-resolve the survival crisis of previous generations recalled during the womb
retrogression therapy.

4.

Retrospective evolution imagery therapy: This is a technique for guiding clients to change their present
self-image script by urging them to go back through time to re-revolve the crisis of their particles or
biological existence recalled during the womb regression therapy.

_____________________________________________________________________________
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Controlling the fear of human relationships
We alternate between hope and fear as we watch television and movies. It’s as though we weretalking with our past. We project and fear those characters in stories we ourselves haveexperienced in our past, and relive the anxiety, sadness and other emotions that we experienced
then. Similarly, among those we have encountered since infancy, most of the others who make us
feel stressed have some of the same expressions that our parents or guardians who made us feelstressed in the past had. This is why we relive the same stress. We respond to some of thoseexpressions in the same emotional way. To explain this phenomenon, it will be useful to giveyourself the test described below.
Picture in your mind the good expressions and expressions of revulsion of either yourfather or mother, and see how your body reacts to the expressions and images you’ve recalled. If
the parent you recall has a good expression, of course, your body will relax, but if the parent has
an expression of revulsion, your body will respond in a variety of ways: I feel tense in some partsof your body. I feel a knot of pain in my head; I feel stiff in the shoulders; I have a pain in mychest; my heart starts pounding; my stomach feels funny; my hands and feet feel cold; and mywhole body becomes rigid.
Now, consider how a client’s body might react if the counselor asked him or her to recall
the expression on the face of a person who made him or her feel stressed. If the client were
properly guided in this, you would be surprised at the expression of revulsion on the face of either
the aforementioned father or that of the mother, or at the similarity of the body’s responses when
the client looked at the expression of both the father and the mother (Munakata, 2009).
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Until the client becomes self-reliant, it is understandable that the therapist should try tocontrol the client’s survival fears by controlling the attachment relationship between the client andhis or her parents or guardians. But there is no reason to fear one’s parents or guardians or to besaddened after becoming independent. If you can control this fear by applying the proxyexpressions and images of your parents or guardians, by all means, use them to your advantage.

Cutting the umbilical cord of codependency with SKP surrogate representation
However, there are cases where you cannot reduce your own stress merely with the parental
surrogate representation. Many symptoms, like suicide attempt, alcohol/substance abuse,
personality disorder, and mental illness that you cannot control acting on your own will, cannot be
explained by what psychoanalytic theories (including Bowlby’s theory) refer to as the way youwere conditioned by your parents or guardians in your infancy. This is because there are manycases where people find happiness despite their parents’ or guardians’ failure to raise or condition
them properly in their infancy. This is why treatment strategies (attachment therapy, play therapy)
that focus only on conditioning rarely lead to cure. Such treatment strategies are more likely tolead to a pathological condition of codependency of care providers. I believe the reason these
symptomatic behaviors cannot be controlled by you acting on your own is that they have their
origin in the fear that conditions you during the period between the embryo and the fetus.
The first factor to consider in analyzing the period when you are still in your mother’s womb
is the significant effect emissions of various chemical substances (e.g., noradrenalin, stresshormones) have on the embryo and fetus that reflects the relation nature of your mother andInternational Journal of Structured Association Technique No.3

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father.
Another factor is the possibility of embryonic and fetal deaths in multiple births. Medical
research has shown that only one in three zygotes test positive when urinalyses are administeredon pregnant women, the rest (i.e., two-thirds) die and disappear. Although most miscarriages arecaused by abnormality of chromosome, since other causes of miscarriages (i.e., half of thegenetic material contained in the blastocyst) are inherited from the father, the mother’s immune
system regards them as viruses and attacks them, thus resulting in fetal deaths - The chemicalmaterial that remains after the remains of the dead fetuses is reabsorbed by the mother. The
information carried by the reabsorbed chemical material may be stored in the cell membranes ofmore than 50,000 uterine cell receptors.
In the case of unborn babies of multiple conceptions, it may be that fear, anger, sense ofgrief and other emotions felt by the “siblings that died” are transmitted to the “siblings thatsurvived” via their mirror neurons. This is why may be there is the possession of emotional
information of our other siblings. Even if a client strongly desires to live, if the death wish, fear andsense of grief of his or her siblings have been transmitted to the client, then the client will bear ababy with contradictory emotions and personalities.
Clinical cases using SAT imagery therapy make it clear that patients with thesecontradictory personalities engage in destructive behaviors like attempted suicide andalcohol/substance abuse and suffer from personality disorders and mental illness. These
disorders are considered to be purely diseases of the body. However, our research demonstrates
that even those suffering from autoimmune diseases have similar backgrounds (Munakata, 2005;

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Munakata, 2007; Munakata, Kobayashi, 2007).
This is why it is necessary to devise a treatment program that will cut off the transmissionof emotions afflicting the client’s deceased siblings. In SAT therapy, a three-generation retro
narrative imagery technique is used to trace the crisis that have fallen on the client’s three
generations – parents, siblings and children – by having him or her go back three generations
and re-resolve the crisis in the womb recalled during the womb-regression therapy, thereby
liberating itself- from his or her subconscious control by turning his or her facial expression intoproxy expressions and images.
Of the three-generation family, including those “siblings that died an absurd death(miscarriage, still birth, death by accident, death by disease, etc.), “those who protect us, or thosewith whom we wish to form codependency relationships” are referred to as spiritual key persons(SKP). By consciously visualizing the surrogate representation of the expressions on the faces of
SKPs, clients undergoing the womb-regression therapy are clearly able to feel at ease and form atension-free self-image.
If a client does not have the necessary SKP surrogate representation, the counselor will
guide him or her to seek “a person who will protect him or her, or a person he or she would like toprotect” and form a codependency relationship in which the client plays the role of the underdog
or the caregiver. The client is guided this way because the codependency relationship will
reproduce a whirlpool of malignant stress that in turn will produce stress-ridden patients andcreate intractable problems. Consequently, if the client continues to look at his or her parental or
SKP surrogate representation, he/she will be able to proceed to form a secure attachment

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relationship based on sense of ease, respect and gratitude. And if the client’s parents or
guardians are still alive, the latter will now be able to change his or her relationship with his or her
real parents or guardians.

Conclusion
Other-reward-seeking society where people fight over limited resources, which generate a lot of
malignant stress that systematically batters the very social fiber, is about to outlive its usefulness.
The time has come to build a self-reward-seeking society marked by a highly-organized structure
where people cooperate with each other to gain unlimited self-rewards such as self-growth,
self-satisfaction and gratitude. To build such a society, we must move beyond conventional
codependency relationships and form secure attachment relationships based on sense of ease,respect and gratitude.

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