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Symbolic process is that function of the nervous system by which the neural network mediating the whole is entrained by and to the network mediating the part; that is, the mechanism by which the neurocognitive model(s) of a noumena is evoked by partial sensory information stimulated by the noumena. (Noumena means unspecified processes in the world that are essentially transcendental). The symbolic process operates through all sensory modalities.

Symbolization is a process of creating working patterns (representations) of various experiences allowing the individual to function.

There exists a fundamental drive - cognitive imperative - in the functioning of neurocognition to complete the cycle from stimulus input to evocation of models and appropriate attribution or action relative to stimulus. This process occurs during every moment of consciousness and is so exceedingly rapid and automatic that one is rarely aware of the process. The symbolic process constitutes a fundamental principle by which neural organization is developed, elaborated, and maintained. This organizational function serves both economy and quality in cognitive adaptation to the world. By attributing intentional significance to events in the world, the symbolic process enables cognized reality to contain and order its information (economy) and maintain minimal integration (quality) of the several dimensions (space, time, form, etc. ) constituting salient aspects of events in the world (Laughlin Ch.D., McManus J., Aquili E.G., 1990). The symbolic process operates in cognition largely at an unconscious level.

The symbolic process is fundamental to the construction of and access to knowledge about the world. It is exceedingly efficient in liberating the organism from adaptively inefficient investigation of noumena. Through child (human) development, play carries the essential role of developing the process of symbolization, mastering of the relationship to various objects through play.

As Piaget emphasized, a large part of the development of the process of symbolization involves the development of the structures mediating action, especially during the first six years of human life, during which most of our neural structures and models are formed. If a symbol-model entrainment is to be effective so that it facilitates an adaptive response to the world, then the model must be formulated in active dialogue with the world. A crucial feature of the early organization of action in the child is the construction process itself. Regulation of the organization and control functions is achieved not merely by repetition, but through modification of tasks, which constitutes the very essence of play. By play an organism diversifies its world in order to optimize development of its cognized environment. Cross-model transfer of information occurs in play and facilitates the loosening of the context specificity. Play allows the process of symbolic integration, the primary process by which direct experience is given coherence through intentional organization within the cognized environment.

Art Therapy works through symbolic language, stimulating the symbolic function. In Creative therapies (Art therapy, Play therapy, and Sandplay therapy) we can reproduce the same process which the child goes through in play: we could resolve problematic issues through first doing it on a symbolic level. The process of symbolization allows creating a new attitude, a new pattern of processing relations between different objects in our cognized reality first. In this way, a pattern of resolution of a particular problem is created, which afterward could be transferred into real life. We become what we practice. A case example was presented.

For references see Recommended Readings.

Due to circumstances the child is not fully equipped yet with a variety of skills, patterns and ability to automatically assess which response the task requires at the time when he has to face adult tasks. There are two ways normally how children learn task or problem solving prior to becoming adults: either through learning or, the painful one, through their own mistakes and experience. When they are given a protected environment and time, they learn from their caregivers, didactic materials and practicing.

Observations of playing children give a good idea which faculties they use to internalize both didactic and practical experience and integrate it into their practical skills in real life. Children normally go through repetitive games with certain roles in them, playing through scenarios which will be slightly modified through the periods of times, depending on the immediate interest, or, sometimes, problem, which becomes the most prominent “group assumption” for the given period of time. Repetition allows the child to practice and refine his/her skills, master them and therefore feel safe in the particular type of situations. On the other hand playing children constantly modify their play, bring new elements into it, allowing that much of a change, as they can tolerate. Again observation shows that the level of tolerance within the same group will be different, but the more consistent the participation in the group is, the more agreement and uniformity could be seen.

Real life does not allow “practicing” in the same way, this is an attribute of the context of ‘pretend reality’, of ‘as if’ actions and roles, the biggest advantage of which is their reparative quality. Play allows to rebuild broken buildings, allows exchanging the roles, becoming better with every repetition of the game, become a champion tomorrow, even if one has failed today. It allows hurting someone, surviving through it, and healing and becoming a caring friend after that. All these skills learned in play could be brought and used afterwards in real life without even reflecting on where they come from. The skills are use automatically, because the child is comfortable enough, he/she mastered the skills, and this confidence allows him/her to feel safe and attend to other, more complex tasks.

Now there is another very important quality of the children’s play. Children are very good at picking up what could be called ‘archetypal patterns’ in various life situations. That means that any play will have some degree of generalization, particularly if it is practiced in the group of children. Their play has to fit the whole group, and therefore the roles and the scenarios have to be universal enough to allow that. Each child brings into the role his personal touch; nevertheless there are certain rules that being in a particular role the child cannot change. If he is a noble knight, he cannot betray and commit dishonest deed; otherwise he will be dismissed from his role. The variance occurs when children shift the roles, and that allows the same game to be played again and again. Fairy tales, or other fantasy plots are particularly good for that: they allow repetition within consistency of the characters and situations, which at the same time could perpetually vary from one play to another. (That is why we will see the same characters and plots across different cultures in child play.)

Individual play of children normally is much more focused on specific ‘home’ situations, or problematic issues which the child experiences and needs to resolve (doll house, replay of the family situations for example).

Children whose pretend reality is very diverse are much more flexible in learning rules and have fewer problems incorporating these rules into their consciousness. For them the rules are cornerstones that help to recognize situations and use appropriate behaviors. The example will be the role of a knight, who by rule, is protecting the princess, cannot hurt her, and fights the ‘bad knight’, and has to defeat him. This is the rule, it defines genial line of the behavior very clearly, and following it the child does not have problem deciding weather he is supposed to fight the ‘bad’ guy or nor. For these children rules do not restrict their actions or their reality, they help to define both. While for the children who only stick to particular ‘real’ situations, rules could become an overwhelming problem, since their reality is equated with rules.

Now let’s see what happens if the child does not have pretend reality in his/her life. This is happening usually when the child has to become an adult early in his/her life, weather because he has been abandoned and there was nobody taking care of him as a child (allowing being a child), or when due to inadequate care the child ended taking care of the others and therefore had also to perform the tasks for which he was not ready yet. The child has only two limited sources to learn from: his own experience or didactically, through the books, or other people’s recipes. In these cases reality becomes very shallow, limited to very particular experiences of certain people. Reality becomes equated with rules imposed by controlling adults. For example the child learns that he has to be at home by certain hour, otherwise he gets punished (the parental figure is ‘etching the child discipline’, because the child has to learn to be organized). This rule will become the main reality of the child’s life, comparing to which the rest would not matter. This type of reality does not allow exercising the ability to adjust to different situations, nor does it allow variety in life. It is oriented towards very limited, rigidly defined reality, fully bound to rules (ritualistic behaviors). Whatever happens is happening forever, there is no sense of possibility of repairing, life becomes fatal. What is fun living such life? Refusal could be in a form of delusional inner life.

Learning the hard way also prone the child to bound his reality to a limited number of experiences, which often could be anxiety provoking, since the child constantly faces challenges that are beyond the scope of his knowledge and skills. That causes normally a sense of diminished self, of fear of future, since the future always brings difficult task and no certainty.

Dissociation from painful experience is a very important, healthy mechanism, it has to be treated properly, and you can’t just break through it. It is very powerful. If you have too much pain, it is dissociation that gives you a break, or turns you off your pain. If your life is just pain, you dissociation will lead you to an ultimate goal—death, where the experience of pain is stopped.

Remember that pain is part of the normal process of life; it is natural to feel pain when you cut your finger. Your pain tells you where you need to heal. Willingness to become happy means willingness to accept pain, because only then you will be able to heal your old wounds. When they are not healed, they keep you dissociating from their pain, but the pain is always there.

So raising attention to your pain will help you to discover your wounds, heal them and stop dissociating from pain, and also from life. Awareness and dissociation are on the opposite ends of the life continuum. The main tool which will allow getting our feelings and happiness back is our awareness.