This material is for informational and educational purposes only and is not medical, psychological, or psychotherapeutic advice. If you are experiencing an acute psychological condition or need professional support, please contact a doctor, psychologist, psychotherapist, or crisis service.
Marta came to the group with a plan to observe first. She sat closer to the door, politely introduced herself, and decided to speak only when she knew exactly what to say. In life, this caution often helped her stay comfortable, avoid making mistakes in front of others, and not show how much she needed support.
On the third meeting, the facilitator suggested metaphorical association cards. Marta pulled out an image of a narrow bridge over dark water. She wanted to say that the bridge reminded her of transitioning to a new job: there was a path ahead, but the supports seemed unreliable. She didn't finish. Andriy, who loved to quickly find explanations, said, "You're afraid of closeness. The water is your repressed feelings."
Silence fell in the room. Marta smiled, although she felt cold inside. She thought she had done something wrong again: chosen the "wrong" card, not understood it deeply enough, allowed others to see more than she wanted. Her dramatic journey in the group began right here — in the familiar movement from her own experience to someone else's version of herself.
This story is composite. It doesn't describe a specific client, but it illustrates the main possibility and main risk of group work with metaphorical associative cards (MACs) An image can give words to an experience that is difficult to articulate directly. In a group, it becomes a meeting point for several perspectives. If participants and the facilitator remember the boundaries, this expands the vision. If someone else's interpretation is declared as truth, the card easily transforms into a tool of pressure.
What Happens in Group Therapy
Group therapy is a professionally organized process where changes occur not only in the dialogue between the participant and the therapist. Relationships between all present become important: who dares to ask, who saves without being asked, who is silent, who argues with the leader, who tries to reconcile everyone, and who expects to be overlooked again.
The group gradually creates its own boundaries, habits, and language. Initially, participants observe and seek safety. Gradually, disagreements, competition, disappointment in the leader, and testing of the rules emerge. If this stage is not suppressed and turned into a fight for obedience, the group can learn to tolerate differences. Then people risk being themselves more, give more precise feedback, and try new ways of contact. The ending is also part of the therapy: it raises sadness, anger, relief, fear of loss, and gives the opportunity to say goodbye without a sudden disappearance.
Research on group psychotherapy supports the importance of cohesion and therapeutic alliance. A meta-analysis of 55 studies found a moderate link between group cohesion and treatment outcomes, although the strength of the link depended on the type of group, the facilitator's approach, and other conditions. A more recent meta-analysis also showed that both the alliance with the therapist and the cohesion of the group are individually associated with the outcome. This doesn't mean that a warm atmosphere alone cures any problem. It creates conditions in which the difficult work is easier to endure. Meta-analysis of Cohesion and Meta-analysis of Alliance and Cohesion.
What Metaphorical Cards Add
Metaphorical associative cards (MACs) use images, words, or combinations of the two, used as material for associations and conversation. One card may suggest loneliness to one person, freedom to another, and dangerous isolation to a third. The meaning arises in the interaction with personal history, current request, culture, and the person's state.
An image creates a small distance. Instead of a direct "I'm afraid of being abandoned," it's sometimes easier to start with: "The person on this card stands by closed doors and, it seems, doesn't know if they can knock." This distance can support curiosity and give time to find one's own words. A review of the use of metaphors in psychotherapy describes the potential benefit of the joint unfolding of the metaphor by the client and therapist, while the authors emphasize that the research base is still limited. Review of Metaphors in Psychotherapy.
MACs are not a validated diagnostic test. You cannot determine trauma, attachment type, sexuality, lying, readiness for relationships, or hidden motives from a card. A scientific review of classic projective techniques showed that most of their indicators lack sufficient empirical support. MACs are better understood as a way to explore the subjective meaning, rather than as a device that reveals objective truth about the psyche. Review of the Scientific Status of Projective Techniques.
One Image — Several Truths
One image can evoke different associations; the card’s meaning remains with the person who chose it. Original MriyaRun illustration.
Let's return to Marta's card. Andriy saw repressed feelings in the dark water. Oksana, who almost never spoke at meetings, thought about the loss of home. Serhiy decided that the bridge resembled a risky business project. The facilitator could ask each person about their association, but first, she should have returned the word to Marta: "What do you see here? What resonates with you, and what would you like to set aside?"
In this order, the group does not lose its many voices, and the person who chose the card does not lose authorship. Others speak in the first person: "When I look at this bridge, it reminds me of…". They don't finish the sentence about Marta. Their responses can become a gift, a mirror, or material for disagreement. The right to say "this is not about me" is part of the therapeutic work.
Marta’s Dramatic Arc: From Disappearing to Setting a Clear Boundary
A group rupture becomes therapeutic material when the facilitator restores boundaries, choice, and room to respond. Original MriyaRun illustration.
After Andriy's remark, Marta almost stopped speaking. Her withdrawal could easily be mistaken for indifference or "resistance." In reality, she was doing what she had learned before: when someone more confident defined her experience, it was safer to agree and disappear from contact.
The facilitator noticed the change and didn't demand self-disclosure. She said that an important event had just happened in the group: the meaning of Marta's card had been determined before she had a chance to name it herself. Andriy wasn't declared the aggressor. He was asked to translate his statement into his own association and check if Marta was ready to hear it. The group was reminded of their right to skip the exercise, not explain the details, and stop the conversation.
At first, Marta replied, "Everything is normal." Then she looked at the bridge and said more precisely, "No. I feel uncomfortable when people explain me to myself. I haven't had time to understand what this card means to me." For another person, this could be a normal phrase. For Marta, it became a new action: to stay among people, show disagreement, and not lose her place in the circle because of it.
Andriy also got the opportunity to see his own story. He quickly advised and interpreted when he sensed confusion from others, because silence made him helpless. In his family, they valued those who immediately found solutions. Acknowledging this didn't relieve him of responsibility for the intrusion, but it gave direction for change: to ask if his version was needed, and to endure the moment when he could not fix anything yet.
Thus, the bridge card stopped being a mystery about a hidden trauma. It became part of a real scene: Marta was learning to move from silent adaptation to direct contact, Andriy from rescuing to presence, and the group from curiosity without boundaries to curiosity that respects the person.
Other Heroes of the Group
Oksana, Who Stays Silent
Silence can mean anxiety, caution, disagreement, a need for time, cultural habit, or a way to maintain control. It doesn't prove "closedness." When Oksana chooses the card of an empty bench, the facilitator doesn't extract her story through questions. He can offer several levels of participation: naming a detail from the image, choosing a word, writing down an association, or skipping the round. Voluntariness helps self-disclosure to mature.
Serhiy, Who Makes Jokes
Humor sometimes brings people closer, and sometimes saves them from embarrassment or tension. Serhiy might joke about "fortune-telling with pictures" when the exercise seems unclear to him. It's helpful not to shame him for skepticism and not to convince him of special powers of MACs The facilitator can agree with the limit of the method and invite Serhiy to a simple experiment: describe what he sees and check if a thought arises that makes sense to him.
Irina, Who Rushes to Rescue
Another participant's card reminds Irina of her own pain, and she immediately offers advice, a doctor's contact, and a five-step plan. Her concern is sincere, but it can deprive a person of space. The work begins with the question: "What did you feel when you saw this card, and what does the owner need now - advice, presence, or a question?"
Denys, Who Argues With the Facilitator
Disagreement with the rules doesn't always ruin the group. It can test whether there is room for autonomy. Denis asks why it's not possible to interpret other people's cards if everyone came to hear something new. The facilitator explains the boundary while leaving space for discussion. This way, leadership doesn't disappear, but it also doesn't become an untouchable power.
The Facilitator, Who Can Also Make Mistakes
The facilitator is responsible for the framework, time, participation, confidentiality, and response to risk. Their interpretations don't become correct just because of their professional role. If the facilitator rushed, didn't notice the pressure, or asked a question that was too personal, it's important to acknowledge it, apologize, and restore the participant's choice. Such repair of contact sometimes has more therapeutic value than the image of a flawless expert.
Five Situations Where MACs Work Differently
First Meeting of a New Group
At the start, resource-oriented and descriptive requests are appropriate: "How do I want to see the atmosphere of the group?", "What will help me stay in contact?", "What boundary is important to respect?". Exercises about the most painful trauma can be premature because trust hasn't yet formed.
Long-Term Therapeutic Group
The card can help explore an event happening right now: "How do I see my place in the circle?", "What is between me and the group?", "What feedback am I avoiding?". Here, the transition from storytelling about people outside the group to attentive observation of live relationships in the room is especially valuable.
Group After Loss or Trauma
The image can support symbolization, but it can also sharply intensify arousal. Predictability, the right not to participate, stabilization skills, and the facilitator's readiness to postpone the exercise are needed. It's not necessary to ask someone to "go deeper" if they lose contact with the room, experience a flashback, or cannot return to a manageable level of tension.
Online Group
In addition to the usual contract, there are private rooms, headphones, a ban on recording and screenshots, a plan in case of connection interruption, and information about the participant's location for emergencies. A digital image doesn't automatically make the digital space confidential.
Training or Corporate Group
Training, supervision, and team meetings don't become therapy just because metaphorical cards are used. If participation affects evaluation, career, or relationships with superiors, the invitation to deep self-disclosure carries additional risk. The task should be limited to the professional context, and refusal should not have negative consequences.
Contract: What to Discuss Before the First Deep Card
A safe group doesn't arise from a good atmosphere. It is supported by clear agreements:
- the group's purpose, format, duration, and participation criteria;
- the facilitator's qualifications and role;
- the boundaries of confidentiality and situations where the law or safety require disclosure of information;
- the rule of not taking stories and recognizable details of other participants outside the group;
- no recording, photography, or screenshots without separate consent;
- the right to skip the exercise, not show the card, not answer, and ask for a pause;
- the way to give feedback from the first person;
- rules for contacts outside the group;
- actions in a crisis situation;
- the procedure for absences, leaving, and ending the group.
An important boundary: the therapist is obligated to maintain professional confidentiality, but cannot guarantee how every participant will behave. That is why the limits and risks need to be discussed before self-disclosure, not after a breach. This is emphasized in the American Group Psychotherapy Association guidelines and the APA explanation of group therapy.
How to Respond to Someone Else’s Card
Constructive feedback consists of permission, your own reaction, and returning authorship:
- Ask: "Would you like to hear what came up for me?"
- Speak about yourself: "When I look at this image, I feel..."
- Avoid hidden diagnoses: Steer clear of phrases like "you have trauma," "you're afraid of intimacy," "the card reveals your Shadow."
- Leave room for disagreement: "Take only what resonates with you."
- Return the question: "What from this feedback is yours, and what isn't?"
Sometimes, the best feedback is presence. Tears don't always need explanation. A pause doesn't always require advice. A group matures when it can withstand incompleteness and resist turning every image into a conclusion.
The "My Place in the Group" Exercise
This exercise can be conducted in an established group with an existing contract and a sufficient level of safety. The facilitator reminds participants beforehand of their right to refuse.
- Choose a card that currently reflects your place in the group.
- First, describe only the visible details: people, distances, direction of movement, light, obstacles.
- Complete the sentences: "In this group, I feel easy...," "I find it difficult...," "I hide...," "I would like to ask...,"
- Name who or what you attribute the most power to in the image.
- Check this against reality: what events in the group confirm your vision, and what contradicts it?
- Formulate one actionable step within the group itself: ask a question, disagree, request time, accept support, or decline advice.
- If you want feedback, define its format: feelings of others, questions, associations, or specific observations.
After the exercise, it's important to return to the present: feel the support of your feet on the floor, look around the room, name your state, and decide what will help conclude the meeting. The depth of the work is measured not by the intensity of the experience, but by the ability to integrate it without losing contact with oneself.
When to Stop the Exercise
Put the cards aside if a participant experiences a sharp increase in panic, flashbacks, derealization, loss of orientation, a desire for self-harm, or is unable to use the agreed-upon stabilization method. The facilitator brings attention back to immediate safety and acts within their qualifications and crisis protocol.
Group exercises do not replace individual risk assessment, medical, or psychiatric help. A participant's refusal to continue is not a failure and does not require pressure under the banner of "resistance to change."
Ending: The Card Marta Took With Her
Ending a group can hold sadness, gratitude, and the movement of new experience into everyday life. Original MriyaRun illustration.
At the final meeting, Marta again chose a bridge. This time, it led to a well-lit shore. She didn't say she had "worked through her fear of intimacy" because her path was different. She learned to notice the moment when someone else's confidence pushed aside her own voice. Several times, she disagreed with the group, once asked Andriy to simply be present instead of giving advice, and experienced a crucial realization: after her boundary, people didn't disappear.
Oksana said more than she planned, but still kept the right to be silent. Serhiy remained skeptical about the cards and yet admitted that one helped him formulate a conversation with his son. Andriy learned to ask for permission. The facilitator didn't make the group conflict-free; she helped participants notice the ruptures and return to contact without humiliation.
This is where group therapy and MACs can complement each other. The card opens a conversation through an image. Other people add feedback. Real relationships test whether we can remain ourselves alongside people who see things differently. The meaning isn't hidden in the cardboard—it is born in how a person sees, speaks, listens, sets boundaries, and makes the next choice.
MriyaRun MACs for Different Group Themes
For the theme of change, trials, and transitions, the deck “My Myth: The Hero’s Journey” is suitable. It helps organize the story about the current stage, resources, and the next step, if the facilitator doesn't force every crisis to become a heroic feat.
For working with boundaries and internal permissions, you can use the “I Have the Right”. For themes of early experience, belonging, and adaptation methods—the series “Children of the Underground”, starting with an achievable level and without searching for "hidden trauma" in the image.
If the group is just getting acquainted with the method, it's helpful to first read the guide to working with MriyaRun metaphorical cards or try the online metaphorical cards with a neutral request. Continuing observation in writing can be helped by the EQ Emotions Journal: in it, you can divide the event, interpretation, feelings, bodily reaction, need, and chosen action.
The material is for educational purposes only. Conducting a therapeutic group requires appropriate education, supervision, ethical competence, and knowledge of local legal requirements.