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.
Tools for psychologists: image, emotion, writing, and interaction
Psychological work happens through conversation, but words are not always enough. A client may understand what is happening yet struggle to carry that understanding into everyday life. At other times, the experience has no clear name: “I feel bad,” “I am confused,” or “I feel nothing” may be the only available language.
An additional tool can provide structure. An image may help a person approach what is difficult to say directly, a game can create useful distance, and writing can support observation between sessions. MriyaRun grew from this practical need. Founded by psychologist and psychotherapist Dmytro Telushko, the project develops metaphorical cards, psychological games, workbooks, and journals for reflection.
Dmytro Telushko developing MriyaRun tools: from text and structure to a product that can support practice
A tool should not speak for the client
A card does not reveal a hidden truth, a game does not diagnose, and a workbook cannot guarantee change. A responsible tool organizes attention, offers another language for experience, and helps maintain continuity.
The psychologist remains responsible for assessing whether a method fits the client’s request, state, age, and context. The client retains the right to decline, stop, keep an association private, or choose another way of working.
Four ways into reflection
MriyaRun products can be viewed as four routes into experience: emotion, image, writing, and interaction. They can be combined. A card may begin a writing practice, a game story may provide material for discussion, and workbook notes may shape the next session.
When emotions are difficult to name
RedLines EQ in use: a card moves the conversation toward a specific situation, reaction, and healthier response
RedLines EQ: Emotion Detector uses stories and possible emotional responses. The goal is not to select the one correct card. The useful material lies in the participant’s reasoning: what they noticed, what they overlooked, and which emotions they recognize more easily in others or in themselves.
An emotion journal as daily support for noticing the body, emotional state, and needs
When direct conversation feels too difficult
The Bezsoromna metaphorical deck: images invite personal associations without replacing them with a ready-made interpretation
Metaphorical cards create a third point between psychologist and client. Meaning is not fixed inside the picture; it is authored by the person viewing it. Decks such as “I Have the Right,” “I Live My Happy Life,” “Children of the Underground,” or the specialized 18+ Bezsoromna deck can support careful exploration of shame, desire, body, boundaries, and consent.
A basic sequence is simple: offer an open question, let the client choose a card, ask what draws their attention, connect the image with present experience, and close by asking what they want to take from the exercise. The psychologist does not interpret the card as proof of trauma or diagnosis.
When work continues between sessions
A journal spread combines explanation, a daily question, and open space for observation
CBT SHIFT is a structured 77-day workbook for observing automatic reactions, thoughts, choices, and everyday changes. It may be used for self-reflection or integrated into psychological work. To prevent writing from becoming school-like homework, psychologist and client should agree on its purpose, a realistic amount, and how the material will be discussed later.
CBT SHIFT: written work with an automatic thought, emotion, behavior, and an alternative perspective
When a game offers useful distance
A game creates useful distance: a difficult situation can be explored through options, consequences, and choice
RedLines: Emotional Detective can support exploration of roles, boundaries, motives, and different readings of one situation. The psychologist helps participants distinguish observation from assumption rather than selecting a winning interpretation.
Responsible use
A tool supports psychological work when participation is voluntary, questions leave room for personal meaning, strong reactions are not romanticized, and the exercise has a clear ending. Reflection products are not substitutes for psychotherapy, medical diagnosis, or emergency support.
Choose a tool according to a professional task rather than popularity. Before using it regularly, it is useful for the psychologist to try it personally and notice possible triggers, leading questions, and the desire to reach a result too quickly.
A professional tool does not give a psychologist a magical ability to see through a person. Read more about fear of constant analysis, the practitioner’s humanity, and therapy shame in “Psychologists Are Human Too: Myths About Mind Reading and Superpowers”.
Explore the range in the MriyaRun catalogue. Examples in this article are composite and do not describe individual clients.