Integrative art therapy method "My Flowerbed" in psychological counseling for women during midlife crisis periods

Zhizhina Mariya Viktorovna PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor of the Department of Social Psychology; Faculty of Psychology; Saratov State University named after N.G.Chernshevsky 410028 Saratov, ul. Volskaya 10-a,1 zhizhinamv@bk.ru

Relevance

Living through normative age-related and non-normative situational crises often leads to the depletion of an individual's inner potential and a pronounced shortage of his psychological resources. As D.B. Bogoyavlenskaya emphasizes, overcoming destructive states in such periods requires a qualitative change in the internal activity of a person capable of transforming crisis experiences through creative activity ^[2]. Traditional patterns of socialization, which focus women on prioritizing caring for others, create a cumulative effect of imposing diverse loads in the middle of life. The issues of value-semantic transformation of personality during the midlife crisis, as well as the modern possibilities of using projective and metaphorical methods in psychological counseling are considered in detail in modern research ^{[8, 9, 10]}. This circumstance necessitates the development of short-term therapeutic tools aimed at actualizing latent resource supports and developing sustainable skills of authentic self-support.

The research focuses on women aged 40-50 as the group most vulnerable to the combined effects of several crisis lines at once: the normative age crisis, intrapersonal experiences and the transformation of the family system. The specificity of this age stage is characterized by a complex of markers affecting biological and identity aspects. The crisis manifests itself in experiencing changes in appearance, hormonal changes in the body and awareness of a decrease in physical resources, which requires a deep rethinking of personal identity. The social and family aspect includes the "empty nest" syndrome (separation of grown-up children), as well as the "sandwich" syndrome - the need for simultaneous care for aging parents and support for adult children. In the professional sphere, this crisis manifests itself in a reassessment of one's own achievements.

In the context of this work, authentic self-support is understood as the ability of a person to independently provide psychological assistance to himself, act as a support in difficult life situations and proactively use his inner potential, which includes skills of self-motivation, autonomous meaning-making and reliance on a system of individual values. Unlike the stereotypical patterns of self-care broadcast by the mass media, authentic self-support is based on a person's ability to free himself from externally imposed standards. It involves awareness of true needs and the choice of individual self-regulation strategies that correspond to the structure of the unique Self.

The subject of the study

The subject of this study is the psychological effects of using the author's integrative art therapy technique "My flower garden" in overcoming crisis conditions in middle-aged women.

The purpose of the study is a qualitative phenomenological analysis of the therapeutic effectiveness of the integrative art therapy technique "My flower garden" in psychological assistance to women aged 40-50 years in overcoming normative and non-normative crises (using the example of analyzing therapeutic cases).

Research objectives:

1. To formulate the theoretical and methodological foundations of the integrative art therapy technique "My flower garden" at the junction of art therapy, analytical psychology, the concept of personal potential, the concept of time perspective and the ethnolinguistic approach.

2. To develop and procedurally structure a step-by-step algorithm for the implementation of the integrative art therapy technique "My Flower Garden", aimed at the externalization of destructive states, awareness of true needs, actualization of authentic self-support and symbolic integration of a person's time perspective, including the use of the "Prescription form "Wise Gardener's First-aid Kit" for the design of proactive self-support actions.

3. To identify and systematize criteria for the therapeutic effectiveness of the "My Flower Garden" technique; to describe the phenomenon of the "resource block" as an indicator of latent depletion of personal and semantic resources, as well as to reveal the therapeutic role of the art technique of the "Secret" assemblage in the interiorization of internal supports and the protection of personal boundaries.

4. To evaluate the long-term effectiveness of the "My Flower Garden" technique based on the analysis of catamnestic data (after 6 and 12 months) in overcoming the existential vacuum and the proactive implementation of therapeutic insights in the participants' lives.

Methodology and research methods

The theoretical and methodological basis of the "My Flower Garden" methodology is the integration of the provisions of analytical psychology by K. G. Jung, art therapy (A.I. Kopytin, M. V. Kiseleva, L. D. Lebedeva), the concept of personal potential by D.A. Leontiev, the concept of time perspective by F. Zimbardo and the ethnolinguistic approach (N.I. Tolstoy, T.A. Agapkina).

The basic conceptual basis of the methodology is the position of C. G. Jung on archetypal symbolism: the projective image of a flower is considered as a symbol of the self and a metaphor for integration – the process of gaining personal maturity. In times of crisis, the intuitive creation of plant images performs the function of a mandala that regulates chaos and restores mental balance ^[11]. The healing potential of plant metaphors, stated in classical depth psychology, is reflected in modern research in the field of eco-art therapy (J. Greenberg, S.Berger, A.I. Kopytin, S.O'Connor, L.R. Sharafieva, etc.).

Of particular importance for the conceptualization of the technique are the works of A.I. Kopytin ^[4] within the framework of the innovative eco-art therapeutic approach he develops. On its basis, the "My Flower garden" technique is implemented through the projective image of a flower garden, which creates a safe space for the externalization of intrapsychic conflicts, overcoming deficit states and actualizing the mechanisms of psychological self-regulation.

The diagnostic value of floral metaphors is confirmed by the effectiveness of L.D. Lebedeva's technique "Drawing a family in the form of flowers" ^[5]. Based on the principles of phenomenological analysis of the products of art activity developed by the author, we verify the polymodal image of a flower garden as a projection of the actual ego state and psychological stability of a personality. The choice of D.A. Leontiev's concept of personal potential as a methodological support is due to the need for a scientific explanation of the mechanisms for overcoming the midlife crisis in women not through compensation for deficits, but through the actualization of internal resources and the disclosure of personal potential ^[6]. Working with the metaphor of a flower garden allows for a revision of the psychological sphere of a woman, stabilizes the psycho-emotional state and restores the subjective position of the participant. In the framework of our study, it is assumed that the integration of positive resource supports can be a factor contributing to the comprehensive activation of personal potential in women during the midlife crisis.

The involvement of F. Zimbardo's concept of time perspective ^[3] is dictated by the specifics of the target group and allows us to substantiate that overcoming the crisis is impossible without harmonizing the three time vectors. In a situation of midlife crisis, women are often diagnosed with a deformation of temporal orientations: fixation on past retrospective experience generates a fatalistic attitude towards the present and blocks the zone of the future. Working with the methodology allows you to integrate the past as a resource base, focus on the current needs of the present and form a positive image of the future.

Within the framework of the ethnolinguistic approach of N.I. Tolstoy and T.A.Agapkina, the East Slavic botanical code is considered as a symbolic system where mental-regulatory and sacred functions are assigned to plants ^[1],[8]. The use of these provisions in the development of the "prescription form "First-aid kit of the wise gardener" allowed the participant to provide a culturally rooted tool for sign regulation of vital activity and self-support.

The integration of the approaches described above formed the basis of the "My Flower Garden" methodology (deposited in the National Register of Intellectual Property n'RIS, copyright certificate No. 0016-989-266 dated 06/15/2026). The shortage of universal short-term tools in the practice of crisis counseling actualizes the need for algorithmized resourcing methods adapted to the specifics of women living in crisis conditions during midlife. The developed integrative resource-oriented art therapy technique "My Flower Garden" is aimed at diagnosing, structuring positive life experiences and actualizing self-support strategies that stimulate proactive behavior. The specificity of the proposed integrative technique "My Flower Garden" lies in the fact that it is implemented in the format of a structured cycle of five consecutive sessions and is based on a combination of projective art methods, narrative practices, and concepts of personal potential using the ethnocultural botanical code in dealing with crisis conditions in women. It should be emphasized that the diagnostic and therapeutic components of the "My Flower garden" technique are implemented simultaneously. The projective diagnosis of the participant's current state at the stage of the initial creation of the image of the flower garden smoothly and continuously transitions into a therapeutic transformation through the mechanism of intuitive selection of floral metaphors and the creation of a symbolic hiding place – a "secret". This eliminates the artificial gap between the diagnostic slice and the psychocorrective effect, and ensures a targeted therapeutic response at each step of the session.

To implement a high-quality phenomenological design, the sample was formed by the targeted selection method. The empirical base (N=35) consisted of women aged 40 to 50 years who sought psychological help in the period from 2023 to 2026. The therapeutic effectiveness of the "My Flower garden" technique has been successfully verified on the basis of the studied cases. The psychological profile of the sample was characterized by the combined nature of crisis experiences, where the normative midlife crisis was burdened by abnormal situational stressors.

The three-year extended data collection made it possible to qualitatively analyze the dynamics of the crisis states of the participants. At the same time, the entire cycle of five sessions and the catamnestic study were completed by 33 study participants after 6 and 12 months. Two participants dropped out of the process at the catamnesis stage, and therefore there is no data on them for the specified period. The therapeutic cases presented in the article were selected from among the participants who had fully completed the program. The analysis of marital status revealed that the majority of women, 57% (n=20), were divorced at the time of the study; 31% (n=11) were married, but noted an acute marital crisis and "empty nest" syndrome; 12% (n=4) had never been married and they experienced existential loneliness. The absence of an external control group was compensated by the implementation of the principle of intrasubject control. This made it possible to verify the effectiveness of the methodology by comparing the dynamics of psychological manifestations, life goals, and changes in the projective material of the same participants at different stages of consultative interaction and in the catamnesis.

The reliability and scientific validity of the interpretation of the data obtained were ensured through methodological triangulation (combining analysis of isoproducts, semi-structured interviews and content analysis of narratives), as well as through prolonged catamnestic control after 6 and 12 months. The dynamics of the transformation of visual narrative metaphors (in particular, images of destruction and decay to images of flowering) were compared with real changes in the lives of the participants, which confirms the high ecological validity and pragmatic value of the qualitative phenomenological design of the study.

The participants' counseling was carried out in the format of short-term integrative psychological assistance, which included five weekly sessions lasting 90 minutes. The course of psychological assistance was structured as follows: 1st session (introductory diagnostic): semi-structured interview, collection of medical history and creation of a drawing "My flower garden"; sessions 2-4 (main therapeutic unit): externalization of destructive states and implementation of the stages of the "My Flower Garden" methodology, including the "Prescription form "First-aid kit of the wise Gardener", the art technique of the "Secret" assemblage and methods of narrative practice; session 5 (final integration): expressive and plastic transformation of the image of a flower garden, actualization of the subjective position, consolidation of the formed models of coping behavior and reflection of the results of interaction. The assessment of the therapeutic effectiveness of the developed integrative art therapy technique was based on a qualitative analysis of the polymodal image using five interrelated diagnostic blocks that act as a navigator for the psychologist.

1.Emotional and semantic block: captures the dynamics of the semantic content of a polymodal image through the transformation of the author's metaphor. The criteria of effectiveness are qualitative changes in the emotional attitude to the drawing and the transition from a passive experience of scarcity (in the primary image) to an active value-semantic position (in the final composition of the "flower garden").

2.Body-oriented block:The dynamics of external manifestations (breathing patterns, postures, facial expressions, vegetative reactions) and the subjective bodily experience of the participants are recorded. It is varied through the transformation of verbalized bodily sensations (for example, from fixation of experiences of "petrification" or "rejection" when analyzing the primary drawing to unblocking and relieving physical tension in relation to the final composition). It serves as an indicator of reducing the severity of psychosomatic stress and activating personal resources.

3. Space-time block (visual-projective criteria): objectifies the modification of the symbolic space of the drawing, changing the scale and localization of elements. Overcoming destructive fixation on the past and unblocking the zone of the future is verified through the compositional unification of time zones into a single flower garden space, the appearance of new buds, as well as the restoration of the soil line and the root system of plants of all plant elements of the composition. Of particular diagnostic importance here is the dynamics of leaf drawing as a key graphical indicator of the vital energy of a personality (their absence, asthenic lines or drooping leaves indicate a latent depletion of personal resources, while the appearance of bright, upward-pointing leaves reflects the positive dynamics of the recovery of internal resources of the participants).

4.Resource (subject-assessment) block: captures the integration of the participant's time perspectives and the dynamics of her inter-resource systems in the process of creating and describing the drawing. The criterion reflects the participant's ability to build a balance of time zones, where positive past experience determines stability in the present, and the formed image of the future positively determines current life activity. A qualitative marker of interiorization, which performs the function of partially overcoming the latent depletion of semantic and personal resources, is the appearance of author's goal entries in the space of the zone of the future, as well as the introduction of vital and regulatory symbols into the visual field (the sun, watering can, irrigation system, the figure of a gardener or flower girl).

5.Telelogic-behavioral block (criteria of behavioral activation): It provides the translation of metaphorical material into the plane of real life activity through the decentralization of experience and discussion of the hypothetical request of the image of "I am a flower" to the world. The criterion for restoring the subjective position is the transition from passive crisis experience to proactive behavior. This transition is verified by recording specific, step–by-step actions in the "Wise Gardener's First Aid Kit" Prescription Form - from planning the first minimum step for authentic self-support to initiating real independent actions aimed at transforming the life context and realizing new personal goals.

The developed technique harmoniously combines therapeutic and diagnostic functions, providing a retrospective integration of positive experiences, fixing the current psycho-emotional state and modeling a balanced time perspective of the participants. The procedure integrates the methods of art therapy, narrative practice and active imagination through actualizing the image of a wise gardener. The stability of therapeutic changes was verified by qualitative analysis of catamnestic data collected by semi-structured interviews 6 and 12 months after the end of the program.

The actual procedure of the developed methodology is implemented in seven stages:

The first stage is the organization of the therapeutic space and adjustment using active imagination; metaphorical coding and expressive image transfer.The stage is aimed at creating a safe environment, reducing cognitive control and unblocking emotions through muscle relaxation. The psychologist stimulates the unfolding of a mental image with detailed spatial and temporal characteristics (time of year, weather, soil, etc.).

To externalize the experience, the participant uses a form describing a semantic matrix consisting of ten floral images (a detailed textual description of the contents of these ten colors is provided in Appendix No. 1), consisting of three time vectors (past, present and future) and defining a semantic matrix for artistic activity. The procedure ends with an expressive transfer of the image onto an A3 sheet using multivariate art materials and a description of the key metaphor of the current state, which determines the vector of further interaction. . In the process of completing the task, the woman performs semantic markup of the drawing, writing specific biographical milestones, relevant resources or goals into the elements of the image.

The second stage: primary oral narration). After fixing the image in the visual field, the participant makes up a free story about the flower garden. The narrative is aimed at externalizing experience and structuring disparate experiences into one story.

The third stage: archetypal projection and action planning (the tool is the "Prescription form "First-aid kit of the wise Gardener").The stage is aimed at the activity-semantic integration of the resources of the unconscious through the actualization of the archetype of the Sage. In the process of active imagination, the figure of a "Wise Gardener" is introduced into the participant's mental field, who gives her symbolic grass seeds without naming them. Without external influence, the participant independently enters the names of the plants she has identified on the field of the sheet, revealing their subjective meaning.

Only after that, she is provided with a "Prescription form "Wise Gardener's First-aid Kit", containing a fixed list of 15 plant metaphors isomorphic to the meanings of the East Slavic botanical code^[1],[8]. It should be noted that the final list of 15 plants was qualitatively verified and selected by the author at the search and preparatory stage of the study with the participation of a diagnostic sample of women aged 40-50 years, which preceded the main three-year consultative work. During the implementation of the projective technique "Prescription form "Wise Gardener's first-aid kit", the participants were asked to verbalize the floral images and their subjective meanings on their own. The further differentiation of the incentive list of herbs into five target therapeutic blocks (stabilization, protective, cathartic, resource, activating) is based on a comparison of women's empirical choices with the archaic semantics of the East Slavic floral code ^[1],[8] and the goals of psychological counseling. The intuitive understanding of archaic plant meanings by modern women is explained by the rootedness of the folklore code in the collective cultural memory. Transmitted in the process of socialization through language, folklore and family scenarios, fairy tales, epics, folk songs, ritual practices and traditions of domestic herbalism form stable floral associations that are actualized in a crisis situation and help a woman to comprehend her personal life experience.

Each floral image has a regulatory significance (for example, wormwood - purification and liberation; elecampane - mobilization of internal forces; tansy – amulet, protection of personal boundaries). The semantic correlation of the metaphorical image with the ethno-cultural code makes it possible to neutralize the internal resistance of the personality and translate intuitive resources into specific behavioral steps for self-support.

Based on the contents of the "prescription form", the participant draws her chosen medicinal herbs directly in the field of the flower garden, recording specific behavioral steps for self-support in front of each name. Modification of the initial visual field acts as a marker of visual representation of those intrapsychic transformations that occur on the cognitive and emotional levels of the participants, allowing them to visually record their readiness to implement coping behavior in social reality.

The fourth stage: resource stabilization and space modeling ("Secret" assemblage technique). This step is based on the socio-cultural experience of children's play practice. First, the participant formulates an intimate message on a separate medium, symbolizing her inner life support. Then she is asked to select an area in the drawing where the text is placed and covered with a decorative plate, simulating the creation of a protected visual focus in the composition space. This element symbolizes the sovereignty of a woman's psychological boundaries, provides a symbolic encapsulation of intimate hedonistic experiences and is aimed at forming a personal mental support and activating internal resources that inspire proactive actions during a crisis period. The simulation results of this zone are recorded in the session protocol for subsequent analysis.

The fifth stage: compositional integration and creation of a complete flower garden system. The stage is aimed at overcoming the fragmentarity of the individual's time perspective through the material-visual connection of floral symbols of the past, present and future. This process contributes to the experience of inner integrity and forms the willingness of the individual to reflexively comprehend the therapeutic experience.

The diagnostic criterion is the degree of compositional coherence of the visual field: the isolation or "semantic emptiness" of the zone of the future indicates a deficit in predictive design, while fixation on the elements of the zone of the past marks a retrospective departure from the actual present.

The sixth stage: narrative integration and the creation of a therapeutic essay "The story of a flower garden".The stage is aimed at conceptualizing the projective experience by translating visual images into text form. Writing an essay in the third person allows the participant to take the position of a detached observer, which decenerates crisis experiences and triggers the process of reauthorization of personal history. The created narrative connects images of the past, present and future into a continuous life line, providing symbolic integration of experience and fixation of found resources.

Seventh stage: final therapeutic reflection (final 5th session). This stage is aimed at discussing and deconstructing the transformed flower garden image. Qualitative analysis of the work results is carried out on the basis of five end-to-end diagnostic blocks.

The developed integrative technique ensures careful overcoming of resistance and stabilization of the psycho-emotional state of women. In contrast to the mono-image, the polymodal image of a flower garden provides a comprehensive therapeutic effect, transferring the energy of the participants from passive life support to the plane of a proactive semantic perspective. Plastic modification of the drawing at the final session ensures the translation of mental insights into the plane of real actions that actualize the subjective position of the participants in new spheres of life.

Discussion of the results

To verify the therapeutic effectiveness of the "My Flower Garden" technique, a comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analysis of the protocols of the entire study sample was carried out, which initially included 35 participants (women aged 40-50 years). The systematization of empirical material showed that at the first diagnostic stage, the phenomenon of the "resource block" in various manifestations was recorded in 100% of women enrolled in the program (n=35). All 35 women successfully completed the full cycle of the five-session program. In the catamnesis, complete data was collected from 33 participants after 6 and 12 months, as communication with two participants was lost due to their relocation to another country. As a result of data analysis within the boundaries of the studied sample, a steady positive trend (confirmed by catamnesis data) was recorded in 89% of women. 11% of women showed partial dynamics, which resulted in stabilization of their emotional state while maintaining the need for prolonged psychological support.

The specifics of the identified changes and the dynamics of the therapeutic process are illustrated in detail below using the example of two representative therapeutic cases selected by the method of typical cases from a subgroup of participants (89%) who demonstrated stable positive dynamics. In particular, the paper considers a phenomenological analysis of the case of participant N., 45 years old. Participant N., who is divorced, sought psychological help in a state of deep identity crisis, manifested through a subjective sense of impasse, existential vacuum and loss of control over her own life. An aggravating non-normative factor was forced cohabitation with an adult daughter, accompanied by destructive role inversion and psychological pressure on her part aimed at suppressing the subjectivity of the mother. An additional destabilizing vector was the crisis of professional motivation and the semantic alienation from work while being forced to stay at the current place of work solely for the sake of financial stability. The ambivalent nature of N.'s experiences was expressed in the conflict between the latent need for self-realization and the rational sabotage of proactive actions. The scarcity of proactive self-regulation by N. had the character of a normative identity crisis and was expressed in a decrease in attention to one's own needs and external self-presentation, which the participant explained with a lack of time.

In all areas of the drawing, the flowers looked cut and stripped of soil. The absence of the traced ground indicated an acute shortage of internal supports in real life. The images of the past were localized in the left part of the sheet, isolated from each other and characterized by excessive decorativeness, whereas in the zone of the present the elements were poorly outlined, and in the zone of the future a "semantic void" was fixed. The central element, the image of "I am a flower," was placed by N. on the periphery, it literally found itself sandwiched between large, aggressively drawn elements. This composition visually reflected the suppression of the subjectivity of the mother by the destructive figure of the daughter. When analyzing the bodily response, N. described her feelings when looking at the drawing as constriction in the throat and lack of air. Translating the visual image into a verbal plan, N. described her condition as "a withered, lifeless rose garden, whose petals are falling off and there is no strength to resist." This metaphor reflected the depth of the psychoemotional exhaustion of the "I" system and the fear of loss of attractiveness. The narrative material confirmed the combined impact of both the midlife crisis and the acute shortage of personal resources.

At the step of working with the tool, the "Wise Gardener's First-aid kit," N. initially showed confusion, but when she switched to working with the prescription form, her attitude changed. Reliance on the symbolic meanings of plants rooted in culture (for example, tansy) as a semantic reference, it allowed the participant to overcome the internal barriers of the depleted "I" system and move on to planning specific actions for self-support.

At the stage of modeling, "Sekretika" N. faced internal resistance caused by years of frustration of her own needs in favor of the family system. However, in the process of performing the technique, N. managed to overcome protective barriers and actualize a hidden hedonistic resource. She recorded in her secret message her forgotten creative hobby, which now acts as a personal mental support. The symbolic shielding of the message with a decorative plate in the zone of the past showed that it is there that N.'s resources are now located, ensuring the interiorization of her intimate experience and the protection of her safe personal space.

At the final stage of counseling, a pronounced dynamic of the drawing and personal narrative was recorded: within the boundaries of the therapeutic metaphor, N. moved from the image of a withered rose garden to the description of rooted flowers. The participant described the renovated flower garden as an image that "gained deep roots, withstood hail, snow, and severe frosts, fully preserving its inner strength."

The visual markers of successful changes in the updated drawing of H. were the saturation of the color palette in the field of the present and the future, the detailed drawing of the root system, as well as the appearance of resource elements (watering cans, the sun), budding buds with plans for the future fixed directly in the visual field. The dynamics of leaf drawing is also of particular diagnostic importance here as an important graphical indicator of a person's vital energy: the appearance of bright green leaves pointing upward clearly indicates a pronounced positive trend, the restoration of resources and the actualization of the participant's subject position. This dynamic indicated the assimilation of a supportive function and the actualization of the participant's subjective position. In social reality, the integration of these pillars allowed N. to stop the hypercontrolling report to her daughter, restoring the sovereignty of personal boundaries. The participant resumed contacts with the reference environment, began to attend dance classes and harmoniously integrated her creative hobby into the structure of the weekly schedule.

The annual catamnesis data confirmed the stability of the acquired internal supports: N. realized the task of separation from her daughter and harmonized her personal sphere by entering into a healthy and stable partnership with a man. The changes that took place were accompanied by a reassessment of life orientations, the formation of new life goals and the acquisition of personal meanings (in particular, the discovery of new vectors of extra-professional self-realization) this together indicates the final overcoming of the existential vacuum and the restoration of the ability to proactively design the future.

A phenomenological analysis of the case of participant K., 48 years old.The treatment was associated with a state of deep psycho-emotional exhaustion, complaints of chronic fatigue, loss of orientation and existential emptiness. The midlife crisis followed the pattern of the "empty nest" syndrome: the departure of the only son destroyed the system of family ties, actualized destructive processes in marital relations and deprived K. of the role of an actively caring mother. The situation was aggravated by the crisis of professional identity against the background of temporary absence of work: K.'s desire to reach a new professional level was blocked by self-doubt. At the initial stage, against the background of professional disorientation, K. showed marked resistance, indifference to issues of external self-presentation, and depletion of personal resources. In this regard, the focus of interaction was shifted from child-parent relations to the actualization of individual subjectivity and the revision of personal pillars.

In the zone of the past, the elements were rooted and provided with soil, while in the zone of the present, the images looked faded, dispersed and devoid of soil, which marked the loss of stable supports. The zone of the future was characterized by a total "semantic emptiness": due to Due to her severe emotional state, K. initially sabotaged the planning, stating: "There's nothing there, everything is gray, unclear, I don't see what can grow there." The central element – the image of "I am a flower" - was made in faded colors, devoid of a root system and placed in the zone of the past. Verbalizing the image, K. described the flower garden as "once lush, but abandoned, whose time of active flowering has passed." The narrative analysis revealed a pronounced idealization of the period of active motherhood, contrasted with the current crisis state (defined by the participant as "desolation"), which objectified the phenomenology of the age identity crisis and the deficit of vital forces.

When analyzing the bodily response, K. recorded persistent bodily tension in the chest and shoulder girdle, verbalizing this experience through the metaphor of a "heavy stone." When switching to the "Wise Gardener's Medicine Cabinet," K. revealed a "resource block": against the background of psychoemotional exhaustion, the participant plunged into a cognitive stupor and initially demonstrated an inability to choose any plants, declaring her inability to differentiate her own needs. After overcoming this barrier therapeutically, K. I consciously chose mint from the prescription list as a symbol of recuperation, having fixed commitments to proactive self-care: walks in the park and the resumption of visits to the pool.

Working with the "Secret" technique allowed the participant to actualize her repressed passion for artistic ceramics, which became a new personal support for her. The placement of the "secret" on the border of the zone of the past confirmed K.'s tendency to seek support in previous experiences, however, the material fixation of the "secret" made it possible to translate intuitive meanings into the plane of real behavioral activation.

At the final session, a new drawing was created on the initiative of the participant. In the updated visual field, the zones of the past, present and future were united by a single powerful root system, executed with confident lines, the flowers themselves were integrated into the overall composition using a textile ribbon.

The central "I am the flower" shifted to the center of the present zone and began to dominate compositionally, its moderate color saturation reflecting the gradual nature of the recovery of strength, stabilization of supports and the participant's focus on actual life experience. If in the first session K. verbalized her condition with the markers "devastated, lonely", then when describing the new image she used positive, dynamic characteristics: "awake, "changing," "alive." Three new plants have appeared in the future zone, symbolizing new plans. The markers of positive dynamics were vital symbols (the sun), images of caring (a watering can, a Gardener's figure), new medicinal herbs and a symbolically significant image of K. herself in the role of a Flower Girl, which clearly testified to the interiorization of the supporting function, the restoration of subjectivity and readiness for authentic self-support.

The data from the annual catamnesis confirmed that the newfound supports provided K. with the restoration of emotional vitality and the successful implementation of a personal self-support plan. Artistic ceramics outgrew the scope of her hobby: K. began to exhibit and sell original products at local fairs, which recorded the productive integration of therapeutic insights into her real life activities. The "empty nest" syndrome transformed into a constructive recognition of the autonomy of his son, who created a personal website for his mother and launched the promotion of her profile on social networks. The success of K. He contributed to the qualitative improvement of marital relations: her husband showed respect for her achievements by actively participating in the technical support of the project. New social supports allowed K. to overcome the existential vacuum and enter a new stage of the life cycle in the status of the author of his own life.

A comparison of the proposed tool with existing art therapy techniques allows us to determine its specific place among other approaches. While traditional techniques (for example, methods of free drawing or the famous diagnostic test by L.D. Lebedeva "My family in the form of flowers") are mainly focused on projective diagnostics, general emotional response and deep insight, the author's technique "My flower garden" is positioned as a resource technique, characterized by a clear procedural structuring. Its key difference lies in the consistent synthesis of the art therapeutic method with the ideas of analytical psychology, the theory of time perspective and a resource-based approach. This technique directly integrates the personal resources of the past, present and future, ensuring overcoming the "resource block" in women aged 40-50 years. By revealing the meanings of symbolic images of plants and independently formulating specific behavioral steps, he launches the process of proactive self-care, which translates crisis experiences into a step-by-step plan of real-life actions.

At the same time, it is necessary to differentiate between the general non-specific effects of psychotherapeutic contact (empathic acceptance, legalization of experiences in a safe space) and the specific psychological effects of using the integrative technique "My flower garden". While the therapeutic alliance provided a basic reduction in the level of existential anxiety of the participants, it was the structured work with the metaphor of the flower garden and the subsequent plastic modification of the image that led to a directed transformation of cognitive and behavioral patterns. Filling out the "prescription form" ensured the transfer of mental insights into the plane of conscious planning. The specific result of the technique was expressed in overcoming the phenomenon of the "resource block" through the primary visualization of latent resources. This effect was achieved due to the participants' independent choice of metaphorical images of plants, followed by the fixation of specific life actions for each of them. This made it possible to translate the experiences of the crisis into a specific plan for proactive self-regulation and conscious life planning.

A generalized phenomenological analysis of the results showed that the modeling of the "secret" space ensured the revitalization of identity and the accumulation of resources that initiate new educational, professional and personal intentions of the participants. At the same time, the repressed hedonistic potential was actualized. Temporarily hiding plans from the environment was a way to conserve mental energy, strengthen inner autonomy and gain an impulse to self-realization.

Limitations of the study and prospects for discussion This study captures the basic stages of testing the developed methodology, and therefore, the obtained qualitative results have a number of natural limitations. In particular, the focus on an in-depth phenomenological analysis of individual cases and the specifics of the studied group of women in midlife crisis limits the possibility of mechanically transferring the data obtained to other age and gender cohorts.

Limitations of the work also include the refusal to use standardized psychodiagnostic tools and the absence of a control group. This step is methodologically conscious: the specificity of qualitative phenomenological design, focused on the method of investigating individual cases, shifts the focus from statistical generalization to a deep understanding of the unique subjective experience of the participants and the fixation of their qualitative intrapersonal transformations.

This factor was offset by the long development period and the overall three-year monitoring of the study, which included monitoring the stability of therapeutic changes through catamnesis after 6-12 months.

The developed integrative technique is considered by the author not as a frozen final construct, but as an open dynamic therapeutic system. The proposed session algorithm leaves practitioners the right to further flexibly modify, adapt, and customize the elements of the method to meet the individual needs of specific clients. This flexible approach makes it possible to connect academic dialogue with the needs of real practice, opening up a space for lively professional discussion.

Conclusions

The conducted research and evaluation of the effectiveness of the author's integrative art therapy technique "My flower garden" in counseling women in midlife crisis allowed us to formulate a number of conclusions. The provisions formulated below are of a restrained nature and strictly limited by the framework of the qualitative research paradigm. Taking into account the explicit limitations of the method (the lack of standardized psychometric questionnaires and a control group), the results obtained do not claim to be a universal statistical generalization, but they validly reflect stable psychological phenomena and patterns within the boundaries of the studied sample.

1.The theoretical and methodological foundations of the integrative art therapy technique "My flower garden" are formulated, explaining the provisions of art therapy, analytical psychology, the concept of personal potential, the concept of the temporal perspective of personality and ethnolinguistics.

2. The author's integrative art therapy technique "My Flower garden" has been tested as an independent tool for psychological assistance to women during the midlife crisis (33 study participants successfully completed the full cycle of the program). Modeling a polymodal image of a flower garden structures the temporal architectonics of subjective experience. "The prescription form "The first-aid kit of the wise gardener" acts as an iconic external support. Floral metaphors rooted in culture make it possible to overcome the internal resistance of a personality, actualize resources, level the existential vacuum and translate insights into proactive actions.

This process activates authentic self–support, which is the ability of a person to recognize their true needs outside of media stereotypes and choose strategies that match the structure of their unique self. The art-therapeutic technique of the "Secret" assemblage ensures the interiorization of this experience, reliably protecting emotionally significant experiences from external destructive influences and strengthening the internal pillars of the personality.

3. The therapeutic effectiveness of the technique is verified on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of verbal, visual-projective, subjective-evaluative and behavioral criteria both in general for the entire sample under study, and on the example of a detailed analysis of specific cases. The study substantiates and systematizes the phenomenon of "resource block" as an intrapersonal blockage, in which latent depletion of semantic and personal resources causes scarcity of proactive self-regulation and suppression of internal self-support mechanisms. Its visual-projective criteria are: the expansion of the zone of the past, the destruction of the root system, the absence of leaves or their wilting, the color deficit of the pattern and the semantic emptiness of the zone of the future with the absence of targeted intentions, etc. It is shown that the ability to proactively plan for the future and actualize authentic self-support act as a verifiable criterion for the effectiveness of the "My Flower Garden" methodology.

4. The practical value of the "My Flower garden" technique lies in its diagnostic and prognostic potential. The empirically discovered phenomenon of the "resource block" serves as a reliable indicator of latent depletion of personal resources for specialists and allows timely differentiation of participants in need of prolonged psychotherapeutic care, as well as flexible modeling of short-term support strategies aimed at overcoming the existential vacuum. women have a midlife crisis.

5. A qualitative analysis of the catamnestic data confirmed that the passage of a structured cycle of psychological assistance using the "My flower garden" technique, culminating in plastic modification of the image, ensures the stable consolidation of positive behavioral changes. It has been proven that the therapeutic effect persists in catamnesis after 6 and 12 months, helping to overcome the existential vacuum, restore proactive self-regulation and transition from insights to real actions in the daily lives of the participants.

Appendix 1

The semantic matrix of time vectors of the "My flower garden" technique

The incentive list includes ten differentiated floral images distributed over three time vectors and aimed at step-by-step integration and appropriation of positive personal experience of the participants.

Block: (retrospective integration of the past):It is aimed at reconstructing and appropriating the positive experiences of the participants through three differentiated images:

Flower 1 ("Anchors of memory") – provides actualization of supportive events of the past and explication of feelings of gratitude, which helps restore the continuity of personal history and activate biographical resources.

Flower 2 ("Triumph") – focuses the participant's attention on subjectively significant achievements and successful performance results, acting as internal points of support. The metaphor of triumph promotes the regeneration of a sense of self-competence and self-efficacy.

Flower 3 ("Resilience") – symbolizes the successful overcoming of past life trials and critical situations that allowed a woman to assimilate a new adaptive experience.

The second block: actual stabilization (symbolic images of the present):It focuses on stabilizing the current psycho-emotional state of the participants by identifying relevant internal and external resources.

Flower 4 ("Support") – reflects the intrapsychic resource potential of the individual; reflects the strengths formed in the past and available in the present as a stable foundation.

Flower 5 ("Inspiring People") is aimed at interpersonal resourcing, identifying external supports and internalizing supportive figures. Such landmarks can be people from the immediate social environment, as well as subjects of parasocial interaction: historical figures, book characters, media figures who broadcast adaptive life strategies.

Flower 6 ("Taste of life") is focused on fixing everyday hedonistic resources (daily joys, pleasures, resource activities), contributing to the activation of vital forces of personality and the prevention of emotional exhaustion.

The third block: perspective design (symbolic images of the future): it is aimed at overcoming temporary stagnation, expanding the predictive potential and forming adaptive life strategies of the participants through three floral images.

Flower 7 ("Vector of development") – reflects current goals, plans and dreams - from everyday tasks to long-term life programs. This element stimulates goal-setting, helping to structure short- and long-term time prospects.

Flower 8 ("Space of Possibilities") is aimed at creating openness to new experiences. The image focuses the participant on fixing potential favorable events and resources that she is ready to accept from the outside world within the framework of an optimistic life perspective.

Flower 9 ("Resource Manifesto") – performs an integrative function, symbolizing the participant's personal responsibility for maintaining resilience. It captures long-term semantic commitments and value orientations in terms of self-support.

Flower 10 ("I am a flower") is created upon completion of work with nine elements and acts as a direct projection of the actual self-attitude. On its petals or next to them, the participant fixes key adjectives reflecting her current sense of self, which translates the intuitive image of "I" into the plane of conscious self-reflection.

The article is published in the version approved by the reviewers (after receiving a positive review recommending the manuscript for publication) with corrections made by the author (after receiving the editor’s comments, if any).
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