Víctor Sánchez presents the book ’The Call of the Jaguar’.

Interview with Victor Sanchez, psychologist, PhD in Anthropology and author of "The Call of the Jaguar".

How do we perceive reality in our daily lives? Do we limit ourselves to obtaining information from it, or do we also participate in its formation and transformation? And beyond having a purely intellectual knowledge about what is happening? to what extent is it important to make sense of it, to make it have a relevant meaning for us?

These are questions from which the science of psychology has started practically since its birth, and the different ways of approaching this issue have given rise to various psychotherapeutic perspectives.

In understanding how we relate to reality, it is useful to look at what has happened historically when we have wondered about the nature of what surrounds us. Part of this wisdom has been embodied in knowledge prior to the existence of the sciences as we know them today, and many psychologists are now looking back to this ancient way of creating ideas. In part, this is what inspires the book The Call of the Jaguarwhose author, Victor Sanchez, we interviewed today..

'The Call of the Jaguar', an autobiographical novel

Víctor Sánchez is a psychologist specialized in the care of adults and adolescents, as well as a Doctor in Anthropology based in Alicante. In this interview he presents 'The Call of the Jaguar', an interesting book focused on how we create meanings and satisfy the need to give meaning to the existence of ourselves and what surrounds us.

What is the idea that led you to write "The Call of the Jaguar"?

In my psychotherapeutic work with my clients I have used the resource of therapeutic writing a lot. I realized that there was a patient profile that usually comes to my office and in which the therapeutic results are very noticeable. These are mostly men of the so-called millennial generation who are quite lost, lacking roots and a strong purpose for their lives.

Through therapeutic writing, the person can better understand those unconscious forces that often influence our life decisions. By recognizing our own origins we can better clarify what direction to take in life.

In writing this novel I drew on my own journey to the Amazon rainforest, taken at a time in my life when I was desperately searching for meaning in my existence. There I came into contact with Amazonian medicine and thanks to the master plants I was able to recognize the root of my personal conflicts.

This journey into the depths of my being took the form of an autobiographical novel. Many of the characters and events narrated here are real, but they have been written from a new perspective that transforms the reality that happened.

Is the way in which you understand the processes of psychotherapy reflected in the novel?

Of course it is. The essential process of psychotherapy. Beyond the various techniques it may employ, it is based on building a safe and healthy bonding space that motivates the client to grow and to trust in his or her own personal resources.

Resignifying the past is the essential content that we work on in the sessions. This consists of approaching our past from a new perspective that helps us to resolve those stories that remain unresolved. We usually consider ourselves victims of our past, but we are not usually aware of the creative power we have when narrating what happens to us under certain perspectives. That is to say, depending on how we narrate our own history, that is how we will be living it.

Psychological science has long shown that there is no objective external reality independent of the subjective interpretation of the observer. The consequence of this is that we have incredible power if we interpret reality in a way that is favorable to our interests, or at least in a way that does not cause us so much suffering.

What main ideas is your novel based on, and how do you think it can help people in some aspect of their psychological well-being?

The novel follows the structure of the hero's journey, which deals with the universal myth of human fulfillment. All epic movies (Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Matrix) follow the structure of this monomyth.

The stages of this journey involve redefining our biography: forgiving our parents, rescuing our inner child, understanding our inner masculine and feminine models. In this way we become responsible for our history and stop victimizing ourselves.

The next tapa is to illuminate and embrace our shadow, which are those aspects that we have repressed or relegated to the unconscious because they threaten our self-concept or the identity we have of ourselves...

The main character becomes the hero after facing his own shadows and integrating the unconscious forces that govern the personality. If I could sum it up in one sentence, the reader will find in this novel an effective method of self-knowledge and personal growth.

Beyond the book, how could you summarize the method you use in psychotherapy, and how does it relate to your philosophy of life?

It is difficult for me to define myself within a specific school or method of psychology. My basic training was cognitive-behavioral but then I did a master's degree in systemic family psychotherapy and later specialized in Transpersonal Psychotherapy.

For me the essential thing is to have a complete and non-reductionist vision of the human being that includes all the potential we have to unfold it in our lives. The psychotherapist's work, beyond the different techniques he/she may use, is based on building a safe and healthy bonding space that motivates the client to grow and to trust in his/her own resources.

In the course of your training, you completed a doctoral thesis in the field of mental health and psychotropic drugs, a subject that is not as often addressed by psychologists as it is by psychiatrists and the medical community in general. Before them, psychoactive substances have been used for millennia in activities linked to the mystical. What do you think the way psychotropic drugs are used today says about our society?

When I finished my psychology degree I was doing my internship in a well-known psychiatric institute in Barcelona and there I realized that reducing the person to a series of symptoms was not enough. I have spent ten years researching and training myself from different perspectives in order to obtain the most complete knowledge of the human being possible.

I emigrated to Latin America, and there I was fortunate to meet a center of international reference in the treatment and research of traditional Amazonian medicine.

As you say, it has been demonstrated that the master or visionary plants have been the fundamental axis on which the mysticism of all religions has been articulated. In a world like today's, devoid of rituals and cultural forms that bring meaning to our lives, people easily fall into addiction to drugs or psychotropic drugs.

In my doctoral dissertation I did research on the dangers of addiction to psychotropic drugs, specifically anxiolytics called benzodiazepines. When these are prescribed without a psychotherapy process, people become accustomed within the health system to solve their discomfort with pills, without investigating the real cause of their discomfort. In addition to producing addiction to these substances, the person acquires a passive role that prevents him/her from empowering him/herself and resolving the conflicts present in his/her life.

Finally... Is your novel already available and through which channels can it be purchased?

It has just been published in the largest book store in the world: Amazon.