How do you heal trauma without retraumatizing?
Much of what I do to help heal trauma I learned from Richard Schwartz and the Internal Family Systems (IFS) model he developed. In the IFS model the key to healing trauma without flooding or overwhelm is through helping the client to approach the parts of them which carry the extreme feelings while he or she is embodying a state of “Self.” Self is a state of curiosity, calm, compassion, courage, confidence, clarity creativity, and connection. It’s described by Schwartz as “they eye in the hurricane” and has been demonstrated as accessible by even the most defended and wounded of us. When we approach the wounded parts of ourselves from Self, the intense feelings harbored inside are modulated in a way in which they don’t overwhelm us. I explain this to clients who need more information about how it works by comparing it to how a parent soothes a child. Imagine a baby crying in a room. A mother who feels anxiety or frustration in response to a crying baby is more likely to intensify the baby’s anxiety and feel overwhelmed herself. But if a mother, in response to hearing her baby cry, feels compassion, and approaches the baby with this energy, the baby will feel it and will relax much sooner than a baby with an anxious parent. This compassionate energy not only affects the child, but it has a way of making us immune to being overwhelmed. Healing trauma works the same way. When we approach the parts of ourselves that have been suffering and wounded in an open, calm, curious, and compassionate we will be shielded from the pain and the pain will not overwhelm. Healing this way for the client is like simultaneously being the container and the contained… There are many variations and techniques within the IFS model which help to prevent overwhelm. And there are many other models of therapy which can help people to heal trauma.
About the Author: Noah is the Executive Director of GoodTherapy.org, an association of counselors & therapists who believe people are equipped to transform the obstacles to optimum health and happiness. By providing information about counseling and therapy to consumers, GoodTherapy.org promotes healthy psychotherapy within the professional community and the public at large. GoodTherapy.org is ranked as one of the leading mental health organizations and referral sources on the web and as a result have provided thousands of referrals to their members. GoodTherapy.org maintains high standards for membership, allowing only those practitioners who meet all the membership requirements and who believe people are basically proficient at their core and have the capacity to access their own wisdom and internal resources to overcome the obstacles to health & happiness. Visit us at: http://www.goodtherapy.org
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