Posted by daisym on August 14, 2004, at 17:07:23
In reply to Re: Above for Pfinstegg ^^^^(caution - may trigger » Aphrodite, posted by Pfinstegg on August 14, 2004, at 10:05:38
Have you tried free flow writing giving your therapist a voice from your head and seeing if your inner child will answer? It is very compelling, especially if you do some deep breathing before you start writing.We started by me walking my therapist through my childhood homes. I was the tour guide, based on my age at the time. (this was all on paper -- I did it without him being with me.) As we walked the halls and put our heads into rooms, I would tell him about things that went on, or who had that room, whatever. He had me write about how I felt about each room, during the day and at night. And then he had me think about questions he might ask if I described something.
For example:
Me: When I was 9, I slept with my baby sister.
Him: You shared a room?
me: No. I had my own room.
Him: But you slept with your sister. Why?
me: I was afraid of the dark.
him: A nightlight wasn't enough?
me: No.
him: was she afraid of the dark?
me: No. I protected her.
him: from the dark
me: No. from what happens in the dark....and so on. I have done this now with almost all of the houses we lived in. I can't get through one age range but that tells us there is something there I'm not ready to deal with. We have an agreement that I will show him these writings, or at least tell him about them when I use this technique because he doesn't want me to "sit" on new memories and allow them to become new secrets I have to keep.
My gate keeper is so strong there are rarely slips of the tongue. But, if my therapist talks directly to my younger self, she will now talk about what happened with him. I must say, it was easier to have the adult just tell in broad strokes what happened. Because her recollections are loaded with the emotions. And that makes my brain freeze and words are hard to find.
I wish it wasn't this hard. For any of us.
poster:daisym
thread:376265
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040812/msgs/377683.html