1 Non-Mindful Statement Mindful Statement “Why do you think you have that reaction do your father? “Perhaps you could try telling him that you feel uncomfortable…” “It feels like it is your fault…” “You feel ashamed—even though you know that he wasn’t appropriate?” “I notice when you talk about him your body tenses up” “Notice what happens inside when you imagine telling him that?” “You feel ashamed—even though you know that he wasn’t appropriate?” “You feel ashamed—even though you know that he wasn’t appropriate?” Fisher (2005) (cognition): when we keep bringing awareness back to sensation, emotions and meanings often spontaneously change. We explore, savor and deepen sensation whenever possible. It is important to be able to recognize signs of discharge without inhibiting them in both oneself and the patient. “Traumatic symptoms are not caused by the event itself. They arise when residual energy from the experience is not discharged from the body. This energy remains trapped in the nervous system where it can wreak havoc on our bodies and minds.” (Levine,1997) Indications of discharge or state change should be noticed, supported and encouraged by the therapist. Examples are: exhale, yawn (a parasympathetic response), burping, tingling/numbing depending on context, sense of flow, warmth/heat (can also be mobilization), sweating, crying, shaking and trembling (trembling may have fear mixed in), coughing. Case Vignette This brief vignette illustrates many of the points in the previous section. 3/21/07 “Today I had one of the most profound experiences of my life” – Journal Entry by Adam. Adam, a 53 year-old playwright, enters the consulting room and sits opposite me. He has recently broken up with Deborah, an artist with whom he had been in a relationship for about a year. She was his first lover in close to 17 years, a period during which he was chronically ill and in debt. After, at my suggestion, reading Peter Levine’s book, Waking The Tiger, Adam wants to explore on a somatic level traumatic experiences from his childhood that have made him frightened of intimacy with a woman, and of feeling free to express himself 32 Jacqueline A. Carleton Reich Was Right artistically. We have been doing various forms of somatic work over the years as seemed appropriate. One of his most debilitating health problems has involved constant pain and malfunctioning of his intestines. So, recently, I had begun very gently placing my hand on his abdomen for a few moments as he lay on the couch. We had very gradually increased the time from one minute to about ten. Over the next couple of months we were doing that, and his symptoms improved markedly as did his courage to seek a relationship with a woman. In the session I am recounting, he mentions that he wants to explore the trauma he experienced being emotionally abandoned and rejected by his mother, but I apparently surprise him by asking a broader question, which takes the session in a direction neither of us had anticipated. “What images come up for you when you hear the phrase, ’traumatic experiences in your childhood?’” Adam is surprised by the first image that surfaces: of his dad slapping him in the face when he was 12 years old. I ask him to return to that experience and to let himself be there as it occurred. He closes his eyes and begins to speak. Because I know him well, I am not concerned that he will dissociate, so I do not comment on his closed eyes. “It was a weekend in February, probably over Lincoln’s birthday,” he tells me ”and Dad had taken Mom and me to a ski resort in Vermont. We stayed in some kind of lodge. I think it was a Saturday afternoon when I became furious at dad for lying to me about something he had promised to do and then denied that he had. I remember confronting him in the living room and accusing him. I can’t remember everything I said, but I’m certain I said, ‘You’re a liar!’ “ At this point, Adam’s legs have begun to tremble. He’s
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