Re:emdr and meditation

EMDR and meditation (some forms of it) have in common an observing stance. By that I mean that in EMDR, it is not an effortful concentration, but a noticing. Specifically, one keeps one foot in the office and the now, and another foot (of attention I mean) in the material, which may be the past.

In meditation, some forms also just observe distractions, and some redirect attention in a focused way. So how one employs attention can be the same or different, depending on the approach.

RDI is a container in a way, and many of us use RDI for many clients, not just fragile ones. Sandra Foster and Jennifer Lendl formulated the performance enhancement protocol years before RDI came around, which employs EMDR as a future template for desired behavior, and serves to strengthen positive resources and expectations.

You're right about in DID many parts "own" pieces of spirit - or body memories - or visual channels and so forth. When those parts are under pressure because they have been containing the material for years without releasing it they are very intensified pieces of experience, often without a big picture perspective since they are only a fragment.

Perpetrator introjects can be allied against the interest of the self in favor of the interest of the external perpetrator. That's because, like any fragment, they can be disoriented to person, place and time, and not realize that they are part of the self, here and now. Once they really get it their loyalties shift to a healing stance. They can be challenging to get there, however, especially if they believe themselves to be ungodly, evil incarnate, so forth.

Dealing with them necessititates a therapeutic stance that says, "you took this job to survive, because it was necessary to protect the perp back then, becaue it enabled you to keep that attachment, pathetic though it was. Because having the perp inside kept the child's behavior under control. Because it was the only option you had. Because somebody had to do it, so thanks, Perp Introject, for doing that difficult and awful job." and there is more. This intervention is a turning point in the work.

I have to go on record saying that I don't accept that the good people don't survive concentration camps and trauma. That is too close to endorsing survival guilt as a measure of ones value. Goodness does survive. The tendency toward healing, toward the light, is inherent. Once the obstacles are removed, hope can spring, eternally.

Replies:

Re:emdr and meditation, by another client, 09/18/02 Re:emdr and meditation, by Sandra Paulsen Inobe, PhD, 09/18/02 Re:emdr and meditation, by another client, 09/19/02

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