Re:changing deeply felt beliefs

In general I would believe that the cognition "I don't deserve to live" is a learned one and that it reflects an incomplete processing of some event or events (these can be quite small and not show up in your memory as major traumas since they were not major traumas in the general sense of the word). My sense is that human beings generally have the capacity (if not interferred with) to process even the most difficult experiences and move on. This is why, for example, in any major trauma sample, it is the minority of people who develope trauma based disorders such as PTSD. Also, it would not be functional in the evolutionary sense for humans to "naturally" believe that they don't deserve to live or be alive.

So, having said this, it becomes a process of working with your therapist to access these feelings and thoughts. Since there is, as best as I can tell from your report, no compelling major trauma that comes to mind when you work on this thought, you might start with the feeling (don't worry so much about the event) and go from there.

EMDR therapists are all licensed therapists before they are trained in EMDR. This is because EMDR therapists do many things with their patients/clients that is not EMDR. Your therapist will probably do so also. In any case, an ongoing conversation with your therapist on these issues certainly seems appropriate (and it sounds like you are probably doing this already).

Replies:

Re:changing deeply felt beliefs, by Sandra Paulsen Inobe, PhD, 11/21/00 Re:changing deeply felt beliefs and thanks to both of you s, by a client, 11/21/00 Re:changing deeply felt beliefs and thanks to both of you s, by Sandra Paulsen Inobe, PhD, 11/21/00 Oops! Re:changing deeply felt beliefs , by , 11/22/00

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