EMDR FORUM ARCHIVE, 2000
Re:EMDR & Dissociation & Parts
Sandra Paulsen Inobe, PhD · 07/23/01 at 12:27 ET
Okay, you know we can't comment specifically on YOUR case, but I will make some general comments about the general question you posed. I will ask you to follow up with your therapist to see what the right answer is for YOU. There is a therapeutic approach to trauma processing that is only possible with the highly dissociative client, in which parts of the self "look through the eyes" during EMDR processing, while the host is "asleep" or not in conscious mind. This is called a fractionated abreaction approach, pioneered by those greats of dissociation work Richard Kluft MD and Catherine Fine PhD about the same time that EMDR was being developed, but not brought together with EMDR until middle of the 90's. The advantage of this approach is that it "protects" the host from the impact of the dissociated pieces of traumatic experience as it all comes together. That processing can be painful and overwhelming if it all hits at one moment. By fractionating the work, it can be kept manageable. The disadvantage of this approach is that, from the point of view of the host, the work drags on. There may be a feeling of impatience, or of not being real, because, after all, the host IS in fact disconnected from much of the reality of what is being processed in the trauma work behind the amnesic curtain. If the parts inside are feeling that much of their work is accomplished, then it is the host's turn. The question of what is real and not real often continues until the host too has come to terms with what has been processed. All relevant parts of the self that have an interest in the issues being processed in the abreactive work need to have their turn at "looking through the eyes" (not just watching in the minds eye) for the material to be resolved. I wish therapy could be shorter too. Finally, this is the subject of my workshop for EMDR practitioners, titled, "Looking Through the Eyes: EMDR and Ego State Therapy Across the Dissociative Continuum", which will be held in Boston on September 15, 2001, and St. Louis, on October 19 and 20, 2001. Inquiries may be sent to spinobe@cs.com. A registraton form for the Boston workshop is available for Level II trained EMDR practitioners only at www.paulsenconsulting.com. Sandra Paulsen Inobe, PhD
Fair Oaks, California
Replies:
|
| Behavior OnLine Home Page | Disclaimer |
Copyright © 1996-2004 Behavior OnLine, Inc. All rights reserved.
