Talking Therapy for Trauma

The term ‘talking therapy’ covers a wide range of modalities such as: psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), Gestalt psychology, and humanistic counselling. My main training was in psychodynamic therapy, which proved very effective in my client work with trauma, dissociative disorders and DID. However, other models of talking therapy can also be helpful in these areas.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Psychodynamic therapy involves bringing unconscious thoughts, feelings and sensations into consciousness. An important aim of psychodynamic therapists is to help clients notice patterns in their emotions, thoughts and beliefs. Often these patterns originate in childhood, due to significant early experiences. In this way, clients who have been traumatised in the past have the opportunity to work through these traumas in the present. Obviously this was a very fitting and helpful way of working with my client in The Girls Within.

Internal Family Systems (IFS)

Richard Schwartz, who founded IFS, describes it as a model that embraces the multiplicity of the mind; that we’re made up of many parts in addition to an undamaged core Self.

The IFS concept of a Three-Group Model of Common Parts comprises:

A.   Exiles – young vulnerable parts that have experiences of trauma and carry memories and emotions from the past.

B.   Managers – parts that run the day-to-day life of the person, trying to keep exiles exiled by staying in control of events and relationships.

C.   Fire-fighters – parts that react when exiles are activated, in an effort to extinguish their distress or anxiety.

The goals of the IFS model are to help parts heal and integrate, with the Self in charge of the internal family.

It was vitally important for me to understand and relate to my client Vivian’s internal family system, which I describe in detail in my book, The Girls Within. Not only did I initiate a great deal of therapy with Little Vivvi and Izzy (Exiles) but I also worked with other significant internal parts, who were protectively blocking our therapeutic endeavours (Managers & Fire-fighters). As a result, Vivian and her entire internal family finally experienced freedom from the overwhelming terrors that had dominated their lives.

Energy Therapy for Trauma

Today, most familiar forms of energy psychology are a combination of talking therapy and energy treatment. In this way the mind and body are both given essential care and attention.

There are a number of different models of energy psychotherapy that offer the potential to alleviate the distress created by trauma. Advanced integrative therapy (AIT), emotional freedom technique (EFT – often called Tapping), Tapas acupressure technique (TAT) and thought field therapy (TFT), are four of the most widely used.

It was AIT that I trained in extensively and chose to use with the majority of my clients in the last ten years of my career. It proved to be amazingly helpful and effective. Significantly, it provided the essential breakthrough that enabled my client Vivian, in The Girls Within, to find relief from the devastating symptoms of childhood abuse.

Advanced Integrative Therapy (AIT)

AIT was developed by Asha Clinton, a Jungian psychotherapist, from the USA. It is a dynamic, but safe, energy treatment that works by clearing blocked trauma from the energy and nervous systems. Clients achieve this by focusing on core phrases that encapsulate the trauma, whilst placing their hands on different energy centres. These energy centres are based on the chakras associated with yogic tradition and practice.

Do Energy Treatments Work?

Research into Energy Psychology

‘Energy Psychology is a controversial modality that integrates contemporary clinical methods with concepts and techniques derived from ancient healing systems, most frequently acupuncture and acupressure. While claims of rapid benefits with a range of conditions were widely publicised before any research backing had been presented, the past decade has seen a surge of efficacy studies. These studies constitute a growing body of evidence that is supportive of the approach.’

(Energy psychology: Efficacy, speed, mechanisms. David Feinstein. Science Direct, Volume 15, Issue 5, September-October 2019, pages 340-351).