Aloha Freinds,
Today i saw a client for the 4th time, who originally presented to me with cocaine addiction. This is one of 6 clients i am seeing with the same concern at present.
Whilst this can be a difficult problem to work with, this particular client is extremenly motivated to stop, and hence our sessions have been progressing well.
In our previous sessions I have focussed on behaviour changing ideas, via CBT & NLP with some very promising results.
In changing how this clients percieves thier addiction we have come to a stage where the concept of old mistaken beliefs is coming into play. This, whilst being well documented in treatment, through NLP/Inner Child therapy/Etc, means that the clients past has had to be addressed.
It is often difficult to work with a client about past issues, especially when they simply dont want to go there. This is when the likes of Time Focussed therapy is so very useful!
So, we explored the past, breifly, and then looked at how the future 'could' be. Wow, was this the key!
Addiction is often an area where therapists feel uneasy working. My advice ... Work with the past, encourage the future ... and the results are often fantastic. Just my expereince talking here of course :-)
Peace,
Koma x
www.tombarber.co.uk
Tuesday, 6 May 2008
Today's Client Experience - Relationships
Aloha Freinds,
Todays Client - Relationship Problems.
This client is 5 months into therapy. Today she described how her extended family issues had been affecting her. Divinity told me, whilst nearing the end of her hypnotic induction, that conflict may be an issue to address. I listened.
Psycho-Imagintive Therapy came to me ...
Imagery is the formation of mental pictures, sounds or smells from memory or the imagination. Imagery occurs during many types of remembering and thinking, and can be used consciously to assist learning. A person trying to learn a story or poem will be helped by visualising the action, which is described by forming a mental picture of the event. Individuals with remarkable memories use visual images to help them.
Francis Galton, a British Scientist – cousin of Charles Darwin – in 1884 established an anthropometrics laboratory in London. Using volunteers he conducted tests to provide information on basic human attributes. His investigations included tests on imagery, recall, free association and the formation of habits. Many memory tests have been developed from the theories of Galton and Ebbinghaus.
Imagery is linked to perception because, in general, the things you image are things you have actually seen or extensions and variations on them. It is a creative process.
Images occur in every sense modality you can imagine, sights or sounds, tastes or textures.
The use of imagery in therapy today is widely used and in as many ways as the therapist has imagination! The use of imagery is a valuable and powerful addition within the armamentarium of the practitioner.
Freud had used a form of psycho-imagery in 1892, but abandoned it just as he had abandoned hypnosis. Unfortunately, Freud did not insist on imagery alone, but allowed patients to talk-out their problems, thus, there appeared to be more reliance on a patient’s ability to verbalise rather than perhaps a more powerful uncovering of what was in the patient’s mind.
With few notable exceptions, psychoanalysts appear to have rejected the value of ‘imagery’. However, behaviourists in the U.S.A., and therapists in Europe have a longer tradition of exploring and accepting imagery – e.g., ‘desensitisation’, ‘implosion’ techniques and in dream therapy.
Among the many techniques described, two techniques provide the practitioner with therapeutic systems, which are not only invaluable in themselves, but can be adapted to many other situations.
These are
PSYCHO-IMAGINATIVE THERAPY.
And
GUIDED AFFECTIVE IMAGERY.
Psycho-Imaginative Therapy.
Founded by Dr. Joseph E. Shorr, PhD of Los Angeles – who describes a movie constantly running through the mind in an ever-changing, never-ceasing stream. The individual however, is often unaware of the existence of these pictures until they are involved in an intense daydream, are suddenly startled by a nightmare or find an unbidden image intruding into the consciousness.
The technique of psycho-imagery offers a more direct ‘royal road’ into the unconscious – in other words, assists the practitioner in assessing how the client ‘organises his inner world’ – an inner world of conflict and fears. Rather than attempting an interpretation of dreams (Freud) and a reliance on the ability of a client to verbalise his thoughts, wishes, conflicts and fears, psycho-imaginative techniques offer an easier path for the therapist as images rarely, if ever, alert the Critical Faculty.
The basic philosophy of Psycho-Imagination Therapy was summed up by Shorr (1974), “The Therapist may suggest scenes which have symbolic and therapeutic importance relating to the basic difficulties in the individual’s intrapsychic or interpersonal functioning.” He added: “It is not the patient’s verbal reports (of the images) which forms the basis for aiding him to reveal and ‘work through’ his conflicts. Good results have been reported, strongly suggesting that the verbal is not a necessity in psychological change.”
Hanscarl Leuner (G.A.I.) and other later modern day psychotherapists, supported the claim, that verbalisation of the images and obtaining insight is not necessary to the resolution of the presenting problem.
M. Hammer wrote ‘whatever is psychically unresolved will, in the description of a scene, manifest itself through symbolic visual forms and resolve itself at a symbolic level independent of conscious control.’
We proceeded with PIT ..
What came about was a profound session filled with emotion and meaning!
I remember why i do what i do.
Peace and love,
Koma x
http://www.tombarber.co.uk/
Todays Client - Relationship Problems.
This client is 5 months into therapy. Today she described how her extended family issues had been affecting her. Divinity told me, whilst nearing the end of her hypnotic induction, that conflict may be an issue to address. I listened.
Psycho-Imagintive Therapy came to me ...
Imagery is the formation of mental pictures, sounds or smells from memory or the imagination. Imagery occurs during many types of remembering and thinking, and can be used consciously to assist learning. A person trying to learn a story or poem will be helped by visualising the action, which is described by forming a mental picture of the event. Individuals with remarkable memories use visual images to help them.
Francis Galton, a British Scientist – cousin of Charles Darwin – in 1884 established an anthropometrics laboratory in London. Using volunteers he conducted tests to provide information on basic human attributes. His investigations included tests on imagery, recall, free association and the formation of habits. Many memory tests have been developed from the theories of Galton and Ebbinghaus.
Imagery is linked to perception because, in general, the things you image are things you have actually seen or extensions and variations on them. It is a creative process.
Images occur in every sense modality you can imagine, sights or sounds, tastes or textures.
The use of imagery in therapy today is widely used and in as many ways as the therapist has imagination! The use of imagery is a valuable and powerful addition within the armamentarium of the practitioner.
Freud had used a form of psycho-imagery in 1892, but abandoned it just as he had abandoned hypnosis. Unfortunately, Freud did not insist on imagery alone, but allowed patients to talk-out their problems, thus, there appeared to be more reliance on a patient’s ability to verbalise rather than perhaps a more powerful uncovering of what was in the patient’s mind.
With few notable exceptions, psychoanalysts appear to have rejected the value of ‘imagery’. However, behaviourists in the U.S.A., and therapists in Europe have a longer tradition of exploring and accepting imagery – e.g., ‘desensitisation’, ‘implosion’ techniques and in dream therapy.
Among the many techniques described, two techniques provide the practitioner with therapeutic systems, which are not only invaluable in themselves, but can be adapted to many other situations.
These are
PSYCHO-IMAGINATIVE THERAPY.
And
GUIDED AFFECTIVE IMAGERY.
Psycho-Imaginative Therapy.
Founded by Dr. Joseph E. Shorr, PhD of Los Angeles – who describes a movie constantly running through the mind in an ever-changing, never-ceasing stream. The individual however, is often unaware of the existence of these pictures until they are involved in an intense daydream, are suddenly startled by a nightmare or find an unbidden image intruding into the consciousness.
The technique of psycho-imagery offers a more direct ‘royal road’ into the unconscious – in other words, assists the practitioner in assessing how the client ‘organises his inner world’ – an inner world of conflict and fears. Rather than attempting an interpretation of dreams (Freud) and a reliance on the ability of a client to verbalise his thoughts, wishes, conflicts and fears, psycho-imaginative techniques offer an easier path for the therapist as images rarely, if ever, alert the Critical Faculty.
The basic philosophy of Psycho-Imagination Therapy was summed up by Shorr (1974), “The Therapist may suggest scenes which have symbolic and therapeutic importance relating to the basic difficulties in the individual’s intrapsychic or interpersonal functioning.” He added: “It is not the patient’s verbal reports (of the images) which forms the basis for aiding him to reveal and ‘work through’ his conflicts. Good results have been reported, strongly suggesting that the verbal is not a necessity in psychological change.”
Hanscarl Leuner (G.A.I.) and other later modern day psychotherapists, supported the claim, that verbalisation of the images and obtaining insight is not necessary to the resolution of the presenting problem.
M. Hammer wrote ‘whatever is psychically unresolved will, in the description of a scene, manifest itself through symbolic visual forms and resolve itself at a symbolic level independent of conscious control.’
We proceeded with PIT ..
What came about was a profound session filled with emotion and meaning!
I remember why i do what i do.
Peace and love,
Koma x
http://www.tombarber.co.uk/
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