| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| skizzik |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 09:50:29
Sarno says that knowledge is good enuff for most (me in '03) but for some (maybe me now) will have to incorporate the help of a trained psychotherapist to help them "experience/feel the emotion" in order to make the pain go away.
Who here experienced the pain w/ a therapist and was finally relieved? Or, realized you were on the right track because there was a noticeable difference in pain reduction.
If you can- add details. |
| 16 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| armchairlinguist |
Posted - 08/16/2007 : 10:59:02
I'm not sure it's always the rage that has to be experienced, although I would be surprised if that wasn't part of it at all.
I got kind of angry after my therapy session yesterday (at my therapist and at the world in general, I guess). It was interesting because I didn't get all in my head about it and start narrating to myself and rationalizing. I could just feel the energy bouncing around in my body and I just kind of walked around going "gaaaah" and feeling pretty angry for a while and then it passed and my body relaxed.
It's nice to know I can actually just feel angry for a while and then have it pass.
--
Wherever you go, there you are. |
| Penny |
Posted - 08/15/2007 : 22:44:16
quote:
Originally posted by skizzik
What if the missing link is that you (and I, and others here) need to experience the rage in order to find relief?
My experience with TMS and unconscious emotions has been that in psychoT I talk about things that I don't even realize are wrong in my life, or unjust. ie. someone mistreating or disrepecting. My psychoT calls my attention to these things and helps me to see that many of the things in my life are different than I believe. This has given me a perspective on events and relationships in my life that has caused me to reconsider the choices I make today, like whether to stay in friendships or how I want to be treated and seen by my family.
I never flipped out in psychoT. I often cry, but have not yet tapped into primal rage that some of you here so eloquently have shared. For now, I have been able to break the pain cycle of my TMS, but emotionally this has been the hardest year in my life. It's almost like consciously choosing to feel the emotional pain so that the brain doesn't signal the body to experience it physically. Like a sort of pre-emption.
I don't think I have experienced my repressed emotions, but I have a perspective on my life now that has empowered me to make better (and often tougher) choices for myself. Not easy, but certainly worth it to be living with more authenticity.
>|< Penny
"Feeling will get you closer to the truth of who you are than thinking."
~ Eckhart Tolle
|
| altherunner |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 19:25:14
Talking with Don Dubin helped me realize anger at my parents for neglecting their children. No more relapses since, at least 2 years now. Previously, flareups occured at times of stress. |
| armchairlinguist |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 17:34:08
justme, I saw two people like that who called themselves "somatic psychotherapists", which seems like a good term to me. I think it has a lot of potential; I hope it works well for you.
Edited to add: I saw there people when I hadn't encountered Sarno yet, so I didn't realize they were doing what I needed! But they were both good practitioners.
--
Wherever you go, there you are. |
| justme |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 16:07:28
I have been wondering the same thing - Do I need to experience the emotions. It is difficult for me to journal and come up with enough descriptive words to decribe my frustrations, etc. Whenever I get close to expressing the emotions I consciously back off because they are so terrifying. I almost stop breathing - hence the symptoms that appear in my chest.
I am working with a therapist who has recently been trained in the work that says we store our emotions in our body and they get expressed somatically. Conversely, the body and its somatic expressions are used as a tool/channel to reaccess the emotions and possibly reexperience them?. That is the most I can tell you. She will be starting to work with me shortly. I will try to get the formal name for this kind of therapy so I can share more about it.
First time around with TMS this wasnt necessary for me. This time I think it might be necessary. Symptoms have been around for over a year, only to be relieved by klonopin.
Just me |
| skizzik |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 15:22:41
quote:
Originally posted by shawnsmith
It is just such a small minorty who will ever feel these emotions of which you speak and eveyone thinks they are that minority.
What if you and I are that minority.
No-one would argue you are the most staunch Sarno purist here. And yet, you gave the treatment a "C" thus far. Which means you still suffer physically in some way.
What if the missing link is that you (and I, and others here) need to experience the rage in order to find relief?
|
| skizzik |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 15:12:50
thanx for the replies guys.
I read half of Gaylin's book (the psychotherapist that Sarno quotes and reccomends) and in it (I think it's called "Talk is not enough") he states that merely talking about the memory or discussing it is not enough to relieve the symptom, but rather dwelving in to the emotion that was tied to it and relaying that to a authority figure (in this case a therapist) that will pass no judgement on it does relieve the symptom. I gotta go get that book again, had to rtn it to the library.
|
| westcoastram |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 15:02:17
Skizzik,
Psychotherapy helped me get from 80% to 100% (except for the occasional flare-up). Don't let sematics get in the way of doing the work: "experiencing, feeling, exploring, releasing."
I imagine though, if you discover/realize or experience (if you will) a yet unidentified emotion or memory than you will more than likely feel it too.
Plus, there's no discounting the therapy process, a good therapist can see things about yourself that you can't and steer you towards examining the undiscovered aspects of your personality.
I guess perhaps, it's not about feeling the emotions that you know... but finding the ones that you haven't yet discovered. |
| Littlebird |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 14:32:58
quote:
Originally posted by armchairlinguist
I'm beginning to realize I've been really closed off from my emotions in many cases, and where that came from, and how things could be different. Realizing this also opens me up to looking at other things differently. Right now I'm looking at whether the chronic sense I have of 'there's always more to do and I'm always a step behind' is a real feeling, or if it really just comes from my thoughts...and if in fact I might continually put myself in situations that exacerbate that feeling.
ACL, when you come to some conclusion about this sense of "always more to do and I'm always a step behind," I hope you'll share whether you've determined that it's a real feeling or if it just comes from your thoughts. That's always been a big issue for me, and it would be very interesting to see how your examination of this issue turns out for you. |
| armchairlinguist |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 14:07:41
Shawn, please stop arguing with the strawman. We all agree that this is not necessary for most people and is helpful only for some, and I think we can all further agree that it's not a good idea to obsess about it, just like it isn't for anything else.
Carbar,
quote:
I finally figured out that I barely knew what emotions felt like. If I started feeling anything it was this complex jungle of malaise, anxiety or despair. (sort of scenary to repress the scary/forbidden emotion, I suppose.)
This is exactly how I felt.
--
Wherever you go, there you are. |
| shawnsmith |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 14:03:19
It is just such a small minorty who will ever feel these emotions of which you speak and eveyone thinks they are that minority. This leaves them in a state of constant defeat and adds further pressure on them to feel something when in fact they most likely never will. Why add this further pressure on yourself?
*******
Sarno-ize it!
Read chapter 4 of Dr. Sarno's "The Divided Mind." It's all you need to know in order to recover. |
| armchairlinguist |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 13:58:18
Shawn, we all know your opinion now and we have hashed this out so don't pretend you don't know ours. We all agree that for many people it is not necessary. Yet even Dr. Sarno says that for some it is. And for others, it is clearly beneficial. None of us is in any kind of real disagreement. We are not contradicting you. For some reason, this is something you cannot seem to grasp. If you don't wish to discuss this subject, then don't participate in threads about it, but please stop coming in to contradict a straw-man position that none of us believes in to begin with.
--
Wherever you go, there you are. |
| mizlorinj |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 13:53:49
I am grateful to Dr. Sarno for spending 45 mins with me examining what could be causing me pain and realizing how to acknowledge same. I followed the treatment plan he outlines daily too. I journaled my little hands off.
However, I take it a bit farther and I am one who believes that feeling the emotions and getting them out is key to a happier life in general. A better sense of well-being. Less emotional trash to trigger.
So while it may not be KEY to TMS recovery, it is key for me for optimum mental and physical health. I believe in feeling the feelings and letting them fade. Get those past hurts out, feel them, and let them be just a memory with no negative feeling any longer attached. it works.
-Lori  |
| skizzik |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 12:13:45
quote:
Originally posted by shawnsmith
Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh #@*&%$#@! Here were ago again, after previously discussing this for weeks and weeks.
FOR THE ONE MILLIONTH TIME, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO EXPERIENCING ANY EMOTIONS IN ORDER TO RECOVER. IT IS A 100% BOGUS IDEA AND I CHALLENGE ANYONE ON THIS MESSAGE BOARD TO GIVE ME A DIRECT QUOTE FROM DR. SARNO WHICH STATES IT IS NECESSARY TO EXPERIENCE ANY REPRESSED EMOTION IN ORDER TO RECOVER.
*******
Sarno-ize it!
Read chapter 4 of Dr. Sarno's "The Divided Mind." It's all you need to know in order to recover.
page 149, Mind Body Perscription, last two paragraphs:
"In a small number of cases the person must actually experience the emotion, like rage or profound sadness, before the pain will cease. This always requires the help of a properly trained psychotherapist."
"I recall a man in his fifties who carried a lifelong anger at his mother, of which he was somewhat aware. However, the pain persisted until he was able, in the course of therapy with a psychologist, to experience his repressed rage."
|
| carbar |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 11:27:36
Nice expression of anger and frustration there, Shawn! You know, some of us aren't good at that kind of expression, thus wanting to get in touch with feelings as part of TMS recovery.
ACL wrote:
quote:
I'm beginning to realize I've been really closed off from my emotions in many cases, and where that came from, and how things could be different.
Yes, pain free was a great accomplishment. One that I did accomplish with very little conscious effort into exploring my emotions. Reading Sarno was the trick.
But, working on being depression and anxiety free has included this emotional work.
I finally figured out that I barely knew what emotions felt like. If I started feeling anything it was this complex jungle of malaise, anxiety or despair. (sort of scenary to repress the scary/forbidden emotion, I suppose.)
Through talk therapy, journaling, taking mindful meditation classes, reading about Nonviolent Communication, I've figured out ways to get down to what my heart/mind are really feeling. And also, what is the unmet need creating that emotion.
PS -- Finally got a copy of Healing the Shame that Binds you. Great insight there! |
| armchairlinguist |
Posted - 08/14/2007 : 10:15:47
This may not be what you want, but despite the fact that my main pain resolved with no emotional work beyond journaling and acknowledging the pressures (I still sometimes get the "tight shoulders" kind of pain that a lot of people get when they're tense), I've found it extremely helpful to work on experiencing my emotions, both revisiting those from the past and simply acknowledging and experiencing them in the present. After my pain went away, the rest of my well-being was more elusive -- I was still anxious and often depressed, basically having TMS equivalents instead of pain.
I'm doing better these days, and working both on my own and with a therapist has been a big part of that. One thing they are really helpful for is giving an outside perspective, and helping you see in what ways your experience has not been normal and healthy. I'm beginning to realize I've been really closed off from my emotions in many cases, and where that came from, and how things could be different. Realizing this also opens me up to looking at other things differently. Right now I'm looking at whether the chronic sense I have of 'there's always more to do and I'm always a step behind' is a real feeling, or if it really just comes from my thoughts...and if in fact I might continually put myself in situations that exacerbate that feeling. Like right now when I'm replying to boards at work instead of doing my work... (better go then huh?)
So I definitely recommend it if you are able, and think you might find it helpful.
--
Wherever you go, there you are. |
|
|
