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n/a
560 Posts |
 Posted - 06/13/2006 : 09:21:00
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I had a horrid attack on the weekend which shook me to the core of my being. I did not think I would even live over the weekend it was so horrid. I am still trying to make sense of it all and journaling to the hilt. More than 25 pages of journaling in two days! I don't know what it all means but I am exploring myself emotionally, going way back into my childood. I just finished reading Sarno's latest book - The Divided Mind- for the second time and going through the treatment section again to see if some of the examples resonate with me, and some of them actually do. One thing I have learned that intellectualizing the process is not working for me. I would write more, but 25 pages of emotions is a lot of writing.
Peter |
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ndb
209 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2006 : 10:09:57
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Hi Peter,
I'm sorry your attack was so distressing. Hope the worst of it is over.
25 pages of journalling! I'm lucky if I manage to get that much out over a couple of weeks...did you do anything special to get so much out?
Can you elaborate on what you meant by intellectualizing the process is not working?
feel better,
ndb |
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Dave
USA
1864 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2006 : 10:25:09
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quote:
Originally posted by PeterMcKay
One thing I have learned that intellectualizing the process is not working for me.
Intellectualizing can be an escape from feeling.
You have to try different techniques to access hidden emotions. Try getting angry at something or someone and pound a pillow. Try to lose yourself in the feelings and not to mask it with thoughts. |
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miehnesor
USA
430 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2006 : 11:23:27
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Peter- Sorry to hear about this latest attack. It sounds rough.
I can second Dave's comments. I've shifted to pounding the hell out of the therapy couch until I exhaust myself and am finding it quite helpful at bringing my symptoms down another notch. I think the expression of the rage in a physical way is quite healing to the primitive TMS parts of our minds. |
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marytabby
USA
545 Posts |
Posted - 06/13/2006 : 15:15:29
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| Yes, sorry about your attack. I too am having one with my wrist and I made another appt. with the local TMS doc who I saw last year. What others said, which is try a different approach sounds like a good idea. I have a question about the pounding the pillow thing. I can't get myself angry enough to let it all out. It could be that everything is so repressed that I can't feel angry enough so even though I want to often have a fit of rage, I never can feel angry enough to do so. Any suggestions anyone? This would help me and Peter I'm sure. Mary |
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miehnesor
USA
430 Posts |
Posted - 06/16/2006 : 10:36:18
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quote:
Originally posted by Maryalma8
I can't get myself angry enough to let it all out. It could be that everything is so repressed that I can't feel angry enough so even though I want to often have a fit of rage, I never can feel angry enough to do so. Any suggestions anyone? This would help me and Peter I'm sure. Mary
Mary- I use visualization, like a self guided form or meditation, to trigger body feelings of fear. The fear i've learned is a precurser to the feelings of rage underneath. You might want to experiment with it until you find one that triggers emotion for you. My fear manifestation comes in body sensations such as increased heart rate. For me the repressed fear ALWAYS preceeds the rage so it is a good marker to know when to let it go.
I've also learned that the fear is heightened by having a witness such as a therapist there with me.
John Lee talks a lot about why we can't feel the anger even though we know its there. He says that there is an equation etched in our souls that "anger = pain". So we learn to stuff it to survive. This makes sense to me. |
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wrldtrv
666 Posts |
Posted - 06/16/2006 : 22:34:50
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| I don't know about the "pounding the pillow" idea. It has been pretty well discredited in psychology that expressing anger gets it out. I know it seems counter-intuitive but this seems to be the way it is. The reasoning is, that graphically expressing the rage (and even exaggerating it) does nothing but make one more enraged. I would think this would not apply to expressing one's rage on paper, in a journal, as Sarno recommends. |
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art
1903 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 07:19:03
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I agree that pounding pillows and accessing ones "anger" is not necesarily a good idea.
I think we make much too much on this forum of the need for endlessly dredging up painful emotions...
This is just my small corner of the TMS universe I'm talking about of course, but my sense is that the role of stress in all of this is not discussed nearly enough. The pressure that we put on ourselves to get better can be quite damaging in my opinion...
For me, getting better has involved a kind of letting go. I begin with the understanding, essentially intellectual, that my illness is psychosomatic. From there I just try to have faith that's all that's required of me.
I see people on this forum so desperately trying to get "it right" that I can't help but wonder if it does more harm than good..
Just my nickle's worth based on my own experience..
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Edited by - art on 06/17/2006 07:21:19 |
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n/a
560 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 10:57:32
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From what I understand, "desperately trying to get it right" is a manifestation of perfectionist tendencies.
In addition, expressions of conscious anger may actually be a diversion away from the real anger and rage deep within our unconscious. Monte Hueftle's book,"Get Rid Of The Pain In Your Butt Now!," is really good at outlining this point. Even if you don't agree with all his points, the section on how expressions of anger acts as a diversion is quite insightful.
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Edited by - n/a on 06/17/2006 11:01:49 |
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marytabby
USA
545 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 16:49:33
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i
Miehnesor, can you clarify the process above? I am not following. Thanx |
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Allan
USA
226 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 19:58:59
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Has anyone read Fred Amir's book, "Rapid Recovery from Back and Neck Pain?"
Some have commented that he picks up where Dr. Sarno leaves off in terms of treatment.
Fred recommends setting goals to challenge the pain. The idea of increasing the goals of challenging the pain is to convince the brain that you are "on to" it, in Dr. Sarno's words, and to back off. In my case, it was a major key to my recovery.
Allan.
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miehnesor
USA
430 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 23:25:46
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quote:
Originally posted by Maryalma8
i
Miehnesor, can you clarify the process above? I am not following. Thanx
Mary- I have discovered that the cause of my TMS is an unconscious fear that my unconscious rage generated very early in my life will come out and that I will be abandoned as a result. I've also experienced essentially no change from my symptoms simply by understanding at an intellectual level what happened or by journaling or by following the usual Sarno treatment or simply ignoring the symptoms. What i've realized is that my case is more extreme than most and that the only way out for me was to feel these emotions.
I've used a lot of inner child work to try and bond with that part of my mind that is in hiding and over an extended period of time was lucky enough to start feeling those buried emotions. Once this started happening then I started to see improvements in the symptoms. If you are interested in taking this approach you can search for "inner child" and read some of my previous posts because i've already talked a lot about this subject. Also search for "key" as that should connect you to a thread that shows how another member here got to feelings and saw improvements in symptoms.
I have a different perspective on this subject than many others here. I believe that the unconscious is accessible through inner child work because it has worked for me.
For me therapy has been an integral part of feeling repressed emotions. I think the therapist is somehow seen as sort of a surrogate mother to my unconscious and the feelings I have wrt my mom are somehow shifted to the therapist. So i'm afraid that if the rage comes out that the therapist will leave. I've taken the approach of doing in therapy what I wanted to do in early childhood but was deathly afraid to do- go ahead and have the anger.
The proof for me is in the results- i've made significant progress in reducing my symptoms by acting out the anger and realizing consciously and unconsciously that I will in fact survive if this rage comes out. Essentially I am showing my unconscious that I do not need to be so fearful of this rage.
So from my perspective acting out the rage definitely does not increase the rage. What it does do is decrease the fear of the rage. |
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miehnesor
USA
430 Posts |
Posted - 06/17/2006 : 23:34:39
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Mary- If you search in the title for "regarding anger" you will find a thread where I describe my visualization process in more detail.
Sorry for the previous inputs. Not sure that really answered your question. |
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Horrid Attack
