Articles on Primal Therapy, psychogenesis, causes of psychological traumas, brain development, psychotherapies, neuropsychology, neuropsychotherapy. Discussions about causes of anxiety, depression, psychosis, consequences of the birth trauma and life before birth.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
On Abreaction
I have been thinking a lot lately about abreaction. I think it is the scourge of primal therapy. It is what is happening in almost every mock primal therapy I know, which is why we have such a hard time helping patients once they have abreacted over time. Patients get grooved into false pistes and we cannot get them out of it. And they sicker and sicker and never know it. Why? Because they get some kind of relief with the discharge of the energy of feeling but never ever resolve anything. The feelings remains suspended in time, unchanged and unresolved. And then what happens? The feelings on every line triggered en masse, become impacted, first, second and third lines as a block. They then become impenetrable and cannot be felt and liberated. The result is overload. That means that the energy of all levels of consciousness surge forward; due their incredible load they become too weighted to feel and experience. The excess, now stays in the system ceasing spillways for the energy; that means it goes where there is least resistance; the result is the system does its best to integrate overload but it fails. Specific symptoms result: depression, anxiety, hopelessness, migraines, high blood pressure, epilepsy, and a multitude of other afflictions (how high reflects the power and energy of the overload). The symptoms are most difficult to control because all levels are involved; not any specific feeling. Hence no resolution. Why not a feeling that could liberate? In bad therapy no single feeling is addressed and relived at a time with resolution. The therapist takes charge and directs the whole process out of his own unconscious and his deep unfulfilled need. So, instead of going all the way with hopelessness, for example, the therapists offers hope and destroys the resolution of the feeling. Or does not know how deep the feeling is and cuts it off prematurely, when it has deep roots that need reliving, too.
I have been trying to figure how what to do about the treatment of this overload. Old patients from other therapies come in and try to feel but nothing changes. All the three lines of therapy are consolidated and untouchable. The groove remains. It is much worse than a single neurosis. It is like three at once. I have come up on a solution which we shall try with no proof at all if it will work: try a week or more of Primal therapy but add a first-line blocker to the mix before therapy thus reducing part of the consolidation/overload, and permitting a single lighter feeling at a time. That should be more "feelable" and allows one separate out the levels of consciousness and take away its heavy load. We shall try it but no certainty of the result until much time and therapy has gone on. Which is why we need to have therapy on the right track right away. That means therapists who know what they are doing; therapists with proper training of how the brain works, as well as how the therapy needs to go. And we need to avoid those who love the drama of reliving birth; usually done far too early with no preparation. It is often a result of helter-skelter therapy with no proper organization.
I think this leads up to the same problem with many other therapies that do not touch a feeling but partially dredge it up unresolved. The great problem is that as feelings are elicited but not resolved, they create a reservoir of feeling that produces more depression and anxiety and the patients never know why. Those feelings adhere to other feelings and almost glue them together. It gets more and more difficult to penetrate them. As feelings continue on their journey with the effects on the heart, blood system and organs continues on unabated. Disaster lurks.
Hi Gary & all,
ReplyDeleteUp again with insomnia ruminating the troubles of my life and of the world in general, here I go again:
I hope Art posts this even though I also hope I don't get the last word. . ! Art has frequently given me 'the last word' on posts and this has served to remind me of one of my many 'fixations' to be 'perfect and right'. I have long realised how much my defenses depend on this 'correctness' and I have become increasingly more complicated and neurotic revolving around this particular hubris. A right old 'merry go round' I can assure you. . .
Learned early on in my childhood - to click my heels and salute, or else. . .
And Gary, in a 'knee jerk' reaction to your 'last word' on the matter of human abuse to animals and their suffering - (no, I'm sure it's NOT your last word)! - In reaction to that I am feeling even more of a failure to meet my own high expectations. . . let alone yours. Desperately trying and failing to 'click my heels and salute'. . .
This thing about being brought up to "Be Perfect, Even As Your Father In Heaven" is that until where all that started becomes accessible, well, then the act out that inevitably must follow it, can always only ever reduce and reduce the scope of relationships; until possibly, eventually (as you have said several times) you end up with an incredibly low opinion of others and almost completely isolated. Possibly living the life of a hermit, of an ascetic with only your beloved beliefs and fantastically high 'standards'. Or, if you are lucky enough to have a 'patch of territory' big enough to keep a menagerie of (non human) sentients as a substitute family, well, you can even live that ideal 'indefinitely' due to the 'enclosed' or 'hermetically sealed' reality you have created for yourself.
And I'm sure it's far from 'ideal', even for you. . . Yet it has obviously given you a degree of 'free will' and with that you can act laudably in the interests of animal rights. . . The greatest irony of all this is that (as you obviously well know) animals can't answer back. For you to have made yourself a voice for them and to speak on their behalf here is absolutely brilliant. . . But I do have a human voice and this is one of my answers.
Gary, I have to report that I can't meet these incredibly high standards and so in relationship with you I feel a complete failure. I wish I could help more and I do try to change my 'dietary habit'. . . But I doubt very much I will be able to live as you do, I just cannot reach those 'standards'. . . The issues in my sordid little life are just too much at odds. . .
Arts recent 'extra post' on abreaction has left me reeling and feeling that life is barely worth living. Let me explain why as briefly as I can. Every fortnight I see my daughter. Great! You might think. . . Far from it. . . When she goes back to her mother I am left in an utter abject state of uncontrollable abreaction which I manage with various 'things'. I almost would rather be dead. NO! of course not, not for her, not for my son, not for what? For Whom? I really am faced with cutting off contact to avoid the inevitable "FATAL" consequences. . . But off course I am not going to cut contact with my daughter. But I went onto various drugs and they made me worse. . .
Instinctively, the vast majority of people are 'holding back' a mountain of pain without knowing it and each and every one desperately (but mostly 'hidden desperation') trying to eek out some kind of supportive network. . . Gary, If I could come to Portugal to live a better life with you I would. But I doubt you could cope with my particular set of indescribably complex and neurotic problems. . . Neither could I cope with trying to achieve what you have, and even if I'm wrong and I could. . . Would you be able to support me?
with all the love and regard for us all,
Paul G.
And another thing Paul. Sometimes just being held and holding someone else is the only thing which works, and no amount of words will do. ((((Paul/Gary)))).
DeleteArt... I think you know more about this than you are prepared to admit!
ReplyDeleteIf three rivers inundate a society or only one... or three people trying to push through a door intended for one... or discover what happens if three small children must share one baby's bottle and all three are starving.
What does not happen in our brain for what the brain stem... the limbic system and the neocortex are not cooperating... as flowing in all directions.
It is close to understand in the context of how the brain works... so first we must learn how our brain works and understand it!
We could have known much better if we followed what Art has been in the process of doing for so many years. Holy shit ... it makes me mad.
I am confident that you will succeed ... but as you say it must be right. Very ... very interesting!
your Frank
Frank: That is a very bright analogy. art
DeleteI would like to know if birth can be felt through without any touch from the therapist.m I have been feeling different aspects of my birth, gently over time ( months ) bit by bit , it's been without overwhelm and without any one touching me.
ReplyDeleteHowever 20 years ago I had a male Pediatrician/ " Primal " therapist squash me with a pillow and his body wait, and I told him to get off because It was too much; too triggering . Somewhere in my sanity I trusted my feelings, jumped to my feet after he got off me, then told him that it was too overwhelming to be squashed like that , and told the doctor that I would not be coming back if he was ever going to do that again.
He agreed that he wouldn't touch me and so I continued my therapy .He kept his promise. I would say now , that there is no need to ever try to get a person to feel birth feelings, as they will surface in their own perfect time . And when they do I would say there is no need to interfere with touch.
Katherina
Reliving birth alone is a very very bad idea. I know. art
DeletePs. I'm looking forward to being able to purchase the Legacy Program . Bravo !
ReplyDeleteKatherinanina: It is great and a good idea. soon. art
DeleteOff topic:
ReplyDeleteHello Art and all,
Have you seen this video? I thought it was a great talk - correlating Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE's) with later dysfunctionality.
http://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime?language=en
She said that people with no ACE's are something like 10x less likely to kill themselves, as compared to people who have been abused, as one example of the findings.
The thing is, I reckon if they included infantile damage and birth trauma in the ACE's, then they would probably find suicide is not just 10x less likely, but virtually non-existent for people with no ACE's.
This is where a 'Primal Revolution' can begin. We don't need to know the details of the mechanics behind trauma and later problems, for a start. If we can see the correlations we can get a grip on the mass-scale problem nonetheless, and in a language the technicians of this world must understand.
And when the impact of inflatile damage is respected (the way it should be) people like Janov will start to win the respect they have always deserved.
I have actually been pushing for research on this level with my engagement in politics, in New Zealand. If there is interest:
http://andrewatkin.blogspot.co.nz/2015/09/open-letter-to-act-party-new-zealand.html
Andrew, Hang on. In a few days you will find my 80 page piece on Epigenetics in the World Psychiatric Assoc. Activitas Nervosa Superior journal. Dr. Feinstein calls it a masterpiece as do other neurologists. art
DeleteArthur, I do get the abreaction thing. I understand it well. I know how easy it would be for me to abreact. And I would hope that I could just let feelings come up and not inject something from my consciousness. Peter Levine has written an interesting book, noting the very same things you have on abreaction. But he does not call it abreaction but his description is the same as yours. He advises that people not force feelings expected but just wait and let them come up and out on their own. Not sure how easy that is to convey to people. He has found unique insights into what you have practiced over the years as far as avoiding abreaction. But he has yet to recognize birth primals, but it was not you who invented those, it was your patients, and you were even slow to accept it. So you can not be blamed. I believe in your patients and you. I feel Levine also offers some new, good, helpful things in regards to primals.
ReplyDeleteHere is a very incomplete example of his work:
EMOTION, THE BODY AND CHANGE pg 313
The key to not being swept away by intense emotional states is to catch them before they ignite and inflame us. The Buddhists have an expression for this: to "cool and extinguish the glowing embers before they ignite into a consuming flame." Constraint allows us to tame and befriend emotions so that we may be guided by them. It is the way we can become aware of our emotional undercurrent before it becomes an out-of-control emotion. The tools that allow us to do this are the twin sisters of awareness and embodiment.
As people learn to master their emotions, they also begin to harness the underlying impulses to action. For example, underneath the emotions of rage and anger are the impulses of aggression. Healthy aggression is about protecting ourselves and those who are close to us. It is also about setting clear boundaries and getting the things we need, including food, shelter and mating partners. It is what empowers our lust for life. This passion for life must be supported by a capacity to embody a range of purposeful emotions. For now, let us back off and ask the following question: What is an emotion, anyway?
End of quote
Apollo: you can read my piece on Epigenetics today. art
Deletepg 312 "In An Unspoken Voice" P. Levine:
ReplyDelete(Reich had warned his contemporaries about mindlessly using emotional catharsis, pejoratively calling its promoters "freedom peddlers.") "Neo-Reichian release," "encounter groups," "primal therapy," "rebirthing" and other dramatic therapies co-opted the staid preeminence of the "talking cure" with an exuberant expressive zeal. Presently, at the beginning of the third millennium, we are seeing an emerging synthesis, a movement toward a more balanced emphasis on emotion and reason. In particular, experiential therapies are emerging, such as those described by Diana Fosha and others."' These include dialectical behavior therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT).
The ability to effectively contain and process extreme emotional states is one of the linchpins both of effective, truly dynamical trauma therapy and of living a vital, robust life. While love can sway us off our feet, powerful emotions like rage, fear and sorrow can pull our legs out from under us. We can be driven nearly insane by rage, paralyzed by fear and drowned by sorrow. Once triggered, such violent emotions can take over our existence. Rather than feeling our emotions, we become them; we are swallowed up by these emotions. This can be quite a dilemma because being informed by our emotions, not domineered by them, is crucial in directing our lives. We may have too much or too little; they may come upon us like a torrential flood or leave us dry like a parched desert. They may lead us in a positive direction or cause us untold suffering. They may prompt creative exultation or may provoke disastrous actions and poor decisions. They can lift us up or tear us down. No matter what the case, most of us realize that emotions (whatever they are) play a central role in the conduct of our lives.
There is a movie with Kevin Costner "a perfect world". In the end Costner is being killed by sniper, I always cry during this moment, I think it is related with losing my father (nota bene he still lives but he is not alive).
ReplyDeleteHow have you dealt with patients who have perceived you as a symbolic father figure?
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that be virtually every patient, initially?
DeleteI think so. art
DeleteThere is the pain and there is a defense. But there is our view on our defense. If we find our defenses threatening in our present environment then we can lock ourselves in double-bind. We need defense but we have a resistance toward it. Defense about defense. Overload is the possible consequence.
ReplyDeleteDoes this make sense?
Vuko, yes, totally. art
DeleteArt: This piece raises questions for me about abreaction:
ReplyDelete1. What sort of proportion of your patients has abreacted? And of these, how many at some point successfully primal?
2. Is there a correlation between the amount of abreaction done and the length of time it takes to primal at your center?
3. This one interests me the most: Do your new intake patients take less time in getting into primals if their abreaction stopped some time before starting therapy at your center?
In other words, does abreaction heal at all with time? I suspect not, but this raises yet another question: If a previous abreactor eventually starts primalling with you, does the damage resulting from the abreaction remain or can it be relived & resolved in primal therapy? I can´t imagine what reliving and FEELING abreaction would look like.
Perhaps too - though this might have to remain hypothetical - it would be very helpful for abreactors (and everyone else in fact) to adopt the Natural Hygienist diet as this removes enormous unecessary stress from the organism, and abreactors already have enough of that through abreacting. I know that I have been immensely more relaxed, calmer and sleep much more soundly and deeply on the NH diet since going on it 13 years ago, and there are countless testimonies from people who have come off LT anti-depressants soon after adopting it.
And exercise to bring down the pressure. Could that help? Gary
Gary, good questions and I will try to answer them:
DeleteIt is usually not our patients who abreact: it is almost always those who have gone to mock therapists who abreact and then come to us for help. It is as dangerous as hell because they never get well.
We watch over our patients all of the time to make sure it never happens.
Those who come to us after years of abreacting rarely get better. It is now encased and unreachable. I wish it were not so but it is. We are starting a new approach I have developed to undo it. So we will see. All this because they did not want to travel to LA or wanted to save money. And what did they get? Destruction. I call it the Steve Jobs syndrome. He sealed his fate because he did not do due diligence. Our current therapy is refined and refined so we no longer lose time trying to figure things out. I never blame a patient because there are professionals out there using my name and my books and my letters to prove they are associated with me. Unsuspecting patients believe them including Steve Jobs. These charlatans should be in jail for the damage they do; alas, it is not possible. And there are now many hundreds of them.
Abreaction never heals: it cannot because it avoids the sources of pain.
France in her Legacy Program has filmed abreaction so you can see it, and now two professionals are coming to us for help after being badly treated by others.
Once done over many months it became almost unassailable. art
Art: Thanks for the reply. The "your patients" in point (1) referred to previous abreaction at OTHER centres, not yours. But I´d still like to know if you have had any success at all in Primal Therapy with previous abreactors, and if so, who are the "saveable"?
ReplyDeleteAnd is the damage done by abreaction ever resolved even after years of subsequent primalling? Gary
Gary: We are starting an experiment very soon with previous abreactors with a new approach. It is very very tough, and I am not kidding. art
Deletethe extreme example could be the situation where patient's notion about her traumatic past is so reinforced from outside that she starts to believe more in it that story than her own experience. the outside can be influential> the rest of the family maybe knows about it, the patient knows about it... relatives, neighbors and finally the therapist eventually is informed about it. over a period of time combined with strong suffering all this becomes a good "excuse" for this relief in a form of abreaction. this abreaction is like some deeper belief system that takes over most of the brain and at the same time takes the energy of the feeling away from the feeling.
Deleteit can impress the therapist too because it doesn't contain the story only but also the emotion. but even if the therapist doesn't buy it, what is to be done?
among other things maybe making the primal therapeutic environment dliberately much different from previous abreactive one, could help too. to brake the abreactive rhythm. indeed removing the chance for the patient to abreact without the first line blockers could leave the person naked in front of catastrophic sensations. maybe even longer period than one week or even month or more of medication could take to brake the circle. could then the patient decide when is time to begin seeing the therapist? just thinking...
this person could be even harder to treat than just a strongly religious one.
One thing for sure, we are working very hard to find a way to undo the great damage from abreaction. art
Delete