Most of my clients come to me with traumas that happened AND ended a long time ago. For example, they went through a painful break-up and they have been suffering from anxiety ever since. Sometimes it’s years and years. They might even be in a new, happy relationship and yet…the anxiety is still there.
This is because their body never released the original trauma and assumes that the threat is still out there. When that happens, I help the client clear the traumatic memory of the break-up and/or other traumatic memories that have to do with that relationship. Their body now recognizes that the original threat is gone and can now let go of the traumatic symptoms. Anxiety, in this case.
But what if the threat is still out there? What is the client is still not out of the woods?
In cases like these, we don’t want to hypnotize the client into a false sense of safety. However, we need to calm them enough so they get out of the paralysis, think clearly and recognize their options… We want to help them tap into their resources so the client can eventually get back to safety.
In the following case study, I helped the client clear a recent traumatic memory. It had to do with her waking up to her kitchen being on fire. But her situation was still acute! This place (her apartment) was not a safe place for her to live. And she has known this for 7 years!
The Case Study Sarah’s Kitchen Is On Fire demonstrates how the Gentle Trauma Release Method helps the client in several ways: It allows them to clear past traumatic memories. AND it enables them to recognize their options when dealing with an acute threat. It’s a beautiful example of what we call the cognitive shifts: Notice how the client moved from a state of shock and paralysis to a state where she recognized some options, gathered her inner resources and focused her energy into leaving this dangerous, hostile environment for good!
Izabela Viskupova, L.L.M., M.A. Psychology is the founder of the Gentle Trauma Release Institute and the author of the Gentle Trauma Release Method designed to get clients a deep and long-lasting trauma release in a way that is applicable to coaching, counseling, and therapeutic settings. Izabela is the Lead Professor in the groundbreaking Gentle Trauma Release Method Certification Program run several times a year to teach this innovative, powerful trauma-release method to students from all over the world.