Trauma Therapy: Combining EMDR Therapy and Parts Work to Overcome Emotional Blocks

As a trauma therapist, I have found it especially helpful to combine EMDR and Parts Work to help clients overcome trauma experiences.

    See my article: Parts Work Can Be Empowering)

There are many ways that EMDR and Parts Work can be used together in trauma therapy. 

In this article, I'm focusing on how the combination of Parts Work and EMDR therapy is beneficial to overcome a blocking belief.

What is a Blocking Belief in EMDR?

A blocking belief is a negative thought or belief that acts as an obstacle to integrating the trauma during trauma therapy.

Combining EMDR and Parts Work Therapy

Blocking beliefs are often longstanding. 

Often these beliefs developed during early childhood. They can originate in memories, family experiences, cultural issues, relationships or other experiences.

Examples of blocking beliefs include (but are not limited to):

• "I'm not good enough."
• "I'm unlovable." (see my article: Overcoming the Pain of Feeling Unlovable)
• "I'm powerless."
• "I don't deserve to get better."

As long as a blocking belief exists, it can get in the way of processing the trauma in any type of therapy.

I usually provide clients with psychoeducation about blocking beliefs before we begin processing the trauma because these beliefs are so common.

That's also when I talk to clients about using Parts Work therapy--either Ego States therapy or IFS (Internal Family Systems) to help overcome the blocking belief.

Combining EMDR and Parts Work to Overcome Trauma

During Parts Work therapy, I help clients to identify the various aspects of themselves, including the part that contains the blocking belief, the part of them that wants to get better and other parts that might be involved.

Once these parts are identified, the client can understand how the blocking belief is preventing them from progressing in therapy. They can also understand the positive parts of themselves that they can nurture and strengthen.

Clinical Vignette

The following clinical vignette illustrates how Parts Work can help to overcome a blocking belief in EMDR therapy:

John

John sought help in EMDR therapy to overcome complex trauma stemming from a childhood history of emotional neglect.

He was motivated to seek help in trauma therapy because he could see how his childhood history was affecting his adult relationships--both personal and work-related. 

Combining EMDR and Parts Work Therapy

In his personal life, he tended to choose partners who were hurtful and emotionally avoidant--people who were similar to his parents. 

At work, he wasn't able to assert himself to get a well deserved promotion and a raise because he lacked confidence.

His trauma therapist explained EMDR therapy to him. She also told him that during EMDR, it was common to find a blocking belief that becomes an obstacle to working through the trauma.

With his therapist's help, John identified the blocking belief, "I'm not good enough." After identifying this belief, John realized it had been an obstacle in his prior therapies. 

In the past, whenever John tried to work through his childhood trauma, he was overcome with a deep sense of shame and then he would drop out of therapy (see my article: Shame is at the Root of Most Emotional Problems).

He never understood before why he was overcome with shame to the point where he felt he had to leave therapy prematurely (see my article: Why Do Clients Leave Therapy Prematurely?).

It wasn't until his current trauma therapist helped him to identify the particular part of himself that carried this blocking belief that he began to understand why he left therapy in the past before his problems were worked through.

His current therapist helped him to give voice to this part, which John called "the sad boy." 

Using Ego States therapy, which is a type of Parts Work therapy, his therapist helped John to use the adult part of himself that felt strong and positive to show compassion and kindness to the "sad boy" part.

Over a period of time, John was able to transform the "sad boy" part so he could process his traumatic memories with EMDR therapy because he no longer had the blocking belief.

Combining EMDR and Parts Work Therapy

The work was neither quick nor easy, but John made steady progress with Parts Work therapy and EMDR and, eventually, he worked through his history of trauma so it no longer was an obstacle for him.

Conclusion

Combining EMDR therapy with Parts Work is an effective strategy for overcoming blocking beliefs.

Although I have focused on the combination of EMDR and Parts Work, Parts Work can be used in combination with any type of therapy.

Once the blocking belief part is identified, the trauma therapist helps the client to work with this part using other positive parts to transform the blocking belief so it is no longer a problem.

Getting Help in Trauma Therapy

Regular talk therapy usually isn't enough to help clients to overcome trauma, especially complex trauma (see my article: Why is Experiential Therapy More Effective Than Regular Talk Therapy?).

If you have been struggling with unresolved trauma, you could benefit from working with a trauma therapist who combines EMDR and Parts Work therapy.

Rather than struggling on your own, seek help from a licensed mental health professional who is who is an experienced trauma therapist.

Once you have overcome your trauma history, you can live a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT (for couples), Parts Work therapist, Somatic Experiencing and Sex Therapist.

I work with individual adults and couples.

As a trauma therapist, I have helped many clients to overcome trauma (see my article: What is a Trauma Therapist?).

To find out more about me, visit my website: Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.

Overcoming Emotional Blocks in Therapy

In my prior article, Working on Emotional Blocks in Therapy, I began a discussion about identifying emotional blocks.  In this article, I'll discuss how you can overcome emotional blocks in therapy.

Overcoming Emotional Blocks in Therapy

As I mentioned in my previous article, emotional blocks can be readily apparent, as when a client says, "I don't feel I deserve anything good" or they can be unconscious.

When they're unconscious, they usually take more time to come to the surface.

The following scenario is a composite of many cases that demonstrates one way that an emotional block can be identified and worked through in therapy:

Karen:
Karen was in her mid-20s.  She had seen several therapists before she came to see me to deal with unresolved trauma from her childhood that made her fearful of getting involved in romantic relationships.

In her prior therapies, Karen learned, on an intellectual level, that she wasn't responsible for her parents' emotional neglect of her, but this didn't make her any less afraid of the possibility of being emotionally neglected or hurt in a relationship.

Her fear of getting hurt was so great that she shied away from men who showed interest in her, even if she was attracted to them.

At the same time, she was very lonely and wished that she could overcome her fear so she could be in a relationship.

She had been in cognitive behavioral therapy before, so she understood that her fears were distortions, but that didn't change anything.

She had also been in psychodynamic therapy and understood that she had underlying unconscious feelings that were part of the problem, but she didn't know what these unconscious feelings were or what to do about them.

Overcoming Emotional Blocks in Therapy

Using clinical hypnosis, we explored her feelings about being in a relationship.

Over time, in a relaxed hypnotic state, she sensed her conflictual emotions--both her desire to be in a relationship as well as her fear.

As we continued to explore her fear using clinical hypnosis, over time, we both realized that she had an emotional block which was that she was "unlovable." Her fear was that after a potential boyfriend really got to know her well, he wouldn't care about her any more.

Despite the fact that she knew that she had close friends who really cared about her a lot, there was still a part of her that felt she was unlovable.

We continued to work with this part of her in hypnosis.

Over time, it became apparent that this was a younger part of her (many people call this part the "inner child").

This part didn't respond to the logical explanations of cognitive behavioral therapy or psychodynamic interventions because it was such a young part, possibly preverbal.

So, we worked in therapy to help this young part of Karen to develop the internal resources that she needed to nurture this part of herself.

We worked to help Karen internalize positive experiences that she had with various friends and mentors in her life on a deep level.

Prior to working this way, even though Karen experienced her friends' love for her, her feelings were fleeting and she never internalized them in a deep way.  The challenge in our work together was to help Karen to internalize these positive experiences on a deeper level.

By remembering individual positive experiences in hypnosis and making these feelings come alive for her on an emotional and physical level, over time, Karen began to have a sense of being a lovable person.

This work wasn't quick, but by enriching these memories during hypnosis, she experienced these positive experiences not only in an explicit (conscious) way--she also learned to have an embodied experience of them on an implicit (unconscious) level (see my article:  Mind-Body Psychotherapy: Healing Trauma With New Symbolic Memories).

Overcoming Emotional Blocks in Therapy

By doing this work, Karen was able to enhance the positive experiences that she had with nurturing individuals so that these memories became a bigger part of her awareness on a conscious and unconscious level, which is different from just having an intellectual understanding:  She actually felt and believed it.

Getting Help in Therapy to Overcome Emotional Blocks
Emotional blocks are common problems for many people.

They're often difficult to overcome on your own.

Rather than struggling against these blocks by yourself, you could benefit from getting professional help from a licensed mental health practitioner who can help you to overcome them.

About Me
I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist who works with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website:  Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 or email me.

Working on Emotional Blocks in Therapy

An emotional block can sabotage therapy for even the most motivated psychotherapy client.  Most people who come to therapy experience some degree of ambivalence about change, even when the change is something that they really want.  But an emotional block isn't just about ambivalence.

Working on Emotional Blocks in Therapy

What Are Emotional Blocks?
Emotional blocks usually develop due to past negative experiences and unresolved emotions.   This includes emotional trauma.  Emotional blocks are usually unconscious self-limiting beliefs that can lead to self sabotage.

They are part of unconscious defense mechanisms that people use (without realizing it) to ward off their fears.

These blocks usually involve some aspect of a client's belief about him or herself that can undermine the therapy if the therapist and client don't realize what's going on and work to help the client overcome this distorted belief.

Examples of Emotional Blocks:
"I don't deserve to be happy."
"I'm an unlovable person."
"Feeling good is selfish."
"I'm a bad person and I deserve to suffer."
" I should put everyone else's needs before my own."

Identifying Emotional Blocks in Therapy
Listening for emotional blocks often requires a therapist to be attuned to the underlying, unconscious content that the client communicates in sessions.

Sometimes, the content of what's communicated by the client isn't hidden at all--it can be stated in a direct way, like the examples that I've given above.

There are also other ways that a therapist can detect emotional blocks in clients.

So, for instance, when clients come to see me for a psychotherapy consultation, I usually ask them if they've been in therapy before and what their experiences in therapy have been.

When clients tell me that they've been to many different therapists, but no one has been able to help them at all, I know that there can be many different reasons for this:

• On the one hand, there could have been a mismatch between client and these therapists; the therapists might have lacked the skills to help the client with the particular problem; a client might have left therapy too soon before completing the work, and so on.

• On the other hand, I'm also aware that the problem could involve an emotional block that keeps the client stuck and undermines the therapy.

As the treatment unfolds with each client, the origin of the problem usually becomes apparent.

Why Is It Important to Work Through Emotional Blocks in Therapy?
If the problem is an emotional block, it's important that it is identified and worked through or the client will probably remain stuck and, as I mentioned earlier, the work in therapy will be undermined.

In many cases, when emotional blocks go undetected, the therapy can feel like it keeps looping around in a circle without progress.

In my next article, Overcoming Emotional Blocks in Therapy, I address these issues with a composite case to show how emotional blocks develop and how therapists, who are skilled in dealing with these blocks, can help clients to overcome them.

Getting Help in Therapy
If you think you're stuck because of an emotional block, you could benefit from working with a licensed mental health professional who is skilled in helping clients to overcome these blocks.

Getting Help in Therapy

About Me
I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist who works with individual adults and couples.

To find out more about me, visit my website:  Josephine Ferraro, LCSW - NYC Psychotherapist.

To set up a consultation, call me at (917) 742-2624 during business hours or email me.