Focusing on Your Personal Strengths to Cope With Stressful Times

Most people tend to focus on what they consider their weaknesses and forget to consider their personal strengths.  When they go through stressful times, focusing on where they feel deficient makes it much more stressful for them.  

In this article, I'm proposing that focusing on your personal strengths will help you more during difficult times.  For this article, I'm using the terms "personal strengths" and "internal resources" interchangeably (seems article: Discovering Your Personal Strengths and Developing Internal Resources and Coping Skills).

Focusing on Your Personal Strength to Cope With Stress

Identifying Your Personal Strengths
Everyone has personal strengths--whether they focus on them or not.

Your personal strengths are what's going to help you to cope with stress--not the areas where you feel deficient.  So, it's important to harness those inner resources to reduce your stress and resolve your problems.

Unfortunately, so many people are unable to identify their personal strengths.  They're so focused on being critical of themselves that they forget all the wonderful qualities that they possess that have gotten them through rough times in the past.

Rather than focusing on their internal resources, they worry and project their fears into the future.  So, not only are they worried about what's happening in the current situation, but they're also projecting and predicting problems in the future--problems that might never come.

If you tend to project negative outcomes, think about all the times when you did this in the past and how often your projections came true.  If you're like most people, your negative projections occurred only a fraction of the time.  That means that you spent a lot of time and effort worrying for no reason.

Should You Completely Ignore Your Weaknesses?
Does this mean that you should completely ignore about your weaknesses?  The short answer is:  No, especially if they're having an adverse effect on your life.

For instance, if your manager tells you that you're doing a great job with most of your responsibilities, but you really need to improve your presentation skills, you're not going to ignore this because it would be detrimental to your job.  You're going to find out what you can do to improve your presentation skills and then do it.

Or, if your spouse tells you that you tend to zone out with your phone when she talks and she would appreciate your being more present, are you going to ignore your wife's request?  No, you're going to make an effort to put down your phone more often so you can be fully present when you talk to each other.

So, I'm not proposing that you only focus exclusively on your strengths all the time without trying to make improvements in the areas where you could stand to improve.  What I'm saying is that many people only focus on their weaknesses, and they could use some balance in their approach.

How to Focus on Your Strengths to Cope With Stressful Times

Think About How You Got Through Difficult Times in the Past
The easiest way to focus on your strengths when you're under stress is to think about past memories  when you succeeded in getting through hard times.

Which inner resources allowed you to get through a challenging time?

Write About the Personal Strengths That Helped You in the Past
If you're struggling to identify the personal strengths that got you through, take a few minutes to write about it.  Writing helps to clarify your thoughts and concretize your ideas.  Don't spend time being critical of your writing.  This exercise is only for you--no one else needs to see it.

Write About How These Same Inner Resources Can Help You Now
Very often, the personal strengths that got you through in the past are the same strengths that can help you now.  It's a matter of remembering and using them again.

Speak to Your Loved Ones
It's often the case that loved ones can see and remember the personal strengths that helped you in the past long after you've forgotten about them.  So, if you have trusted family and friends who saw you through difficult times in the past, ask them what they observed about you.  You might be surprised to hear what they have to say.  Write it down before you forget.

What If You're Too Stressed Out to Focus on Your Personal Strengths?
There are times when people are under so much stress that their feelings and thinking are clouded by the stress, and it's difficult to get beyond worrying and expecting the worst.

When you're that worried, you need to consider how the stress will affect your health. Up to a certain point, stress can motivate you and give you the extra edge you need to get going.  But when you're flooded with stress, it can damage your health with no beneficial effects (see my article: Tips on How to Stop Worrying).

At that point, you could benefit from getting help from a licensed mental health professional, who can   help you to remember your personal strengths and help you to develop new internal resources.

Getting Help in Therapy
Everyone needs help at some point.

A skilled psychotherapist knows how to help clients to access the best part of themselves to get through tough times and also help them to cultivate new internal resources (see my article: A Strengths-Based Perspective in Psychotherapy).

If you're overwhelmed by stress, rather than struggling on your own, seek help from a licensed psychotherapist, who has helped clients to call on their personal strengths and get through stressful times.

By working with an experienced psychotherapist, you can get through a tough time and come out on the other end feeling confident in yourself and free from the worries that were so debilitating.  You'll can also feel more confident about handling new challenges.

About Me
I am a licensed New York City psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing and Sex Therapist (see my article: The Therapeutic Benefits of Integrative Psychotherapy).

I have helped many clients to focus on their personal strengths as well as develop new internal resources to cope with difficult times or unresolved trauma.

When I begin working with a new client in my psychotherapy practice in New York City, I begin by focusing on their personal strengths or internal resources, especially if the client has come in to deal with a major stressor or unresolved trauma.  I also help clients to develop new internal resources in addition to the ones they already possess.

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.

What is Self Validation?

I have been focusing on emotional validation in relationships in my last two articles (see my articles: What is Emotional Validation and Why Is It Such a Powerful Relationship Skill? and How to Develop and Use Emotional Validation Skills in Your Relationship).

The current article will focus on validating your own internal experience, which is called self validation.

What is Self Validation?

Self validation is when see, understand, respect, and accept your internal experience.  This includes your thoughts and feelings.

Self Validation

Self validation doesn't mean that you believe your thoughts and feelings are objectively true.  In other words, you might have a particular experience (thoughts and feelings) at the moment, but your perception might not be accurate.

You might not have all the information related to the situation and you might experience it differently when you do have all the information (see my article: Discovering That Your Thoughts and Feelings Aren't Facts).

Nevertheless, you are entitled to have these emotions given what you thought at the time. By self validating, instead of being critical of yourself or feeling ashamed, you accept that your feelings were normal given what you believed at the time.

How to Practice in Self Validation

There are many ways to practice self validation. 

Here are a few ways you might find helpful?

    Practice Mindfulness Meditation

Developing a mindfulness meditation practice can help you when you are learning to self validate your internal experiences (see my article: The Mind-Body Connection: Mindfulness Meditation).

If you're a beginner to mindfulness meditation, you can try Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn's recording, "Mindfulness For Beginners."

Self Validation

When you practice mindfulness, you're observing and accepting your thoughts and feelings without judgment.  

This takes practice.  Your thoughts will wander, but you just bring your attention back to noticing your internal experience--no matter how many times it takes.  

In addition, if you're accustomed to being critical of yourself, you will probably do that at first.

Over time, you can develop the capacity to sit with even painful emotions without judgment (see my article: Mindfulness Meditation to Cope With Painful Emotions). 

    Treat Yourself the Same Way You Would Treat Your Best Friend

Imagine that their best friend was having the same internal experience that find difficult to accept in yourself.

Self Validation

• Would you judge your best friend?  
• What would you say to your best friend to comfort them?
• Can you try saying the same thing to yourself?

This type of reframing is called a cognitive interweave.  It's often used in EMDR therapy to work on trauma.  It's also used in cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).

A cognitive interweave is a strategy used by therapists to help clients when the clients get stuck in emotional loops that go round and round during processing in therapy. If this looping isn't dealt with, it will get in the way of the client moving forward in therapy.

    

    Recognize and Acknowledge the Many Internal Parts Within Yourself

In a prior article, Understanding the Different Parts of Yourself That Make You Who You Are, I discussed the idea that each person has many different parts, which are also called self states. 

The term self states was coined by Dr. Philip Bromberg, a New York psychoanalyst, in his book, Standing in the Spaces. 

Self states are experienced internally as different ways of being, feeling and thinking, and this is normal.

An example of this would be: "Part of me feels sad that I can't to the party, but another part of me feels glad to stay inside in the comfort of my home." 

You can fill in any emotions.  Both emotions are true and valid even though they contradict each other.  

The point is that even though people tend to think of themselves as unitary beings, everyone is made up of many different internal parts.

In terms of self validation for difficult emotions--whether it's anger, sadness, resentment, jealousy, and so on--it helps to be able to step back, as you would during a mindfulness meditation, and recognize that whatever uncomfortable emotion you're feeling, this emotion is just a part of you.  It might be a big part, but it's not all of you (see my article: Is It Possible to Feel Gratitude Even When You Feel Sad?).

For instance, many people are familiar with the concept of the inner child, a term which was  coined by Dr. Carl Jung.  The term inner child is a metaphor.

When an experiential therapist does Parts Work Therapy (also called Ego States Therapy), they often help clients to externalize these parts so the parts can have a dialogue--whether it's the inner child and the adult self or two other parts (see my article: How Parts Work Therapy Helps to Empower You).

When you can use a part of you to observe another vulnerable part, you usually feel more self compassion for the vulnerable part.  

For instance, sticking with the example of the inner child: 

If you want to heal a traumatized part of yourself that holds the emotional pain of a childhood trauma, you can tap into your experience as an adult, realizing that you are no longer that traumatized child.

A phrase I often use with clients when I'm doing Parts work in this way is "That was then" (referring to the traumatized part).  "And this is now" (referring to the adult part).  

This helps to distinguish the younger, vulnerable part from the more capable adult part who, unlike the younger child part, knows that you survived the ordeal and you're now an adult--even though you might have moments when you feel like the traumatized child.

You can imagine the adult part asking the younger part what they need.  Then, with the help of a Parts Work therapist, you can switch your awareness from the adult part to the younger part to answer ("I need to feel seen"). 

Switching your awareness again to the adult self, you can imagine that part telling the younger part that they see and care about the younger part.  Then, switch again to take that in as the younger part.  And so on.

Eventually, there is an integration of the two parts so that the younger part is assimilated and is no longer a separate part that can be triggered.

If you know that traumatic feelings are "held" by a younger part, you can more easily validate that experience.  Instead of being judgmental whenever emotions related to the trauma come up, you can feel empathy for that younger part of you.

    Remember Other Times When You Overcame Difficulties With Emotions

When you're struggling with your internal critic and judging yourself for having difficult emotions, it helps to remember other times when you had difficult emotions and you got through it.

Self Validation

It will help you to realize that you have skills and strengths you can use in the current situation (see my article: Developing Internal Resources and Coping Skills).

    Normalize Your Behavior

It's okay to have a negative thoughts and emotions.  

Instead of telling yourself that you're a "weak person" or making up a negative story about yourself, recognize that it just means you're human and normal (see my article: Changing the Negative Stories You Tell Yourself About Who You Are).

    Get Help in Therapy

Many people find it easier to validate other people's emotions than they do to validate their own.  

Often this is because their emotions were invalidated during childhood in their family of origin and they have internalized these critical experiences on a deep level (see my articles: Growing Up Feeling Invisible and Emotionally Invalidated and How Childhood Memories of Being Powerless Can Get Triggered in Adults).

Working Through Unresolved Trauma in Therapy

If you have been unable to overcome the problems that keep you from validating your own experiences, you could benefit from working with a trauma therapist (see my article: What is a Trauma Therapist?)

Working through unresolved trauma can free you of your traumatic history so you can lead a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed New York City psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, EFT, Somatic Experiencing and Sex Therapist.

I work with individual adults and couples and I have helped many clients to overcome unresolved trauma.

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.

 

The Psychotherapist's Role in Holding Open the Possibility for the Client's Transformation

Aside from creating a holding environment where the client feels safe and comfortable with the therapist and the therapeutic process, an experiential therapist also holds open the possibility for the client's transformation.

Transformation

What Does It Mean For the Therapist to Hold Open the Possibility for the Client's Transformation?
Many clients come to therapy feeling doubtful and pessimistic about making positive changes.  There is obviously a part of them that hopes they can change, but there is often a bigger part of them that fears they won't change and they'll be exactly where they started before they began therapy.

A skilled experiential therapist creates a space first in her own mind and then intersubjectively between the client and the therapist for the possibility of positive change--and not just any change but a transformation that makes a significant difference for the client (see my article: Psychotherapy: An Intersubjective Experience Between the Client and the Psychotherapist and A Psychotherapist's Beliefs About Psychotherapy Affects How the Therapist Works With You).

The therapist can often see possibilities even when the client cannot.  This isn't a Pollyanna notion or something that is "woo-woo."  This is based on the therapist assessing the client's personal strengths and history as well the signs of resilience in the client (see my article: Discovering Your Personal Strengths in Psychotherapy, How Experiential Psychotherapy Can Help You to Develop Your Personal Strengths and A Strengths-Based Perspective in Psychotherapy).

Fictional Clinical Vignette: The Psychotherapist's Role in Holding Open the Possibility For the Client's Transformation
The following fictional vignette, which is based on many different cases with no identifying information, illustrates this particular aspect of the psychotherapist's role:

Sam
After he relapsed on alcohol after five years of sobriety, Sam began psychotherapy.

During his first session, Sam expressed the despair about achieving sobriety again.  He talked about his relapse, which occurred while he was on a recent company retreat, "I allowed my colleagues to persuade me to drink after our meeting, even though I knew it was a mistake.  I convinced myself  that I could control it and have just one beer.  Then, I was off to the races and one drink turned into five and then I drank the whole weekend.  When I got back from the company retreat, I spoke with my A.A. sponsor and he recommended that I get into therapy.  So, here I am, but I feel like a total failure and I don't think I can get back to where I was in terms of my sobriety."

Listening to his history of struggling with alcoholism from the time he was a teenager, his long family history of drinking, childhood emotional abuse, and Sam's five year history of recovery, his therapist could tell that Sam had a lot of personal strengths (see my article: Why Is It That It's Often the Healthiest Person in a Dysfunctional Family Who Seeks Help in Therapy?).

Not only did Sam begin attending Alcoholics Anonymous on his own in his mid-20s, even though his family tried to dissuade him from going, he also successfully worked the 12 Steps with his sponsor and felt he benefited from doing it.  He was also an active participant on his A.A. meetings in terms of providing service for the meetings and he welcomed newcomers who were struggling with alcoholism.

As a teenager, despite his drinking, Sam achieved above average grades and got a college scholarship, even though his family placed little value in education and tried to persuade him not to go because they thought it was a waste of time.

When his therapist asked Sam if he had emotional support from anyone else in his family or from a mentor or coach, Sam said he had no one.  But he said he was determined to move out of a dysfunctional family environment where his father and older brothers drank heavily and he knew that a college education was necessary for him to realize his independence.

After he graduated college with honors, despite heavy drinking, he went onto law school and landed a good job in a top law firm.

Right around the time that Sam began his new job, he realized that he couldn't continue to drink heavily if he wanted to succeed, and he sought help in Alcoholics Anonymous.

He explained to his therapist that it was especially challenging for him to get sober because, similar to his family, many of the attorneys at his company, including the partners, drank heavily.  In fact, drinking was part of the culture in his company, and the attorneys were expected to take out their clients for drinks.

Sam said he knew that he wouldn't stand a chance of achieving sobriety without the support of a sponsor, so he jumped at the chance to talk to an A.A. member with many years of sobriety who was among the members who stood up at the beginners meeting and offered to be an interim sponsor.

His sponsor, who was also an attorney, helped Sam to work the 12 steps and become aware of his triggers to drinking.  He also helped him to navigate the tricky situations at work where there would be heavy drinking with partners and clients.

Sam explained to his therapist that, looking back on it, he realized that his alcohol relapse began even before he picked up his first drink.  He said it began when he cut back on the number of A.A. meetings he was attending and stopped talking as frequently to his sponsor.  Then, it culminated in not using the tools that his sponsor helped him to develop and in believing that he could have just one drink to be "one of the guys" at the company retreat.

When she heard about his family history, his psychotherapist could see that much of Sam's self doubt and fear were rooted in his history with a father who constantly criticized and belittled Sam.  Even though Sam struggled against his father's emotional abuse, there was a part of him that internalized and believed what his father said about him.

During the initial stage of therapy, his therapist sensed that Sam wasn't ready to hear her assessment that he had a lot of strengths and that if she said it at that point, he would deny it and might even leave therapy.  So, instead, she asked him if he was willing to work hard in therapy to see if he could become sober again.  When he told her that he was willing, they set up a treatment plan, which included increasing his A.A. meetings and talking to his sponsor daily as well as once a week therapy.

As his therapist formed a therapeutic alliance with Sam and felt that he was comfortable with her, she began to point out and praise him for the positive steps that he was taking.  She also pointed out his positive qualities that helped him to begin making changes.

Since his therapist was an experiential therapist, she was actively engaged in the therapy and expressed her genuine delight as he got back on track with his sobriety because she knew that this corrective emotional experience was necessary, especially given the history of emotional abuse in his family (see my articles: With Experiential Psychotherapy, There Are No Blank-Slate Psychotherapists - Part 1 and Part 2).

At that point in therapy, Sam was able to take in his therapist's emotional support and her view of him as someone who had the personal strengths to achieve an emotional transformation.

After Sam had a few months of sobriety, his therapist introduced the idea of EMDR therapy to work on the underlying trauma that was a factor in his relapse (see my articles:How Does EMDR Therapy Work: EMDR and the Brain and Experiential Therapy, Like EMDR Therapy, Helps to Achieve Emotional Breakthroughs).

Over time, Sam's confidence increased and he was able to acknowledge that he had many personal strengths that he could use to cope and maintain his sobriety in addition to therapy and his sober support system.

By the time Sam completed therapy, he realized that his therapist had believed in him all along and that this was a big part of his being able to sustain his sobriety and transform his life.

Conclusion
A skilled psychotherapist is able to hold open the possibility for clients' transformation even when clients are at a low point in therapy.

Being able to assess clients' personal strengths, as well as their challenges, and keeping in mind that with help most people's inclination is to move towards health and well-being, an experienced psychotherapist can hold open a space for positive change--especially when clients cannot see it for themselves.

Even when this holding open of a space for transformation isn't articulated by the psychotherapist, I believe that it is transmitted unconsciously in the intersubjective space between clients and their therapists.

Many clients recognize in hindsight that the therapist's role of holding onto the possibility of positive change was instrumental in helping them to achieve these changes.

Getting Help in Therapy
Experiential psychotherapists tend to be more present and actively involved in therapy.  They have seen clients' transformation against all odds and recognize the signs and signals that clients have the personal strengths necessary to make positive changes (see my article: Why Experiential Therapy is More Effective Than Regular Talk Therapy).

If you're struggling with problems that you have been unable to overcome on your own, you could benefit from working with an experiential psychotherapist who can help you to achieve a transformational experience in your life.

About Me
I am a licensed NYC experiential psychotherapist who uses contemporary psychodynamic psychotherapy, EMDR, Somatic Experiencing, clinical hypnosis, and emotionally focused therapy (see my article: The Therapeutic Benefits of Integrative Psychotherapy).

I work with individual adults and couples.

I have helped many clients to overcome their history of trauma as well as their own self doubts to achieve transformational experiences in their lives.

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.

How Experiential Therapy Can Help You to Discover Your Personal Strengths

In my prior article, Discovering Your Personal Strengths in Therapy: You're Much More Than Your Traumatic History, I began a discussion about seeing beyond your traumatic history to discover your personal strengths (see my article: You're Not Defined By Your Diagnosis and Discovering Your Personal Strengths in Psychotherapy).

How Experiential Therapy Can Help You to Discover Your Personal Strengths

As a trauma therapist in New York City, many clients come to see me to overcome their history of trauma. As I'm helping them to overcome their trauma, I'm also assisting them to discover their personal strengths (see my article: A Strengths-Based Perspective in Psychotherapy).

As I mentioned in my prior article, it's important to be able to appreciate the personal strengths that got you through difficult times as well as that you can use these same strengths to cope with whatever challenges you're dealing with now.

Fictionalized Clinical Vignette: How Experiential Therapy Can Help You to Discover and Use Your Personal Strengths:
The following fictionalized clinical vignette, which is representative of many cases in therapy, illustrates how an experiential therapist can help a client to explore and use his personal strengths:

Ed
Before Ed began experiential therapy, he had been in conventional talk therapy for several years trying to overcome the effects of the childhood trauma he experienced as a young child.

Ed explained to his new therapist that he was grateful for the work he did with his prior therapist in talk therapy, but he felt no relief from the traumatic effects of childhood emotional neglect and abuse.  This is why, at the suggestion of a friend, he was willing to try experiential therapy.

From the very first session in experiential therapy, Ed noticed the difference in the way his new psychotherapist interacted with him.  Whereas his former therapist, who practiced conventional talk therapy, said very little in his sessions, his new therapist, who was interactive and dynamic.  She also talked about working in a collaborative way so that the therapy would be meaningful and effective for Ed.

In addition, she explained the different types of experiential therapy that she did with individuals, which included EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy, AEDP (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy), Somatic Experiencing, and clinical hypnosis.  She also explained that her original training was in depth psychotherapy so she had an ability to work deep and do brief therapy at the same time.

Ed could tell from his new therapist's facial expressions, gestures and demeanor that she already seemed to care about him, even though they were just having their initial consultation.  This surprised him because he never experienced this before in therapy.

His therapist emphasized that, in addition to helping him to resolve the effects of his traumatic history, she thought it was equally important to help Ed to explore and experience his personal strengths on an emotional level.

When Ed thought about it, he realized that he never really thought about his personal strengths.  He knew, on an intellectual level, that he had somehow survived the effects of his parents' abuse and neglect, but he never explored how he was able to do this in his prior therapy.

As he thought about it more, he told his new therapist that friends and other relatives who knew him often commented to him that, considering his family history, he accomplished a lot in terms of his success at college and in his career.

But Ed only experienced their praise as mere words.  He knew they were sincere, but he didn't know how to relate to what they were telling him.  He didn't think he had done anything out of the ordinary with regard to surviving his childhood history and being successful.

After his therapist heard his traumatic history, she said she was amazed that he had accomplished so much, and she asked him how he did it.

Ed seemed confused at first, and he said that he didn't know what he did to succeed at college and in his career, "I just did it.  I didn't think it was such a big deal."

Even though, at that point in therapy, Ed couldn't identify his personal strengths, he began to get curious.

In order to help Ed to appreciate that he had personal strengths that helped him, his therapist recommended that he think of his early history and his subsequent successes as if they were about someone else.

After thinking about it for a few minutes, Ed said that he had a close friend, who had a similar family history and similar accomplishments.  Ed told his therapist that when he thought about his friend, he admired his friend for being able to overcome his early challenges so that he could succeed in his career.  But when he thought about his own history and accomplishments, he wasn't able to appreciate them as much as he appreciated his friend's, which made him curious as to why he couldn't appreciate his efforts.

Over time, Ed talked about how both of his parents, who were physically abusive, also told him repeatedly from a young age that he would never amount to anything.  Although on some level, he believed them, he said, he was also determined to be independent of them.

As a result, even though he had low self esteem, he persevered in his studies as if his life depended on it.  And, in many ways, he felt that his life did, in fact, depend on being able to get a good job so he could move out of his parents home.

Since he did well in high school, despite the ongoing abuse and neglect, he was able to get a scholarship to an out of state college where he excelled.  From the time he moved out to go to college, he never moved back home.  He only went for brief visits.

His therapist helped Ed to see that two of his personal strengths were his determination and perseverence despite the challenges at home.  She helped him to appreciate these personal strengths as well as his other strengths, on a visceral emotional level by having him identify the emotions that he felt when he was able to feel good about these strengths and where he felt these emotions in his body.

Initially, this was difficult for Ed because he was so accustomed to minimizing his strengths and accomplishments as being "no big deal."

But one of the things that made it easier for him to eventually appreciate his personal strengths was how his therapist reflected back to him, on a emotional level, how delighted she was that he had these strengths to help him to excel.  He was able to see in her eyes and in her face the genuine caring and delight--something he never experienced with his own parents.

Over time, Ed had what is called a "corrective emotional experience" with his experiential therapist (see my article:  What is the Corrective Emotional Experience in Therapy?).  In contrast to his early experience with his parents, who were angry, abusive and neglectful, Ed experienced his therapist as being genuinely caring, warm and empathetic.  Compared to his prior therapist, his new therapist was emotionally accessible and enthusiastic about his well-being.

In addition, rather than just having an intellectual understanding of his problems and his personal strengths, Ed was able to develop an ability to actually feel these experiences on a core emotional level. He learned that, in order to make positive changes, being able to experience his innermost, primary emotions was essential for transformation.

These experiences in therapy were new and exciting for Ed, and he looked forward to his therapy sessions with his experiential therapist as he continued to make progress in therapy.

Conclusion
Many clients, who have a history of trauma, are almost exclusively focused on the effects of their trauma and their emotional problems.

While, ultimately, the goal of therapy is to help clients to overcome their trauma, along the way, as part of experiential therapy, it's important for clients to also recognize their personal strengths that allowed them to survive and, in many cases, to thrive despite the obstacles.

Not only does it help clients to appreciate how their strengths helped them in the past, it also helps them to recognize that they have these internal resources to call on in the present.

An experiential therapist is focused on helping to undo the aloneness that clients experienced during their traumatic history by being emotionally accessible to clients as they work through their trauma. She also helps clients to access their personal strengths.

In addition, she strives to help clients to have a new corrective emotional experience in therapy that is healing to clients.  All of this helps clients to overcome trauma and make positive changes in their lives.

Getting Help in Experiential Therapy
If you have been unable to resolve your problems on your own or you feel frustrated by intellectual insight that doesn't lead to a healing experience, you owe it to yourself to get help in from a licensed psychotherapist who practices experiential therapy (see my article: How to Choose a Psychotherapist).

Experiential therapy, like AEDP, is an evidence-based therapy that is effective and can lead to a transformation in your life.

About Me
I am a licensed New York City psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, Somatic Experiencing and Emotionally Focused therapist (see my article: The Therapeutic Benefits of Integrative Psychotherapy).

I work 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.

Discovering Your Personal Strengths in Therapy: You're Much More Than Your Traumatic History

In a prior article, You're Not Defined By Your Diagnosis, I discussed how clients, who have been in prior therapy, often think of themselves as defined by their diagnosis ("I'm depressed" or "I'm anxious") rather than seeing the totality of who they are, including their strengths.

Similarly, when clients come to therapy to deal with a traumatic history, their self concept is often defined by their trauma--rather than also seeing their resilience and personal strengths (see my article: A Strengths Based Perspective in Psychotherapy).  This is especially true of clients who have been in conventional talk therapy.

Discovering Your Personal Strengths in Therapy: You're Much More Than Your Traumatic History

As I mentioned in the prior article, it's not a matter of being in denial about the client's negative experiences.  It's more about seeing their problems as well as seeing beyond those problems to include everything that's positive about them.

As a psychotherapist in New York City, who specializes in working with trauma, I take a holistic view of clients and want to help them build on their strengths as well as helping them to overcome unresolved trauma.

Clients, who have been in prior therapy, are often accustomed to being pathologized to the point where all they see about themselves are the "negative" parts that they want to overcome.

While I understand a client's need to focus on the trauma and trauma therapy is one of my specialties, I also want the client to appreciate the parts of that helped him or her to get through the traumatic experiences and excel in other areas of life.

As part of AEDP therapy (Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy), which is an experiential therapy, I help clients to take the time to really internalize their experiences of their strengths at the same time that I help them to overcome their traumatic experiences (see my article: Why Experiential Therapy is More Effective Than Talk Therapy).

Part of AEDP therapy is helping clients to have a deep sense of their personal strengths, which can feel unusual, at first, for clients who are so focused on their problems.

This might mean slowing things down experientially when a client talks about an obstacle s/he overcame or a courageous stance that s/he took. Interestingly, slowing things down experientially actually helps to speed the work up in the long run.

By slowing down the work at that point, I'm helping the client to have more than just an intellectual understanding of their strengths.  Instead, in addition to their intellectual understanding, I'm helping the client to have an embodied experience of his or her strengths.  In doing so, I'm helping the client to have a more integrated mind-body experience.

You might ask, "Why is this important?"

Well, it's an important part of helping a client to have a transformative experience in which s/he recognizes that the trauma history is only one part of who s/he is and there is so much more than the trauma.

It also helps the client to see that they have internal resources and coping skills that s/he can call upon when faced with adversity.  This is a crucial part of the way I work with clients who have been traumatized.

Anyone who has survived a traumatic history has personal strengths that got him or her through.

Being able to recognize and value those strengths is a part of AEDP work in therapy and in all experiential modalities that I use, including EMDR therapy, Somatic Experiencing and clinical hypnosis.

In my next article, I'll provide a clinical vignette that illustrates how I work with clients' strengths while helping them to overcome trauma.

Getting Help in Therapy
Being pathologized in therapy by psychotherapists who only focus on diagnosis or "the problem" makes overcoming trauma more difficult and can diminish your sense of self.

If you have been struggling with unresolved problems, you owe it to yourself to seek help from a skilled licensed psychotherapist who has a strengths-based perspective.

Freeing yourself from your traumatic history and, at the same time, recognizing that you have strengths can help you to lead a more fulfilling life.

About Me

I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, AEDP, Somatic Experiencing and Emotionally Focused therapist (see my article: The Therapeutic Benefits of Integrative Psychotherapy).

I work 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.