Untreated Emotional Trauma is a Serious Issue: Part 3: Starting Therapy

In two prior articles, I began a discussion about the effects of untreated emotional trauma:  Part 1, Untreated Emotional Trauma is a Serious Issue With Negative Consequences  and Part 2 of this topic, Understanding the Impact of Untreated Emotional Trauma.

In the current article, I'm continuing the discussion about the case I began discussing the last time about Joe, which, as always, is a composite of many different therapy clients to protect confidentiality.

Joe
Joe was considering attending psychotherapy because he was having a hard time allowing people to get close to him.  At that point, he knew that something was wrong because he wanted very much to have close friends and to be in a relationship, but his fear of allowing people to get close to him was the major obstacle for him.

His emotional dilemma was that he felt trapped--his longing for emotional connection and his fear of getting close to others kept him in an internal state of conflict, and he saw no way to overcome this on his own.

Untreated Emotional Trauma is a Serious Issue: Starting Therapy

For years, he had been ambivalent about starting therapy, but when he thought about whether he wanted to be stuck in this emotional dilemma of wanting but fearing closeness, he knew, no matter how fearful he felt about going to therapy, he needed to get help because he didn't want to look back on his life when he was older and regret that he remained fearful, alone and lonely.

His doctor, who had been encouraging Joe to go to therapy for several years, referred Joe to me because he knew that I'm a trauma therapist.

The Initial Stage of the Therapy Consultation
I encouraged Joe to come in for a therapy consultation to see if he felt comfortable enough with me so we could work together.  I also use this first session to get an overview of a client's problems and for the client to ask whatever questions he or she might have about the therapy process, how I work  or about my professional background as a psychotherapist.

Although Joe was anxious, he was comfortable enough to come to weekly sessions.  During the initial sessions, we discussed his his family background, which included a father who had alcohol problems and who was physically abusive.

Psychoeducation About Psychological Trauma
I knew that Joe wasn't making the connection to how his early childhood trauma was affecting him now in his adult life.  Like many people, Joe assumed that, because these problems occurred years before, they weren't connected to his current problems.

So, I started, as I usually do, with providing Joe with psychoeducation about how early trauma can affect people in their adult lives, including the connection to fears about emotional intimacy.

Understanding Psychological Trauma Intellectually vs Overcoming the Trauma
I could tell that Joe understood this intellectually, but it didn't resonate with him emotionally.

I also knew that just talking about his early emotional trauma in therapy wouldn't be enough for Joe to overcome his problems.

In other words, if we only used talk therapy, Joe would make intellectual connections and he would develop insight into his problems, which is important, but his problems probably wouldn't change.

This is the frustrating position that many therapy clients find themselves in when they're in a therapy that uses talk therapy exclusively:  They learn to understand their trauma, but little or nothing changes.

Mind-Body Oriented Psychotherapy
In my professional opinion, Joe needed the type of therapy that would help him to connect his intellectual understanding to a felt sense of his problems.

As a psychotherapist, my experience has been that mind-body oriented therapy works best for most clients who are dealing with psychological trauma.  These types of therapy include EMDR, Somatic Experiencing and clinical hypnosis (also known as hypnotherapy).

Developing Internal Resources
We started, as I usually do, by helping Joe to develop his internal resources, also known as coping strategies or coping skills, to prepare him to start processing the trauma (see my article about Coping Strategies in Mind-Body Oriented Psychotherapy to get an idea of how I help clients develop coping strategies).

Like many people who have been traumatized, Joe relied on dissociation, which is a defense mechanism to "zone out" and numb himself emotionally, whenever he felt uncomfortable.  So, we worked on helping Joe to learn to use positive coping strategies instead of dissociation.

This isn't an all-or-nothing process, but by using the internal resources that he learned in our work together, Joe began to develop enough resilience to begin to tolerate some of his discomfort and enough tolerance to begin working on his emotional trauma.

In my next article, I'll discuss the next phase of therapy, which is processing the trauma.

Getting Help
If you think emotional trauma has been in obstacle to your leading a fulfilling life, you owe it to yourself to get help from a licensed mental health professional who has expertise in working with trauma.

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

One of my specialties is helping clients to overcome psychological trauma.  

In addition to working with clients as a primary therapist, I also do adjunctive trauma therapy for clients who want to remain with their primary therapist, who might not be 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.

Untreated Emotional Trauma is a Serious Issue - Part 2: Understanding the Impact of Trauma

In Part 1 of my article,  Untreated Emotional Trauma is a Serious Issue With Negative Consequences, I defined emotional trauma and gave examples of some of  the possible consequences of untreated trauma.  In Part 2 of this article, I discuss the problem of making a connection between the impact of childhood trauma in adult lives.

Untreated Emotional Trauma is a Serious Issue: Understanding the Impact of Trauma

Problems With Understanding the Impact of Untreated Early Emotional Trauma

As I mentioned in my last article, people who have early emotional trauma from childhood, often minimize the impact of the trauma in their adult lives because they feel it happened a long time ago or they don't understand the consequences of the trauma.

People who were traumatized as children often don't make the connection between what's going on in their lives now and what happened to them when they were children.

The following vignette, which, as always, is a composite of many cases with all identifying information changed, illustrates the impact of childhood trauma on an adult:

Joe:

Joe, who was in his early 30s, had no close friends.  There were people that he knew from college and kept up with on Facebook, but he spent most of his free time alone and feeling lonely.

Even though he was lonely and, in many ways, he wanted to have a girlfriend and close friends, Joe had a hard time trusting people enough to allow them to get close to him.  He talked to people at work, mostly because they approached him, but he never accepted their invitations to go out afterwards to socialize because he felt shy and socially awkward.

He spent most weekends either zoning out in front of the TV or playing video games.  Sometimes, he went to visit his mother, who lived a few miles away, but he often regretted these visits because his father was frequently drunk and verbally abusive with Joe and his mother.  His father's behavior reminded Joe of  how terrified he used to be of his father when his father got into one of his frequent drunken rages and would hit him and his mother when Joe was a child.

Even though he knew that, as an adult, he could now physically restrain his father if he had to, Joe still flinched whenever his father went into a drunken tirade and came close to Joe in a menacing way.  When they were alone, his mother would tell him that his father no longer hit her and, in fact, his father wasn't in good health because of his alcoholism.

During those visits, Joe could look at his father and see that he was frail, especially compared to what an imposing and intimidating figure he used to be when Joe was a child and he felt terrified of his father.   But even though he could see this with his own eyes, deep down, he still feared his father, and Joe had a hard time understanding why he continued to feel this way when he knew, logically, that his father was no longer a real threat to him.

Joe also knew that he had a fear of most people, even people that he liked from a distance.  Even though he was lonely and part of him really yearned for an emotional connection with others, a bigger part of him was too afraid to allow anyone to get close to him, and he just couldn't understand why he felt this way.

Over time, Joe's fears got worse.  He tried to understand why he felt this way, even with people that he thought he might like to get to know better.  He didn't understand what stopped him from initiating conversations with people that he liked at work.  He knew that most people in the office seemed to like him.

He knew, logically, that they weren't people who were actually dangerous in any way.  And, yet, whenever he imagined himself taking the initiative to start a conversation with one of them or accepting an invitation to go out with the group after work, he felt frightened.  It just didn't make sense to him and it continued to be an emotional dilemma for Joe.

Joe didn't make the connection between his early childhood trauma of living in a household with a raging and abusive father and his fear of connecting with people as an adult.  But he knew something was wrong, and he began to consider whether he should see a psychotherapist.

In a future blog article, I'll continue this discussion and discuss how getting help from a licensed psychotherapist can make a difference in overcoming emotional trauma.

Getting Help
The impact of untreated trauma can take its toll in many ways, including psychologically, physically and socially.  If you have experienced emotional trauma, you owe it to yourself to get help from a licensed mental health professional to work through the trauma so it no longer affects you and you can lead a more fulfilling life.

About Me:
I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR and Somatic Experiencing therapist who works with individual adults and couples.  I have helped many clients to overcome the impact of 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.

Untreated Emotional Trauma is a Serious Issue With Negative Consequences - Part 1

Untreated emotional trauma is a serious issue with negative consequences.  But many people try to minimize the effect of their trauma by trying to "forget it" or "ignore it."  They're often in denial about how their untreated trauma is affecting them now because they don't understand it and they don't recognize the consequences.

Often, their attitude is, "It happened a long time ago, so why should I be concerned about it now?"  In this article, I'll define emotional trauma and some of its symptoms.  In future articles, I'll address why it's important to get help for emotional trauma in psychotherapy with a licensed mental health professional.

Many People Who Were Traumatized Are in Denial About the Impact of the Trauma on Their Lives

What is Emotional Trauma?
There are many experiences that can lead to emotional trauma, including:

• physical abuse, emotional or sexual abuse
• witnessing domestic violence as a child
• living in a family where one or both parents have an alcohol or substance abuse problem or other compulsive or addictive problem, including gambling
• being removed from a childhood home
• having a parent or close relative who is incarcerated
• living in a family with serious financial problems
• loss of close family members or friends, especially at an early age in childhood
• medical problems
• disabilities
• being bullied
• experiencing a natural disaster
• living through a war

Even when many years have passed since the original trauma, untreated trauma can result in people developing the following symptoms:

• insomnia
• anxiety
• depression
• fear and a sense of foreboding
• alcohol or drug problems
• sexual addiction
• workaholism
• eating disorders
• problems with anger management
• irritability
• impatience
• avoiding other people/social isolation
• feeling unlovable
• a sense of hopelessness 
• a sense of helplessness
• low self esteem
• being emotionally numb or "shutdown"
• problems with dissociation or feeling disconnected from other people and the environment
• medical problems, including autoimmune disorders
• problems trusting others
• fear of getting involved in relationships and friendships
• getting involved in emotionally or physically abuse relationships
• being too passive
• being too rigid
• problems concentrating
• problems in school
• problems holding onto a job
• problems with authority figures
• legal problems
• engaging in risky behavior
• phobias
• obsessive behavior
• being overly protective with their children
• having emotional blind spots for abuse or other problems that might be occurring to their children

The list above is just some of the many problems that can result from untreated emotional trauma.

Untreated Trauma Can Result in Alcoholism or Drug Abuse

Untreated Trauma Can Result in Insomnia

Untreated Trauma Can Result in Workaholism

Very often, the people who experienced trauma at a young age don't make the connection between the early trauma and the problems they're having now.

They don't understand that there's a connection between their current problems and their early trauma.

Many people who have been traumatized just feel resigned to their history, and their attitude is, "That's just the way it was."

Untreated Trauma Often Result in Choosing an Abusive Spouse

Dissociation: Compartmentalization of the Traumatic Experience
Often, when they were growing up, there was no one available to let them know that what they were going through was traumatic.  There was no one to help them, so they did the best they could as children under the circumstances.

Coping with their trauma as children often meant compartmentalizing or dissociating their traumatic experiences.  Their dissociation probably helped them to cope with what was going on at the time because it numbed their emotional pain.  But, even though dissociation might have helped them, to a certain extent, from feeling the full impact of the emotional pain, inevitably, it has consequences for them as adults.

In future articles, I'll continue discussing why it's so important to work through emotional trauma in therapy.

Getting Help in Therapy
If you experienced emotional trauma, you could benefit from getting help from a licensed mental health professional who has expertise in helping therapy clients to overcome trauma.  Working through trauma in psychotherapy can help you to free yourself from your traumatic history.

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

One of my specialties in my psychotherapy private practice is helping clients to overcome 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.

Workplace: Coping with a Difficult Boss

At some point in your career, unless you're very lucky, you will probably have to deal with a difficult boss. Knowing how to deal with a difficult boss is essential to your well being and the future of your career.

Coping With a Difficult Boss

In this post, I'll consider certain types of bosses that most people would describe as "difficult" and provide some suggestions that you might find helpful. Since there are so many different kinds of difficult bosses, I'm sure I won't cover everything, and your comments are valuable so that I can include more information in the future.

It's also important that, since no one can truly understand a situation with a difficult boss unless you're in it, just like anything else, you need to use your judgement about your particular situation as to whether my recommendations would work for you.

Let's start out with certain premises. First, it's important to understand that one person's opinion about a boss might be very different than another's, so that what you might consider to be "difficult" others might find appealing. Second, it's possible, as hard as this might sound, that your difficult boss might actually think that he or she is doing a very good job. Your boss might lack any kind of self awareness about his or her behavior. Also, it's possible that this behavior might actually be encouraged by his superiors. The other factor to consider is whether or not you're contributing to the situation by your own behavior. This is an especially difficult thing to acknowledge. So, you need to look at your own behavior in the situation and be honest with yourself about your role in the situation and how you might need to change yourself in order to change the situation.

What is a Difficult Boss?
As previously stated, one person's idea of a difficult boss might be the ideal for someone else. It can be very subjective. However, here's a few of the most common "difficult boss" categories that I usually hear about in my office. Recognize that, for simplicity's sake, these are stereotypes. People are more complex than stereotypes and, to a certain extent, what you're dealing with might be different or a combination of several "types."

The Micromanager

The micromanager usually likes to feel in control of the most mundane aspects of a project. Often, he or she is insecure and cannot allow competent staff to carry out their duties without having staff constantly coming back to him or her at every step of the way to get approval. He or she can bog down projects with unnecessary meetings, sign offs, telephone calls, and other time wasters and, generally, annoy the staff with his or her need to oversee every little detail.

The Mircomanager

The Hands Off manager
The hands off manager is just the opposite of the micromanager. He or she is usually disengaged from the work and the staff. He gives little direction and leaves the staff wondering what he wants with regard to goals and objectives. Sometimes, he might not know or he might think that he is allowing his staff to take charge. However, the effect is often inefficient and ineffective if the staff "guesses" wrong and must waste time and effort redoing a project.

The Fault Finder

The fault finder is similar to the micromanager and some people consider this type of manager to be a subset of that category. The fault finding boss is usually very critical and looks for what's wrong most of the time and gives little or no credit for what's right. This type of boss can demoralize the staff quickly. He or she might look for the smallest mistake to point out, possibly overlooking a generally excellent job. This might be because his own level of competency is limited and he cannot judge the project on anything more than the smallest details or it might be his character. Whatever the reason, after a while, the staff will often lose their motivation to do a good job because it is almost never recognized. This, in turn, can make the fault finder even more negative.

The Indecisive Manager
The indecisive manager cannot make up his mind what he wants. As a result, he either gives little or no direction (similar to the hands off manager) or he keeps changing his mind. The indecisive manager is often insecure or he might be inexperienced. Possibly, he was thrown into his position with little or no training and he is not really competent for his job. The result is that he will often frustrate the staff with changes in direction or goals for a project, wasting time and effort.

The Boss who Takes All the Credit

The boss who takes all the credit for your ideas and your work, giving you little or no credit, is often a manipulative and insecure person. If he was not insecure about his own position, he would be generous enough to give you credit. He is often the boss who that will go to his superiors, without your knowledge, and claim responsibiliity for your ideas.

The Bully

Bullies are one of the most difficult types of bosses to deal with on the job. Often, they know that they're bullying the staff and either they don't care or they think that this is an effective way to get people to do their jobs or they just don't know any other way. These types of bosses are usually insecure and angry in general. They might not act this way at home with their spouses because their spouses might not put up with it and they might be very accommodating with their own superiors, but when they come to the office, they enjoy having power over their staff. They might yell or scream, demean people in staff meetings or be hyper critical. The bully gets off on power and control. Just like any other bully, like the schoolyard bully, there's often a scared person underneath it all who is hiding his fear by bullying his subordinates around.

Also see article: HR, It's Time to Show Bullies the Exit

The Sexual Harasser
Sexual harassment is a big topic. It can take many forms. It can range from inappropriate comments to be a "quid pro quo" situation where your manager offers you a raise or a promotion if you have sex with him. If you are being sexually harassed by your manager and if you work for a large company, you can speak with your Equal Employment Opportunity Officer to get help. Sexual harassment is against the law and it often does not stop unless you take steps--whatever steps you decide to take. If you're in a small company, you can go to your local, State or Federal EEOC agency to get help. Only you can decide the best course of action for your particular situation, but you should educate yourself as to your options. Go to your local, State or Federal EEOC website to get information. You might decide to leave, if that's an option for you.

I'm sure you can think of other types of difficult bosses.

How to Handle the Difficult Boss
Once again, you know your situation best. Other than the "sexual harasser" and "the bully" who might require you to go above his head or outside your company for help, if you think that your manager doesn't realize the effect he or she is having on you, consider whether this is someone that you can talk to privately to discuss the situation. If you think your manager would be open to it, ask him or her for a convenient time when you can talk privately. I'm stressing "privately" because a public confrontation is usually a bad idea. It might make you feel good at the time, but the repercussions are usually bad. First, your manager will be humiliated and won't hear what you have to say. Second, you'll be seen as someone who doesn't know how to handle difficult situations. Third, you might get fired.

Assuming that your manager is open to it and schedules a time for you, organize your thoughts before the meeting by writing down what you want to discuss. You don't have to discuss every time and every situation. This would probably not be effective. However, a few examples would suffice. Also, rather than just focusing on what's wrong (like the critical boss), try to find some things you think are positive, if you can. In addition, if you have some suggestions as to how the situation might improve, talk about them, once again, if you think your manager would be receptive to it.

If you think that speaking to your manager might make things worse because he or she cannot tolerate hearing any complaints, then you need to decide how to proceed. Is there a Human Resources Department? Do you have confidence in them? Do they have any authority or power to change the situation? Are there other colleagues who are experiencing the same problems with this manager? In certain situations, it might be better to go as a group rather than your going alone. However, in other situations, you might be perceived as "a troublemaker" if it gets out that you're the one who organized people. So, once again, you must use your judgement.

There are some situations with difficult bosses that are not likely to be improved for a variety of reasons. One might be that this is the culture of the particular workplace where you are and these problems go to the top. Another might be that your boss is the head or the owner of the company and he feels that he can do whatever he wants. Another reason might be that talking it out with an insecure or angry boss or with his boss or the Human Resources Dept. could make things worse. Your boss might never trust you again and might try to take steps to get you fired.

It's important for you to be able to "read" the particular situation that you're in and decide if it's worth it to stay or if you should leave. There might be particular reasons why you're staying for a while--maybe you're close to retirement or the job market is not good or you know you'll need to take Family Medical Leave soon and you won't get it immediately at a new company. There can be so many different reasons. That's why it's a very personal and individual decision.

One important factor to consider is how this boss or this job is affecting your self esteem and overall well being. If you feel that working under your particular circumstance is having a detrimental effect on your self worth or affecting your relationships at home because you come home stressed out and upset on most days, then it might be worthwhile to start looking for another job.

Hopefully, your encounters with difficult bosses will be few and far between in a long, successful career. However, if you feel that you are stuck and need support on how to deal with a difficult boss, you might consider going to a licensed mental health professional who is experienced in this area and who can help you to sort out your feelings and options and strategize on what to do.

And if, by chance, you recognize yourself as being a manager in one of the categories discussed in this post and you want to change your behavior for yourself as well as your staff, you can benefit from seeing a licensed mental health professional. More and more, companies are less willing to tolerate managers who have poor interpersonal skills, so you, your company, and your staff could benefit from your getting help.

About Me
I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, and EMDR therapist. 

One of my specialities is helping clients to deal with career and workplace issues.

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

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

Making Changes: Overcoming the "Inner Voice of Negative Prediction"

When you're trying to make positive changes in your life, whether it's to improve your diet, lose weight, become a successful nonsmoker, return to school to complete your education or whatever changes you might want to make, very often, one of the main obstacles is "the inner voice of negative prediction."

Making Changes: Overcoming the "Inner Voice of Negative Prediction"

What is the "Inner Voice of Negative Prediction"
"The inner voice of negative prediction" is that internal voice that tells you that you can't do it and says things like, "If you try to improve your diet, you're going to fail just the way you have every other time so you might as well not even try" or if you want to become a successful nonsmoker, it might say, "If you give up cigarettes, you're going to become extremely anxious, overeat and get fat, so don't do it."

I believe that the term "inner voice of negative prediction" was originally coined by Al Pesso in his psychomotor psychotherapy theory (http://www.pbsp.com ).

Often, this internal negative voice has been a part of your inner world for a long time and it becomes an obstacle in whatever positive changes you try to make. But instead of berating that inner voice, it's often better to find out what that inner voice wants. Maybe that negative or insecure part needs reassurance in much the same way that an insecure child might need reassurance.

Getting Help:  How Clinical Hypnosis Can Help
When clients come to me to try to make changes in their lives and their "inner voice of negative prediction" starts getting in the way of making those changes, I often find it helpful to address the needs of that part in hypnosis.

Hypnosis is a powerful tool for making positive changes. Through hypnosis, my clients get to sense that part of themselves that is holding them back and to soothe that part.

Overcome the "Inner Voice of Negative Prediction"

Very often, when my clients see themselves in their minds' eye in a hypnotic state taking care of that insecure part, the part calms down, just as an insecure child would, and stops making "negative predictions."

When that inner part calms down, then it's usually possible to make whatever changes you want to make in your life.

If you want to make changes in your life, you could benefit from hypnosis.

About Me:
I am a licensed NYC psychotherapist, hypnotherapist and EMDR therapist. I have helped many clients to make positive changes 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.

EMDR Therapy: When Talk Therapy Isn't Enough

Many people who come to talk therapy with problems find relief and healing by talking to a licensed psychotherapist in either psychodynamic psychotherapy, cognitive behavioral treatment (CBT) and other forms of regular talk therapy. They gain insight into their problems and learn to change their thinking and behavior so that they lead happier lives.

EMDR: When Talk Therapy Isn't Enough

However, for many clients in psychotherapy, regular talk therapy only goes so far and it doesn't alleviate their problems. These clients might gain an intellectual understanding of their problems and maybe, if they're in psychodynamic psychotherapy, they even learn to understand the underlying issues that caused the problems in the first place. Under the best of circumstances, they might even be able to make some changes, but the underlying problems remain and continue to get triggered in new situations. In other words, these clients are not really healed. Often this is not a reflection on the psychotherapist's skills or the client's willingness to change. It often has more to do with the limitations of talk therapy with certain problems, especially if there is trauma involved.

What is Trauma?
When we talk about trauma, it's important to know that not all trauma is the same. Like most emotional problems, it's a matter of degree. The various types of trauma are on a large spectrum from smaller trauma to bigger trauma.

Trauma doesn't have to be posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), like when a soldier is traumatized at war or when a client has been raped or sexually abused, to be considered traumatic. Trauma also includes less severe problems like getting into a car accident where you are not hurt physically but afterwards you're too afraid to drive again. Or, maybe you were in an airplane where there was a lot of turbulence and, even though you were not physically injured, you now have a fear of flying.

Another example of a form of trauma that doesn't involve PTSD but which can adversely affect you is if you're too afraid to get involved in romantic relationships because you were so humiliated as a child that you have low self esteem.

What all of these examples of trauma have in common is that they have had a negative impact and have caused impairment to everyday functioning.

When regular talk therapy is not enough, EMDR (Eye Movement, Desensitization and Reprocessing) as well as clinical hypnosis (also known as hypnotherapy) are often much more effective in healing both small and big trauma. In this post I'll focus on EMDR.

What is EMDR Therapy?
In one of my earlier posts, I defined EMDR (see the May 31, 2009 post). To understand EMDR, it's important to know that our experiences are stored in memory networks in our brains. These memory networks are made up of thoughts, images, emotions and body sensations related to each particular experience. As we form new memories, they are organized in related memory networks around the earliest memories.

So, for instance, if a child is bitten by a dog, a memory is formed in his memory network around this experience that would include the bodily sensations of being bitten, the emotional fear, the sound of the dog barking, the image of the dog lunging at him, the image of blood on his leg, the image of his mother yelling at the dog to get away as she came running towards him, and even the scents that were around him.

As he gets older, he might not have a conscious awareness of this memory, especially if he was too young to talk when he was bitten by the dog, but that first memory is still stored in his memory network. When he's older, if he hears a dog barking, it would probably trigger the emotions and sensations associated with that earlier memory, and he would be afraid. Or if he sees a dog, even a friendly one, that earlier memory will be triggered with all of the associated fears. He might not have a conscious memory of that first experience, but as an adult, when he gets triggered by new situations, he would feel an inexplicable fear ("Why am I so afraid of this dog? He's not doing anything to me"). So, even though there might not be an explicit memory of that ealier experience that he can recall, what's actually happening is that the earlier experience gets triggered in his brain and he experiences all of the same fears that he experienced when he was bitten.

In the example above, since the earliest experience has not been processed, it forms a blockage in the memory network so that the traumatic experience remains in the network waiting to be triggered under certain circumstances.

How Does EMDR Help?
EMDR helps clients to process unresolved emotional issues, whether they're related to a single incident or to ongoing problems where emotional needs were not met. A trained EMDR therapist helps clients to process unresolved emotional issues using a method called Bilateral Stimulation (BLS).

EMDR Therapy: When Talk Therapy Isn't Enough

There are several forms of BLS that could involve alternating right-left eye movements, tapping, listening to music using head phones where the sound of the music moves back and forth from the right to left ear, and other methods. When these alternating right-left visual, tactile, or audio techniques are used along with the EMDR protocol, they help clients to process and resolve these experiences on a level that regular talk therapy often cannot do.

EMDR is used all over the world for all types of trauma. It is one of the most researched forms of psychotherapy that has been shown to be effective for many different types of trauma and unresolved emotional issues. Not only is it usually more effective, but it often works faster than traditional psychotherapy.

Getting Help in EMDR Therapy

If you've found that regular talk therapy has not been enough to help you with your problems, you might want to consider EMDR (see my article: What is a Trauma Therapist?).

About Me
I'm a licensed New York City psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, and  EMDR therapist.  

I have helped many clients overcome longstanding emotional issues that did not respond to regular talk therapy using EMDR and clinical hypnosis.

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.

Also, see my article:  EMDR Self Help Book

Common Myths About Psychotherapy: Going to Therapy Means You're "Weak"

In a prior blog article, Common Myths About Psychotherapy: Therapy Takes a Long Time, I addressed one of the biggest misperceptions about therapy that has lingered for many years.  In my current article, I'll address another common myth, namely, that if a person goes to therapy, it means that he or she is a "weak" person.

Common Myths About Psychotherapy: Going to Therapy Means You're Weak

In the United States, we live in a society where rugged individualism is admired and encouraged in many areas.  The idea of "picking yourself up by your bootstraps" is also admirable to many people.  And while there is much to admire about people who overcome adversity, it's also true that if any of us is put through enough stress, we will need help and emotional support to get through it.

For people who seek psychological help in therapy, it's not a sign of weakness--rather, it's a sign of strength and courage to seek help, especially when we live in a culture that often doesn't encourage reaching out for psychological help.

The following vignette, which is a composite of many cases with all identifying information changed, illustrates what I'm talking about:

John
John grew up in a small town where everyone knew each other and family friendships often went back generations.

His family struggled financially, especially when his father lost his job.  And, even though the family was entitled to public assistance to help them through the tough financial times, his parents adamantly refused to apply for it.  His father said he didn't believe in it, and he felt that each family should make their own way rather than relying on, from his perspective, "handouts."

During the lean times, John and his sister, Betty, knew better than to complain.  They watched their parents maintain a stoic attitude and they took their cue from them.

His parents never talked about their feelings, and John saw little in the way of affection between them.  So, John learned to keep his feelings to himself and he never wanted to "bother" anyone with his problems.  Even as a young child, who felt lonely much of the time because his parents wouldn't allow friends to come over, John didn't complain.

Whenever John's father heard anyone talking about feeling sad or anxious, he would just shake his head and say that, personally, he didn't have time to think about how sad or anxious he might feel, and he considered "complaining" about it to be a luxury.

Years later, after John graduated college and moved out to NYC to settle into a career, he felt guilty and self indulgent whenever he realized that he felt sad, lonely or anxious.  Instead of focusing on his emotions, he just worked harder and tried to forget about his feelings.

But when he began developing physical problems, including back pain, headaches and gastrointestinal problems and he went to see his medical doctor, his doctor told him that he couldn't find a medical cause for John's physical problems, and he recommended that John see a psychotherapist.

John was shocked to hear his doctor tell him that there were probably underlying psychological issues  involved with his medical problems.  So then, his doctor explained the mind-body connection to John to help John understand that his body was taking the toll for his unexamined and unresolved emotional problems.

No one in John's family would ever think of seeing a psychotherapist, so he felt ashamed and "weak" for not being able to handle his problems on his own, especially as a man.  He shuttered to think what his parents, especially his father, would think if they knew that he set up a consultation with a psychotherapist.  He knew, even if they didn't say it out loud, that they would think he was "weak."

Over time, John learned in therapy how hard he was being on himself and that his rigid views about what people "should" and "shouldn't" do were getting in his way and creating more problems for himself.  He also discovered that an experienced psychotherapist could help him to access his own strengths in ways that he couldn't do on his own.

Common Myths About Psychotherapy: Going to Therapy Means You're Weak

It took a while before John was able to feel that it actually takes courage to get help in therapy.  As he worked through his emotional problems, his medical symptoms were alleviated and he realized that his unresolved emotional issues had turned into medical problems because he wasn't dealing with them in the past.  But now that he was dealing with them directly, he also no longer felt sad or anxious, and he didn't feel lonely because he was learning new and effective ways to relate to people, so he was making friends.

Distorted Perceptions About Being "Weak" Are Often Deeply Ingrained
One of the reason why a myth like "going to therapy means you're weak" lingers is that it is a distorted perception that remains ingrained in the minds of many people.  Unfortunately, it also makes it difficult for people who need help to ask for help (see my article: Tips on Overcoming Your Fear of Asking For Help ).

Getting Help in Therapy
If you recognize yourself in the vignette above, you owe it to yourself to get help from a licensed mental health professional who can help you work through your problems and lead a more fulfilling life.

About Me:
I'm a licensed New York City psychotherapist, hypnotherapist, EMDR, and Somatic Experiencing therapist who works with adult individuals 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.

See my article:  Common Myths About Psychotherapy: Therapy Takes a Long Time