Posted by Daisym on September 27, 2008, at 23:50:57
Today I was in a study group with Allen Schore. He is a psychotherapist who has written and researched extensively about implicit processing during therapy and the power of the right brain. I really liked how he talked about two things: 1) He talked about transference as an expectation of either rejection/withdrawal or aggression. Meaning, we often get triggered completely unconsciously into expecting our therapist to draw back from us or to be angry and shame us because of some communication they have given us, probably without knowing it and we've received it, also without knowing it. He used the example of turning your head away right when someone begins talking. It might have been purely a coincidence but the message to the other person might be taken as I don't think you are important, even if you turned your attention right back to them. He talked about preverbal learning patterns and the need to self-soothe because of the message of rejection. And he talked a lot about the therapist's attachment patterns and how they come into play with clients, especially in their ability to accept and hold the transference.
2) He talked about cognitive processes and how 60% of communication is implicit. He feels that sometimes asking a client "how do you feel?" is shaming because the client may not have words for their feelings -- it is all "preverbal." He wondered if the therapist's own anxiety about not trusting the feelings in the room is what creates the need for "confirmation with words." He spoke about misattunement that happens when a client is in a feeling state (right brain) and the therapist goes into the cognitive state (left brain) and essentially abandons the client to hold all the feelings (probably the therapist's too) because the therapist is offering an interpretation instead of just being with what is happening.
So much of what I heard today was confirmation of what I've been learning over the past few years. Young children simply are preverbal so we must pay attention to their body and play messages. But I heard a lot today that sounded like my own therapy and it makes me want to trust the process - it seems that we are on the right track. It was scary to think about the somatic introjections - can he really feel what I feel? I don't want to cause him pain - although Schore is adamant that it is necessary for healing - this shared containment that helps repressed feelings come up and out because you can now handle these feelings (even when you think you can't.)
Watching a number of the therapists in the room today, I couldn't help thinking (again), "they should all have to read Babble." I'm just amazed at what they don't seem to understand.
poster:Daisym
thread:854545
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20080920/msgs/854545.html