I am often asked..
What is the best treatment for anxiety?
What therapy is the most effective for trauma?
How do I know if therapy is working?
These questions and their answers are very personal, but I can offer some perspective.
First of all, only YOU know if you feel like you are on the right track. This does not always mean you feel better.
Sometimes when we’re working through some difficult stuff, it can feel raw and vulnerable as change and growth happens.
Therapy in the past has focussed on thoughts, on the mind as the computer that drives the body and your life. This is cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT).
However, there has been a shift, largely starting with the work of Eugene Gendlin and Focusing Therapy of including what he called the ‘felt sense’ in the body.
This focussing below the neck to what is actually happening in the body in the way of sensations and emotions was a game-changer.
Why do we go to therapy?
Because we feel bad.
Emotions, anxiety, trauma show up in the body.
So now we have somatic experiencing (soma=body), EMDR, somatic psychotherapy, embodiment coaching, and so much more. These, in my opinion, are what makes a difference in therapy.
When you don’t include the experience of the body you are only addressing half the person with half a solution.
And half the wisdom that you already possess.
When I started using EMDR (Eye Movement Densensitization and Reprocessing) in my practice, people thought I was nuts. But I knew it worked, and my clients knew it too. We tracked the emotions and also our ‘progress’ through the body, not the mind.
AND, this is what seems to make therapy more effective, when one is seen, heard and felt in the body in the counselling room.
CBT is still good.. but it is limited. The difference is trait change (change your thoughts) and state change (shift and release through the body).
Think about it, if we could all just change our thoughts to change our life, we would have all done it by now.
This is what we are exploring in my new course:
Becoming Embodied: Heal the Body, Heal the Heart.
If you are looking to heal the fear, the uncertainty, the feeling of being unsafe and in pain in your body, let’s heal that in 2021.
Doors are open for registration today!
- Spots are limited as it includes one-to-one coaching.
- Kick-off meeting is December 22nd. Don’t miss out.
Get off to a good start in 2021.
Check it out at the purple button below.
I can’t wait to get going.
Madeleine
