Tuesday, December 27, 2011
**Certified Practitioners** Please Submit Your Miraculous RRT Stories!
Thursday, December 22, 2011
IRRT's Veteran Salute and Military Speaking Opportunities
The IRRT joined our nation in honoring our Veterans in November 2011 with participation in the Military Officers Association of America's (MOAA) salute to Veteran Caregivers in San Antonio, Texas. It is clear that more help is needed for our men and women returning from the today's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and those who fought in previous wars).
Look for more timely information about our troops at our upcoming "Veteran Care" button at our cleartrauma.com website. This new button will serve as a resource for you and a central place for us to disseminate all new information coming out from the VA and the Department of Defense. It also has a recently published article about my military career and work with IRRT entitled "Leading from the Rear...A Retired Army Colonel Still Serves." There, you also will find a soon to be published case study about a Vietnam Helicopter Pilot treated by Dr. Jon Connelly.
Look to hear from various MOAA chapter presidents in January 2012 to request speakers for their upcoming monthly chapter meetings. I will be presenting the list of volunteer speakers from the IRRT Military Interest group at the Winter MOAA meeting on January 14th. If you have not signed up yet and want to be included in the list of potential RRT speakers please contact me at drsrichie@earthlink.net or at drrichiemelvan@gmail.com.
Monday, December 19, 2011
IRRT Pilot Study Results from the 24th Annual US Psychiatric Mental Health Congress Poster Session
The results of our 2011 IRRT Pilot study were presented at the 24th Annual U.S. Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress Poster Session, Venetian Hotel on November 8, 2011 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The RRT poster elements and the accompanying white paper "An Evaluation of Rapid Resolution Therapy for Post-Trauma Survivors" can be found under our new "Research" button at www.cleartrauma.com. The conference participants included 75% psychiatrists/other physicians and 14 percent nurse practitioners/psychiatric nurses; with 45% office based, 25% community based and 18 percent hospital based. We had brisk traffic by our poster table and it generated much interest our RRT treatment and training throughout the day.
The pilot study validated the PCL-C (17 item PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version) as a quick, efficient and reliable tool to measure the degree of PTSD in our RRT clients and in the control group of clients treated at Manatee Glens. A comparison of pre and post treatment scores demonstrated a clinically significant improvement in the trauma scores after one session of RRT treatment for four of five RRT clients (one client's scores did not change). Of the two Manatee Glens clients who returned their post treatment PCL-C, one demonstrated a reliable improvement (not by chance) and the other had no change after eight weeks of CBT treatment. We extend our sincere thanks to our volunteer RRT therapists who helped with the study and to our research partners Manatee Glens Non-Profit Behavioral Health Hospital & Out-Patient Practice, the University of Portland and Georgia State University.
With our lessons learned, the IRRT is now ready to move forward with an expanded study in January 2012. RRT Study 2 will include 60 RRT clients and qualified volunteer certified RRT therapists (professional degree with minimum of 100 RRT training hours). We are identifying a second assessment tool (in addition to the PCL-C) for Study 2 which will enhance our ability to publish our findings in several professional journals. All study documents (ie., welcome letter, invitation flyers, consent forms, assessment tools, data sheets and stamped/addressed envelopes) will be provided to the RRT therapists. Stay tuned at the research button for updates and be ready for our announcements and invitations to participate in Study 2.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Helping Returning Troops With PTSD
PTSD can occur after someone has witnessed or been involved in an event that was life threatening or was an extremely disturbing event out of the realm of normal human experience. Symptoms include reexperiencing the event in the form of nightmares or flashbacks; feeling easily startled, anxious, or irritable and on edge most days; avoidance of anything that reminds you of the event; and/or feeling numb and detached from things.
Fortunately there are better treatments available for PTSD than there were 20 years ago, and the majority of these treatments can bring relief in as few as one to ten sessions. Treatments usually involve training you in effective ways to calm your emotions and bodily responses, reprocessing the traumatic memory (or memories) so they do not replay or haunt you, and creating new meaning in your life in spite of the trauma.
I use a method called Rapid Resolution Therapy that has been very effective in clearing PTSD. RRT differs from other methods in that the person does not have to relive the painful emotions associated with the event in order to clear it. In addition, this approach seems to shorten the time needed in therapy with many of my clients reporting complete relief from PTSD symptoms within 1-6 sessions.
Other treatments for PTSD include Cognitive Processing Therapy, Prolonged Exposure Therapy, and Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. SSRI antidepressants like Paxil, Zoloft, or Lexapro have also been shown to reduce symptoms, but work best if the person is also involved in trauma-focused therapy of some sort.
Many Vets don't seek treatment for PTSD because there is still a stigma attached to going to a "shrink" and frankly, they don't want to discuss what happened. I understand- the horror many Vets have witnessed and experienced is beyond human imagination. Some Vets are also haunted by the missions they had to carry out that harmed or killed others in order to protect democracy. They often do not feel a therapist could understand or be able to relate to these experiences, unless the therapist has also had experience in combat. However, what is most important is that you find a therapist who has the capacity to understand what the experience was like for YOU, knows how to assist you in reprocessing the memory, and collaborates with you to access your resilience and reconnect with life.
PTSD is treatable. Sometimes symptoms clear on their own, but the earlier you seek treatment, the better. If symptoms go on for a year or longer, the less likely they will subside without treatment. For more information on combat related PTSD, visit the National Center for PTSD. Click here for more information about Rapid Resolution Therapy.
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
The ISSV Holiday Wish List
So consider this my ISSV holiday wish list, Santa! I'm looking for Certified and Master Certified Rapid Resolution Therapy Practitioners to volunteer their time to be on a committee to help make our 10th anniversary a big bang. Let's get the word out locally and nationally that trauma treatment need not be painful; that in fact trauma treatment can be painless, effective, and long lasting. As well, we are reaching out to survivors of sexual violence to let them know that this cutting edge treatment is available to those without the financial resources. If you're up for volunteering, please drop me an e-mail at ISSVed@gmail.com. (E-mail is the best; I have a bit of an addiction to my e-mails!)
Last but not least I hope your Thanksgiving was delightful, and the rest of your holiday season is filled with joy and love!
573-754-0348
1360 S 5th St., Suite 394, St. Charles, MO 63301
Friday, December 9, 2011
RRT Training Corner - Mother Bear, Out of Range, The Snowflake and Goat
Hello fellow RRT Practitioners! I am so grateful to be part of this community of healers and to have the opportunity to serve as IRRT's Training Director. So much has changed in the past year--the Institute is growing stronger, word is getting out about RRT, and the demand for therapists skilled in this approach continues to grow. Just as Jon continues to refine and improve his approach, we are working together to make our training program even more effective, and to support you as you keep building your skills. This column is a place for me to share some recent updates with you, including Jon's newest refinements to the RRT process.
For those of you who haven't been to a training recently, I'm going to share a new addition to the RRT way of thinking about how our minds work and why we experience painful emotions. If you are familiar with goat and snowflake, this gives us some new language, and adds the concept of "out of range."
Mother Bear
When mother bear sees a crazy guy smacking her cub with a broomstick, she gets angry. Why is mother bear angry? Most people would say that the guy is making her angry, but we're going to think of it this way: when mother bear sees what's happening, her mind causes her to become alert, motivated, and strong--what we call angry--in order to get her to do something to make it stop. Every time an animal experiences a painful emotion, it's designed to get the animal to do something in order to make something in the world stop. Every time a person experiences a painful emotion, it's coming from the primitive part of the mind, and it's designed to get the person to do something in order to make something in the world stop.
How long would the mother bear be feeling a painful emotion before doing something? You don't see a bear just sitting there feeling resentful. The mind of an animal causes the feeling to get the animal to do something, and it only causes the feeling when the thing is happening, and if it is within range. This is why we don't see dogs jumping into the air trying to catch eagles. Your primitive mind will only generate an emotion to cause you to do something if it believes the thing is happening, and that it is within range.
"Out of Range"
Here's an example to illustrate "out of range." The door behind you opens, and somebody screams "there's a little girl choking!" What happens in your body? You become alert, and your heart's beating faster. You're ready to take action. And you say "Where?" And he says "Idaho." Immediately, your heart slows back down, shoulders drop, breath returns to normal, and you calmly get back to what you were doing. Not because you don't believe that a little girl is choking in Idaho, and not because it's fine with you if people choke as long as it's in Idaho, but because it's out of range.
The Snowflake and Goat
The intellect (snowflake) can access data about things that aren't happening and can think about things that aren't within range. No other animal's mind is flashing information about a thing if the thing doesn't exist. If a rabbit sees a wolf, it means there is a wolf--not just data about a wolf. Primitive mind (goat) misreads the data about the thing as the thing; it misreads it as being within range when it isn't, and then it causes an emotion in order to get us to take action. As soon as goat gets that whatever it's jazzing us up about is out of range, it stops jazzing us up.
Things can be out of range geographically, but they can also be out of range for other reasons--an action might be out of range because it isn't possible, or because it isn't possible at this moment, under current circumstances. If a potentially useful action hasn't yet come to mind, then right now, it's out of range. If you are already familiar with the process for eliminating guilt and anger, you'll find that the responses "it's out of range" and "there's nothing that needs to be done" are extremely effective and can be applied in a variety of situations.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
New Workshop at the RRT Level III Training - Learn How To Market Your Practice!
What you will learn:
Dates/Times/Locations/Cost:
- Tampa, Florida
- January 20, 2012 from 9 am - Noon (Followed by the Level III at 1 pm)
- Franciscan Retreat Center
- 3010 N Perry Ave., Tampa, FL 33603-5345
- Click here to register!
- Cost: $100; includes a workbook and presentation DVD.
There are no CEU's for this workshop. It is for educational purposes only.
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Reminder: Level III RRT Training in Tampa Jan. 20 - 22
Wednesday, November 30, 2011
RRT Success at the 2011 Psychiatric and Mental Health Congress
For more information about IRRT research contact Research Director, Dr. Sharon Richie-Melvan at 352-476-5599.
Friday, November 25, 2011
Rapid Resolution Therapy Training IMMEDIATELY Worked For Me!
Please tell Jon THANKS. I was already in awe. Now I am dumbfounded.
I will be signing up for Level III in Tampa immediately!
Thanks to all of you,
Amy Hudson, Jackson, MS
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
New Workshops at the Florida and California Level III RRT Trainings!
What you will learn:
Dates/Times/Locations:
- Florida
- January 20, 2012 from 9 am - Noon (Followed by the Level III at 1 pm)
- Franciscan Retreat Center
- 3010 N Perry Ave., Tampa, FL 33603-5345
- Click here to register!
- California
- June 1, 2012 from 9 am - Noon (Followed by the Level III at 1 pm)
- The Glen Ivy Center
- 25005 Glen Ivy Rd., Corona, CA 92888
- Click here to register!
Cost: $100; includes a workbook and presentation DVD.
There are no CEU's for this workshop. It is for educational purposes only.
For assistance with registration, please contact Lynne Frost at 1-800-587-2623 or rtrblue@gmail.com
Monday, November 21, 2011
RRT: An Innovative Approach For Healing Trauma
Rapid Resolution Therapy is my treatment of choice when it comes to clearing the negative effect of traumatic memories. This innovative method was developed by Dr. Jon Connelly and often yields results in just 1-3 sessions.
Below are some of the elements of RRT that I love:
1. Start with the solution
In RRT, you start by creating a symbolic image of your desired way of thinking, feeling, and responding. We use elements of hypnosis to get your mind responding even more to this image and experience this desired response in a deep sensory way.
The above process has the effect of creating a positive space where you can feel okay staying connected to the present moment. Then, we use a process that will cause your mind to pinpoint the exact event to be cleared and reprocessed. You will be able to describe just the factual details of the event while remaining emotionally present to the current experience. You do not have to emotionally re-experience or relive the event. There are some neuroscience discoveries that suggest why this practice of staying present works so well to clear the emotional intensity of a traumatic memory. For more info, see my post on Neuroscience and RRT.
3. Use of playfulness and humor
Dr. Connelly is masterful at using play and humor to diffuse fear, anger, and shame. We make new associations through use of humor and games that reach the deeper level of the mind and create emotional shifts. Clients who came in crying, are able to laugh and find joy. Many clients tell me that they actually had "fun" during their RRT session and were so happy it was not a painful experience.
4. Use of metaphor and stories
In RRT we use lots of stories and metaphors to activate new ways of thinking about things and perceiving yourself.One of my favorite metaphors is to consider that who you are is not your body, your thoughts, or your beliefs. Let's think of who you really are is a being of Light at your center. A Light of peace, wisdom, and excitement. Nothing can harm a beam of light. Someone can shoot at a light beam, curse at a light beam, or try to chop it with an axe. Yet, that Light keeps on shining. It is resilient, clean, and clear. Someone may have messed with your body, but they didn't touch that Light. That "Light" can only be touched by love that you welcome.
If you want to learn more about RRT, you can visit Dr. Connelly's website at www.cleartrauma.com and check out our training video!
Courtney Armstrong is a Licensed Professional Counselor who specializes in trauma therapy and has a practice in Chattanooga, TN. She leads workshops for mental health professions in Rapid Resolution Therapy and other creative therapeutic approaches. To contact Courtney, visit her website at http://www.courtneyarmstronglpc.com/. Visit Courtney's blog at http://traumatherapyalternatives.com/.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Encouraging Primary Care Providers to Screen for Post-Trauma Stress Disorder
The National Institute of Mental Health (2011) estimated 7.7 million American adults 18 and older suffer from Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). This number includes both active and retired military and civilian survivors. The survivors may have experienced acute stress reactions immediately following a traumatic event but, unlike most trauma victims, do not recover after a a few weeks following the traumatic event and have either an acute or chronic PTSD reaction. Another possibility is that the survivor may appear to recover and months or years later experience an acute or chronic reaction.
Why should primary care providers screen for PTSD in the patients they evaluate and treat. For military survivors, the Departments of Defense and Veteran Affairs are diligently attempting to identify and treat cases especially of acute stress reactions.
However, often active military members refuse to admit to their stress reactions believing it will harm their career. Also, their reactions may be delayed and not recognized until the member is back into the non-military primary care systems. Civilian survivors of such traumas as rape, natural disasters, and domestic violence usually are receiving their health care from community primary care providers.
Since primary care providers are so important in identifying cases of PTSD in the community, it is important for RRT practitioners to encourage and teach these providers to screen patients for PTSD. The two most commonly recommended screening tools are the Primary Care PTSD four item instrument (PC-PTSD) and the 17 item PTSD Checklist - Civilian (PCL-C). Both tools are used to identify the presence and intensity of the three or four major symptoms of PTSD - re-experiencing, avoiding, arousal, and numbness.
Once RRT practitioners help primary care practitioners identify PTSD victims, they can encourage these providers refer to the practitioners for RRT treatment of their reactions. So the encouragement and education of providers should pay off in additional persons experiencing the healing benefits of RRT.
Diane Vines, Ph.D., R.N., is a Certified Rapid Resolution Therapy and is currently the associate professor of nursing at the University of Portland. In addition, Diane is the Chair of the Board and Co-owner at Arnica Creative/Publishing. To connect with Diane, please click here.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
**Call To All Certified RRT Practitioners** The Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence
By Tara Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC The Institute for Survivors of Sexual Violence (ISSV) community is getting bigger! The ISSV now has a Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn page, and we even have our own blog. Soon, and I mean really soon - like so soon I can almost taste it (if a website had a taste), our website will be up and running! The ISSV's mission is to train mental health professionals to utilize cutting edge methods of trauma treatment to eliminate the ongoing effects of trauma. In addition, our mission is to make sure that treatment is available to those with financial limitations. Finally, we are committed to continuing research and development of these therapeutic methods. The institute must reach out to health and mental health professionals, law enforcement, clergy, hospitals, prisons, school systems, and social service agencies so that victims of sexual trauma can receive treatment from trained practitioners. Our main focus for the ISSV website is getting the word out to those survivors with financial limitations. ***CALL TO CERTIFIED PRACTITIONERS*** I am putting out a request to all our Certified Practitioners for any testimonials you may have from survivors. Whether they are written or video clips, we want to make our client testimonial page as powerful as possible! Also if you, as a Certified Practitioner, have a testimonial about treating survivors through Rapid Resolution Therapy I would like to add those to clinician's testimonial page as well. You can e-mail those testimonials to me at ISSVed@gmail.com. If I haven't said it lately....THANKS for all the great work being done out there through RRT! Be well, Be happy - Tara Tara S. Dickherber, M.Ed, LPC 573-754-0348 1360 S 5th St., Suite 394, St. Charles, MO 63301 |
Monday, November 14, 2011
Rapid Resolution Therapy: A Brain-Based Approach To Trauma Therapy
Painful exposure techniques are not required to clear the emotional charge of a traumatic memory. All that is required is keeping the client "emotionally present" as she describes the details of the event. This concept was introduced by trauma clinician and founder of Rapid Resolution Therapy, Dr. Jon Connelly, Ph.D, LCSW. Current neuroscience and trauma research by Bessel van der Kolk, MD and Dan Siegel, MD have also reached similar conclusions.
Why does this work? According to Master Certified Practitioner Courtney Armstrong, LPC, it works because when we keep the client emotionally present, we are helping to prevent the amygdala from activating the fight/flight response. The problem is when the amygdala and fight/flight response go into high gear, the brain inhibits the function of the hippocampus and parts of the pre-frontal cortex. The hippocampus and certain aspects of the pre-frontal cortex are responsible for integrating memory and tempering emotional responses. If these parts of the brain are "off-line," then the memory stays seared into the deeper brain as a non-verbal, implicit, felt memory. When a memory stays in this implicit form, associated sensory details like smells, times of year, sounds, and visual images can trigger the same feelings of terror as the original event. However, these triggers are often "unconscious" to the client.
One goal of any trauma therapy is to integrate the traumatic memory into conscious, explicit memory. To do this, we have to keep the hippocampus and pre-frontal cortex open and on-line. If you have the client emotionally re-live the event then you inadvertently activate the fight/flight response right there in the session and cause the hippocampus and pre-frontal cortex to go offline again. According to Connelly (2011), in order to facilitate client recall of a traumatic event without abreaction, effective trauma therapists ground clients in the present by providing experiences in session that require them to respond emotionally to the present situation or "what is happening."
Connelly also suggests providing opportunities for clients to be in a "power position" while retelling the trauma narrative so that the client has a resolution experience which is the antithesis of the often disempowering traumatic event. This process allows the client's central nervous system to remain within the "window of tolerance" (van der Kolk, 2010) for reintegration of the previously traumatic memory within normal memory.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Another Rapid Resolution Therapy Success Story!
My client was able to identify a specific incident from when she was 6-years old. She remembered being forced to perform oral sex on both her father and her uncle in the presence of her 3-year old sister. The threat was do it or she and her sister would be killed. Using Rapid Resolution Therapy I stepped her through the events that occurred and her symbol was the wind. The wind was able to blow the meaning her mind had placed on the event away. Her mind of course showed her the perfect symbol! At the end of the session she reported, "I don't feel anything about it now....my nightmare is over."
Monday, November 7, 2011
Heal Trauma and Grief with Storytelling
Sometimes people are so disturbed by the way someone died that they focus more on the deceased person's "dying story" than they do on the person's living stories. Yet reflecting on our living experiences with the deceased is an integral part of healing.
When I interviewed grievers for my book, they consistently stated one of the most healing experiences is hearing stories about their deceased loved one. Yet, people are often afraid to mention the name of the deceased to the bereaved. Please know that the majority of grievers enjoy reminiscing about their deceased loved one and want to remember their life, not their death. A reader recently wrote me about this stating:
"I read your book and thought it was fantastic! I have tons of memories [of my deceased mother], unfortunately all of the ones I remembered or chose to remember were painful. After reading your book, I started looking through my photos and videos and I found myself laughing and remembering how that laughter came about. My memories of my mom now have some laughter in them, and so do some of my dreams...You helped me to see a section that I have been missing, thank you."
Constructing stories is valuable for another reason. Frequently after a traumatic event, feelings, sensory information, and implicit memories of the event are typically left hanging in fragments that researchers believe are mostly processed and stored on the right side of the brain. Yet, the logical, linear-oriented left side of the brain has a drive to make sense of these fragments and put them into some kind of logical order. Building a coherent story based on your memories incorporates these fragments, bringing context and structure to them, which can help you heal.
Thursday, November 3, 2011
Welcome! New Rapid Resolution Therapy Mentor Program!
We recently piloted this process quite by accident! It started with a phone call from a potential student during our RRT August 2011 retreat. She had poured through the RRT website and just wanted to talk with someone about the training and treatment process ("Is all of this really true?"). She went through our list of certified therapists and contacted the one who lived closest to her; it turned out we are neighbors. We chatted just before her training weekend and I shared some of the above thoughts with her. She left me a telephone message the very first night after her training; she was flying high with excitement. We finally met face to face the next day and she shared that had I not "prepped" her, she might have left training the first day: "It was so different and I was so lost, I didn't know what I was doing. But I remember you said to hang in there and sure enough by Sunday I knew this is what I wanted to do." Personally I had been blessed to have had Dr. Jon as my RRT healer before I went to my Level 1 training. I had no problem staying in my seat during my first training; I just wanted to lean so I could give someone else the gift that I had received.
But, if you haven't experienced an RRT session, remember what it was like that first day of class. Remember those feelings and vow right now to help smooth the transition for an incoming Level 1 student. If you can spare a few minutes to call and welcome someone, please send an email to me at drsrichie@earthlink.net and we will set it up. Thank you to those who have already volunteered to send in your experiences as an RRT healer and your RRT client stories. If you have not done so yet, it is not too late. Send me your thoughts and ideas for our Book of Hope so you can be listed as a book contributor (great marketing tool for you!). Another big thank you to our RRT volunteers who have offered to speak to military groups in their community. I just returned from the annual Wounded Warrior Symposium in Wash., DC and witnessed some powerful and profound speakers. The program title said it all, "The Journey Back: Helping Wounded Warriors and Their Families Transition [back to their communities]." Clearly they need our help to heal and get back to their communities. Again, email me if you want to join this growing military interest group of RRT healers and speakers. In next month's issue, look for new details about the completion of RRT Study I and preparation for RRT Study 2. Until then, know that I am so very proud to be taking this healing journey with each of you!
Monday, October 31, 2011
Certified Practitioner Courtney Armstrong Interviewed On National News!
As this year marks the tenth anniversary of 9/11, many individuals are reminded of their friends and family who were lost that day. Dr. Steve Salvatore of WPIX-TV New York's "Dr. Steve Show" interviewed Rapid Resolution Therapy Certified Practitioner Courtney Armstrong, LPC, last month about coping with traumatic grief.
During the interview, Dr. Steve highlighted Courtney's recent book "Transforming Traumatic Grief." Courtney shared her insight on how to stay in the present, how to cope, and how survivors can still feel connected with their loved ones.
Click here to listen to this wonderful interview!
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Post-Traumatic Growth
Recently on National Public Radio, three trauma experts discussed what we have learned in the 10 years since 9/11. Two of them, professors, remarked on developing a fascination with Post-Traumatic Growth. The term refers to the fact that some people who go through a trauma of seismic proportions move out of their grief rather quickly, take stock of their priorities, and redirect their effort and commitment in an all-encompassing way. They do so in a way that clarifies identity and direction, stabilizes emotion, and makes them stronger for the future.
It rather amazed me that this was considered a new concept. The Chinese character for crisis is a combination of the words for "danger" and "opportunity," the possibility of two roads leading out of trauma. China has been around a long time. So who could argue that civilizations have experienced, from the earliest times, traumatic blows that challenge their very existence, and advance, or not, depending on how well they are able manage the opportunity side of the equation? Post-Traumatic Growth is no new thing either for a person or society.
So what is Post-Traumatic Growth? To put a human face on it, I saw an interview leading up to the 10-year mark with former mayor of NYC, Rudy Giuliani, who walked New Yorkers and much of the country through the hell of those days. The reporter asked him how 9/11 changed him. He paused a long minute. You could tell he didn't have a prepared response.
And then he said, 9/11 had changed him in just about every way a person could be changed.
Spiritually, as he learned to pray at his time of greatest need and got the answers he sought, enlarging his faith forever. He had awareness of his mortality. He realized we all, sooner or later, will face a situation that dwarfs the resources, skill, or strength we can bring to it. Or, as jazz great Wynton Marsalis once put it, "Life has a paddle for every behind." And it stretched Rudy Giuliani into a greater grasp of his life's work and the call the hour had placed upon him. It was as if history itself had put a hand on the middle of his back and pushed him onto the stage to lead the people of New York through their darkest hour. He discerned that his message on behalf of all New Yorkers had to be this: that though buildings may come down, New Yorkers would not be cowered by terrorist acts. That their answer had to be they would not live in fear, scared into a despair that would make them relinquish the freedoms we live by. Being the voice of that message and getting it out in those days following the attacks took him into territory he never knew he could travel. The look on his face told me this was no mere flag-waving by a veteran politician. He meant every word. He really had been stretched. He had experienced Post-Traumatic Growth.
What to notice is this: Post-Traumatic Growth turns on getting a sudden glimpse of the direction life wants you to go. It is not about being brazenly over-confident or well-prepared. No one is. You may wonder, "Wow, am I strong enough for this?" People interviewed after a disaster usually admit to such thoughts. But they also say they just did what they had to do; they couldn't have done it any other way.
As one moves into Post-Traumatic Growth, mind is shifting into HD mode and getting a picture, a vivid model of how to function optimally, for that moment and future moments. There is no division in the mind, but a rapid winnowing out of what no longer matters, and sudden clarity about what matters most and what one needs to do next. The mind seems to zero in and see the bigger picture all at once; it brings to awareness what is most beneficial and possible. So there is an economy of thought and of action for that particular context. It is a transcendent moment that may be over in a flash, like the passengers who rushed the cockpit of United 93 to save the lives of people they would never meet. Or it may reshuffle things for a lifetime, like the widow of a fireman killed in the line of duty, who started a national foundation to benefit the kids of all fallen firemen everywhere.
One gets a vivid model of the self they are meant to be. The mind accelerates toward it, getting on all levels how most of the rules, roles, and messages that pertained to one's former life are no longer relevant. One sluffs off a skin that no longer fits and moves ahead with a unified identity and mission. The energy that is thrown off in this metamorphosis is palpable to those around, the difference in strength - unmistakable. As it expands, this energy can connect with others and take them in. On the anvil of humanity falls the hammering blow of trauma that life deals out. Some metal shatters and breaks off as slag. But some metal is tempered, made stronger as its atoms rearrange, and are fashioned into a whole new instrument, capable of more.
Monday, October 24, 2011
Thank You To The IRRT Community!
"Not what I expected, and I wouldn't have changed the outcome. Perfect!" ~ Vicki VanDeiler, LPC
"Complete paradigm shift on many levels. This training shifted my entire perspective of the therapeutic process. To continue with my old ways of doing therapy would be completely unethical."
"Undoubtedly the best training I have attended! It will change the way I think about and conduct therapy."