Posted by Toby on June 22, 1999, at 7:57:52
In reply to Re: feelings, posted by DL on June 18, 1999, at 13:01:44
Just two things:
The safe place can be any place you want, whether real or imagined. The beach scene you describe is a frequent place many people use. You can incorporate real and imagined elements into it. Make it as safe and peaceful as you can. It's your own and can be whatever you want.
You wondered if things would go back to the way they were before once your therapist leaves for three weeks. I can tell you that they won't. Once you have processed something, it stays processed. In my experience, if an event seems to be processed and then later it feels disturbing again, it generally turns out to be because we missed something about the event that turns out to be important. And once that important thing is processed, it's over with. So, while you have this three week break, the things you have worked on will reorganize themselves into a new framework and may (or may not completely, depending on how much you got processed) go completely out of your consciousness and by that I mean settle down to being "history." This does not mean you have "buried" it, it just becomes "something that happened back then" and no longer holds power over you. It will take awhile for your consciousness to get used to that and accept that it really is "history" and won't be popping up like a jack-in-the-box.
poster:Toby
thread:4833
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/19990601/msgs/7635.html