I found the mention of hope as an antidote to depression the most relevant to me. I am currently a home health aide who comes from a Roman Catholic perspective. I would need to mull over how I would articulate hope not only from my religious perspective, but with a spaciousness that would help someone who is not grounded in or even a part of my tradition. HMMM!!!
Great Video. Its wonderful to get more ideas to help with Depressed clients. I suggest that they do something with their hands when they start noticing the familiar pattern of thoughts intensifying the Depression. Doodle, color, make a cup of tea etc etc.
Kerry Wickman, Social Work, Salt Lake City, UT, USAsays
I employ what I call “flip it on its lid.” I ask my patients to consider the exact opposite reaction from others, thoughts and feelings they are either expecting or currently experiencing. If they say, “This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me,” I ask them to think about how it might be the very best thing that has ever happened. Or to imagine themselves down the road, looking back on today. How is this experience they are perceiving as so horrid, actually “flipped” into being an experience they’d never give back due to its informative, life-changing nature? This exercise can get very detailed and imaginative with some creativity.
Within the holistic nursing profession the belief is that health proceeds from a balance of physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological and social needs. The re-framing techniques mentioned in this video would be a way of looking beyond the medical condition (ex.: chemical imbalance) towards the treatment of the whole person. Assisting the client to find and connect with their intuitive calling (an unseen and uniquely defined concept that differs with each individual) is one way that facilitates a client’s internal heart-felt motivation that can move the client away from the repetitive thought thought patterns creating a stuck pattern in depression. Creating a new pattern is a strategy that helps the client use their sense of intuition to get in touch with what is is they really need and increases self-awareness of fitting into one’s sense of place in the world.
I would have loved to hear more from Peter Levine and Richard Schwartz. To my mind Somatic Experiencing and IFS are much more comprehensive, helpful modalities that actually look at what’s going on at a deep level, rather than just offering a client superficial CBT type exercises that don’t stick for everyone and don’t get to the core of the problem. I don’t think they’re particularly helpful for anyone with even a slightly complex case or someone suffering from trauma. I didn’t find these videos as helpful as others you have offered I must say, but I appreciate that you have a range of experts to show. It’s just that the two I mentioned above were just kind of spliced in very briefly into these videos in what I felt was an inauthentic way. Peter Levine for instance probably wouldn’t support the use of just cognitive exercises alone because he’s an amazing pioneer of bodywork and realises that the root of all distress is that trauma is stored in the nervous system so we need to start there – but you kind of used a segment of what he said to try to support other experts’ overall points. Please give us more of Peter Levine and Richard Schwartz (is that the correct spelling?) next time.
The way I work with a client who is depressed depends on them as individuals and what their needs are. Sometimes it is based on my research entitled: (easy to read) thesis entitled “Lives unseen: unacknowledged trauma of non-disordered, competent Adult Children Of Parents with a Severe Mental Illness”. What I do to interrupt their depressive patterns? Sometimes I start by psycho-educating them with info on trauma, grief based on the research I did. That is, if they are part of that population I researched. If people are curious, they just need to Google my name: Suzette Misrachi (where my brief articles can also be freely accessed along with other resources on trauma and grief, they also give ideas on how to disrupt negativity). This freely accessible trauma research has been download well over 18,000 times in approx. 80 countries.
Thank you so much to all the presenters for giving us such meaningful examples via such real life stories. It will certainly enhance my work.
Some connectivity with the presence/interjection of hope. But not quite certain how I would articulate this in a context as a helper deliberately reaching out from a Roman Catholic perspective. I would have to find a way to authentically express this.
Metaphors and stories are a fantastic way for clients to write a new narrative. When they learn to connect their felt sense to a part of their current story they can shift and “change tracks (my own metaphor 🙂)” . They will usually give their own metaphorical language when they first tell you their story that you can pick up and use/apply for the “therapeutic” metaphor.
As often as is appropriate, I try and use reframing with depressed clients. I find this works really well with most but not all clients. Some are just more rigid and stuck and these take a little more effort to jiggle out of their entrenched position. I love a good reframe. Its immensely satisfying as a therapist to see the light dawn on the clients face, then they smile and at that moment you know they’ve seen the light, so to speak.
Thank you for the pearls of wisdom shared in this video.
I find EMDR is a highly effective treatment for interrupting depressive patterns.
Best Regards,
Bonnie Chaput, R.N., LMHC
Thank you – that was very interesting.
I often find as a relationship therapist that people get into negative ways of interacting and this can impact their way of thinking, which can leave them feeling depressed. I find that by drawing out the spirals, breaking down these negative patterns of interacting and looking at how they make them feel, they can change the way that they think and react to situations more positively. Just simple reframing can also have a impact and on these patterns, to break distorted thinking and enable the client to see things more positively.
Thank you for the talk and for your questions at the end which are so helpful in challenging me to self reflect and take account of my work, something that can so easily fade into the distance in the day to day routines.
Firstly I establish rapport, secondly I find a way to empathise, thirdly I help the client to learn control / choice theory so that they can begin to know that they are the only ones that can change this and fourthly I challenge by offering alternative narratives and reframes. On reflection, I think offering kindness and establishing an authentic relationship is the ground from which everything else can grow. In my experience it is key.
Sibyl Kramer, Systemic Couple and Family Therapist, Working at a Couceling Place. Beratungsstelle Scala in Solothurn.
Hi,
Thanks, for the videoclip,
I think this could be helpfull.
I find it a very interessting Theory on interrupting depressive Patterns.
Working with the narrative that keeps the depressive pattern alive seems a interessting, useful Idea.
Please excuse my english, I am writing and listening from Switzerland.
Sibyl
As Lynn Lyons mentioned, I also look for the narrative or the incident or past experiences that left the person stuck in a negative narrative of helplessness, “not good enough”, and powerlessness. I use a re-sourcing technique to help the person feel more self-love and self-acceptance.
I offer a tool of naming the thought pattern that rises: “this is boredom, this is the critic, this is the over-controlling.” Then I invite the client to step back and witness that moment as one of many, while also remembering a moment free of shame, guilt, criticism and pressure. While contemplating those two moments simultaneously, to choose one that brings more joy. When the choice is made, a shift usually happens at a deep level.
Thank you for asking to share.
Dr. Monique Giard
EMDR Therapist
Thank you for this interesting approach. I do use the narrative approach but like the metaphor of the “bad break-up.” There is usually a loss associated with depression but I hadn’t thought of it in this case. I also like the idea of 100 things that bring joy. I’ve had my clients write 3 things a day but think this project asks more of them. I could imagine some visual aids. I personally use IFS therapy to help clients to get to know the parts that are feeling so hopeless. Many tools are needed in the toolbox!
I have a great appreciation of the symptoms of depression, the mental and physical, as the song says ” How can I get a move on, when I can’t even get my shoes on. So building new neural pathways is huge, so I use the clients own existing neural pathways and add a cognitive…to recognize an existing positive they can own.
Example: client – I was abused from the age of two, missed school, and just dont want to be here anymore.
Therapist: – You have been abused, lost education, and fought to now, you wear many unseen medals.
Difficult to describe, but when working as I have with referrals who have been saved from a seriously intended suicide, a small step is even too much, finding one already made and adding it to their own neurological pathway of negativity dilutes the power of depression by adding an unrecognized positive.
The weariness of depression and lack of motivation is bypassed, and a serotonin
boost of positivity from the therapists recognition of accomplishments builds a possibility of imagination for future resilience.
A script for suicide is often made when young and powerless, triggered by parallel feelings, adding to this script brings new cognitives into play.
Some very good inspiration on here, and very creative, and inspiring work thank you
Catherine Darling Forensic Psychotherapist in PTSD
most of the time, depression is the result of “stuck-ness” is this stuck-ness coming as a trauma response, from a loss, from a state of mind that is hopeless about something and believes it cant do anything to change it .. Knowing the source can bring the right clue for what type of disruption or an interruption would help them the most.
For example, for a trauma response, it could be engaging a client in something that is giving them experience that is kind of opposite of trauma that they experienced, and it would not be easy in any way, sometimes it be a movie that show them emotions that are needed to be felt as a flip side of what they experienced during the trauma…
In states of loss, the grieving has to be done and processed so providing a loving and supportive holding space for it to be expressed and processed, and then the client is given an idea what is the loss is actually a gain? in what ways that experience have built them better ?
Suzette Doescher, Social Work, Commerce, TX, USAsays
I begin by making them write down every depressive thought & feeling they can think of. Then I set client to be the “therapist” and I’m the consultant. They then dialog with the “client self/depressive self” and offer solutions to her/him. Then we open to discussion, EMDR or other ways that appeal to the “therapist/client.
Michelle R. Kobayashi, Psychotherapy, Los Angeles, CA, USAsays
I hope Ruth and NICABM appreciate frankness as much as I do.
I consistently find your offerings tempting. I’ve purchased a number of them. My desire to continue listening and purchasing is dwindling quickly, however. Ruth Comes across beautifully — intelligent, attractive, professional and very warm. It would be perfect if she introduced the speakers, provided 1-3 sentence transitions between speakers and/or major topic changes.
For me, the frequent interruptions and commentary seriously detract from the learning experience. Often the comments simply restate or repeat what the speaker just said. The audience for these trainings are by and large people who have sat through and successfully digested hundreds of hours of far less interesting didactic information. I assume, like me, they really want to hear and learn from the speakers, have very limited listening time and possess the intellectual capacity to make sense of what the experts are saying without repetition or restatement..
I hope I have not offended. I’m hungry for the content NICABM offers and look forward to being enriched by many more of your trainings in the future.
But, please, let me enjoy a direct relationship with the luminaries you present. It’s a good bet watching them speak to me on a NICABM video is as close as I’m ever going to get!
Elizabeth Labriola, Counseling, New Lenox, IL, USAsays
We discuss setting the foundation for positive feelings. This foundation starts at what we put in our eyes, ears and speak about. So we set SMART goals to engage in the most effortless positivity. For example listening to positive podcast, audiobook,motivation speech on YouTube, sermon etc. for a tolerable amount of time a day (5,10,15,20 mins). Then we process (speak) about what the identified with or when they recognized a positive sensation of hope while listening.
Very informative, simple to do. Disrupt the pattern of helplessness/depression by connecting to something new and different. Writing, movement, connecting to any of the senses are doorways in. These were helpful reminders!!
Very informative, simple to do. Disrupt the pattern of helplessness/depression by connecting to something new and different. Writing, movement, connecting to any of the senses are doorways in. These were helpful reminders!!
Linda Ramsey, Marriage/Family Therapy, Austin, TX, USAsays
This was very helpful, especially the part about disrupting the vicious spiral with a virtuous spiral. I realized that I was already using some of this, along with reframing to break the depressive cycle.
Thank you for how succinct and useful these short topics are and how easily applied.
Thank you for this interesting video. I both like and concur strongly with Lynn’s statement about ‘not doing the disorder’ .This can be a powerful and empowering approach. It assists people from moving out of their ( normally negative) Internal Locus out into an External Locus.
I work with blind students. Often when they are first diagnosed with vision loss they become depressed and want to stay inside. I go out with them and support their goals. This sense of success helps them have hope and a realisation that they are able to do more than first thought. I enjoyed hearing about the focus away from inner thoughts as a colleague currently has a relative who has changed sex and is depressed and my and the colleagues immediate thought was its hormonal which it probably is but not sure of the options here to discuss for the future and getting out if they are not feeling happy in their new self. Any thoughts.
It is so helpful to have examples of how a professional may interact with client for the purpose of externalising to allow client to become ‘less stuck’ on the internal/external sliding spectrum and choosing tasks, which while the client might not complete, plants the seed for reflection at a later date.
For me also this has been the best way of working… clients often re tell and re tell their lead into depression. I have been using Tar Brachs book as a guide to expand on mindful practice to help myself and clients to stay connected and fully aware of presence .. ie NOW.
I highly recommend her book on Radical compassion and thank you for all these video’s they help keep me inspired as a therapist!
All of these ideas are so helpful, but we should not underestimate the power of acknowledging the source of depression. For most this will be unresolved trauma or grief. In the first instance when a client is telling me their ‘story’ I would want to explain to them why they feel the way they do, and that it is OK to feel this way. (Psycho-education). In my experience disrupting the patterns then becomes an easier task.
I have never thought of it as distruption or distraction. I counteract what they are saying about the cause of their depression by asking for evidence of their negative thoughts and asking them to write it down.
My aim is not to ignore their experience, or to make it insignificant but to allow them to look through a different lense.
I like the idea of writing down and not doing the disorder.
I help clients get in touch with what they have lost and what it means to them. They get in touch with what they care about, what they want to nurture and protect. Then I can help them begin to bring some of that back into their lives. Or I help them get in touch with the concerns they have about their lives and help them begin to address those concerns through action, perhaps starting with little steps to get on a path towards the life they want.
Thank a lot for the sharing. I help people going out their loop like you described, searching looking for resources (like the 100 things to write) and I work with a map of Four directions as tool to ground things and make the thinkings outside themself, this is a knowledge helping to balance, the wheel of four direction is supposed also to be us with four directions (front left right behind), four modalities of being, the four saison, representing the family, the groups we belong, the individual, and the mystery place of things we don’t know. It Shows the person how she feels standing in each direction, for example what was before, what are next steps, I like to put this map and representation of four directions directly on the ground and ask them to visit this wheel, their own wheel themself, to feel, to clarify and understand standing in motion where they are on the wheel right now, and exploring the direction they are possibly stuck with their stories/narratives, what direction is may be in excess, what direction of themself they didn’t nourish yet ou couldn’t nourish yet, which direction they feel well on the wheel, it gives ideas, it gives representations, it gives openings. To sumerize I really appreciate and see the efficiency of the help of the four directions and four seasons as helpers, and much much more in it. Catherine
I try to make clarity about their values, about what kind of person they would like to be, and help them set intention to move in that direction starting with the smallest step they can do. I invite them to notice anything nice happened to them at the end of the day, one thing apparently insignificant, and write in down
I found the mention of hope as an antidote to depression the most relevant to me. I am currently a home health aide who comes from a Roman Catholic perspective. I would need to mull over how I would articulate hope not only from my religious perspective, but with a spaciousness that would help someone who is not grounded in or even a part of my tradition. HMMM!!!
Great Video. Its wonderful to get more ideas to help with Depressed clients. I suggest that they do something with their hands when they start noticing the familiar pattern of thoughts intensifying the Depression. Doodle, color, make a cup of tea etc etc.
I often use the abc’s of emotions to help them reframe their experiences. Also called RET.
I employ what I call “flip it on its lid.” I ask my patients to consider the exact opposite reaction from others, thoughts and feelings they are either expecting or currently experiencing. If they say, “This is the worst thing that has ever happened to me,” I ask them to think about how it might be the very best thing that has ever happened. Or to imagine themselves down the road, looking back on today. How is this experience they are perceiving as so horrid, actually “flipped” into being an experience they’d never give back due to its informative, life-changing nature? This exercise can get very detailed and imaginative with some creativity.
Within the holistic nursing profession the belief is that health proceeds from a balance of physical, emotional, spiritual, psychological and social needs. The re-framing techniques mentioned in this video would be a way of looking beyond the medical condition (ex.: chemical imbalance) towards the treatment of the whole person. Assisting the client to find and connect with their intuitive calling (an unseen and uniquely defined concept that differs with each individual) is one way that facilitates a client’s internal heart-felt motivation that can move the client away from the repetitive thought thought patterns creating a stuck pattern in depression. Creating a new pattern is a strategy that helps the client use their sense of intuition to get in touch with what is is they really need and increases self-awareness of fitting into one’s sense of place in the world.
I would have loved to hear more from Peter Levine and Richard Schwartz. To my mind Somatic Experiencing and IFS are much more comprehensive, helpful modalities that actually look at what’s going on at a deep level, rather than just offering a client superficial CBT type exercises that don’t stick for everyone and don’t get to the core of the problem. I don’t think they’re particularly helpful for anyone with even a slightly complex case or someone suffering from trauma. I didn’t find these videos as helpful as others you have offered I must say, but I appreciate that you have a range of experts to show. It’s just that the two I mentioned above were just kind of spliced in very briefly into these videos in what I felt was an inauthentic way. Peter Levine for instance probably wouldn’t support the use of just cognitive exercises alone because he’s an amazing pioneer of bodywork and realises that the root of all distress is that trauma is stored in the nervous system so we need to start there – but you kind of used a segment of what he said to try to support other experts’ overall points. Please give us more of Peter Levine and Richard Schwartz (is that the correct spelling?) next time.
Absolutely!!
I like these presentations however It is not necessary for Ruth to repeat every thing we just heard from the presenters.
The way I work with a client who is depressed depends on them as individuals and what their needs are. Sometimes it is based on my research entitled: (easy to read) thesis entitled “Lives unseen: unacknowledged trauma of non-disordered, competent Adult Children Of Parents with a Severe Mental Illness”. What I do to interrupt their depressive patterns? Sometimes I start by psycho-educating them with info on trauma, grief based on the research I did. That is, if they are part of that population I researched. If people are curious, they just need to Google my name: Suzette Misrachi (where my brief articles can also be freely accessed along with other resources on trauma and grief, they also give ideas on how to disrupt negativity). This freely accessible trauma research has been download well over 18,000 times in approx. 80 countries.
Thank you so much to all the presenters for giving us such meaningful examples via such real life stories. It will certainly enhance my work.
Some connectivity with the presence/interjection of hope. But not quite certain how I would articulate this in a context as a helper deliberately reaching out from a Roman Catholic perspective. I would have to find a way to authentically express this.
Metaphors and stories are a fantastic way for clients to write a new narrative. When they learn to connect their felt sense to a part of their current story they can shift and “change tracks (my own metaphor 🙂)” . They will usually give their own metaphorical language when they first tell you their story that you can pick up and use/apply for the “therapeutic” metaphor.
As often as is appropriate, I try and use reframing with depressed clients. I find this works really well with most but not all clients. Some are just more rigid and stuck and these take a little more effort to jiggle out of their entrenched position. I love a good reframe. Its immensely satisfying as a therapist to see the light dawn on the clients face, then they smile and at that moment you know they’ve seen the light, so to speak.
Thank you for the pearls of wisdom shared in this video.
I find EMDR is a highly effective treatment for interrupting depressive patterns.
Best Regards,
Bonnie Chaput, R.N., LMHC
Occupational Therapists philosophy doing, being, belonging. That’s what you are talking about. Get out of our heads and into the world
My counseling department
will be holding a professional development day on 2/14. Is there any way that I could show this video then?
Thank you – that was very interesting.
I often find as a relationship therapist that people get into negative ways of interacting and this can impact their way of thinking, which can leave them feeling depressed. I find that by drawing out the spirals, breaking down these negative patterns of interacting and looking at how they make them feel, they can change the way that they think and react to situations more positively. Just simple reframing can also have a impact and on these patterns, to break distorted thinking and enable the client to see things more positively.
Thank you for the talk and for your questions at the end which are so helpful in challenging me to self reflect and take account of my work, something that can so easily fade into the distance in the day to day routines.
Firstly I establish rapport, secondly I find a way to empathise, thirdly I help the client to learn control / choice theory so that they can begin to know that they are the only ones that can change this and fourthly I challenge by offering alternative narratives and reframes. On reflection, I think offering kindness and establishing an authentic relationship is the ground from which everything else can grow. In my experience it is key.
Best regards,
Peter from Ireland.
Sibyl Kramer, Systemic Couple and Family Therapist, Working at a Couceling Place. Beratungsstelle Scala in Solothurn.
Hi,
Thanks, for the videoclip,
I think this could be helpfull.
I find it a very interessting Theory on interrupting depressive Patterns.
Working with the narrative that keeps the depressive pattern alive seems a interessting, useful Idea.
Please excuse my english, I am writing and listening from Switzerland.
Sibyl
As Lynn Lyons mentioned, I also look for the narrative or the incident or past experiences that left the person stuck in a negative narrative of helplessness, “not good enough”, and powerlessness. I use a re-sourcing technique to help the person feel more self-love and self-acceptance.
I offer a tool of naming the thought pattern that rises: “this is boredom, this is the critic, this is the over-controlling.” Then I invite the client to step back and witness that moment as one of many, while also remembering a moment free of shame, guilt, criticism and pressure. While contemplating those two moments simultaneously, to choose one that brings more joy. When the choice is made, a shift usually happens at a deep level.
Thank you for asking to share.
Dr. Monique Giard
EMDR Therapist
Thank you for this interesting approach. I do use the narrative approach but like the metaphor of the “bad break-up.” There is usually a loss associated with depression but I hadn’t thought of it in this case. I also like the idea of 100 things that bring joy. I’ve had my clients write 3 things a day but think this project asks more of them. I could imagine some visual aids. I personally use IFS therapy to help clients to get to know the parts that are feeling so hopeless. Many tools are needed in the toolbox!
I have a great appreciation of the symptoms of depression, the mental and physical, as the song says ” How can I get a move on, when I can’t even get my shoes on. So building new neural pathways is huge, so I use the clients own existing neural pathways and add a cognitive…to recognize an existing positive they can own.
Example: client – I was abused from the age of two, missed school, and just dont want to be here anymore.
Therapist: – You have been abused, lost education, and fought to now, you wear many unseen medals.
Difficult to describe, but when working as I have with referrals who have been saved from a seriously intended suicide, a small step is even too much, finding one already made and adding it to their own neurological pathway of negativity dilutes the power of depression by adding an unrecognized positive.
The weariness of depression and lack of motivation is bypassed, and a serotonin
boost of positivity from the therapists recognition of accomplishments builds a possibility of imagination for future resilience.
A script for suicide is often made when young and powerless, triggered by parallel feelings, adding to this script brings new cognitives into play.
Some very good inspiration on here, and very creative, and inspiring work thank you
Catherine Darling Forensic Psychotherapist in PTSD
most of the time, depression is the result of “stuck-ness” is this stuck-ness coming as a trauma response, from a loss, from a state of mind that is hopeless about something and believes it cant do anything to change it .. Knowing the source can bring the right clue for what type of disruption or an interruption would help them the most.
For example, for a trauma response, it could be engaging a client in something that is giving them experience that is kind of opposite of trauma that they experienced, and it would not be easy in any way, sometimes it be a movie that show them emotions that are needed to be felt as a flip side of what they experienced during the trauma…
In states of loss, the grieving has to be done and processed so providing a loving and supportive holding space for it to be expressed and processed, and then the client is given an idea what is the loss is actually a gain? in what ways that experience have built them better ?
I begin by making them write down every depressive thought & feeling they can think of. Then I set client to be the “therapist” and I’m the consultant. They then dialog with the “client self/depressive self” and offer solutions to her/him. Then we open to discussion, EMDR or other ways that appeal to the “therapist/client.
thank you-some good ideas, some new!
I hope Ruth and NICABM appreciate frankness as much as I do.
I consistently find your offerings tempting. I’ve purchased a number of them. My desire to continue listening and purchasing is dwindling quickly, however. Ruth Comes across beautifully — intelligent, attractive, professional and very warm. It would be perfect if she introduced the speakers, provided 1-3 sentence transitions between speakers and/or major topic changes.
For me, the frequent interruptions and commentary seriously detract from the learning experience. Often the comments simply restate or repeat what the speaker just said. The audience for these trainings are by and large people who have sat through and successfully digested hundreds of hours of far less interesting didactic information. I assume, like me, they really want to hear and learn from the speakers, have very limited listening time and possess the intellectual capacity to make sense of what the experts are saying without repetition or restatement..
I hope I have not offended. I’m hungry for the content NICABM offers and look forward to being enriched by many more of your trainings in the future.
But, please, let me enjoy a direct relationship with the luminaries you present. It’s a good bet watching them speak to me on a NICABM video is as close as I’m ever going to get!
We discuss setting the foundation for positive feelings. This foundation starts at what we put in our eyes, ears and speak about. So we set SMART goals to engage in the most effortless positivity. For example listening to positive podcast, audiobook,motivation speech on YouTube, sermon etc. for a tolerable amount of time a day (5,10,15,20 mins). Then we process (speak) about what the identified with or when they recognized a positive sensation of hope while listening.
Very informative, simple to do. Disrupt the pattern of helplessness/depression by connecting to something new and different. Writing, movement, connecting to any of the senses are doorways in. These were helpful reminders!!
Very informative, simple to do. Disrupt the pattern of helplessness/depression by connecting to something new and different. Writing, movement, connecting to any of the senses are doorways in. These were helpful reminders!!
This was very helpful, especially the part about disrupting the vicious spiral with a virtuous spiral. I realized that I was already using some of this, along with reframing to break the depressive cycle.
Thank you for how succinct and useful these short topics are and how easily applied.
Thank you for this interesting video. I both like and concur strongly with Lynn’s statement about ‘not doing the disorder’ .This can be a powerful and empowering approach. It assists people from moving out of their ( normally negative) Internal Locus out into an External Locus.
Thank you again
Peter
I work with blind students. Often when they are first diagnosed with vision loss they become depressed and want to stay inside. I go out with them and support their goals. This sense of success helps them have hope and a realisation that they are able to do more than first thought. I enjoyed hearing about the focus away from inner thoughts as a colleague currently has a relative who has changed sex and is depressed and my and the colleagues immediate thought was its hormonal which it probably is but not sure of the options here to discuss for the future and getting out if they are not feeling happy in their new self. Any thoughts.
It is so helpful to have examples of how a professional may interact with client for the purpose of externalising to allow client to become ‘less stuck’ on the internal/external sliding spectrum and choosing tasks, which while the client might not complete, plants the seed for reflection at a later date.
Thank you.
Helen
With some clients we use EFT to process feelings and work through the story and intensities to come to a different story.
For me also this has been the best way of working… clients often re tell and re tell their lead into depression. I have been using Tar Brachs book as a guide to expand on mindful practice to help myself and clients to stay connected and fully aware of presence .. ie NOW.
I highly recommend her book on Radical compassion and thank you for all these video’s they help keep me inspired as a therapist!
All of these ideas are so helpful, but we should not underestimate the power of acknowledging the source of depression. For most this will be unresolved trauma or grief. In the first instance when a client is telling me their ‘story’ I would want to explain to them why they feel the way they do, and that it is OK to feel this way. (Psycho-education). In my experience disrupting the patterns then becomes an easier task.
I have never thought of it as distruption or distraction. I counteract what they are saying about the cause of their depression by asking for evidence of their negative thoughts and asking them to write it down.
My aim is not to ignore their experience, or to make it insignificant but to allow them to look through a different lense.
I like the idea of writing down and not doing the disorder.
I help clients get in touch with what they have lost and what it means to them. They get in touch with what they care about, what they want to nurture and protect. Then I can help them begin to bring some of that back into their lives. Or I help them get in touch with the concerns they have about their lives and help them begin to address those concerns through action, perhaps starting with little steps to get on a path towards the life they want.
Thank a lot for the sharing. I help people going out their loop like you described, searching looking for resources (like the 100 things to write) and I work with a map of Four directions as tool to ground things and make the thinkings outside themself, this is a knowledge helping to balance, the wheel of four direction is supposed also to be us with four directions (front left right behind), four modalities of being, the four saison, representing the family, the groups we belong, the individual, and the mystery place of things we don’t know. It Shows the person how she feels standing in each direction, for example what was before, what are next steps, I like to put this map and representation of four directions directly on the ground and ask them to visit this wheel, their own wheel themself, to feel, to clarify and understand standing in motion where they are on the wheel right now, and exploring the direction they are possibly stuck with their stories/narratives, what direction is may be in excess, what direction of themself they didn’t nourish yet ou couldn’t nourish yet, which direction they feel well on the wheel, it gives ideas, it gives representations, it gives openings. To sumerize I really appreciate and see the efficiency of the help of the four directions and four seasons as helpers, and much much more in it. Catherine
I try to make clarity about their values, about what kind of person they would like to be, and help them set intention to move in that direction starting with the smallest step they can do. I invite them to notice anything nice happened to them at the end of the day, one thing apparently insignificant, and write in down