Joe—Trauma Treatment using EFT
By Dr. Carol Conrad — Licensed Psychologist, Certified EFT Therapist and Supervisor
· Republished here
From Dr. Conrad's private practice
Dr. Conrad wrote this for Couple and Family Institute of Tri-Cities, WA, her licensed psychology practice, and it is reproduced here unchanged. It describes psychotherapy, which is separate from Healing Together. Healing Together is education and coaching, not therapy. Accounts describe individual experiences and are not a promise of results for anyone. If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 in the US.
Originally published May 27, 2020. Read the original
In brief
A case study from Dr. Conrad's private practice about a man working through childhood abuse and neglect and how it had shaped his relationships. It discusses abuse, so please read with care. Names and identifying information were changed. It describes one person's experience and is not a prediction for anyone else.
Joe had been sexually abused as a child and emotionally neglected. His life had been riddled with broken relationships, divorce, challenging work settings and painful social situations. Yet, he wanted to heal from the pain of the past and was resilient enough to believe that there had to be a better way to live.
As we worked together to identify the ways in which his current life was impacted by his history, he started to realize that he was not flawed or broken, he was wounded and needed healing. Joe identified unhealed situations from the past that were still painful for him. As he began to recount some of his stories from his childhood and the abuse he endured, were able to go back in his imagination to all those painful places and helped him embrace the little boy that was abused, neglected and hurt. With a safe alliance with me, he was able to bring compassion from his adult self to the child. He began to feel relief from the pain of the past and to start to see his present differently.
We worked to help him reframe his self-image and to look at current situations that he was reacting to as though it were in the past. He was stuck in a repetitive pattern where he would turn the anger inward that became a depression, and he would be angry for being depressed. He was finally able to see how this was making matters worse. He grieved what he didn’t deserve from his abusers and began to see areas of his life and people who actually did see him and loved him. As he felt released from the past, he found he could manage things in a better way in the present. He began to trust himself, he truly realized that he was a loving individual, had the capacity to love and therefore was loveable, something he never before truly believed. Joe started to feel like he had value to himself and others. Slowly things began to change in his work environment and with his social interactions. After finding himself he discovered the courage to love again and let someone special into his life.
All stories are from real couples who have given permission to have their stories written. Names and identifying information have been changed to protect confidentiality.
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