Collegial Therapy!

I asked a colleague of mine to take a look at my blog page today and to give me her opinion on its presentation and its contents.

The results of this request were not entirely what I expected.....

After reading my last entry about PTSD, she asked me about the type of therapy I offered and I explained that I was more interested in generating a balance between our intellect and our emotions and I briefly told her what the therapy involved. No sooner had I done this than she told me that she had an issue which had seriously impacted upon her life for some time. This issue caused her to feel anxious when out in public and very vulnerable. My colleague believed that she was unattractive & had low self esteem.

Objectively this lady was a very attractive young blonde, whom was on the verge of representing her country in the sport of Kick Boxing at the next Olympics!!

From the outside looking in, the evidence did not support this lady's beliefs. These distorted beliefs and emotions were a result of past experiences which were now manifesting as social anxiety and trauma.

I agreed to help, I asked her to focus upon her feelings and imagine herself going out in public, to a supermarket or a bar and the prospect of meeting others. Just the thought of this was enough to cause her heart rate to increase, her palms to start sweating and for her to feel generally panicked! I then applied the therapeutic intervention and within a few minutes, the thought of going out in public and meeting people no longer triggered any negative, anxious responses.

An hour later and after my colleague had been to lunch and did a spot of shopping, I asked her how she had felt whilst she was out? She stopped for a moment and then said; Oh! I didn't notice anything actually but I probably will feel anxious later.... Needless to say she didn't, however her reaction is not uncommon. Many people that I treat don't notice that the problem has simply gone away and when you bring it to their attention they are suddenly confused and have a hard time attributing the dissapearance of the problem to the techniques that you have used. Personally this does not bother me, it is enough for me to know that I have made a difference, wehter people recognise this or not is not the issue.