Dear Tapas,I am writing for a few different reasons. First, I thought of you
last week and wanted to share a TAT story about a group session that made a
difference for several people. In addition to private practice, I work out of
two area hospitals. At one hospital, I lead a therapy group for individuals in
the Partial Hospitalization program. These are usually people who were admitted
to a mental health unit and and are on their way to cycling out of the program.
I was working as a "substitute" therapist for another person, and did not know
any of the patients (and had less than 1 hour to spend with them). My task was
to help them find ways to lessen anxiety. I don't know exactly why, but I got a
spur-of-the-moment idea to teach them the first two steps of TAT. I asked them
to put their attention on "the anxiety of being in this room with a stranger"
first, because they were all very nervous about being in this new group,
especially since they didn't know me. The next step was "the opposite feeling of
that; whatever that would be for you." I (and they) were delighted to find that
SUDS (Subjective Units of Distress) went from an average of 8 to 1!! I
reiterated that this was not the complete technique and this abbreviated version
may be helpful for on-the-spot anxiety when they did not have time to do deeper
work. I also reminded them that they should seek out a therapist or coach to
help them learn the complete technique and use it for deeper issues only with
professional assistance (at this point in their healing).I ran into 2 of
the people several days later, and they volunteered that they both felt so much
calmer about the moment-to-moment issues that come up. Both also stated that
they have used the position several times over the previous days to be more
relaxed and one used it to get to sleep. The other volunteered that she used it
when she was feeling very overwhelmed with racing thoughts, and reported that it
calmed her down and helped her think more clearly.It was wonderful to
share what little slice of TAT that I could and to find it so helpful for some
really suffering people. By the way, I also routinely advise the use of just the
position for folks in acute distress when I work in the emergency room and don't
have time to do anything else (other than the assessment of their condition).
More often than not, panic attacks are lessened so much by merely holding and
quieting. Several of my patients have been able to leave the ER without having
do be medicated with benzo's (which is truly one of my goals...and also to hook
them up with other resources to help them work through their suffering without
being drugged). While I am aware that the entire protocol is the very best, I am
so glad that at least the healing door is opened a little bit. Anyway, I just
wanted to share these things with you. I am very grateful for TAT and find
different applications almost daily for personal use and for my
patients/clients.The second reason that I wanted to write is to
congratulate you on your beautiful new website! I just heard about it. Thank you
so much for making the videos available in this format; I have no doubt that it
will make a huge difference in the lives of thousands of people. With
love,Kathy Heuser
Kathy Heuser - Testimonial found here
