Choosing a TMS Therapist, by Hasanna Fletcher

Practitioner Hasanna Fletcher

Often just reading and working with any of Dr. Sarno's books is enough to overcome symptoms. But sometimes repressed feelings are too unacceptable or unbearable to uncover without the support of a trained therapist.

It's important to work with a therapist who either is familiar with TMS or is open to the idea of physical symptoms serving as a defense against repressed emotional pain. It's good to ask about their experience treating problems like your own. Of course, it's particularly helpful if the therapist knows the territory personally. The therapist should be experienced in exploring childhood pain and delving into unconscious feelings, as opposed to a purely cognitive-behavioral approach. And it should be someone you feel comfortable and safe enough with to explore difficult feelings.

Gather information to help describe your problem: when did your symptoms begin, how often do they occur, their location(s) in your body and any connection you can find to events, people and places in your life.

Make a list of every stress in your life, past and present to help get a clear understanding of everything you're coping with. We TMS types tend to minimize what we're dealing with, so sometimes just becoming aware of the sheer number of items on your stress list could help to explain your symptoms and the repressed feelings all that pressure is generating. Also, remember that there is usually hidden (or minimized) pain even for those of us with “perfectly normal childhoods”.

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