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New Psychotherapist

Discussion in 'Support Subforum' started by kevinmichael, Aug 27, 2015.

  1. kevinmichael

    kevinmichael Peer Supporter

    I have started with a new psychotherapist. Unfortunately she does not seem to be on track with TMS. She says that it is important to distract oneself from pain however she stated that if I keep thinking about what is going on in my subconscious it is just another way of being preoccupied about pain/symptoms. I am very discouraged. I told her the titles of all four of Dr. Sarnos books and she did not know any of them. She just wants to teach me about how to treat anxiety in the usually way. By focusing on other things. According to her you can not simultaneously calm down and think about repressed emotions/rage at the same time. I think she does not get it. I explained in detail the program and the principles. I think I may have to dump her.
    There does not seem to be anyone in my state that is a TMS practitioner. She wants me to do mindfulness however. Mindfulness seems to contradict bringing repressed emotions to the fore front so that the symptoms no longer have their purpose .
     
    mike2014 likes this.
  2. Boston Redsox

    Boston Redsox Well Known Member


    Its not her fault….this is what she knows. I recommended seeing a tms therapist for a few sessions and then switch over. Believe me there roads do cross at some point on the healing process. The tms therapist will cut to the chase much faster. And once they make you aware of your issues you can move on to a regular therapist.

    God Bless
     
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  3. mike2014

    mike2014 Beloved Grand Eagle

    Hello kevinmichael, it's good that you've engaged with someone and now have a clearer idea of what you are looking for.

    You still have the option of working with someone over Skype, Boston Redsox said in another thread, most people only ever have 5 or 6 sessions then work through the process and journey themselves.

    Mindfulness is beneficial in that it will help you reduce stress and the worry you have regarding your ailments. It will also allow you to observe your thoughts without reacting and see things with a stronger focuss and clarity.

    All the best
     
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  4. Grateful17

    Grateful17 Well known member

    Mindfulness actually does help to calm the TMS'er mind. Many of us are Great Thinkers and are always IN OUR HEADS, because we never learned how to Feel. Mindfulness helps with Present Moment Awareness. I used to feel wired all the time with a fast resting heart rate. Since doing 15 minutes of Mindfulness meditations in the am and pm, my resting heart rate is down almost 20 beats after a meditation.. I am on the 4th week of a 10 week process called the Presence Process by Michael Brown. And his program does the following: It's main goal is to Bring the Repressed Emotions to the surface to be safely integrated. I like it so far.

    Pick out a TMS therapist and do Skype sessions...........
     
  5. Boston Redsox

    Boston Redsox Well Known Member

    I respect your journey with the PP I found it to be a bunch of BS. But I do agree if anything the meditation ritual is great except for the stupid mantras he make you say every week ( not needed)
    Again please don't take offense this was just my experience with THE PP I did it twice . Waste of time but it did get me to mediate everyday .
     
  6. Grateful17

    Grateful17 Well known member

    Boston,
    No offense taken. I value all opinions. My doctor that recommended the Presence Process has done it 7 times himself and he has seen it help many. I really like it so far. I was amazed when it lowered my heart rate like it did. Here are some notes I took from the Book. Some of it was over my head in terms of how he writes. I did not quite understand it all as it was laid out, but I did grasp enough to take these notes:

    THE PRESENCE PROCESS:
    1. Our intent is not to feel better but to get better at feeling
    2. acceptance is the doorway to transformation
    3. consciously connected breathing produces an increased sense of well-being and helps you respond instead of react.
    4. The presence process is an invitation to step into a pathway that liberates us from the prison of unconscious mental distraction or drama.
    5. It activates a away of being that empowers us to respond to life instead of reacting to it. It leads us into an awareness of what we share rather than focusing on the things that cause us to experience separation.
    6. The presence process is a journey into ourselves, And equips us to integrate the suppressed fear, anger, and grief that seeps into our daily experience.
    7. Living in time, running from yesterday, and frantically chasing tomorrow without rest and stopping to feel peaceful, is what the presence process addresses and Soothes.
    8. Entering present moment awareness, you will notice a steady decrease in mental analysis.
    9. The presence process specializes in assisting us in gently accessing suppressed emotions.
    10. The breathing practice fosters daily accumulation of present moment awareness through integration of the energetic patterns that keep us trapped in a time-based mentality.
    11. There is no way to breathe in the past or in the future, we can only breathe in the present. By becoming aware of our breathing, we remain anchored in the moment and not the past or future.
    12. And presence process shows us how to prevent drama and instructs us how to integrate blocked emotions.
    13. Chronic illness and disease are outer manifestations of an un-integrated charge within the emotional body.
    And when charged emotions are sufficiently integrated, there is no longer a foundation for affliction.
    14. The more we integrate our charged emotional condition, the less severe our afflictions are.
    15. We must feel emotions we have long suppressed.
    16. The turbulence we experience with the presence process is beneficial. The way out is through, and we must go inward.
    17. We must willingly ride our inner Dragon.
    18. OUR DAILY BREATHING PRACTICE IS THE SEED OF A PLANT THAT BEARS THE FRUIT WE SEEK.
    PRESENT MOMENT AWARENESS.
    19. When we are struggling physically, mentally, and emotionally through this process, it's because we are being impacted by it in a beneficial manner.
     
    Last edited: Aug 27, 2015
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  7. kevinmichael

    kevinmichael Peer Supporter

    I think that by now if you are a competent psycho therapist in America you should know what TMS is. I saw the book The Mind Body Prescription all the way back in 1998. I have known what it is even before I got the internet in 1999. She should be keeping up on important things in her field.:shy:
     
  8. Tennis Tom

    Tennis Tom Beloved Grand Eagle

    You would think so, BUT, I have numerous occasions to interact with many psychotherapists socially, I have mentioned the Good Doctor's work in the field of psychosomatic medicine to them, and his books, and there has been absolutely ZERO interest from any of them in the topic of TMS, nor have any of them ever heard of him.

    My theory is that they want to align themselves with the "professional" allopathic doctors, and be pretend white-coats, ergo, "mental illness" is a chemical/structural imbalance. They can't prescribe meds, so they talk/ or rather listen, for a nice fee--what I call a "paid for buddy".
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2015
  9. Boston Redsox

    Boston Redsox Well Known Member

    I hate to say it but you make some sense there TT. A fee for a buddy !
     
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  10. Tennis Tom

    Tennis Tom Beloved Grand Eagle

    Thank you Marco, tennis, like TMS has some rather arcane appearing fundamentals, but sometimes I hope I get the score right--a broken clock is right twice a day--write?
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2015
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  11. Boston Redsox

    Boston Redsox Well Known Member

    But let me say this once you have had a few session to explain what's going on and how it's affecting you mentally and physically every session after that is just repetitive and sometimes I just chalk it up to a unbiased opinion letting me dump all my mental baggage without judgement. Sometimes that cleansing in itself .

    I reach a point that my session are at a stand still until I make a change for myself .
     
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  12. Tennis Tom

    Tennis Tom Beloved Grand Eagle

    God helps those who help themselves: God Will Save Me - The Epistle

    "God Will Save Me

    A terrible storm came into a town and local officials sent out an emergency warning that the riverbanks would soon overflow and flood the nearby homes. They ordered everyone in the town to evacuate immediately.

    A faithful Christian man heard the warning and decided to stay, saying to himself, “I will trust God and if I am in danger, then God will send a divine miracle to save me.”

    The neighbors came by his house and said to him, “We’re leaving and there is room for you in our car, please come with us!” But the man declined. “I have faith that God will save me.”

    As the man stood on his porch watching the water rise up the steps, a man in a canoe paddled by and called to him, “Hurry and come into my canoe, the waters are rising quickly!” But the man again said, “No thanks, God will save me.”

    The floodwaters rose higher pouring water into his living room and the man had to retreat to the second floor. A police motorboat came by and saw him at the window. “We will come up and rescue you!” they shouted. But the man refused, waving them off saying, “Use your time to save someone else! I have faith that God will save me!”

    The flood waters rose higher and higher and the man had to climb up to his rooftop.

    A helicopter spotted him and dropped a rope ladder. A rescue officer came down the ladder and pleaded with the man, "Grab my hand and I will pull you up!" But the man STILL refused, folding his arms tightly to his body. “No thank you! God will save me!”

    Shortly after, the house broke up and the floodwaters swept the man away and he drowned.

    When in Heaven, the man stood before God and asked, “I put all of my faith in You. Why didn’t You come and save me?”

    And God said, “Son, I sent you a warning. I sent you a car. I sent you a canoe. I sent you a motorboat. I sent you a helicopter. What more were you looking for?”
     
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  13. Boston Redsox

    Boston Redsox Well Known Member

    You just got all religious on my ass?
     
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  14. mike2014

    mike2014 Beloved Grand Eagle

    Haha this is an entertaining thread
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2015
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  15. amarie133

    amarie133 Peer Supporter

    My psychologist at a pain management clinic didn't support me when I went to him and told him I thought my right forearm pain was MBS (even though I told him I thought I had two other psychosomatic episodes of chronic pain in my mid 20's.) He was good at helping me manage and distract myself from my pain. But he kept focusing on the physical, even after seeing him for 2 months and I magically woke up in the middle of the night with biceps tendonitis on the opposite arm (the night of my birthday when my preteen stepdaughter chose not to wish me happy birthday). He said, yeah I have biceps tendonitis too, it sucks.
    I spent the next three weeks thinking I had another physical injury, in the mean time the forearm flared up again. So I had very little use of my arms for about a week. Until I finally made the connection that my deep sadness and disappointment about my stepdaughter resulted in the shoulder pain. Overnight, the pain in my shoulder disappeared, 100%.
    The point I'm trying to make is unless your psychologist understands Sarno's work, and how the mind can actually produce physical pain and symptoms, you are not working with someone who is qualified to treat you 100%.
    Because I live in Hawaii and have no TMS doctors or psychologists here, I had finally rely on myself. I had to fully, totally accept that this was TMS and I was going to be courageous and brave and move myself through the process.
    Today I am 98%.
    Last week I did find a mental health counselor who was actually one of my classmates in acupuncture school. She understands the mind-body connection and also trusted me enough for me to tell her I believe I have a psychosomatic condition. Instead of steering me toward the physical, she is taking me through the process of exploring the mental/emotional/spiritual suffering that has led me to this place.

    kevinmichael, there is a difference between mindfulness meditation and meditation that focuses on concentration. Mindfulness means to sit with whatever arises in the mind, or sensation in the body. Like mike2014 said, you can observe thoughts or sensations as they come up with awareness and without reactivity or judgement.
    The practice of concentration meditation would be to return to the breath or whatever object of concentration you use, a mantra like peace, peace, peace or a number... 1, 1, 1, when a thought or sensation in the body arises. This is a great practice for gaining the ability to actually begin to control your thoughts as they arise.
    Enjoy this process and the freedom it will bring :)
     
    Last edited: Aug 28, 2015
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  16. Boston Redsox

    Boston Redsox Well Known Member

    Well said again I feel Therpist/therapy is useful to a point it's up to us to change our life and willing to heal
     
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  17. amarie133

    amarie133 Peer Supporter

    Boston Redsox, what's the value of staying the same? What is the value of changing?
    Please also remember that you are worthy of healing, but only you can know and believe that.
     
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  18. Boston Redsox

    Boston Redsox Well Known Member

    Well said Amarie well said hope you find wellness in your journey
     
    amarie133 likes this.
  19. riv44

    riv44 Well known member

    As I progress in my work and healing, I naturally incorporate gentle inquiry into TMS in my clients, much as I do other addictions or what I prefer to call stuck points. The MBS framework is a natural step for me.
     
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  20. Boston Redsox

    Boston Redsox Well Known Member

    Riv44

    I forgot that you said u are a Therpist do you also have tms?
     

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