Francine Shapiro – Handbook of EMDR and family therapy processes

Автор: Francine Shapiro
Название книги: Handbook of EMDR and family therapy processes
Формат: PDF
Жанр: Психология
Страницы: 505
Качество: Изначально компьютерное, E-book

While baby boomers were raised on a weekly diet of Father Knows Best and
Leave It to Beaver, clearly this reflection of optimism was a source of great pain
to many who come into therapy saying, “Why wasn’t my family like that?” The
answer is, “Few are.” Looking back at the very first family, biblical iconography
paints a very different picture of fallible parents whose children must suffer for
their disastrous errors and sibling rivalry resulting in mayhem and violence.
Most families come out somewhere in the middle, but it is all too often a truism
that the “sins” of the parents are visited on the children through multiple generations.
Our clients come into therapy reflecting their family of origin in many
ways. Those who were raised in loving, supportive environments with secure attachments
have very different intrapsychic and interactional patterns from those
who were raised in demeaning or assaultive households. Not only do they see
themselves differently, but their upbringing influences their views of life’s possibilities,
the partners they choose, and, in turn, their own parenting styles.
There are thousands of ways to undercut a child’s developing psyche. So, indeed,
the harm done in one generation is frequently transmitted through succeeding
generations.
Although Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) was developed
originally as an individual psychotherapy, it should be clear that all psychotherapy
must be practiced in the context of interlocking systems. No person
exists outside of relationships. Even gurus who meditate for decades on a mountaintop
are in a relationship with the Divine, and with those who leave food outside
their cave. In any therapeutic evaluation there must be sensitivity to those
who have influenced the growth of the client’s psyche and those who continue to
impact for good or ill. Friends’, colleagues’, and most of all family members’ interactions
must be assessed to enable the therapist to thoroughly understand the
nature of the external forces that continue to shape the client’s sense of self and
other. Fortunately, the family system therapies have focused on just these interactional
and transactional patterns and can help inform individual psychotherapists,
thus providing them with a broader and richer understanding of the
clinical picture. At the same time, EMDR therapists have enjoyed the luxury of
watching a rapid and rich unfolding of intrapsychic patterns as processing opens
the doorway to the mind in the manner of time-lapse photography. Both disciplines
have much to learn from each other.
This book is envisioned as a bridge for both individual psychotherapists and
family systems therapists. Whether or not one practices EMDR, the individual
therapist is engaged in a journey with clients to liberate them from the bonds of
previous experiences that have chained them to unfulfilling repetitive patterns
of emotions, thoughts, and behaviors. The family therapist similarly is attempting
to help the system resolve destructive patterns of dislocation, chaos, or stagnation
and develop healthier interaction and coping patterns. Various forms of
family systems therapy (FST) have identified the subtle patterns of past and
present family experiences that can be investigated to formulate targets for therapeutic
attention. The EMDR processing can then liberate the client from these
experiences, as well as address therapeutic impasses that have prevented current
healthy familial interactions from taking place. When EMDR has prepared the
client to relate to family members without the burden of reactive emotional baggage,
FST can help teach family members how to interact with each other more
positively and provide new models for healthy interpersonal communication. In
turn, EMDR processing can help accelerate the learning process by incorporating
templates for positive future functioning.
In sum, knowledge of how and when to use both EMDR and FST in a complementary
fashion can prove enormously beneficial to both clinicians and clients.
Consequently, the purpose of this book is to offer the knowledge and procedures
that will encourage immediate integrative clinical application. To accomplish this
goal, the initial chapters offer an overview of EMDR and FST, plus instructions
on how to construct a genogram and an “inside” view of the client’s healing process
written by a former client. After this groundwork, each subsequent chapter
author presents a comprehensive review of the current theory and knowledge base
regarding a distinct form of FST utilized along with EMDR in his or her clinical
work, as well as of a ubiquitous clinical issue or complaint. Extensive case examples
are then given, along with specific FST and EMDR procedures to guide the
practicing clinician. It should be noted that names, ages, occupations, and other
data about individuals discussed in cases have been changed to protect their identity.
Often two or more similar cases have been combined to make any recognition
less possible.
The book ends with an overview to highlight commonalities and differences
among the various forms of treatment. Appendixes include an overview of EMDR
trauma research and additional readings, a history of FST, and additional EMDR
and FST resources.
Clearly, a family is composed of individual members who are best served by
therapies that foster actualization and individuation as well as connectedness and
healthful interactions. Likewise, individuals are the product of their family of
origin and current experiences, which may include their family of creation. It is
vital that those in the diverse fields of psychotherapy seek knowledge regarding
the rich and myriad robust procedures of alternative approaches and remain curious
and open to new information and ideas. This book is an attempt to communicate
that kind of knowledge and forge a needed bond between individual and
family therapies. Although EMDR and FST are distinct forms of psychotherapy,
each with rich and strong sets of procedures, they strengthen and reinforce each
other when used appropriately in combination, concurrently, or sequentially, to
treat the comprehensive clinical picture. The field of psychotherapy can be
viewed as a huge family in its own right, with many factions and tributaries or
tribes. Boundaries should not be impermeable, and functioning is best improved
by fruitful and healthy communication that respects different identities and
points of view.
Authors were carefully selected to convey the wide range of populations and
settings in which EMDR is being utilized and also the variety of models of family
therapy with which practitioners are using it in tandem, as it pairs well with
a number of theories. We learned a great deal from our interchanges with one
another as we crafted this book and shared our different lineages and heritages,
finding that they often dovetailed and enriched one another, and at other times
needed to stand separately. We hope the reader will also find his or her journey
in pursuit of greater therapeutic skill and wisdom illuminated by this integrative
volume.
FRANCINE SHAPIRO