Mind Healing

Therapeutic metaphor work with child abuse survivors is both fascinating as well as intensely challenging. Because the experience of child abuse survivors isn't the same as that of "ordinary" people, likewise "ordinary" or stock metaphors, as you might find in a dream book or such, aren't going to cut it.

This is why child abuse survivors often react so negatively to standard therapeutic metaphors and may come away thinking that metaphor work isn't right for them - when nothing could be further from the truth. You just have to find the right kind of metaphors ...

That's a good question, and for me, there can be only one answer - start by creating your own Sanctuary. This is a safe place in mind and imagination and more than that, it is a starting point to re-connect our human faculties in a whole new way.

Many if not most child abuse and child sex abuse survivors have an outstanding imagination, for the better or for the worse. This can cause problems with hallucinations, visions and nightmares; but when we channel and learn to control our imaginations, we can use this fabulous talent and skill for healing, and so much more besides, it really is awesome. And it starts with Project Sanctuary.

The client is male, 32, and has an assortment of problems, ranging from a number of addictions to behaviour and learning disorders, anger management issues, depression, anxiety, nightmares, and "crazy thoughts".

He suspects that he might have sexually abused as a child but has no memory thereof, and is frightened of both remembering, and not remembering.

The practitioner has explained that they will create an events model, an artificial memory and deal with that, as a practice piece and also to get some forward movement into a system that has been stuck and spinning its wheels for the better part of three decades.

There are a lot of people out there who were abused as children in one way or the other, traumatised entirely and something happened that made them doubt the reality and validity of their own truthful experience. The classic scenario would be that they were accused of lying instead of someone listening and trying to help. Or accused of "making things worse than they are", or entirely "making up this whole story for attention". Here is a simple and profound idea for a resolution of this bitter (and often frightening) conflict between "real" and "imagined" injuries, memories and pain.

There are a lot of people out there who were abused as children in one way or the other, traumatised entirely and something happened that made them doubt the reality and validity of their own truthful experience. The classic scenario would be that they were accused of lying instead of someone listening and trying to help. Or accused of "making things worse than they are", or entirely "making up this whole story for attention". Here is a simple and profound idea for a resolution of this bitter (and often frightening) conflict between "real" and "imagined" injuries, memories and pain.