So, if Energetic Trauma Healing Therapy is not about a medical model of treating trauma, what is it about?. In a nutshell it is about listening to clients and letting them lead and direct their trauma healing where they want to go. This does not mean that as their energetic therapists, we are passive in our helping role. Far from it; we must be very active in listening very carefully to our clients, asking them probing questions about the cause of their trauma, helping to clarifying their goals & intentions for healing, providing them with healing options, suggesting creative and targeted interventions, helping them overcome their internal resistance and fear, being emphatic and compassionate with their struggles and pain, and helping them evaluate their healing progress. This is to say, that we must be good teachers and empathetic supporters of their energetic healing work.
There are a number of different types of trauma. There is trauma caused by caretakers’ interference with their children’s natural stage development such rejection, over-control, exploitation, neglect, and threat of annihilation. There is trauma caused by the physical and sexual abuse of children and adults. And, there is trauma caused by accidents, illnesses, natural disasters, and war. The trauma healing innovations presented here are designed to fit into a unified, trauma healing approach which aims to help trauma victims self-direct their trauma healing work and restructure their energetic holding defenses that they adopted automatically when their caretakers interfered in their natural child-stage development causing them trauma.
In our culture, we do not much concern ourselves with childhood trauma caused by caretaker interference in children’s natural stage development. This is a huge mistake. Childhood is the foundation for adulthood. If the child’s foundation is weakened, then the adult life that is built on this weak foundation is also weak and unstable. Children who are interfered with in their natural stage development often suffer trauma which they bury and it remains so until later when mysterious, unexpected, and unexplained symptoms of the trauma emerge, usually in adulthood. Even if the child exhibits symptoms of the trauma they mostly go unrecognized by caretakers especially if the child does not exhibit overt and more dramatic trauma symptoms such as autism, anxiety, or depression. But the unrecognized trauma is there never the less weakening the child’s immune system, energy level, body flexibility, endurance, bright outlook on life, emotional stability, and spirit. This weakening of the child’s foundation will likely cause it as an adult to develop a compromised immune system making it vulnerable to dangerous viruses, antibiotic resistant bacteria, and stress related illnesses. As well, its weakened foundation, lower energy level, and compromised immune system will cause it as an adult to more likely be vulnerable over time to serious depression, anxiety, unstable relationships, and health issues. This is the reason why psychotherapy and all types of counseling efforts—from treating depression & anxiety to dealing with relationship issues—must seek to correct and strengthen the clients’ childhood foundation by healing this early caretakers interference trauma and restructuring the limiting energetic holding defenses that it produces. The problem is that conventional psychotherapy and counseling practices do not do this. It is a huge mistake of being penny-wise and dollar-foolish.
Many errant caretakers in our culture do not think that they interfere with their children’s natural stage development by using the same child rearing methods that they were raised with or that such child rearing tactics can cause trauma in their children. They often think that they know what is best for children with ideas like, “Just let her cry it out,” or, “Don’t spoil him by giving him too much attention,” or, “Spare the rod and spoil the child,” or “She’s just too cute to keep my hands off her,” or, “Going to bed hungry will teach him a lesson,” and so on. Their attitude is often, “Oh, they are just children; they will get over it.” These are just a few examples of caretakers’ interference in their children’s natural stage development. But as Fred Rodgers, on his long running PBS show, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, demonstrated over and over again, children’s needs and feelings must be taken very seriously and responded to with respect, caring, and unconditional love, just as caretakers would respond to adult family members and friends who they love with respect, caring, and unconditional love.
However, it is not just these errant caretakers who put children at risk. We all need to be reminded that children can be crushed by our unthinking, insensitive responses to them. Their whole world is wrapped up in our responses to them. What may seem to us as just pushing them away for a while can feel to them as if we are rejecting them. What may seem to us as simply exerting necessary rules for their conduct without an explanation that they understand can seem to them as if we are over-controlling their behavior. What may seem to us as just petting them and lavishing our affection on them can feel to them as if we are using and exploiting them. What may seem to us a just ignoring them for a while can seem to them as if we are neglecting them. What may seem to us as letting our tempers flare can seem to them as if it is a life threatening incident. When we repeat these kinds of hurtful responses over and over at certain ages and stages of children’s natural, unfolding development, they automatically adopt certain energetic holding defenses in order to protect themselves from the pain caused by this interference. These protective energetic holding defenses can be seen in children’s muscular bodies and attitudes. For example, at certain ages and stages of development, if children feel rejected, they adopt a Holding Back Defense; if they feel over-controlled, they adopt a Holding In Defense; if they feel exploited, they adopt a Holding Up Defense; if they feel neglected, they adopt a Holding On Defense; and if they feel threatened with annihilation, they adopt a Holding Out Defense. These muscular holding defenses then persist on into adulthood creating a variety of limiting and debilitating consequences. I will address the nature of these energetic holding defenses and how to restructure them later in this handbook.
