Case #149 - Fear of knives

Catrina talked about a fear of knives. When she was 6, she was with her father. She had to make the dinner, by herself. She cut the veggies in hurry, and slipped on a potato, cutting her finger. There was blood.

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Case #150 - Distracted...or defiant?

My first comment to Marcy was - I need to ground myself to start with. I was feeling a little flustered, and needed to come into the present. I often found myself tussling with Marcy; it was hard work doing therapy with her.

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Case #151 - Digestion - the cure for talking too much.

Odetta said that she talked too much, then felt depleted. I noted to myself that characterlogicaly, this suggested issues to do with orality, and unmet needs. She said that she had problems with two different women. I asked her to pick one of them, and have a dialogue with her, by imagining she was on the other chair.

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Case #152 - Everyday abandonment

Felice said she was afraid of abandonment. This is of course a fairly common theme. I had worked with Felice, and new that she could be somewhat dramatic, and childlike at times. She was young - in her mid 20's. So rather than go into her 'abandoned' position, I went to a responsibility position.

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Case #153 - Underneath the face mask

Belinda laughed and smiled a lot. I told her that I enjoyed her friendly manner. And I also wondered what she was feeling. She said she felt fear, but tended to hide it. I asked further.. Fear of rejection was her issue.

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Case #154 - Don't overestimate me

A therapy session can, from a dialogical point of view, start with the therapist's experience and feelings first. When this is in the form of a relational statement, it can be an excellent beginning to a session.

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Case #155 - The softening expression

Betty came forward to work. My previous experience of her was that she was quite a card. Funny, dramatic; she talked about a variety of problems she felt quite hopeless about.

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Case #156 - Interrupting the shame cycle

Tracey and Samantha were talking about some unfinished business from previous times in their relationship, a conflict they had where Tracey had reacted to Samantha, and they had an argument.

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Case #157 - Pretending

Miranda's concern was about her tone of voice, which she felt was 'pretend'. She explained how she engaged at a level of social nicety, but that she felt a lack of authenticity in that place.

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Case #158 - All about needs

Dana had got very triggered by something that occurred in the group, had gone into her shame, and then said she felt like vomiting. So I encouraged her, and she vomited a little.

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Case #159 - Getting unstuck

Linda raised her issues with her mother, who had come to stay with her recently. She said she didn't like being around her mother, who she found 'sticky'. Her mother would ask her for advice, then reject everything she said, and then later ask for advice again. Her mother would take a kind of child role and tone of voice with Linda, who couldn't stand this.

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Case #160 - Missing father

Julie said her issue was deep pain. She felt a bit nervous with me, so I invited her to ask me a question (rather than me putting the spotlight on her). She asked me 'how do you deal with deep pain'. I share with her some ways I recently dealt with my deep pain.

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Case #161 - Peaceful but lonely

Deb talked about her sadness. I told her I wanted to get to know a bit about her first, before going to that place. I need a sense of contact with a client, some grounding in the relationship between us. She talked about her life, her professional, her family. She said that she had a peaceful marriage. I found this phrase 'a peaceful marraige' to be interesting - its not something I hear a lot from clients. Mostly their marriages contain some conflict.

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Case #162 - Jack in the box

Melissa talked about having 'lost her memory' of her childhood. She could only remember a few things - everything seemed to be lost in some inaccessible mist. This was annoying to her, and concerned her, and she kept asking why her childhood memories were not available to her.

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Case #163 - Dot points

Tanya described a layer of heat in her shoulder, and neck. I asked her what these feelings were connected to. She said that when she heard 'twisted words' she felt violent. She explained that her mother had been wild and irrational…and that when Tanya had talked to her, Tanya felt like she was getting squeezed by a snake.

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Case #164 - Building ground

Bethany came forward to work. She was clearly shy. I made some comments, about myself, my own slight nervousness, my interest in meeting her. She didn't say much in response. There was a slightly awkward silence between us. I let the silence be there, noticing what I was feeling, staying present with her.

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Case #165 - Finding a personal spirituality

Max was very emotional. For him, seeking God, spiritual connection, was very important. But despite his efforts, he found he was not gaining that sense, no real experience of something spiritual. His sense of God as infinite, omni present gave him a feeling of distance, rather than closeness.

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Case #166 - Spiritual transformation: from the pain of lack, to the possiblity of connection

Ulan had an issue with her mother. Ulan believed in Buddhist philosophy, while her mother was a deeply Catholic, and believed her daughter would go to hell because she was not a Christian. Her mother was very oriented towards the afterlife.

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Case #167 - The unexorcism

Julieanne talked about having 'demons'. She said she wanted to exorcise them. Now I dont 'believe' in demons, but I do accept that this was her meaning framework. In a Gestalt-phenomenological approach, we want to understand the clients reality, from within, rather than using external reference points.

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Case #168 - Unconsumated desire

When Belinda was 16, she met a boy from another church, and fell in love. There was a ban in their religion on premarital sex. Time went by, and they wanted to get married. He bought some furniture, in preparation for moving in together.

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Case #169 - Watching the hands

Marcie spoke about her difficulties at work - she would get frustrated, angry, and then feel guilty about it.

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