6. Emotional participation in the "real" therapeutic relationship:
A case study of a survivor of childhood trauma
Presenter:
Maria L. Slowiaczek, PhD
Chair:
Veronica D. Abney, LCSW, DCSW
This paper is a case presentation which illustrates three aspects of using the intense emotional involvement between patient and therapist to help patients to change. First, aspects of the therapeutic relationship as a real relationship allow for new experiences of interpersonal relating. Second, the therapist assumes a stance of sustained empathic inquiry and enters the patient’s suffering to share the painful history (Orange, 1997). Third, each therapeutic interaction should be considered within the context of the history of the patient, the therapist and the relationship that has developed between them. The treatment discussed here focused heavily on movement towards and away from intense emotional engagement, partially as a result of the therapist’s tendency for emotional intensity as well as the patient’s similar capacity for intensity. The patient described in this paper had a history of chronic childhood physical abuse, and similar to many victims of childhood trauma, her experiences were dissociated into several different selves, each with their own emotions and perspectives. In working together to explore these different parts of the self, within the emotional experience of the therapeutic relationship, it became possible to understand past experiences and to restructure emotional ways of being.