Rhonda Sabo, PsyD
Excerpted from the May, 2005 NESTTD Newsletter
Dear NESTTD Members and Friends,
As I write this letter, the temperature has (finally!) begun a tentative climb and the gray-white patches of winter’s ice are in slow retreat from our New England landscape. Of course, underneath these creeping and subtle surface changes, nature is moving full-tilt toward Spring. So, in keeping with this March day, the theme of this letter will be looking beneath the surface.
I once visited an ancient columbarium, a dovecote, in Bet Guvrin in southern Israel. Walking the desert surface, the entrance was quite unremarkable, but exploration inside revealed an enormous bell-shaped, two chambered cavern. After our amazement that such a deep cave could exist, we noticed that all along the walls were carved niches, hundreds and hundreds of them, each created to house a tiny bird.
Working with people with complex trauma and dissociative disorders attracts those of us who get curious about what others experience. We are especially interested in exploring complex, uncharted mental terrain with our clients as they give us permission to do so. Like birdwatchers, we observe the little doves and pigeons as they fly out of their separate niches to bring us messages. And we try to send messages back to birds that stay hidden inside. We know better than to be preoccupied with whether the messages are “true” (we understand the fallibility of memory), or whether the doves always return to their own niches or share them or switch them (we’ve learned that alter configurations are never static). At our best, we try to pay attention and respect to the messages, the messengers, the cave builders and cave maintainers.
As explorers of columbaria, we have been aided through the years by maps provided by others. At first the maps were simple and mostly structural, such as Braun’s BASK model. Over time, the maps became much more complex, employing specialized (PET, SPECT) photography and now we know much more about the process that goes on inside, under the surface. All of these changing maps have informed how we relate to our clients and what we try to accomplish with them.
We now know that each client’s inner world benefits from a different group of responses. I have often struggled with dissociative clients, who, despite my best efforts, appeared constantly frozen within traumatic activation, or so numbed out that they couldn’t be reached. The more recents maps and guides have helped me understand better, on a moment-to-moment basis, these clients organize their experience.
As I continue this work, always guided by new maps, I am struck by how much I have to offer my clients now compared to the mid-1980’s. In the early years, in addition to the staple of hypnosis for ego strengthening, containment, and titration, I relied on journaling, artmaking and sandtray work. In the 90s, processing with EMDR maps and guides created further resolution and transformation. Then when I observed that one of my DID clients was making more progress through her Aikido training and massage therapy than she had with DID talk therapy, I became intrigued. I was challenged to reflect more about other possible avenues toward transformation and decided to study Pat Ogden’s Sensorimotor Psychotherapy. Now I try to carry my sensorimotor psychotherapy maps (along with hypnosis and EMDR), whenever I hike over to visit my clients in their worlds.
In the field of complex trauma and dissociation, where individual treatments can last up to a decade or even longer, we therapists have the luxury of offering an array of different approaches and techniques—and to study the results. I sometimes fear that I am the proverbial old dog, motivated as heck, but slow to learn the newest tricks! But as I attempt to integrate the models and techniques that I have studied into an informed and coherent treatment, I think that I sometimes find myself on the right track.
Before I end this letter, I want to talk about NESTTD. Under the usual surface our organization is also buzzing with new activity. Just as a sample, one group of our members is working on creating its own training video on dissociation and assembling a list of other projects for outreach education on dissociation throughout New England. Another group is in the process of reviewing and revamping our organizational structure and by-laws. We welcome all of you to join us in our committees and project—simply email me or contact anyone on the Board.
At this Spring’s May 14 Quarterly Meeting NESTTD will host another preeminent figure in our field, Claire Frederick, MD (who is back with us by popular demand!) I so appreciate Claire, not only for her creative thinking in the field, but also for her ability to help us synthesize the use of different techniques and models. She will address Stage II treatment issues—and I for one am grateful that she does not shy away from the topic of processing trauma. (The trauma field’s defensive retreat from the discussion of trauma processing during the ‘90s (except for the EMDR writers!) while understandable, did not help resolve the complex problem of how to quench trauma reactions rather than rekindle them, as well as how to lead our clients toward transformation and resolution.)
Spring’s revelry has the capacity to signal even the most dedicated (and overly-dedicated!) among us to wake up from our “work trance” to be more present to the world around us. As we encourage our clients to seek out resources from the world of nature, we should also attend to expanding our own fields of consciousness to include the natural world. Perhaps, at this time, we can vow to take more time and make more space—for noticing, smelling the roses, contacting, touching, breathing in, swinging, moving about, sliding, exploring, playing……
Looking forward to seeing you in May!
Yours truly,
