2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43
Very often, clients complain of a painful coma in the sternum, which is psychosomatically associated with conflict or a stressful, traumatic situation in the past.
This time, the client wanted to work through an unpleasant, messy situation that had happened a few years ago and that felt like a lump in the center of her sternum.
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Permission to Publish has been obtained, data and situation have been changed beyond recognition.
The purpose of the article is to show the experience of trauma therapy using foil.
How to remove a lump of guilt in the breastbone and relieve pain with foil
Here are the main stages of working with a stuck emotion in the sternum using art therapy using foil.
Some of the benefits of foil art therapy when dealing with trauma:
- foil does not stain hands, is convenient to use, available in almost any apartment,
- working with foil removes the barrier "I'm not a sculptor, I don't know how to sculpt",
- the foil is plastic and tough at the same time, it is easy to crush, tear and twist, it can be thrown without causing harm to the environment.
More details you can read about the foil technique in the article of my colleague and student on the article case, Studenichnik Nadezhda.
Work with the client's trauma went in several stages, it is clear that I highlight them now, when I describe the therapy:
- The relationship of a traumatic situation with a symptom. I suggested to the client, after she described the situation to me, to realize how the feeling of guilt and dirt in the body responds. She almost immediately pointed to the feeling of a "dirty" coma in the middle of the sternum, which she has been wearing in her body for over 10 years.
- Strengthening of the bodily symptom. In order to reach an emotion fixed in the form of a sensation, I propose to intensify the bodily symptom. Increase the pressure, show me this lump so that I can feel it too. Almost immediately, the client spoke about the feeling of guilt, and I, by indirect bodily signs and the way she clenched her hand into a fist, suggested suppressed anger.
- Expression of a secondary symptom. I noticed a secondary signal from the client's body - a clenching fist. As if she was clutching a ball of earth in her hand. And he suggested making a lump of foil (I spontaneously chose the foil as a material).
- Spontaneous foil sculpture. We continued to discuss the client's story while she was sculpting the ball. I noticed that in such a situation, it would be appropriate to show anger, to get angry. In response to my words, the client began to tear the cobbled together lump to pieces. Tears flowed from her, and there was a release.
- Checking for a bodily symptom. I asked to return to the sensation in the sternum, what has changed? According to the client, the lump was distributed throughout the esophagus, stomach and intestines and began to feel like a tube with hard walls. I intuitively realized that the transformation has already begun, but the situation is not yet complete.
- Expression of repressed emotion. I suggested that you tell all participants in the situation about your anger, shame, pain and guilt and continue to work with the foil. The client began to talk about anger, the crying intensified (there was a release). She split the original wad of foil in two. She threw one, symbolizing a dirty situation, to the threshold. And the second, associated with strong anger, she covered with another layer of foil and continued to wrinkle in her hands. Soon she began to calm down, her face brightened and relaxed.
- Ending a traumatic situation. According to the client, the lump from the chest left, there was a feeling of lightness and inner peace. I asked, what is she going to do with these two lumps? She decided to swaddle the lumps in a layer of foil like a baby in a diaper, tie them up with ribbons and hang them on a tree in the forest next to the house.
She finally calmed down. We talked a little more and ended the session.
Recommendation: This art therapy of repressed emotions with foil is best done in conjunction with an experienced psychologist who knows how to work with trauma. For example, with the author of this article.
Explore a symptom in DEMO format
What other situations do you see appropriate for working with foil?
Are you ready to share the technique on social networks, would you like to learn more about art therapy and working with foil? Can you share your experience in the comments?
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