Therapy

Therapy begins as the self-helper develops a deeper understanding of their problems and learns to trust the processes of self-healing. They may then feel ready to explore procedures that are more participative than the verbal procedures of counselling.

Emotional stress can result in a lowering of physical and mental energy levels, which in turn reinforces the anxiety or depression that resulted from the stress in the first place. Some people are well aware of how their problems affect them emotionally – e.g., anxiety, d epression, aggressiveness – and others may notice some physical consequences – e.g., headaches, giddiness, indigestion, muscular pain. The holding-in of feelings and the inhibition of their expression invariably requires some unconscious restriction of natural breathing (especially exhalation) and a corresponding degree of muscular tension.

Having mutually agreed upon a definition of the double-bind, we gently introduce a self-helper to some basic therapy procedures – always at their own pace and only with their full agreement. These are based on natural principles involved in stretching, relaxing and breathing and are designed to help release inhalatory and muscular energy that has been trapped by the restrictive nature of the double-bind. The procedures vary between the gentle and the active.