Alexander Lowen (1995) demonstrates with John who is dissatisfied with his body. Through exercises, Lowen helps John use his body to express his full range of feelings. Lowen explains that he does not rely on the mind to change behavior because of its lack of power. Lowen expects the body to free itself. The demonstration concludes with Lowen’s elaboration on his work.
In our first session, our demonstration subject has recently made a major life change. They have decided to change their career from being a priest, into becoming a therapist. Big life changes like these often induce anxiety in patients, and in this clinical demonstration we see Dr. Jeffrey Zeig exhibit a number of Ericksonian techniques to help the client be in harmony with themselves. Dr. Zeig utilizes some of Ginny’s religious history to help guide her towards transformation.
Demonstration subject Mette is struggling with issues trying to feel an emotional connection to her children. She describes her difficulty with being present for her children, and is looking for guidance. Dr. Zeig exhibits a few simple techniques that help create a powerful therapeutic relationship quickly, through the use of gestures and strategic interview questions. Dr. Zeig is able to utilize this information to create useful suggestions to help Mette with her situation.
Our demonstration subject for session three has two presenting issues - an undercurrent of sadness that seems to be everpresent, and a difficulty communicating about financial situations in her life. Dr. Zeig starts off the session by speaking Spanish, Karina’s native language. This simple technique puts Karina quickly at ease and sets the tone for the session. By inducing a hypnotic state Dr Zeig is able to do a quick age regression, and through utilizing a number of linguistic techniques - recursion, speaking in triplicate, altering tempo and tone of voice - he was able to seed therapeutic goals and create motivation for change.
For the final class in the Utilization series, Patricia joins us to discuss her preference for being in control, and how that relates to her struggles with intimacy. She also requests help alleviating a psychosomatic response from an earlier trauma. Dr. Zeig uses an interpersonal approach to this session, utilizing verbal and body language techniques to help communicate complex concepts. Zeig establishes the theme of appreciate as the through-line for this session.
Daniel Siegel (2009) Mindsight and Integration in the Cultivation of Well-Being demonstrates interpersonal neurobiology therapy with a volunteer studying to be a therapist. She has experienced fear in one clinical setting and has also been “the glue,” holding together her family since she was young. Siegel uses the triangle of relationship/ mind/brain to help the volunteer experience her fear of responsibility by allowing images and body sensations to flow to “soften the mind.”