By Daniel J. Benor, MD

There has been ongoing discussion on the value of intense emotional releases in resolving emotional traumas in the psychotherapy and broader, wholistic healing communities for decades.

The psychotherapeutic community, by history evolving from Freudian theories, initially tended towards a very strong recommendation for insight. It was considered absolutely essential to understand early life conflicts, as well as traumas from any point along life’s windy paths.

Intense emotional releases related to one’s memories of conflict and trauma situations are also viewed by many as essential to change. Without these, many therapists feel that deep change does not occur.

Some therapists today still adhere to these beliefs and practices. For instance, in Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), various forms of Trauma Debriefing and Primal Therapies it is still felt essential today that intense reconnection with and releases of the original traumatic feelings is necessary for full resolution of emotional traumas. In the middle of the spectrum, many practitioners encourage people recovering from trauma to connect with the memories and feelings in more gentle or gradual ways, as in Systematic Desensitization and TWR .

In contrast, many practitioners of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) focus primarily on the current life issues, encouraging people to desensitize themselves from the intensity of traumatic current feelings. While they may also include Systematic Desensitization, the focus is on accepting that people are living in the present moment, and on encouraging them to release their persistent, habitual focus on past issues and feelings.

Similarly, many bioenergy healers will focus almost exclusively on the bioenergy fields (biofields) for treatments, often shying away from emotional releases or addressing them, as well, using bioenergy interventions. Bioenergies are most frequently manipulated by the therapist, either by moving their hands through the biofield of the person needing trauma release or by mental intent/meditation/prayer to shift the biofields. In addition, people themselves may be encouraged to shift their biofields through various mental exercises.

TWR, which is partly derived from an Energy Psychology method called Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) and from EMDR, a psychological approach, sits between these alternatives and accesses the best of both. For those who have what I call ‘the eyes that look inward’ (which includes self-awareness, introspection, emotional and intuitive awarenesses), the conscious reconnections with emotional and memory residues from their trauma are important for clearing their traumas. For these inner-connected people it is helpful to re-engage with buried emotions, recollect and then release emotions and the associated memories.

Re-experiencing trauma does not have to be traumatizing. TWR enables people to do this more gently, rapidly and deeply than many other methods.

For those who are strongly oriented to outer world awarenesses and who have not developed their inner world consciousness, focusing on the present is more productive. Simply working on the symptoms is often sufficient to relieve distress.

Addressing symptoms may also be the first step before moving more deeply into emotions, when people have severe post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Relieving symptoms such as insomnia, panic reactions, fears and phobias and other troublesome symptoms may be necessary before a traumatized person has the strength and confidence to address emotional issues associated with the original trauma.

Because TWR practitioners track wherever a person is cognitively and emotionally at the time of the session, individualizing TWR to present-moment issues, TWR is very helpful and safe for those who only hesitantly engage in trauma release experience.  TWR is used to address whatever levels of anxieties they have at the given moment.

TWR also helps people identify meta-issues that block releases and to deal with the meta-issues. For instance, with PTSD a person may have a meta-belief that relinquishing the symptoms of hyper-alertness and high readiness for fight or flight reactions could leave them vulnerable to harm. While such levels of anxiety may have been crucial for survival on the battlefield, and may seem essential to avoiding being raped, mugged or having an auto accident (or whatever the traumas were that precipitated the PTSD), in most everyday civilian situations these reactions are unnecessary, troublesome and retraumatizing.

Because TWR is individualized to the needs and preferences of each person, this is not a problem. In other methodologies, the protocols and theories are often designed to approach problems from either the ‘psycho-archeological’ perspective or from the ‘being in the now’ approach. TWR is a psychotherapeutic shoe that fits most feet.

Discussion

Are Conscious Awareness and Insights Essential to Resolving Emotional Traumas? This question is actually not a yes-no dichotomy, as it is unique to each individual who is addressing trauma. This applies to caregivers as well as careseekers.

Some have eyes to look inwards with emotional awareness, and for them it is helpful to reconnect and recollect and then release the memories. Doing this often provides rapid and deep relief of PTSD symptoms.

However, because some trauma release therapies such as EMDR, Primal Therapies and Trauma Debriefing can produce heavy emotional upwellings (abreactions), there have been concerns about encouraging people with PTSD to reconnect with their trauma memories. Some people undergoing these therapies feel that they have been retraumatized by revisiting their painful experiences – which had been buried outside of their conscious awareness in order to avoid their pain.

Others are more comfortable with addressing bioenergies as their way of dealing with stresses and traumas. Some of these appear to have this predisposition as a part of their personality – as has been explored in the Jungian/Myers-Briggs typologies ( web ref ). Others appear to be emotionality phobic, as a part of their meta-anxieties.

Re-experiencing trauma does not have to be traumatizing. TWR: Wholistic Hybrid derived from EMDR and EFT, a self-healing method, allows people to do this much more gently, rapidly and deeply.

Some prefer to work with energies, bypassing conscious awareness of the trauma. this is a healer-mediated intervention.

I prefer to teach self-healing because this is empowering to the person experiencing the releases and gives them tools to continue the work on their own; also to address other issues.

TWR: Whole Health – Easily and Effectively®
AKA
Wholistic Hybrid derived from EMDR and EFT

TWR is a self-treatment method that is simple to use and easily learned. Within minutes it can reduce physical and psychological pains, even when these have been present for decades.

TWR is also helpful with stress and distress that often contribute to pains and make them more painful and less tolerable. These, too, can be released within minutes.

You may reproduce all or parts of this article in your journal, magazine, ezine, blog or other web or paper publication on condition that you credit the source as follows: Copyright © 2008 Daniel J. Benor, MD, ABHM   All rights reserved. Original publication at WholisticHealingResearch.com where you will find many more related articles on this and similar subjects of wholistic healing.