there will be no conflicts.
Teaching the subconscious how to treat issues
When all the parts say they want the subconscious to learn how to treat trauma from the inside, you must ask a demanding question. The point of the question is to contact any parts that are uncomfortable or afraid about the subconscious learning how to treat trauma. Problem-Solving these fearful parts will eventually get all parts to want treatment. When there are no objections to teaching the subconscious the treatment procedure, the subconscious learns the treatment procedure in a brief metaphor. After giving the metaphor, you ask the subconscious to treat a previously identified simple phobia or belief.
Treating a test issue
Treating the test issue will assess whether the subconscious has learned how to diagnose and treat painful memories. The patient will usually feel the treatment process in his or her brain or feel the pain of the issue gradually decrease to zero or to a fitting level. Usually, patients feel both experiences. This experience proves to the person or reader that the subconscious now knows how to treat trauma and emotional pain.
The Treatment Process
Summary of the treatment process
A summary of the entire treatment process is presented in Figure 2-1. The content of the memory includes “the movie” consisting of sensory experiences and all other massive neural activity, such as perceptual distortion; organ, eye, and muscle activity; and drug effects, that took place during the trauma. The stars represent traumatic Emotion Memories attached to the neural activity in the content of the traumatic memory. We know this is true because, after treating the trauma, the content of the memory (the movie) usually remains unchanged — or expanded with more detail or accuracy. The subconscious orchestrates the treatment process using a treatment plan and safely replaces the negative emotions (the stars) with the present positive or neutral emotions (the hearts). During the treatment process, the patient notices the pain of the traumatic memory gradually decreasing. After the issue is treated, there is no pain associated with the traumatic memory, unless there is some protective value to having emotions — as, for example, with a height phobia.
More information is given to the subconscious to help the treatment process. This information involves fields that are allegedly useful during treatment. The subconscious is told that the use of the bioelectric field created by the heart and information gained through field receptors in skin cells can help the treatment process. In addition, there appears to be some primitive, positive “energy” available from the brainstem and a field from the pineal gland that help treatment. I don’t have any formal scientific evidence that these fields are useful in the treatment process. However, most of my patients’ subconsciouses confirm that these suggestions are useful in the treatment process.
Barriers and disorganization
Treating parts and other bothersome issues can now begin, but not without some potential barriers to treatment. Any extra activity in the Active Experience causes a barrier. There are a number of causes for the extra activity. Prebirth parts that respond instead of the subconscious, parts that demand treatment, or parts that want treatment at the same time can cause the activity. Often, parts can wake up and interfere with the therapist’s communication with the subconscious. Others positively don’t want treatment. Any one of these parts, therefore, can cause a barrier to the treatment process. These disruptive parts have to be helped to join the Treatment Team either by a representative of the Treatment Team, the subconscious, or the therapist. Chapter 3 and later chapters provide treatment details about these and other barriers to treatment. Activity in the Active Experience causes a condition called disorganization, which is a barrier to treatment.
Treatment in the Active Experience requires that the Active Experience be calm or organized so the structure of the trauma part does not change. The activity of other parts or active memories in the Active Experience can disorganize the Active Experience. The disorganization stops the treatment process. When the Active Experience is disorganized, the activity in the Active Experience changes the trauma memory’s neural structure to a series of new memory structures. This is not, in itself, a problem because a new memory structure created once is not permanent. However, this disorganization prevents negative emotions associated with the target memory structure from changing, and hence the treatment process does not work to change the pain associated with the target.
Many kinds of barriers can stop the treatment process or inhibit communication with the subconscious. Chapter 3 explains in detail about removing these barriers. Giving information or looking at the barrier in a different way handles most of them. Sometimes removing the barrier involves explaining the function of the brain or explaining how the barrier interferes with getting more satisfaction and less pain. Here is a partial list of the barriers:
•A part has just awakened and needs educating, or there is more than one part active in the Active Experience at the same time.
•Sometimes a part doesn’t want treatment because of the fear of pain or loss of function, or a part wants more pain and less satisfaction.
•Some parts have beliefs that stop them from communicating.
•Less often, a barrier is caused by a part without eyes or ears, or a part that is emotional or muscle activity is functional, while the sensory experiences of that part remain dormant.
•Finally, a barrier is caused when a brain polarity reversal stops the learning process necessary for treatment.
Soon, you will read a transcript of a first treatment session giving the dialogue between the therapist, the patient, and the subconscious. The transcript will give you an idea of how Process Healing works. It shows how I introduce the Process Healing Method. Several barriers are resolved. I have also included examples of treatment interventions showing how I handle (residual) issues. There are some examples of problem solving. I also describe interventions, such as tagging and treating parts, and give three examples: treating shame and guilt, dreams, and anger.
An example of teaching the Process Healing Method
This transcript is a condensed example of teaching the information needed for doing Process Healing with a patient, friend, or yourself. As you recall, I present a model of the development of the personality, the reasons for getting treatment and joining with the Main Personality, and then address barriers. There are barriers to wanting to join the Treatment Team and barriers to treatment. I found the more I taught Process Healing to patients, the less I had to do to resolve some barriers. I attribute this change to the fact that some apparent nonverbal communication is taking place between my patients and myself (Flint, n.d.). For this reason, I am able to leave out most information and use a “bare bones” approach, teaching only the information needed to use Process Healing.
I recommend that with your first patients you initially give all the reasons for being treated. Then review with the patient most of the barriers to wanting to join the Treatment Team and to wanting treatment. This repetition of the teaching method will firmly implant these concepts into your memory. Read Chapter 3 many times so the barriers and reframes are easily available from your memory. Implanting these concepts will help you remember the correct solution to a barrier when you need it.
When teaching Process Healing in my office, I draw pictures to help the patient understand more clearly what I am saying. These pictures add a visual aid to my explanation. Teaching Process Healing
