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| http://www.referencepointtherapy.com/ |
Have you ever wondered how therapists go about treating psychological trauma and giving psychological advice? What is therapy and healing? What is Reference Point Therapy?
In a nutshell, SUM 41 explains it best in their Hell Song opening lyrics
Everybody's got their problems
Everybody says the same things to you
It's just a matter how you solve them
And knowing how to change the things you've been through
Reference Point Therapy seems to take into account initial cause and effect relationships which result in trauma. Ben Ralston clearly explained this teaching. The following is my take and comments in trying to understand this idea as it is relatively new to me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnUURGAIywE
www.groundedspirituality.com
www.elephantjournal.com
Suppose my neighbor Bobby got scolded during his childhood for accidentally leaving the dog outside on a rainy day. This happened only once when he was 8 years old, but now Bobby is 18 years old and officially an adult man. Bobby has been that he has problems with authority: he tends to lose jobs and argue with bosses, superiors, teachers, elders of his church, and even the librarian who asks him kindly to "keep it down" in the quiet library setting.
Bobby, like the rest of us humans, has a brain. Attached to the base of his brain is his brain stem. Evolutionary theory sets reptiles with the lowest levels of evolution as having full brains equivalent to the human brain stem. As we move further towards the front of the brain, the brain gets more evolved.
And so do our problems.
The brain stem is purely instinctual- FIGHT, FLIGHT, OR FREEZE. Something pounces in front of me: I either punch it, run away, or freeze up.
The frontal cortex is the newest and most evolved area of the human brain. This gives us the ability to internalize things.
YES! Our brain stems still give up the instinctual adrenaline rush to REACT! But, unlike animals, we take these early reactions internally and then what began as a REFLEX is now a COMPLEX!
Our problems come from threats to our life, safety, and reproduction.
With this frontal cortex development came the inability to process trauma. Reptiles, having only a brain stem, are thought to be able to experience threats and then still move on. They do not internalize threats as us humans do.
My neighbor Bobby felt threatened when his folks were screaming at him about leaving the dog in the rain. He saw the dog's wet fur and how the parents and family panicked as if the dog was in some serious trouble due to what Bobby had done. Bobby internalized this event. Now he relates all forms of chastisement and even positive feedback as threatening.
"We've held on the the instincts that kept us safe during trauma." -Ben Ralston.
Bobby felt threatened from the yelling and reactions towards what he had done. He did not hit his parents and he did not run to his room. He just stood there and took the yelling like most 8 year olds would do. He subconsciously associated his NEED TO FIGHT with his safety.
Now, any time he FEELS THE NEED TO FIGHT BACK, he feels unsafe. So he reacts by quitting jobs or getting angry with authority. THE NEED TO FIGHT BACK IS RELATED TO HIS 8 YEAR OLD NEED TO FIGHT AND NOW WHENEVER HE FEELS THE NEED TO FIGHT, THIS IS ASSOCIATED WITH FEELING UNSAFE.
In situations that remind him of the trauma, he reacts closely to how he reacted during the threatening event. FIGHTING. Nobody is yelling about his about a dog in the rain now, BUT he is now getting yelled at by people who are in charge.
Similar to the 8 year old experience.
When this happens his subconscious causes him to react similarly to how he reacted then. As a kid he wanted to fight. But now as an adult, he actually does fight back. He throws fits, he yells back at his bosses- this gets him fired. The makes scenes whenever an authority figure asks him to change what he is doing.
Being scolded was triggering his ability to get along with authority.
Subconsciously Bobby thinks that he must FIGHT in order to SURVIVE.
People react to trauma or threats that are subconsciously or consciously similar to earlier situations. Not necessarily child-parent situations, but anything that happened before the current moment.
Healing the trauma is what Ben Ralston recommends with RPT.
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