Ways Of Healing Trauma: Therapists As Healers
(This is an excerpt from a University Of Metaphysical Sciences course at www.umsonline.org, please feel free to visit the school website)
If traumatic experiences can be seen as initiatory rites of passage on the path to greater spiritual awareness, then the therapist can be likened to an initiatrix who provides a link between the spiritual aspirant (i.e., the client or patient) and the initiatory Mysteries. In relation to this idea of initiation as a necessary experience that ought to be undergone at an early age we read by Seth Farber in Madness, Heresy, And The Rumor Of Angels (1993) that, “In a society that lacks rites of passage, the role of the therapist becomes critical. He or she can help the person tolerate the process of change and transformation. He or she can help the young person to confront the unknown, to accept the challenge of leaving home, both in the literal sense of achieving independence from his family of origin...and in the spiritual sense, as Laing has urged, or rejecting the moribund traditions of a materialist society and affirming the integrity of one’s own vision.” This idea of personal vision may be the key to healing and recovery; it will be covered in the following section. First, though, we need to explore the role of the healing therapist somewhat further.
Some of you may have doubts about your ability to heal others or to act as therapists for those who cannot easily emerge from some Dark Night of the Soul. Confidence and belief in your own abilities can be gained from the study of psychology and related subjects. As we read from Peter Breggin in Toxic Psychiatry (1991), “If you are educated in the humanities or have read a few good self-help psychology books, and if you like to think about yourself and others, you may have more insight into personal growth than your psychiatrist does; and if you’ve taken a few college courses or read a little in academic psychology or psychoanalysis, you might know more theory as well. If you’ve also shared feelings and personal problems with some of your friends, then you may well have more experience and practice in ‘talking therapy’ than your psychiatrist.” As healing therapists, we must provide an alternative to the unethical practices of our psychiatric “opposite numbers” by being open to talking to people about their problems. In Coping With Trauma (1995) by John Allen we find, “The universal prescription for trauma: talk about it. To whom? To any trusted person who will listen—the sooner the better.” However, we must also beware of thinking that the methods with which we are familiar are the only ones that work.
Talking about traumatic experiences may not be easy for healing therapists, much less for their clients. In Coping With Trauma (1995) John Allen states, “It’s not always easy for others to listen, even when they are caring and eager to help. Trauma can be abhorrent. Listening to another person’s horrific stories of trauma can itself be traumatizing. It can threaten the listener’s sense of safety and security. Friends may urge you to ‘just get your mind off it’ so that they do not have to think about it. You may need to impress on them the importance of your need for someone to listen.”
Healing therapy can be likened to a kind of spiritual ministry, a higher calling that prompts us to help others who need to recover and heal. As we discover from Peter Breggin in reading Toxic Psychiatry (1991), the origin of the word “psychotherapy” harkens back to ancient Greece, where healers used divine wisdom to cure the souls of their patients: “The word therapy comes from the Greek therapeutikos, meaning ‘attendant’ or one who takes care of another. It is psychiatry that has medicalized and corrupted the word to mean ‘the treatment of mental illness.’ Because therapy involves healing the spirit or the soul—the whole essence of the person—it must draw on all of the wisdom and human potential of the therapist.” This wisdom gives healers the power to take care of others by understanding rather than criticizing them. On this point Peter Breggin also tell us, “Psychological change almost always occurs in a supportive, warm, rewarding environment. People usually ‘open up’ and talk about things—and try new approaches to life—when they trust, admire, or want to please the therapist. Criticism seldom changes thoughts or behaviors, and it often kills all chance of improvement.”
Supportive understanding can be cultivated through love of others. When we love someone, we want to understand what they are going through. Suspension of judgment thus can be considered one of the prerequisites for becoming a healing therapist. Love can dissolve negative judgments by dissolving the barriers between self and others, by allowing us to identify with other and feel the effects of their experiences. Peter Breggin in Toxic Psychiatry (1991) notes, “Love transcends the distinction between self and others. Love is the most ethically consistent experience, because selfishness and altruism no longer seem opposed or in conflict. When we take such joy in the existence of the other, his or her interests begin to approximate our own. When we promote the happiness of a loved one, we promote our own as well.” Love has more power to heal than any drug—in fact, love may be the only “substance” capable of healing the soul and spirit of a human being.