After a therapy session focused on her distress about obsessive thoughts constantly running in her head, my client and I decided to try the rubber band thought-stopping technique:  snap at each unwanted thought, insert a positive one in its place.

She returned a month or so later, her regular appointment schedule due to her funding squeeze, with a broad smile as she made her way from the waiting room.  Thinking I was so brilliant at our last session, I couldn’t wait to get her chart and begin.

As she was overflowing with excitement, I didn’t have long to ponder what help had worked.  Immediately she told me that her life had taken a turn for the best.  She had left last session determined to harness her thoughts that had become more and more troubling, and she wore her success outwardly.

Her Perfect Solution

My anticipation was met with her resourcefulness!  Thought-stopping wasn’t the answer.  She had finally given in and tried to journal her thoughts.  She recognized that she need more than a technique to quiet her thoughts, although thought stopping can be powerful, perhaps just not for her.  Writing in her journal had been an instantaneous success.  Several times a week, she had settled in to write her thoughts, letting whatever came up find its mark on her journal pages.

At first she had tried to order the process by picking a topic and listing her thoughts and feelings.  However, she was led by inner resources that she could not identify, to let the words flow, find their own cadence, ultimately releasing pent up fears, longings, and possibly misunderstandings.  Words written and read in the cold light of day may shed new light on the truth.

The Power To Heal

She admitted that she carried my voice from earlier sessions  on this journey.  “Let yourself  be who you are, don’t sensor, don’t judge, be free and accepting of yourself.”  My belief in positive psychology has made an indelible mark on my style– support and cajole positive thoughts from the fearful and tormented.  Help that individual restructure how he views his pain, and come to know his true power in the process.

Another revelation that frequently graces therapists understandings shone in her eyes from across the room:  each person has an often unrealized ability to heal.  Given the right time and circumstances, the inner consciousness is wise beyond day to day conscious knowledge.

I like to think that her therapy was seminal in her healing, and I do believe in its power to set the proper “table” for release and health.  It is with confidence that I never underestimate the inner resources in the healing processes.  She is living proof of the power of confronting the past when the person is ready for the process to work.