EFT for Scleroderma: Relief and Empowerment – Part 2

by Baerbel Froehlin
www.smoothchanges.com
Colorado, USA

Click here to read Scleroderma: EFT Offers Relief and a Sense of Empowerment – Part 1

My “scleroderma client” visited me here in the States for a two week one-on-one healing clinic – very intensive ongoing therapy where we met daily for a 5 hour session.

In our work I used some hypnosis with lots of EFT, also journaling and some Art Therapy. My client, because of his physical limitations, got tired easily with tapping, so hypnosis brought about quick changes in how he felt physically. Visualizations and healing imagery offered through hypnosis are great motivators.

There were some difficult moments during those intense 2 weeks:

• Doing 4 hours of one-on-one therapy daily with a physically restricted client, I had to find ways to make tapping possible physically.
• I also had to find ways to keep myself going on in “turbo” and not miss a thing.
• I had to “catch” my client when he was having an emotional breakdown, suddenly telling me “You can’t do anything anyway, nobody can help me, this therapy won’t change a thing” – and luckily I succeeded.

The following tapping phrases really saved the day. Whenever he felt stuck or tired, we did them; always with the result that his mood changed completely and he felt much better, emotionally and physically:

Even though I am completely healthy …. I can accept myself
Even though life is wonderful and complete …. I profoundly accept myself
Even though I have everything I ever wanted in my life …. I do accept myself the way I am…

… I am moving around comfortably … feeling at my very best …. never felt better in my life …. life is really good …. couldn’t be better for me ….nice hands … there is nothing I can’t do for myself ….. the sky is the limit! ….. I feel very strong …. I am extremely capable …. and I am well!

The day he left for the airport, he told me he felt “profoundly” convinced that he is going to get better; There were no doubts in his mind. The improvements in his physical symptoms were:

• The skin on his claw-like fingers seemed to become more flexible and elastic.
• The hardening of his esophagus and the resulting pain have gone completely.
• He has cut his daily meds to very low doses, two of them he only takes when needed for pain.

Overall the pain has decreased to mostly 1; his discomfort stayed there for most of the time. In rare cases it briefly went up to 4 or 5 level when emotionally or physically triggered; either by physical activities or and in the very first days, by outbreaks of depression.

We are now waiting for medical tests to be done. It was a precious experience. It’s amazing how much you can achieve when you see the client every day.

Final Follow-up: Stopping EFT and the Return of Physical Problems

I had not heard from my client for several months after he had been in Colorado Springs for two weeks of one-on-one therapy and went back to Germany in late August. He told me then he was “done” with therapy, including “all the tapping and advice” and would be fine on his own. After that he never responded to my e-mails until recently when I received a letter from him.

This man is now back to serious physical health conditions, things have gone back to where they were when we started his therapy. As soon as he was on the plane back to Germany his pain level, which had been consistently low for months, shot up into extreme heights and he was forced to again take his strong pain medications. Back home he had blood work done which showed high inflammation counts.

I am writing this report because this is a classical “secondary gain” case; it contains important facts that may give valuable and much needed information to other therapists, while dealing with clients with serious diseases. You can read all related details of his therapy in my earlier articles about Scleroderma including several follow-ups.

My client’s mental condition however has become and still is absolutely great.

In his letter he thanks me for the COMPLETE emotional well-being he is enjoying. He describes himself as emotionally balanced, always in a good mood now. He talks about “looking forward into the future optimistically.” He sold his business and enjoys financial independence. He plans on spending the cold months of the year in a warm climate, reading and doing many enjoyable things he was not able to do before while he was tied up in his business.

It is important to take a look at this client’s background to better understand the changes in this case:

He is a 41-year old male, divorced, lives alone, describes his family of origin (two brothers) as good. Had his own thriving stone-masonry business, employed several people. Over-achiever, no way to communicate feelings besides anger and rage, which he was feared for. Never felt good enough, constantly pushed himself further to achieve more. Sometimes aggressive expressions and behavior, analytical, critical thinking, difficult to communicate with during therapy, frugal with words and empathy for others.

He does not express himself willingly: “I’m not used to talking about my problems.” Trust has always been an issue, needing to constantly protect himself from “exploitation” by others, not easily convinced about anything. Has lived his life, always feeling he could never have what he really wanted!

One-on-one therapy with him turned out to be real hard work for me, mostly because of the unpredictability of the case development. Each day was different. Some days he refused to even look at the possibility that he could be well again or at least much better than he was.

His “skeptic”— his extremely critical part — was all over his dreams, the pictures he drew and made him refuse tapping. The “skeptic” insisted that “no human being can get out of my illness, it’s impossible, and no tapping will change that.” On other days my client was in a more receptive mood, he seemed to enjoy what we did and even had a peaceful way about him. Because he often was exhausted already in the morning, I used hypnosis many times to help him regain motivation and physical strength.

Looking back I have realized this type of therapy made it possible for him to finally find his inner voice, his core, that led him to understand deep down inside what he really, really needed. Coming back out of his increasingly deeper trances, he slowly started to be a different person, a more warm, caring and patient individual.

Obviously he came to understand and accept that his illness would make it possible for him to live in a different way than he demanded before. It may even have felt like the “door to a new kind of freedom” for him, including changes that would not have been accepted in his culture or by his family, if he would have regained his health. Those changes could have been to let go of his business, the work that he had invested so much energy into, just to have “an easy life without the hard work”.

By watching him becoming a more gentle, peaceful person, becoming more confident with his body and his outlook on life, I can still remember feeling that things changed into unknown territory during those last few days we spent together. He couldn’t wait to get back home, he obviously had found what he’d been looking for.

I am happy for him, reading that for the first time he likes his life and he enjoys doing what he chooses that he wants to do. It took me a while though; I had to battle my own demons that were telling me I had not done good enough work, not showed him more or better alternatives for dealing with his illness, not done who knows what. I had to do some tapping on myself. It was helpful to hear from my client’s father. His dad told me (I also had phone sessions with him), he has never seen his son as “alive and well” emotionally as now! He points out how my client has changed his attitude, how calmly he his making his decisions now. “There is a deep calm about my son that was never there before!”

This helped me understand that I did exactly what a good therapist has to do: to facilitate healing and empowerment, so that the client is able to make his own decision.

Love and lots of encouragement to all who have decided to work with seriously ill clients.

Baerbel Froehlin serves her clients from her private practice in Boulder, Colorado. She specializes in Acute Crisis Management.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 3, 2010 at 8:03 pm and is filed under Latest, Resistance | Psychological Reversal (PR), Serious Disease, Trauma | Troubling Memories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.