Regression Therapy case study

When she walked in her body language was totally closed – she hugged herself tightly throughout the consultation and barely spoke. She was very articulate and smart and told me she had seen a psychiatrist sometime back but didn’t want to take pills. She had marked off most of the symptoms off the list on our form – Nervousness, Poor Health, Low Self-esteem, Inability to relax, Marital problems, Sleeplessness, Sexual Dysfunction, Recent Divorce, Drug Abuse, Depression, Smoking, Childhood trauma.

Her Well-Being score was as low was 20% and
MDI (Measure of Depression Inventory) was high at 46% and GAD (Generalized Anxiety Disorder) was at 21 – highest on that scale.
ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) score was 7 – again very high compared to normal.
PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) checklist score was 49

She seemed skeptical. She kept saying she wasn’t sure if anything at all will work for her, but she came to see me as her friend had highly recommended me. She had kept it off for a month and one day she called, I had time that day and she just landed up!

As she narrated her life history – it dawned upon me how much she had lived through and survived. Alcoholic father who was emotionally and physically absent most times and eventually had committed suicide. Physically abusive and angry mother who used to beat her up all the time as a child. She had ended up marrying a man who was like her father – alcoholic and physically abusive and had just gone through her divorce. She had been through sexual abuse in childhood – multiple times and had also been using drugs in college. She had anger issues and OCD for cleanliness. She said he hated herself with an intensity of 8/10 and her self-esteem was all time low as 2/10. She also seemed numbed and disassociated. She had been through so much that while she was sobbing throughout, she seemed to be trying hard to avoid feeling anything. She also said she was too scared and bit vary of going back to the past which she had left behind.

We started therapy with all of this and over 4 sessions we worked with her Inner Child part that was hurt, fearful and helpless. She had multiple incidences in her childhood that reinforced her beliefs –

“I am not good at anything”

“I am not important”

“I have to always do something in order to get attention from anyone”

‘I cannot speak up for myself”

When is child is constantly abused by the adults around, it learns to hate itself – constant message being reinforced directly or indirectly would be ‘I am not good enough (to be loved)”, “I will never be good enough”, “I don’t deserve to be loved” and “its all my fault” and hence the child eventually learns to hate himself/herself. He/she will have a constant inner voice criticizing everything that is being done – and this inner critic is usually created by critical parent or adult figures during growing up years. Even when the logical mind knew that being sexually abused it not a fault of the child, yet the guilt and shame also lead to self-hate. The person becomes very self-critical and blames self for everything wrong in life – including behavior of others. Often times being a participant in a sexual act or sex play during growing up years (as toddlers and small kids its normal to explore sexual organs and be curious about them) also burdens the person with guilt, shame and anger in growing up years – all directly towards self! We need to help the client heal those parts that the client has herself hated and criticized !

We kept healing all those parts of her that were wounded in childhood – physically, emotionally and sexually, using Regression and Inner Child techniques.

We had to use a lot of Gestalt / Body work as she was holding a lot of pain and trauma in her body and each time we released it by shouting, kicking, punching or crying, it helped her feel light and relaxed. Lots of shame, anger and sadness was held in the body that needed to be released using Gestalt for her body to start feeling the difference. Confidence was reinforced using anchoring in almost every session and Future Pacing with Guided imagery were also used to reinforce the positive changed behavior.

We also had to do some work with her relationship with her Mom and her ex-husband – both had instilled fear in her by their actions. We did some voice dialogue, empty chair exercises and energy exchange in order to change her perception for these people so that she can be more balanced and calm around them.

Over 4 sessions I could see her body language change – she was no more hugging herself throughout the session, she was smiling more and sharing more….she was gradually opening up! By the end of 4th session she was significantly better – said she was sleeping much better, anxiety had reduced. She was able to have conversations with her mother without getting angry and she said she was finding it easier to focus on her work. She also said she felt that her anxiety had reduced by 90%

Her results after just 4 sessions were promising but more work is needed. Whenever she is ready! The WHO Wellbeing score went up from 20% to 60% which is a significant leap over just 4 sessions. Her Depression score went down from 46% to 18% while her Anxiety was down from 21 to 3 which is also a huge change over just 1 month. Her self-hate was gone and

It’s a great feeling to help our clients overcome some of the biggest challenges in their lives – coming from past baggage and traumas – with help of therapeutic tools that we have learnt from some wonderful teachers all over the world and which we have mastered over years of clinical practice. There is no better reward than the numbers we see and the clients own words that encourage us to do what we do and teach what we teach!

—Ririi G Trivedi worked on this case study and she conducts inner child regression therapy as well as past life regression therapy and teaches Regression therapy