A young woman, who we’ll call A, approached me for help with her severe OCD. Before coming to see me, she had already worked with three different practitioners (couches). Also in her past she was taking pills, had undergone different therapies including social work and speech therapy, but instead of getting better she only got worse. By the time she got to me she was almost out of hope, but as I am not an MD, I care for her symptoms and not the labels. I wanted to know why she was manifesting her ailment.
She told me she had two children, ages eight and three and a half years old. Since her oldest child was born she had not been able to function on her own. She could not be in the kitchen to wash or cook; her mother came over to help cook and she waited for her husband to come home from work to feed herself and the kids. She lived in a multistory building that required use of an elevator to go up or down; she could not even leave her house on her own.
Doctors told her the only way to get better was to start to taking pills, which she refused. She knew the side effects and feared becoming zombie-like. When we first started to work together, I wanted to figure out what was going on in her head. What was producing this behavior and fear? She believed her behavioral intentions were positive, as if she was trying to create safety and comfort.
This kind of behavior is created subconsciously, usually because our brain is trying to protect us from painful experiences from the past without realizing that it is creating even more discomfort and pain. We have to start to work with this part of our past, address the experiences and let them go one by one or sometimes all at once. If we do not change our environment, we cannot heal from our disorders.
We started our journey together- why “our journey” you ask? Because when I work with a client I commit my whole self to improve his or her quality of life. I started with the famous FEFT question: “How do you know you have this issue?” We determined her issues were mainly linked to childhood trauma, and after a few sessions, A started to notice some changes. She was able to enter the kitchen on her own, although she could not yet was her hands without someone’s presence. Step by step her situation began to improve. The first major victory was when A was able to leave the house on her own and go to a nearby supermarket. Then she went to a further one.
As of today, A is starting to work full time. She is cooking, walking with her kids to the playground, even walking on her own. One of the most critical pieces to her success is that she continued to work and do tapping on her own between sessions. It is very important to address the issues you face on your own as well as when we are meeting so you can continue to support the results and steps we achieve during our sessions. We are both so proud of her achievements; Without FEFT it would not have been possible.