Shameful and Unspeakable Acts She Couldn’t Talk About.
Marianne was a middle aged client who was referred to me by a psychologist who had been treating her for several years. They reached an impasse in Marianne’s therapy because she started to lose her voice whenever she tried to talk about traumatic events from her childhood. Marianne had been abused by an alcoholic father and had blocked out many of the painful things she had experienced. Her therapist thought it was critical for Marianne to be able to voice her feelings, but no matter how she tried it was impossible. This impasse also manifested as an inability to even write about the incidents in the past that had scarred her psyche. Desperate to release this blockage Marianne came to me for help. Her therapist had advised her that hypnosis sometimes helps in cases of aphonia.
Marianne presented as a middle aged woman in reasonably good health. Her demeanor was shy and perhaps frightened. She sat a little hunched over in her chair and seemed ill at ease. This is pretty common in a person who is experiencing hypnosis for the first time, but I got the feeling that she wasn’t just afraid of the hypnosis, but also what she might encounter within herself. While talking to her during the interviewing process she told me that her father had been abusive and strict and had always forbidden them from talking to anyone about what went on under his roof. The fear he instilled in her had lasted long after his death and, though she knew rationally that he could no longer touch her or harm her, she still could not utter a single word about specific events. This is a classic case of the subconscious overpowering the conscious rational mind.
It was apparent that her fear and discomfort would be an impediment to any uncovering techniques. So I taught her how to go into hypnosis and did some ego building for confidence, but advised her that it would be better if she brought her therapist with her the next time so that she could talk to her. I assured her that I would just be a facilitator and she could work with the therapist she had developed a level of trust with. I would guide her into hypnosis and then turn the session over to her therapist.
When she returned with her therapist I did hypnotize her and we began the uncovering process. Her whole body was wracked with fear and tension as much as anyone I have ever seen. It amazed me that the man who had terrified her so was her own father. It also amazed me that no matter how I tried and how her therapist tried we could not get her to speak when the session got to the critical point. Something had happened to her on a stairway and whenever she began to describe it she would break down, choking, sobbing, and unable to speak. We even tried ideomotor signaling, using finger signals, but nothing worked.
The session was so traumatic that Marianne left and I never saw her again. It has always haunted me and I wonder how she is today. I know her life must have been very hard living with fear that the death of the tormentor could not even release her from. I know that I could help her now because I am now an IET therapist. The problem that caused her aphonia was stored memories in the energy field around her throat and the throat chakra and cellular memory in her body referred to as “issues in the tissues“ in IET. I would be able to help her release those memories and blockage now. We’ll talk more about the memories stored in the body and energy field later in the book, but the important thing to remember now is that the subconscious controls the body; it may be childlike, but it is also extremely powerful. It is the feeling mind, and it is the seat of our memory...