Alexithymia - “emotional blindness” - thank you for introducing me to a word that gives me such a clear framework for understanding what I’ve seen in so many of my clients (and myself at times)!
Norie: this word Alexithymia really resonated with me as someone who was not self-reflective and didn't understand myself emotionally. In therapy I developed the ability to understand my emotions and express myself. I used to feel as if my jaw was locked!
Some of my earliest childhood memories are of television advertisements promising pain relief. Relief from headaches. Relief from backaches. Relief from any sort of pain. Pain comes in many forms. Pain relief does also, or so says the mythology that leads to use, then abuse of substances we voluntarily, then involuntarily, proceed to put into our bodies until we are fully possessed.
I've come to understand that two things need to happen in the process of recovery. First, we need to allow ourselves to open up and receive the gift of infinite love that was always, and will always be, rightfully ours. The second is to allow the pain to be extracted from where it has been implanted deep within our chest. It doesn't belong there and never did.
Beautiful response! Thanks for this. For me the first step was to allow myself to trust someone enough to open up about what happened to me. Then I was able to realize the sourcer of the pain, then process it and before long I felt better!
I really like this post as it really resonates with my childhood experiences and it’s great to see your thoughts on your experiences are similar to my own. Boarding school syndrome is a modality I was interested in but it would only help with a part of it.
Andrew: Interesting! I assume you didn't have a good experience at boarding school? I went too, and I'd say my experience was mixed. Some bad, some good.
I had a terrible time of it, the foundation was a terrible place to start, so I never really had a chance from the start. I’m glad to see you writing about your experiences and how you can relate it to psychology and its effects on people. Thanks for sharing
Alexithymia - “emotional blindness” - thank you for introducing me to a word that gives me such a clear framework for understanding what I’ve seen in so many of my clients (and myself at times)!
Norie: this word Alexithymia really resonated with me as someone who was not self-reflective and didn't understand myself emotionally. In therapy I developed the ability to understand my emotions and express myself. I used to feel as if my jaw was locked!
Some of my earliest childhood memories are of television advertisements promising pain relief. Relief from headaches. Relief from backaches. Relief from any sort of pain. Pain comes in many forms. Pain relief does also, or so says the mythology that leads to use, then abuse of substances we voluntarily, then involuntarily, proceed to put into our bodies until we are fully possessed.
I've come to understand that two things need to happen in the process of recovery. First, we need to allow ourselves to open up and receive the gift of infinite love that was always, and will always be, rightfully ours. The second is to allow the pain to be extracted from where it has been implanted deep within our chest. It doesn't belong there and never did.
Beautiful response! Thanks for this. For me the first step was to allow myself to trust someone enough to open up about what happened to me. Then I was able to realize the sourcer of the pain, then process it and before long I felt better!
I really like this post as it really resonates with my childhood experiences and it’s great to see your thoughts on your experiences are similar to my own. Boarding school syndrome is a modality I was interested in but it would only help with a part of it.
Andrew: Thanks for reading! Tell me more about what you mean by boarding school syndrome?
There is a therapy modality called Boarding School syndrome, apologies, I thought it was modality, here’s a link to a description of it: https://www.counselling-directory.org.uk/articles/boarding-school-syndrome-a-psychological-perspective
I feel that it describes what I went through at boarding school and still suffer from it.
Andrew: Interesting! I assume you didn't have a good experience at boarding school? I went too, and I'd say my experience was mixed. Some bad, some good.
I had a terrible time of it, the foundation was a terrible place to start, so I never really had a chance from the start. I’m glad to see you writing about your experiences and how you can relate it to psychology and its effects on people. Thanks for sharing