15.1. Learning example: Julie: “Getting It”
A second
year graduate student described the following as a turning point in her
learning of PE therapy:
“‘Getting it’ was the
experiencing, albeit on a small scale, of the power of therapy. [Before,] no matter how empathically
attuned I seemed to be to the client, I was still an outside observer. I felt the sensation of a divide
between us, of an open empty space with no bridge. But with PE [therapy], I could feel, at least I thought, the
process happening. [Before,] I
just had to take the client’s word for it that anything was happening. But with PE, I got it. I understand how therapy can have an
effect. It was like I didn’t have
to take the client’s word for it anymore.
I’m inside the process, right with the client, and I can feel something
happening. It may not be a real
change, but I can at least feel something going on. I can feel something kinetic going on. I feel this energy hovering around
myself and the client, connecting us.
Something’s happening and it’s palpable.” (Julie Germann, personal communication,
April 10, 1997)
Materials designed to
accompany the book Learning Emotion-Focused Therapy: The
Process-Experiential Approach to Change from APA Books.
©2003 Robert Elliott, Jeanne Watson, Rhonda Goldman, and Leslie Greenberg
http://www.process-experiential.org/learning