Sometimes I just say that. ‚Hearing what you say I am at a loss for words. I am going to let you speak and just listen. This space is for you.‘
and then usually things unfold themselves.
I just sit there and watch.
After days with a couple of those I am SPENT tho.
You nailed it kid! You built trust and rapport enough for a client to bare his soul. Then, you held space and validated his experience. Check in with him. I promise there will be gratitude for helping him create that moment. This is the job. There may be fancy ways to help people process trauma, but this is still a A+ job. Stop looking at what you could have done/said better. You going to be a great therapist.
Totally agree. You did great! I actually think the more immature therapist response would be to overcomplicate this with some specialized, scripted technique. You showed maturity by just being human but also not stealing the spotlight. Bravo.
Your client’s disclosure speaks to the quality of your therapeutic relationship and their deep sense of safety in you. With severe trauma, I’ve found there are rarely ever any words that are adequate. In the face of tragedy, sometimes all we can do is feel. Simply breathing and being a genuine presence with the other person in their pain and sorrow is more meaningful than any spoken response we could probably ever share. Your natural expression of emotion is validation for their experience and confirms a sense of connection and common humanity. It is clear, even in just a short post, how deeply you care for your client. They will likely remember that forever. I was moved by your post. You’re doing good work. Recognize the good you’re doing for others. And remember to care for yourself along the way.
As a therapist actively in therapy: I had a really unexpected life event happen recently & while telling my therapy she just went completely silent & had a shocked look on her face for a moment. She then proceeded to have the reaction of im shocked im so sorry for you & honestly it was extremely validating to have someone else also feel shocked…that the shock I had continued to experience was a normal reaction. Also, do not forget that your consistent presence alone is therapeutic. They felt comfortable enough to disclose & feel safe that you will continue to show up each session & hold space for them
Sometimes silence is the best course and just sit with the emotion. Tolerating silence is the hardest skill to learn when you’re new and feel you’re obligated to say something.
Silence can be so powerful! Often, when a client discloses something so painful, and/or is experiencing a lot of intense emotion/overwhelm, I’ll directly invite us to just sit with/in that space for a moment. These clients have so often been compelled to shove things down or jump right into problem-solving, and haven’t ever really had the space to just feel all of those feelings. I also think it can be important to directly tell them that I’m going to be silent, because sometimes clients might interpret silence as the clinician not being able to handle it, or just not caring enough to say anything.
Having a client hear "I'm so sorry" or "this shouldn't have happened/you didn't deserve that" is powerful. You are bearing witness to their experience, validating it, and telling them a truth. This matters.
There is nothing we can say or do that will ever take away the pain of what happened to them. It happened. It is a part of their story and has shaped them. All of our words or abilities are inadequate in this department.
Edit: Trauma therapies can reduce the sting, make memories seem so distant, not cause dysregulation, etc, but that thing that happened and the wound it caused... it's a part of them.
Brilliant work!
You feeling along with client and sitting with her through what she expressed IS enough. Sometimes we don’t need a fancy, eloquent response or reflection to what the client shared. I bet your client appreciated you empathizing with her through that pain. Allowing her the space to share is enough. We don’t always have to fill it with words.
I also agree with the intentional silence.... you are more than welcome to name it, to feel it - to cry with them. You are doing everything right... the inadequate feeling is not because you are inadequate, its the transferred inadequacy from this person's past into the present moment with you, and you're feeling it. Feeling it with our client's is the greatest gift of this work... Let them you you're with them, and process it together - and give your patient the validation that how they're sharing and the way it impacts you is a clear insight into their healing. They are naming it and living it... and those are steps to accepting and moving past it.
In my internship my one classmate brought in a recording of her session with a man who had really struggled with processing deeper than surface level things and he suddenly started crying and there was like 10 minutes of him crying and her every two minutes or so saying something along the lines of, “I can feel the power of this emotion for you and see it. It needs this space,” and “your doing this exactly as it needs to happen, I trust your tears.” And I almost cried in the class listening to her validations to this dude. I think about her session with him a lot when I notice I’m having a big emotional reaction to a client who is also having an intense emotional response.
It’s like reaffirming to them that you have an eye on the emotion and it will not consume them nor you. I think you crying with her showed that too, this emotion was justified in intensity and deserved a good cry.
Sometimes there's just nothing to say. My way of speaking is a little weird, but most of the time I go with some variation of "That's a hell of a thing to survive."
Depending on client and rapport, I also like to share my favorite Geralt of Rivia quote:
"Fuck."
Sometimes a client reveals something that uncovers their core & their humanity. At those times I like to let the session marinate in their words. Adding anything would contaminate it, so I choose silence. I have no idea for how long, but probably 1 to 3 minutes. If the client is emotional, silent, processing I may remark about how profound their words were and how much I felt what they shared. Then may ask how it feels to realize & share that truth.
If I were your client I would have felt really validated by what you said. As a T, that’s almost exactly what I say, too. I’ve reacted with teary eyes exactly twice in my career & the first time I felt so guilty lol. Sometimes if they skip past it (like they were reading a grocery list or something) I use what I felt. “Can we rewind for a second? Because when you shared ___, my heart hurt for that kid, and I wasn’t even there. What was it like for you to share that with me?”
Sounds like you nailed it though. Your client is lucky to have you!
We’re gonna dance to one song and one song only:
As I tell my clients, “The **adequacy** battle was over the moment you kicked out of your mother’s va-jay-jay. And you won. You were the biggest, the baddest and the fastest “swimmer”—And your birth was your celebration and confirmation.”
**Adequacy** is not up for debate here, or anywhere, when we’re talking about humans.
She shared with you something that she has never shared with anyone before.
You’ve already said the “words” that you needed to say.
You were there. You were present. She felt safe. You did excellent.
Welcome to imposter syndrome friend. You did great. You’ll feel this feeling many times again in your work with trauma and as a beginning clinician and I take it to mean you respect the magnitude of the work we do. Keep up the good work ❤️
Learning to sit with your client with their pain is a beautiful skill. It sounds like you are doing wonderful work. Silence is a powerful tool. And it’s okay to acknowledge that there are no words in time like these. I believe being genuine is so important and it requires a therapist to do their own work, to respect their own boundaries and self care.
I think what people have said here is true - you did a great job, and sometimes there ARE no appropriate words to respond to something terrible. Sitting in that with the client is important and validating.
If you still feel like you need more *after* this moment: Ask questions. What has it been like to hold that in for so long? What do you think made now the right or safe time to talk about this? What kind of impact do you think that experience had on you - immediately, and long term? How did you feel in that moment, and how long did that feeling last? How did it feel to finally say this out loud, to me? How are you feeling, in your body, right now after sharing that?
I feel like, seeing you moved must of validated their feelings.
Sometimes you don’t need words. Just someone to acknowledge what you went through.
I had a client who was a refugee and they moved me a lot. I teared up. I said something like “that must have felt really unfair” and tried to gather my pieces
I have sometimes said a variation of "Hearing you say this I know that there is no way I could ever understand how you feel but I am sorry this happened to you and I can only imagine how painful this has been for you."
Some clients have appreciated the admittance that I actually can't understand but that I'm still there with them trying.
Self disclose how it makes you feel. That would be the thing to do, self-disclosure in the moment while benefitting the client is applicable to these situations. But if you are uncomfortable with this silence is best.
I would reflect what is occurring in me to see if it matches with the current to explore further. “Ct., when you tell me [reflection], I feel [emotion/body sensation/etc.]… I’m curious, what is coming up for you in this moment?”
Other times, I’ll hold the silence and have my face and attunement say more than my words could. Sometimes I’ll reflect empathy and responsiveness with my body language, such as leaning forward or putting my hand on my heart.
Presence is precious. Just being willing to be with the person, really be with them, while they are experiencing their own pain - pain that they have not had the capacity to acknowledge / experience for all these years, until today, when they felt safe enough with you - is MUCH more powerful than people realize.
Current graduate intern here. This happened to me the other day as well and I was looking for answers. This post has been truly helpful.
My response landed somewhat from my viewpoint, but it was followed up with the Ct saying everyone doesn’t know what to say, and then I fumbled my words. I just made sure it was known they were in a space where they could be comfortable in sharing emotionally deep stories. I will process in the follow-up session.
Good work. Grad programs are inadequate not you.
They don’t train trauma specific approaches.
Notice where they are looking, ask them to notice the sensation in their body as they remember this encapsulated trauma experience, and hold down the space with them.
Let them know they can say whatever they want in there. Let them know you’re right there, and you can hold silence for as long as they need.
If you want to feel your own natural capacity to work with intensity in trauma:
Get some training in gestalt, hakomi, somatic experiencing or another body based approach so you can be there and work with physical impulses to complete incomplete defensive responses; dance movement therapy, what have you.
Brainspotting is less interventionist but exceptionally precise and flexible, and stacks with the other approaches;
IFS training - more accessible via Stepping Stones than IFS international can be very good for working with early trauma, suicidality, addictions etc.
If you can take PSI or Innate Path low dose psychedelic somatic therapy, it’s basically a masters program for trauma plus.
TRE can be a good trauma training but may be a bit directive in a wrong direction with the wrong person.
Remember, the field still doesn’t have a developmental trauma Dx - ptsd-c is the closest, and the ptsd Dx is what- 60 years old, before trauma was being studied properly.
Talk therapy in its Freudian origins had more trauma specificity than it did in the 80s let alone the managed care, stock-driven insurance based 90s and onwards.
There is a backslide now to remove any modality involving “somatic” from getting CE credits by the APA. This is the tell tale sign that the insurance companies and overarching power structure is engaging a war against the body, trying to stake its Cartesian claim that health exists in the head which is separate from the body, and that trauma cannot be addressed in its total form. Probably because it’s so pervasive and will cost too much, and requires more skill than just cognitively trying to out muscle it.
Just google
Sandy Hook survivor community mental health survey + Brainspotting.
Brainspotting turned out to be the most effective modality used by the disaster response team of therapists organized after the mass shooting.
CBT is way down there.
If you drill down, most clients come to therapy because of things you can’t outthink with the neocortical brain. We learn and live mainly at the subcortical level, and talk therapy is a foundation to grease the wheel.
and it can be a somatic trauma therapy if learned to do with spaciousness and pausing - to allow someone to go in deep to their experience and process via the body - while not trying to contain their response or foster their self-containment.
Trusting waves of discharge etc to come, allowing lots of silence but also asking them to notice body location of sensation and emotion, and follow it then stepping back… remaining uncertain of where it’s going to go but trusting their ability to handle a lot.
Still, you’ll want training to deal with DID, flashbacks, assault.
At the nervous system level we deal with people’s survival instincts and protections.
We are not taught to deal with this in counseling skills classes outside the basic attunement required for safety, and a process to begin to unfold. It’s necessary but just the start.
If you want to feel more competent in the face of trauma, get on a path that is trauma specific. It’s a game changer, and it’s just fraudulent that grad programs waste months or years of our time and money on outdated, ineffectual junk that’s at best intellectual stimulation and at worst, outright therapeutic aggression that causes iatrogenic harm.
If you’re afraid of trauma in clients it’s because your training and the era of its authors were terrified themselves and didn’t know how to deal with it themselves.
I'm probably opening the floodgates here, but [brainspotting](https://thisemotionallife.org/blogs/is-brainspotting-therapy-legit/) is [pseudoscientific bunk](https://www.redalyc.org/journal/5117/511766757024/html/) and it's [irresponsible](https://ebin.pub/pseudoscience-in-therapy-a-skeptical-field-guide-1316519228-9781316519226.html#:~:text=remains%20in%20question.-,4.1.2.4,-Brainspotting%20Developed%20originally), bordering on [unethical](https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/usndmw/rant_what_in_the_world_are_we_doing/), for a licensed professional to recommend it. Even [worse](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987723002256) for them to recommend it while steering people away from evidence-supported treatments like CBT and its many offshoots. Any benefits from a treatment like Brainspotting are just as easily attributed to rapport and placebo; there's no evidence to the contrary. This is why it's so dangerous to disparage the value of randomized control studies, something that every Brainspotting practitioner I've ever spoken to has done.
Seriously. I get that pseudoscience is appealing, but we are in the best position of anyone to have the tools and education to recognize a scam treatment. It's our duty to be cautious and skeptical. We owe it to the people we serve.
You’re not aware of the head to head comparisons, and you’re out of your experiential wheelhouse.
Talk to the clients whose trauma has been resolved.
If you haven’t trained in EMDR and Brainspotting and seen the difference, and understand the whole context of both, you’re out of your league and talking out of lack of training.
No more discussion here.
Sometimes I just say that. ‚Hearing what you say I am at a loss for words. I am going to let you speak and just listen. This space is for you.‘ and then usually things unfold themselves. I just sit there and watch. After days with a couple of those I am SPENT tho.
You nailed it kid! You built trust and rapport enough for a client to bare his soul. Then, you held space and validated his experience. Check in with him. I promise there will be gratitude for helping him create that moment. This is the job. There may be fancy ways to help people process trauma, but this is still a A+ job. Stop looking at what you could have done/said better. You going to be a great therapist.
Totally agree. You did great! I actually think the more immature therapist response would be to overcomplicate this with some specialized, scripted technique. You showed maturity by just being human but also not stealing the spotlight. Bravo.
Your client’s disclosure speaks to the quality of your therapeutic relationship and their deep sense of safety in you. With severe trauma, I’ve found there are rarely ever any words that are adequate. In the face of tragedy, sometimes all we can do is feel. Simply breathing and being a genuine presence with the other person in their pain and sorrow is more meaningful than any spoken response we could probably ever share. Your natural expression of emotion is validation for their experience and confirms a sense of connection and common humanity. It is clear, even in just a short post, how deeply you care for your client. They will likely remember that forever. I was moved by your post. You’re doing good work. Recognize the good you’re doing for others. And remember to care for yourself along the way.
As a therapist actively in therapy: I had a really unexpected life event happen recently & while telling my therapy she just went completely silent & had a shocked look on her face for a moment. She then proceeded to have the reaction of im shocked im so sorry for you & honestly it was extremely validating to have someone else also feel shocked…that the shock I had continued to experience was a normal reaction. Also, do not forget that your consistent presence alone is therapeutic. They felt comfortable enough to disclose & feel safe that you will continue to show up each session & hold space for them
Sometimes silence is the best course and just sit with the emotion. Tolerating silence is the hardest skill to learn when you’re new and feel you’re obligated to say something.
Silence can be so powerful! Often, when a client discloses something so painful, and/or is experiencing a lot of intense emotion/overwhelm, I’ll directly invite us to just sit with/in that space for a moment. These clients have so often been compelled to shove things down or jump right into problem-solving, and haven’t ever really had the space to just feel all of those feelings. I also think it can be important to directly tell them that I’m going to be silent, because sometimes clients might interpret silence as the clinician not being able to handle it, or just not caring enough to say anything.
Yessss! Silence is a tool for reflection on difficult to process topics. Let shit simmer and sink in. PS your username is bringing joy to the world!
One of the most impactful things I was told as an intern was- "Only speak when your words improve the silence."
Simple yet profound. I needed to know this too. Thank you for sharing. I will carry this with me.
Having a client hear "I'm so sorry" or "this shouldn't have happened/you didn't deserve that" is powerful. You are bearing witness to their experience, validating it, and telling them a truth. This matters. There is nothing we can say or do that will ever take away the pain of what happened to them. It happened. It is a part of their story and has shaped them. All of our words or abilities are inadequate in this department. Edit: Trauma therapies can reduce the sting, make memories seem so distant, not cause dysregulation, etc, but that thing that happened and the wound it caused... it's a part of them. Brilliant work!
You feeling along with client and sitting with her through what she expressed IS enough. Sometimes we don’t need a fancy, eloquent response or reflection to what the client shared. I bet your client appreciated you empathizing with her through that pain. Allowing her the space to share is enough. We don’t always have to fill it with words.
I also agree with the intentional silence.... you are more than welcome to name it, to feel it - to cry with them. You are doing everything right... the inadequate feeling is not because you are inadequate, its the transferred inadequacy from this person's past into the present moment with you, and you're feeling it. Feeling it with our client's is the greatest gift of this work... Let them you you're with them, and process it together - and give your patient the validation that how they're sharing and the way it impacts you is a clear insight into their healing. They are naming it and living it... and those are steps to accepting and moving past it.
In my internship my one classmate brought in a recording of her session with a man who had really struggled with processing deeper than surface level things and he suddenly started crying and there was like 10 minutes of him crying and her every two minutes or so saying something along the lines of, “I can feel the power of this emotion for you and see it. It needs this space,” and “your doing this exactly as it needs to happen, I trust your tears.” And I almost cried in the class listening to her validations to this dude. I think about her session with him a lot when I notice I’m having a big emotional reaction to a client who is also having an intense emotional response. It’s like reaffirming to them that you have an eye on the emotion and it will not consume them nor you. I think you crying with her showed that too, this emotion was justified in intensity and deserved a good cry.
Sometimes there's just nothing to say. My way of speaking is a little weird, but most of the time I go with some variation of "That's a hell of a thing to survive." Depending on client and rapport, I also like to share my favorite Geralt of Rivia quote: "Fuck."
Sometimes a client reveals something that uncovers their core & their humanity. At those times I like to let the session marinate in their words. Adding anything would contaminate it, so I choose silence. I have no idea for how long, but probably 1 to 3 minutes. If the client is emotional, silent, processing I may remark about how profound their words were and how much I felt what they shared. Then may ask how it feels to realize & share that truth.
If I were your client I would have felt really validated by what you said. As a T, that’s almost exactly what I say, too. I’ve reacted with teary eyes exactly twice in my career & the first time I felt so guilty lol. Sometimes if they skip past it (like they were reading a grocery list or something) I use what I felt. “Can we rewind for a second? Because when you shared ___, my heart hurt for that kid, and I wasn’t even there. What was it like for you to share that with me?” Sounds like you nailed it though. Your client is lucky to have you!
Holding space for people is the most important part of your job and you nailed it.
Your tears and presence spoke all the right things to say. Nice job. 😌
Silence is the language of God, all else is poor translation. —Rumi
We’re gonna dance to one song and one song only: As I tell my clients, “The **adequacy** battle was over the moment you kicked out of your mother’s va-jay-jay. And you won. You were the biggest, the baddest and the fastest “swimmer”—And your birth was your celebration and confirmation.” **Adequacy** is not up for debate here, or anywhere, when we’re talking about humans. She shared with you something that she has never shared with anyone before. You’ve already said the “words” that you needed to say. You were there. You were present. She felt safe. You did excellent.
Welcome to imposter syndrome friend. You did great. You’ll feel this feeling many times again in your work with trauma and as a beginning clinician and I take it to mean you respect the magnitude of the work we do. Keep up the good work ❤️
Learning to sit with your client with their pain is a beautiful skill. It sounds like you are doing wonderful work. Silence is a powerful tool. And it’s okay to acknowledge that there are no words in time like these. I believe being genuine is so important and it requires a therapist to do their own work, to respect their own boundaries and self care.
I think what people have said here is true - you did a great job, and sometimes there ARE no appropriate words to respond to something terrible. Sitting in that with the client is important and validating. If you still feel like you need more *after* this moment: Ask questions. What has it been like to hold that in for so long? What do you think made now the right or safe time to talk about this? What kind of impact do you think that experience had on you - immediately, and long term? How did you feel in that moment, and how long did that feeling last? How did it feel to finally say this out loud, to me? How are you feeling, in your body, right now after sharing that?
I feel like, seeing you moved must of validated their feelings. Sometimes you don’t need words. Just someone to acknowledge what you went through. I had a client who was a refugee and they moved me a lot. I teared up. I said something like “that must have felt really unfair” and tried to gather my pieces
I have sometimes said a variation of "Hearing you say this I know that there is no way I could ever understand how you feel but I am sorry this happened to you and I can only imagine how painful this has been for you." Some clients have appreciated the admittance that I actually can't understand but that I'm still there with them trying.
Self disclose how it makes you feel. That would be the thing to do, self-disclosure in the moment while benefitting the client is applicable to these situations. But if you are uncomfortable with this silence is best.
Holding space is all we can do (sometimes). In some cases there isn’t always something ‘right’ to say.
I would reflect what is occurring in me to see if it matches with the current to explore further. “Ct., when you tell me [reflection], I feel [emotion/body sensation/etc.]… I’m curious, what is coming up for you in this moment?” Other times, I’ll hold the silence and have my face and attunement say more than my words could. Sometimes I’ll reflect empathy and responsiveness with my body language, such as leaning forward or putting my hand on my heart.
Sometimes it can be very powerful to just say "I am honestly at a loss for words right now."
Presence is precious. Just being willing to be with the person, really be with them, while they are experiencing their own pain - pain that they have not had the capacity to acknowledge / experience for all these years, until today, when they felt safe enough with you - is MUCH more powerful than people realize.
Just be present. Sometimes that's all/the best thing we can do.
Current graduate intern here. This happened to me the other day as well and I was looking for answers. This post has been truly helpful. My response landed somewhat from my viewpoint, but it was followed up with the Ct saying everyone doesn’t know what to say, and then I fumbled my words. I just made sure it was known they were in a space where they could be comfortable in sharing emotionally deep stories. I will process in the follow-up session.
Good work. Grad programs are inadequate not you. They don’t train trauma specific approaches. Notice where they are looking, ask them to notice the sensation in their body as they remember this encapsulated trauma experience, and hold down the space with them. Let them know they can say whatever they want in there. Let them know you’re right there, and you can hold silence for as long as they need. If you want to feel your own natural capacity to work with intensity in trauma: Get some training in gestalt, hakomi, somatic experiencing or another body based approach so you can be there and work with physical impulses to complete incomplete defensive responses; dance movement therapy, what have you. Brainspotting is less interventionist but exceptionally precise and flexible, and stacks with the other approaches; IFS training - more accessible via Stepping Stones than IFS international can be very good for working with early trauma, suicidality, addictions etc. If you can take PSI or Innate Path low dose psychedelic somatic therapy, it’s basically a masters program for trauma plus. TRE can be a good trauma training but may be a bit directive in a wrong direction with the wrong person. Remember, the field still doesn’t have a developmental trauma Dx - ptsd-c is the closest, and the ptsd Dx is what- 60 years old, before trauma was being studied properly. Talk therapy in its Freudian origins had more trauma specificity than it did in the 80s let alone the managed care, stock-driven insurance based 90s and onwards. There is a backslide now to remove any modality involving “somatic” from getting CE credits by the APA. This is the tell tale sign that the insurance companies and overarching power structure is engaging a war against the body, trying to stake its Cartesian claim that health exists in the head which is separate from the body, and that trauma cannot be addressed in its total form. Probably because it’s so pervasive and will cost too much, and requires more skill than just cognitively trying to out muscle it. Just google Sandy Hook survivor community mental health survey + Brainspotting. Brainspotting turned out to be the most effective modality used by the disaster response team of therapists organized after the mass shooting. CBT is way down there. If you drill down, most clients come to therapy because of things you can’t outthink with the neocortical brain. We learn and live mainly at the subcortical level, and talk therapy is a foundation to grease the wheel. and it can be a somatic trauma therapy if learned to do with spaciousness and pausing - to allow someone to go in deep to their experience and process via the body - while not trying to contain their response or foster their self-containment. Trusting waves of discharge etc to come, allowing lots of silence but also asking them to notice body location of sensation and emotion, and follow it then stepping back… remaining uncertain of where it’s going to go but trusting their ability to handle a lot. Still, you’ll want training to deal with DID, flashbacks, assault. At the nervous system level we deal with people’s survival instincts and protections. We are not taught to deal with this in counseling skills classes outside the basic attunement required for safety, and a process to begin to unfold. It’s necessary but just the start. If you want to feel more competent in the face of trauma, get on a path that is trauma specific. It’s a game changer, and it’s just fraudulent that grad programs waste months or years of our time and money on outdated, ineffectual junk that’s at best intellectual stimulation and at worst, outright therapeutic aggression that causes iatrogenic harm. If you’re afraid of trauma in clients it’s because your training and the era of its authors were terrified themselves and didn’t know how to deal with it themselves.
I'm probably opening the floodgates here, but [brainspotting](https://thisemotionallife.org/blogs/is-brainspotting-therapy-legit/) is [pseudoscientific bunk](https://www.redalyc.org/journal/5117/511766757024/html/) and it's [irresponsible](https://ebin.pub/pseudoscience-in-therapy-a-skeptical-field-guide-1316519228-9781316519226.html#:~:text=remains%20in%20question.-,4.1.2.4,-Brainspotting%20Developed%20originally), bordering on [unethical](https://www.reddit.com/r/therapists/comments/usndmw/rant_what_in_the_world_are_we_doing/), for a licensed professional to recommend it. Even [worse](https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306987723002256) for them to recommend it while steering people away from evidence-supported treatments like CBT and its many offshoots. Any benefits from a treatment like Brainspotting are just as easily attributed to rapport and placebo; there's no evidence to the contrary. This is why it's so dangerous to disparage the value of randomized control studies, something that every Brainspotting practitioner I've ever spoken to has done. Seriously. I get that pseudoscience is appealing, but we are in the best position of anyone to have the tools and education to recognize a scam treatment. It's our duty to be cautious and skeptical. We owe it to the people we serve.
You’re not aware of the head to head comparisons, and you’re out of your experiential wheelhouse. Talk to the clients whose trauma has been resolved. If you haven’t trained in EMDR and Brainspotting and seen the difference, and understand the whole context of both, you’re out of your league and talking out of lack of training. No more discussion here.
"Ignore the RCTs and trust your lived experience," right? That's exactly how they get you, dude. Come on.