A
Theory and Treatment of Your Personality
a manual for change
by Garry A. Flint, Ph.D.
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Table
of Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1 (PDF download)
Chapter 2 (PDF download)
Chapter 3 (PDF download)
Preface through Chapter 3 (PDF Download)
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Acknowledgements
Introduction
Preface
Part I – For the Self-help Reader
Chapter 1. The Discovery
of the Process Healing Method
Chapter 2. An Introduction
to the Process Healing Method
Chapter 3. Teaching
the Process Healing Method
Chapter 4. General
Information and Basic Treatment
Chapter 5. How the
Memory and the Brain Work
Chapter 6. Problem-solving
Chapter 7. Interventions
with Parts
Chapter 8. Memory
and
Structures
Part II – For the Therapist
Chapter 9. Treating
Personality Issues
Chapter 10. Treating
the Symptoms of Complex Issues
Summary
Appendices
I. Patient and Therapist
Treatment Aids
II. The Personality and
Parts
Phenomena
III. Glossary – Alphabetical
IV. Glossary of New Concepts
V. Emotional Freedom Techniques
– a useful resource
VI. Tapas Acupressure Technique
for Obsessions
References
Index
About the Author
Preface
by
Joaquin Andrade, M.D.
The reason
of being and purpose of a clinician is to reduce human suffering
and,
in that ongoing battle, to look continually
for innovative
tools and new tactics. All dogmas, theories, schools, styles, lines
of thought, beliefs, systems and their assumptions collapse in the
face of an alternative intervention when the patient relaxes and
says with a smile, “I feel much better! I can do things now
that I couldn't´t do before!”
Because none of the available therapeutic tools is perfect, the clinician
is a perpetual seeker. Attention must be divided between the practice
of healing and the non-stop search for tools that may have the possibility
of producing results which were not possible before. The clinician
wants tools that work faster, simpler, and are longer lasting, less
complicated, and free of side effects.
This was the sense of mission that led me, as a young doctor, some
thirty plus years ago, to take my first trip to China. I studied
acupuncture at its original and most genuine source. Since that time,
Traditional Chinese Medicine has been one of the tools that has helped
my colleagues and me to achieve some of the goals mentioned above.
Throughout
my extended career, I was never satisfied with the results I was
getting in the treatment of anxiety disorders. The usual combination
of drugs that are often prescribed with Cognitive Behavior Therapy
(CBT) was not as effective for my patients as it was claimed to be
in the literature. Most notably, it didn't’t produce the results
we sought when treating panic disorders, agoraphobia's, performance
anxieties, and other phobias. Treatment with CBT required many sessions,
and often psychoactive drugs had to be taken constantly to avoid
relapses.
Then, in 1989, a dear colleague whose sister-in-law had been recently
treated for her phobia with what was then called ”Callahan
Techniques,” was very impressed by the results. He said few
treatments were necessary and the results were quick and complete.
It
was then that he taught me his version of a phobia tapping protocol.
At the time, we mistakenly assumed that the phobia protocol was the
complete system! I started using the protocol on patients with a
range of disorders: phobic's, panic disorders, Generalized Anxiety
Disorder, test anxieties, and so forth. The results were overwhelming!
We were so impressed with getting fast treatment responses that we
decided to study, learn, and verify the treatment in depth with all
our medical resources.
For
fourteen years, with slightly fewer than 50,000 patients, we conducted
clinical trials in several centers in two countries. We
had a distinguished team of MD's, clinical psychologists, neuroscientists,
RN's, and professional researchers. We wanted to measure, within
the boundaries of our clinical practice, the efficacy of those brief
techniques which required activating traumatic memories while at
the same time causing simultaneous multisensory overload of subcortical
structures.
Our work resulted in what has been called the first large-scale clinical
trials that compared the new Brief MultiSensory Activation techniques
(BMSA) to the conventional “CBT with drugs.” For reasons
that we elaborate in our book on BMSA (Andrade, Aalberse, Sutherland & Ruden,
2006), we prefer to describe this work as BMSA rather than “tapping” or “energy
psychology.”
My good friend, David Feinstein, Ph.D., former researcher on psychotherapeutic
innovations at the Department of Psychiatry of the Johns Hopkins
University Medical School, author of the Energy Psychology Interactive
CD (Feinstein, 2004), which was favorably reviewed recently
by the American Psychological Association, has co-authored the
resulting report of these trials, comparing BMSA and CBT with medication
(Andrade & Feinstein, 2003). The findings show that BMSA works
better in fewer sessions and lasts longer than other types of therapy.
But, as good as those techniques were, we still had our share of
failures, even though our techniques dramatically improved the percentage
of positive clinical outcomes. Dissociation, in particular, Dissociative
Identity Disorder (DID), was one of the disorders that we found difficult
to treat with tapping alone.
Then, one day while searching an internet list for persons who treated
by tapping, we read a post from Dr Flint about dissociation. He mentioned
The Process Healing Method (PH). I was curious and went to his web
site, downloaded his instructions and immediately began to apply
a basic version of Process Healing in our clinical work.
In just a few weeks, after having treated about three dozen patients,
we found Process Healing extremely effective. We began applying it
on patients for whom BMSA had failed. To our delight, a huge percentage
of those resistant patients started to show results. So, following
a previous pattern which had been used successfully for other disciplines,
we decided that PH could be similarly tested on a larger patient
population.
At the moment of this writing, I have applied Process Healing to 600 patients.
I am amazed at this incredible tool. I wrote to Dr Flint, telling him that
I thought he had discovered something very powerful and that its full potential
was still to be developed.
Bear in mind that I learned Process Healing by reading Dr Flint’s instructions
and that I practice what could be considered a beginner’s version of
Process Healing. However, the results I am getting with PH on all kinds of
PTSD, DID, anxiety disorders and every sort of somatization resistant to BMSA
are very impressive! To our astonishment, even some kinds of purely physical
disorders and complaints respond to Process Healing far better than can be
expected from other therapies. If we are able to get such excellent results
after studying only basic written instructions, just imagine what the reader
of this complete text can expect!
I taught my simple version of Process Healing to about a dozen certified therapists
in our group. We are all getting similar results. Namely, Process Healing yields
positive clinical responses with 60% of the cases that failed to respond to
every other therapy available to us!
Our present strategy is to continue using BMSA techniques with simple cases,
and to apply Process Healing to BMSA-resistant patients. At the same time,
we are beginning to explore Process Healing in other pathologies such as somatizations,
headaches, sexual disorders, other primarily somatic disorders, and so forth.
From a theoretical point of view, the learning model that Dr Flint uses to
explain the Process Healing mechanism makes much sense to me. The process by
which parts are invited to join the ”Treatment Team” is full of
analogies to the teaching process in which parts of the personality with self-limiting
information are offered self-empowering information. No doubt all parts change
during the process, and a new and healthier context results.
This text is the founder’s handbook of The Process Healing Method. The
book is by no means exhaustive and my guess is that future books will complete
and expand it. Dr Flint has so much to teach that it is impossible to reduce
it to a single book
Based on my experience with Process Healing, I suggest the reader digest this
book with curiosity and immediately begin to practice and apply PH with a passion.
As my own experience and that of my colleagues has documented, PH produces
extraordinary results which are impossible to achieve by any other means of
psychotherapeutic treatment. I invite the reader to thoroughly investigate
this most fascinating therapeutic technique in the pages ahead.
Joaquín
Andrade, MD
Medical
Director, JA&A
Argentina, South America
This book is intended as a guide for individuals who want to make
changes in their personalities and for professionals who may want
to use it in their practice. The purpose of this book is to provide
you, the reader, with the understanding I have gained by developing,
refining, and working with this treatment method over the past 12
years. Reports from Internet users, colleagues who are using it,
and my own experience confirm the Process Healing Method as a respectful,
effective, and safe way to treat self-destructive behaviors, beliefs,
painful emotions and memories.
This book is both a step-by-step tutorial for how to use the Process
Healing Method and a presentation of the theory behind the method.
The first three chapters have been available on the Internet since
1998 and have been downloaded or read by several thousand people.
These chapters describe the Process Healing Method in enough detail
so that many readers have experienced the intervention just by reading
the chapters. Many have gained a deeper understanding of themselves
and realized positive changes in their lives by using this method.
Throughout
this book, the aim is to provide you with enough information, in
a “tutorial” style, to guide you in the process of
speaking and responding to any barrier blocking treatment. This
is an effort to make the book as easy to use as possible for both
the
nonprofessional and for the mental health professional willing
to explore a new treatment approach. This approach is a useful adjunct
not only in the mental health profession, but in the medical profession
as well.
Some of the constructs in the theory are different from those in
common use. It may be helpful to the mental health professional if
I point out some of the underlying assumptions of this model of personality
development and treatment.
1. The subconscious is a language process independent of conscious
and unconscious activity and of all memories. It has capacities far
beyond our expectations, such as being able to work independently
of our personality to treat negative beliefs, memories and experiences.
The subconscious will understand and learn as you read the book.
2. The conscious and unconscious constructs represent active memories
and related neural activity. Memories are either dormant or active
in the conscious or unconscious Active Experience. Dormant memories
do not take part in creating behavior. Only memories in the conscious
and unconscious Active Experience take part in creating behavior.
Memories are not stored in the unconscious or subconscious.
3. Internal and external stimulation (including our behavior) triggers
relevant dormant memories into Active Experience while other no longer
relevant active memories become and remain dormant.
4. Dissociation is a natural process and is present in our everyday
behavior in addition to helping us deal with traumatic or painful
experiences. I further assume that amnesia caused by the dissociation
process, namely dissociative parts and memories, is different from
the amnesia caused by severe, novel trauma, which causes amnesic
parts and memories. While any individual may have both amnesic and
dissociative parts, two different processes cause them. Amnesic parts
and memories naturally include dissociative parts and memories when
adaptive.
5.
Internal and external stimulation and active memories determine everyone’s
behavior. There are two kinds of memories: Content Memories, which
involve sensory experiences, and Emotion Memories.
There are three state-dependent content-memory structures that contribute
to running our behavior.
6. Memories have unique structures that associate with a collage
of previously learned memories and emotions to create our behavior.
The most helpful or fitting active content and Emotion Memories assemble
in a collage that associates with a unique memory structure. This
memory structure represents our reaction to the current experience,
i.e. it causes our current behavior. Memories are recycled repeatedly
in different combinations to create new memories for new behaviors.
7. All brain and body activity is run and managed by memories. This
means that it is possible to change memories in order to treat learned
mental and physical issues.
I
use many constructs in this model of the personality. The constructs,
of course, are not real. They are metaphors for what is “real” in
our minds and bodies. However, once the constructs and theory are
absorbed, they provide a language with which to communicate
with the subconscious in such a way as to cause change in a problematic
issue. You may find the theory complex until you learn and become
familiar with the concepts and the entire model. However, it is
not necessary to understand the theory in order to begin your treatment
process. The theory comes in handy for treating more complex structures.
However, by communicating with the subconscious, you can simply
work
with it to identify the next appropriate intervention and the solutions
to barriers. The more you use the Process Healing Method, the more
skillful you will become and the more you will trust the model
to simplify and treat complex problems or issues.
The constructs or metaphors used are powerful tools for communication.
They effectively guide the subconscious to make changes in memory,
i.e. to remove negative emotions from memories, which, in turn, will
cause changes in behavior. For many mental health professionals the
constructs and terms used in this book are outside the box of common
definitions. Therefore I have included both an alphabetical glossary
(see Appendix III) and a glossary of concepts (see Appendix IV) to
help you organize and understand the definitions and constructs as
useful tools. I encourage the you to refer to the glossary whenever
confusion arises with the concepts of Process Healing.
The memory structure is a key construct in this model. All memories
have a unique memory structure and a collage of memories that associate
with, or to, the memory structure. After using Process Healing for
several years, I discovered that memory structures could form complex
structures that could stop the treatment process. I had to treat
these complex structures differently than the basic structures in
order to successfully resolve an issue. The basic memory structure
is a building block that explains most problematic memories that
form under conditions ranging from mild to severe traumatic experiences
such as systematic torture.
After
using Process Healing for several years, I faced a barrier of even
greater complexity. This was one that I could not treat with
the subconscious and the usual treatment method. Now when I have
identified this new barrier in a patient, it is usually easy to treat.
I call these barriers “fields,” which I talk about briefly
in chapter 6. Flint (n.a.) presents a more detailed presentation
of the theory and treatment of fields.
When
the you run into a barrier to treatment not addressed in this book,
it is time to problem-solve. I give many examples of problem-solving
throughout the book. But remember, the power of the treatment process
is in the metaphor or construct used, so feel free to create as many
metaphors or constructs as you need to be successful. I have often
found that even if you suggest an inaccurate metaphor, the subconscious
may use it correctly to resolve the barrier. The point is, don¹t
be afraid to be creative with metaphors. The worst that can happen
is that it will not work. When it doesn’t, just reassemble
the constructs and create a new metaphor. Keep trying until you get
the result you are looking for.
The definitions presented here of the conscious, unconscious, subconscious
and dormant memories, may also be new to the mental health professional.
Rather than lump dormant memories in the unconscious or subconscious,
I separate them. I consider the unconscious an active process because
it influences our behavior, and the conscious mind is obviously an
active process. Only active memories in the conscious and unconscious
experience, not the dormant memories, are used to create our behavior.
I call the active memories and associated neural activity in the
conscious and unconscious the Active Experience.
Dormant memories are not active, and therefore not available for
creating behavior. However, dormant memories may become active when
triggered into the Active Experience. What separates the active conscious
experience from active unconscious experience?
Well, since dissociation is a process that is generally believed
to be used to hide memories, I decided a dissociation process would
be an excellent adaptive process that would serve to move active
conscious experience into active unconscious experience. Hypnotic
suggestions, deliberate repression, and skills such as composing
speech, are examples of the use of dissociation to move a conscious
active memory to an unconscious active memory.
In this model, the problematic memories and behavior take place as
active memories in the conscious and unconscious experience. Consistent
with other models, I use the subconscious as an inner-self helper
and have discovered that it has an enormous capacity to make changes
in memories and behavior. Almost all of my patients have easily accepted
this model using conscious, unconscious, subconscious and dormant
memories as the basic constructs in the model.
Process Healing is an effective treatment method that people without
training can use to treat many issues. Many people have had success
working on their own without professional help. I recommend that
lay people using the Process Healing Method have a therapist with
whom they can consult. Anyone with a history of mental illness or
severe symptoms should be in therapy before using the Process Healing
Method. Lay persons should not try to use it with anyone who has
a history of mental illness, who are taking medication, or who have
diagnosed mental issues. The more professional training and experience
that a therapist or lay person has, the more the Process Healing
Method will be useful to treat complex personality and mental health
problems.
This book is written to free you to be creative when using the constructs
to solve a barrier that stops treatment. I have tried to teach the
Process Healing Method by showing the way I use it in my successes
and in some of my failures. With practice, you may become skillful
in using the Process Healing Method to quickly eliminate and gain
freedom from problematic issues. Without further introduction, I
leave you, the reader, to explore the Process Healing Method and
to determine its usefulness in the treatment of your own painful
memories, beliefs, or behaviors.