wounded therapists and wounded clients

Hi all,

found some interesting and stimulating stuff on the process of therapy with trauma survivors. figured I'd post it and see what everybody thinks.

Problems that come up in the course of therapy with traumatized clients.
This was written speaking specifically of formerly addicted therapists and traumatized clients. But I strongly suspect that you can substitute “therapist with a history of childhood SA” for addicted therapist and it will still hold true.

"Many therapists and counselors in the addiction field are themselves in recovery from addiction issues and lack distance from their own trauma-related issues. Their identification with their client may be so strong it colors their therapeutic neutrality. In other words they give in to their urges to give out quick fixes because they too become overwhelmed by their clients’ pain. And trauma victims can be extremely demanding clients, which can challenge even the most skillful therapist to remain constructively within therapeutic norms. However when those norms are adhered to in a dull and conventional manner, the therapist can fail to engage the trauma victim in a constructive therapeutic alliance.
A delicate balance is needed- a mixture of empathy and structure. Without the power of a genuine relationship to ground therapy, trauma victims may feel neglected and invisible allover again. However when they begin to feel themselves forming a deep attachment to a therapist they may become hyper-vigilant, constantly scanning their environment, in this case the therapist, for signs of flaws.
As their fear of renewed violation of an attachment bond increases, the hypervigilance does also, and they may direct at the therapist anything from criticism and rage to attempts at humiliation, making even the most practiced therapists have fantasies of retaliation. To complicate matters further, because trauma can have the effect of getting the victim partially stuck in a developmental phase at which the trauma occurred, children who have been traumatized by addiction can hold onto their defensive positions with the stubbornness of a two-year-old. Because these defenses have been a part of the self-system for so long, giving them up seems like giving up a piece of the self. Trauma victims may fight to keep their defenses with the ferocity of a drowning person because that is what they were—children drowning in chaos, using whatever defensive systems they could devise in order to stay afloat."

From "Trauma and Addiction" by Tian Dayton, Ph.D., copywrite 2000. ( pp.326-28)

this book is also realy good, and pretty cheap. Gives a really good, thorough, coherent explanation of the effects of trauma on survivors, and of what things have to be dealt with in therapy in order for us to heal. the author is a survivor of SA and father's alcoholism. she is also a PhD psychotherapist specializing in group work with survivors.
IMHO really knows what she's doing.

would like feedback on this. I know I find myself doing many of the above things in therapy, and reading this gave me a better view of why I have the symptoms.

also gave me some stuff to discuss with my t about what she could be doing differently.
oh, the book also says that recovery from severe SA is a process that takes 5-8 years of work and therapy.
not the best news I've seen all day, but then again, makes me feel like it's expectable that I haven't made a lot of progress in 3 years...

take care,

Dale