Page 15 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 17
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Clinical Application
             We  transition  to  apply  the  preceding         lationship to the phenomenon of ongoing
             discussion  to  clinical  practice.  In  particu-  daily losses and grief. The therapist notices
             lar  we  present  ways  to  clinically  address   and name’s themes, patterns, and rigidity
             the  two  problems  discussed  earlier;  that     in the client’s relationship with grief. This
             many clients desire for pleasure is regularly     is made possible by tracking and validating
             thwarted by life’s small and continual chal-      salient emotions, asking about desires, and
             lenges,  and  second,  they  are  sad  to  lose   discerning  the  self-protective  function  of
             a  genuine  good  and  suffer  real  loss.  This   the client’s intra and interpersonal strate-
             approach  rests upon Horizon 3 (a biblical        gies.  Attending  to  these  features  enables
             worldview  and  Christian  Psychology),  and      the therapist to experience and explore a
             incorporates what is coherent from Inter-         client’s  interpersonal  resistance,  learned
             personal Process Therapy (Teyber & McClu-         behaviors, schemas, and worldview (Teyber
             re, 2011), Horizons of Significance, Prophe-      & McClure, 2011). The cumulative picture
             tic Imagination, and the Christian tradition.     constructed  by  a  client’s  personal  dyna-
             The ‘vehicle’ for this integrated strategy is     mics begins to reveal the guiding Horizons
             the person of the therapist, who provides         of  Significance  in  their  life.  The  following
             compassion, attunement, and intervention          therapist-client  example  is  based  upon  a
             as  conceptualized  and  organized  by  Hori-     real case, and models an exploration of a
             zons 1 through 3. Such therapists take se-        client’s  lack  of  awareness  and  resistance
             riously; the body, its experiences, trials and    surrounding a perpetual state of dissatisf-
             temptations; social and cultural factors and      action:
             formation; and life in redemptive historical      Therapist (T): I have noticed you often re-
             time. This orientation allows the therapist       peat  stories  of  disappointing  experiences
             to remember the following in their work:          when we talk… like that dinner party that
             There is real comfort in the loss of all things   was canceled…, and you usually shrug them
             for the sake of Christ’s name; the privilege      off each time. I’m wondering what it would
             of providing acceptance to one another de-        be like for you if you shared them more ful-
             spite  shame  and  sorrow;  we  must  gently      ly with me, or if you stopped sharing them?
             name (discover) what is true in the life of       Client (C): I’m not sure, I guess you can’t
             a client, including the harm done to them         just dwell on things – life is hard and you’ve
             and by them, the self-defeating strategies        just got to deal with it.
             they  use  to  cope,  and  the  orientation  of   T: Shrugging helps you deal with the hard
             their hearts (Day, 2006).                         parts of life. What is your experience of ha-
             Four processes within this clinical approach      ving shrugged a lot over time, yet repeating
             to loss and joy are outlined below. We in-        disappointing stories?
             clude details of specific interventions, and      C: Well… it hasn’t changed anything, but I
             sections  of  therapist-client  dialogue  that    can’t just stop and be sad.
             are  based  on  real  client  interactions.  The   T: You can’t just be sad — something feels
             four  stages  include:  exploring  the  clients   wrong,  unsafe,  or  uncomfortable  about
             personal dynamics; utilizing key emotions         that…
             and  responses;  assisting  in  meaning  ma-      C:  It  wouldn’t  do  anything.  You  can’t  fix
             king;  and  utilizing  prophetic  imagination     everything.
             and exploration.                                  T: Aah, I see… You have sadness about all
                                                               these broken things, and you can’t just fix
             Process 1: Exploring Personal Dynamics            them—so you shrug. I am curious why you
             Exploring  personal  dynamics  includes  a        might still repeat the disappointments with
             number of therapist foci and actions desi-        me. What do you long for here with me?
             gned to illuminate a client’s experiential re-





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