The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Psychologists find success in helping deal with trauma
MIDDLETOWN — Two local psychologists have found success with a specialized therapy that uses tapping sensations to relieve patients with sometimes debilitating symptoms connected with a traumatic event.
Affiliated Clinical Therapists psychologists Dr. Candice Weigle-Spier and Ava Hart practice at the 770 Saybrook Road office. Both are certified in a specialized therapy called eye movement desensetization reprocessing, or EMDR.
Their new book, “The Calm Before The Storm: When Bad Things Happen,” was published last week. Weigle-Spier illustrated the eight-page book. She has practiced the therapy which helps patients young and old suffering from PTSD, anxiety, depression, panic disorders and other afflictions, for over 20 years.
It tells the story of Taj, a happy-go-lucky AfricanAmerican boy who lives in an urban community. He’s a latch-key kid who undergoes a frightful night when his single mother, his security, fails to return home when he returns from school.
He stands watch in the living room as snow falls outside and darkness falls. “I started to think bad things,” he said. Taj begins to feel terror, which is exacerbated by someone knocking on his door. It could be help, but the youth was taught to never talk to strangers.
After his mother returns, he meets an EMDR practitioner who eventually helps Taj allay his fears. “Now, when my mom goes to work, I’m sad for a few minutes, which is normal. Then I get past it,” the book reads.
The psychologists decided they would not assign an age to Taj, so children of all ages can identify with him.
It was written as a means to provide more resources for clinicians using EMDR with children, particularly with children of color, as well as others who have endured difficult episodes, such as child or sexual abuse or neglect and domestic violence.
During EMDR therapy, the client attends to emotionally disturbing material in brief sequential doses while simultaneously focusing on an external stimulus, according to the EMDR Institute.
Therapist-directed lateral eye movements are the most commonly used external stimulus but a variety of other stimuli, including hand tapping and audio stimulation are often used, EMDR said.
The therapy is practiced in eight phases, which includes the gathering of information, preparation for the session, identification of the problem, bilateral stimulation, and pairing those feelings of self-worth with what remains after negative emotions are expunged, Hart explained.
Sometimes trauma manifests itself as fear of monsters in children, Hart said.
“It takes a specific training to listen to the language of kids, which is play,” Weigle-Spier said.
Her illustrations are 3D paper collages. She twisted dark strips of paper to create Taj’s dreadlocks, which appear to jump off the page.
Hart had intended to hire an artist, but then she walked into Weigle-Spier’s office one day to find exactly what she was looking for — her illustrations were framed the walls.
After perusing photos of children online, WeigleSpier gathered a sense of what she wanted Taj to look like and began sketching. By the end of the day, she was able to bring Hart’s main character to life.
“It explains all the feelings that go through someone in the midst of trauma: the depressive symptoms — his stomach hurt, he burst into tears. Then, adults noticing it and taking him for treatment, and the results afterward,” WeigleSpier said. “It explains it without being didactic. It draws you in. It’s a wonderful story.”
Hart chose to write about separation, because it’s one of the most common anxiety disorders in children.
“Where it sprang from was an awareness that children of color often don’t get early luxury treatment. It’s something not thought of when they’re not wildly symptomatic,” Weigle-Spier explained.
“This book was written as a way to inform parents and children of color that this resource is accessible to them also,” said Hart, citing research that shows these kids often end up in higher-end behavioral health services in the juvenile justice system as opposed to early intervention.
“We had some courageous conversations about being culturally responsive, using culturally informed ways of presenting this little brown boy,” she said, referring to her colleague.
Taj goes to a therapist who shows him TheraTappers, a tool that provides bilateral simulation. The technique helps a patient reprocess the series of unpleasant events that haunt them.
The therapy can be employed in other ways, such as tapping the hands, shoulders or knees. The patient and therapist work together to access sensory feelings.
“People often assign a negative belief about themselves, which we call negative cognition. When we pair it with the original image of the event and bilateral stimulation, people are able to reprocess and start to think differently,” Hart said.
As the process moves along, the patient’s emotional charges can begin to dissipate.
“Sometimes that’s the thing that makes people the most nervous, that they have to dredge up old things, but the beautiful thing about EMDR is you really don’t have to dredge up every single detail,” Hart said.
“We’re able to take negative beliefs about oneself and body sensations, and we’re able to work with that in lieu of words,” she added.
The therapy works especially well with pre- and nonverbal children and the developmentally disabled.
The practice can also be used to return the patient back as far as being in the womb.
“By some people, it’s believed there’s a strong attachment that’s associated with certain memories and you’re able to tap into that feeling,” Hart said. “If it’s pre-verbal, there’s no words.”
The method has been successful on those who don’t or can’t talk about their feelings, Weigle-Spier.
For infants, psychologists have a parent embrace their child and rock or tap the baby. Sometimes, WeigleSpier and Hart play classical music, which can evoke emotions and inspire good feelings.
“If they have music that may be culturally responsive, (that fosters) good positive feelings, especially in the black community, where spirituality is important,” Hart explained. “It helps ground a person. It’s faster than regular therapy.”
A small child may only require a couple sessions, and others, multiple consultations.
It’s extremely gratifying when therapy is done, the women said. One girl she met in the initial appointment arrived at her office distraught, Hart said.
“I had a kid doing flips across the back of my couch. The parents said, ‘Is she okay?’
The girl answered: “‘Yes. I’m fine,’” Hart said.
Hart has a favorite quote from the late Francine Shapiro, the developer of EMDR. “It’s important to develop a healthy respect for the healing potential of people and to learn to be the facilitator of that healing.”