Joan of Arc Meets Mary Poppins: Maternal Re-nurturing Approaches with Male Patients in Ego-State Therapy

American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis,  Jul 2004  by Phillips, Maggie

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Similarly, Murray-Jobsis (1990b) has also devised scripts that teach patients how to experience self-mothering, by imagining themselves both as a young baby and as the parent who will "mother" the child in a different way than has been remembered from personal histories. Others (McMahon, 1986) have reported similar scripts with patients who had been sexually molested as children. McMahon's suggestions were designed to teach self-mothering as a way of becoming reacquainted with the body and with healthy sexuality, and emphasized multiple sensory suggestions to deepen the patient's involvement and responses.

Phillips and Frederick (1995) and Frederick and McNeal ( 1998) have also applied these techniques successfully in work with individuals who suffer from a wide range of posttraumatic and dissociative difficulties. In addition, they have emphasized the use of mature ego states to assist in nurturing younger, less developed self-parts. These authors have also advanced the possibility of encouraging or completing the introjection of positive models of mature functioning in the patient's current life as well as identifying and reclaiming nurturing figures from past times marked by traumatic stress (Frederick & Kim, 1993). These and other self-interactive strategies can assist clients in significantly enhancing their capacities for self-nurturing.

Additional Developmental Concerns

Other developmental concerns may need to be addressed prior to the initiation of re-nurturing or remothering interventions. For example, some patients with borderline or psychotic issues need assistance to facilitate inner boundary formation and utilization (Brown & Fromm, 1986; Baker, 1981). Brown and Fromm (1986) have recommended the use of imagery to create a sense of containment in a safe space and the visualization of various barriers that surround, protect, and contain the body (Brown & Fromm, 1986). McNeal and Frederick (1993,1994) and Frederick and McNeal (1998) have demonstrated how conflict-free areas of the personality can be activated to strengthen individual ego states, induce internal self-soothing, assist with boundary formation and stabilization, and improve affect modulation. Phillips (1997, 2000. 2001) has applied conflict-free imagery, potentiated by EMDR and energy psychology methods, to promote integrative processes as well as the mastery of psychophysiological and posttraumatic symptoms. Elgan Baker (1981) has proposed a series of sequential exercises based on the developmental stages of Margaret Mahler. Within a protocol of structured imagery, the client is encouraged to explore various degrees of closeness and distance from the therapist in order to stabilize boundaries and to potentiate object permanence and constancy.

In addition to her strategies for early remothering, Joan Murray-Jobsis also developed hypnotic scripts to promote affect regulation of the distress of separation. For example, one script titled "Accepting the Imperfect World" is designed to help the patient weather the losses inherent in the individuation process and to give up "the fantasy of that perfect union of perfect care, everything, every need being cared for and met" (Murray-Jobsis, 1990b, p. 327). Although her suggestions refer to the early process of individuation from mother, they also help the adult patient tolerate disappointment and grief related to individuation within here and now attachments.