This is a big red flag for me. The description of the experience sounds very much like indoctrination into a cult. I’m not arguing that ‘Elizabeth’ is a cult leader, but the idea of forcing people to call you by your first name instead of by your professional moniker (Dr So-and-So) seems to set up a strange dynamic.

For myself, I do not see how one experience of emotional release can replace years of working through unhelpful cognitive habits.

I admit, though, I was not in the situation, and it may have been helpful for the woman leaving the comment. My personal bias is towards cognitive behavior therapy, though.

I believe that the role of the therapist and the validity of the techniques are two separate issues. I am not contesting the importance of client/therapist boundaries. My interest in this continued dialogue is to further explore the validity of the techniques. If they (touch, holding, bio-energetics, etc . . .) are valdid approaches then the delivery method (therapist, group, retreats, peers) can be worked out to fit within healthy and ethical guidelines.

As Jim requested the other day, I would be very interested in your insights on the techniques as they relate to emotional healing, SSA and otherwise.

Being familiar with these techniques, Cohen’s methods didn’t shock me, and I understand how shocking they can be to the “uninitiated” when taken out of the context of a safe environment. They are a means to an end, that end for me being healing and to get a taste of that unconditional love that you mentioned, that I now try to recreate in my daily life.

Thank you for sharing.

Dr. Kubler-Ross went around the country doing these workshops in the early 1980′s for people who were diagnosed with AIDS, family members of someone who had committed suicide, and other high risk groups. It was for people who had lived through extreme traumatic events and were at a high risk for committing suicide themselves.

The workshop was held at a lodge or camp and only the people who were excepted for the group could attend. There were clear rules for the 20 or so attendants. Once you started you could not leave. No one HAD to participate, but if you chose not to had to stay in the room and pray for the persons undergoing the therapy.

I was one of the people attending in around 1983 in Alaska. Elizabeth (we were sworn to only call her that and had to pay $1 every time we used anyother name) had been called to Alaska because of the high sucide rate in the Eskimo villages of teenagers and the rate of persons dying of AIDs. She also allowed people who had been traumatized by early sexual abuse and parents of children with severe disabilities.

The week long event started off with creating a sacred space in the retreat house for the therapy. People were asked to bring holy objects–I brought a crucifix–and there were alot of natives, so there were drums and feathers..whatever was sacred to the person. That created a safe place for us. We started each session with prayer and continued to pray right through the end. Each session was peaceful with Elizabeth leading and other trained therapists being there.

I don’t think we got into the externalization therapy until Wed. eve or Thursday. Before that Elizabeth guided us in the ways children are supposed to be raised with unconditional love. She was gentle in her teachings and they encompassed everything you read in her books on death and dying. We all take those ideas for granted now, but back then she was known as a rebel and a crazy. She felt like Mother Teresa to us…and still does to me.

Elizabeth taught us about spiritual, physical, emotional,and mental needs. She taught us about peace and real joy and natural emotions. She taught about triggers in our emotions that show us an underlying unresolved issue. That finally led us to the externalization therapy, after days and nights of peace and prayer and good meals and becoming caring about each of us.

Many people had problems with having a child with a severe disability. That is why I got in the workshop. I watched and prayed as a young mother beat up a telephone book with a rubber hose while sitting on a mattress. As her rage subsided she was overcome with love for her child–the one who changed her life. It did not trigger me at all.

Elizabeth asked that when you were triggered by another person’s therapy to wait until that person was over and then take her place, or to go into a separate room that could be seen by the people in the big room and work with another therapist. I went into another room that was set up with a mattress, phone books, and a rubber hose when I was triggered by a lady who was sexually abused by an adult.

That was my issue. I stood up and went into the room crying and praying. Some people broke off and prayed for me through my session. I addressed the phone book as if it was my uncle that abused me. I yelled at it and then beat it up. And through it I found compassion and forgiveness for him. I cried and was hugged by the therapist as if I was the 4 year old child I was at the time. It did not feel like the therapist was hugging me. It felt like God was hugging me and keeping me safe.

I left that retreat at the end of the week a different person. I found forgiveness for many many people through forgiving him. And I was not afraid of hights like I was when I started the week. It was a massive healing in my life.

Elizabeth went on to have a home for AIDS babies. She shared her gifts with the world. I went on to have a more peaceful life and that issue has never bothered me again.

The pictures look to me like the work Elizabeth did. I trust Richard Cohen. The problem is that you can’t tell what is happening to the person by looking at pictures.

If someone had taken a film crew to my session I don’t know what people would see. I do know I yelled. I don’t remember any words–though I was horse for a week or more. All I know is I got rid of my demons and forgave. I also forgave my Mom and Dad for not protecting me, even though they did not know it was going on. So, even though the man was ranting about his Mom, that does not mean that was the issue–that was just the sound bite.

God bless everyone who uses good therapy to help our loved ones. Dan did go to the week at another time, but he chose to sit quietly and not partake. And that has made all the difference.
God bless us all, Mary Ellen