Now imagine yourself sitting in a movie theater looking at the movie screen. On that screen put a still, black-and-white snapshot of the younger you just prior to that fearful, hurtful, or traumatic episode.
Good. This represents the scene immediately prior to the fearful memory. Now sit back and look at the snapshot of the younger you. Do so with the awareness that you have taken a spectator’s position and can observe that younger you.
This enables you to gain “psychological distance” from the old pain. From this spectator position you can begin to learn from that old memory: “As you now see that event from a safe distance and can look from it through the eyes of an objective adult, what do you learn from that experience?”
In working with PWS, I find many who have gone through terrible emotional, physical or sexual abuse as children. Their emotional response to these events has become expressed in the muscles for breathing and speaking and has led to their blocking and stuttering. Following such experiences, the child often grows up hanging onto the pain, anger and fear as a reminder to not to put themselves in any position where they may be abused again. This is how blocking and stuttering become a protective device. Therefore in this step the person can learn that they are no longer a child and that they have adult resources to now handle such threatening moments. They learn that not everyone in this world is out to abuse them; they do not have to be “on guard” all the time – a very common state for PWS.
Figure 4.3: The fast rewind process
2. Step back from the you watching the movie.
Now imagine floating out of your body as you watch that snapshot on the screen. You are floating all the way up to the back of the theater and up into the projection booth. Place an imaginary piece of Plexiglas in the viewing window in front of you for greater protection. From this new point of view, see yourself down there in the auditorium, the back of your head, as that you is sitting there watching the snapshot of the younger you on the screen (Figure 4.3).
If at any time you begin to feel uncomfortable, then just put your hands on the Plexiglas in front of you and remind yourself to feel safe and secure in the control booth.
Feel the calmness of this sense of distance.
3. Let the old memory play out as you watch it from the protected place.
Still in the projection booth, observe yourself watching the younger you on the movie screen as you let the initial snapshot turn into a black-and-white movie. Watch that movie of the incident until it plays out to the end.
Now watch the whole movie again. Let it play out beyond the end to a time when that younger you felt safe and okay again. You have moved beyond that traumatic event to scene of safety, security and comfort.
If you have to jump forward several years to a scene of comfort, do that. Jump forward to an appropriate event, and then freeze that picture and splice it onto the end of the movie so that it ends on a positive note.
4. Step into the movie and fast rewind.
Now, step into that scene of comfort at the end of the movie. Step in and experience it fully. See everything around you in color. You may want some pleasant music playing.
In just a moment, you are going to do something surprising, so let me tell you about it. You are going to rewind the movie from this scene of comfort backwards to the initial snapshot before the beginning of the episode. You are going to do this really fast. So fast that happens in a fraction of a second. Now you have seen movies or videos run backwards haven’t you? Good. Well this one is going to rewind at a high speed, but with this difference: you are going to be inside it.
From that (associated) point of view, you will see all the people performing their actions backwards. They walk and talk backwards. You walk and talk in reverse. Everything happens in a fusion of sights and a jumbling of sounds as the movie whizzes back to the beginning.
Ready? Okay, associate into the comfort scene at the end of the movie, see what you see, hear what you hear, feel all of those feelings of comfort, OK-ness, joy, relaxation, whatever is there. Do so fully and completely.
Now rewind: Whooooosh! Go all the way back to the beginning. As fast as that. Even faster than that …
Good. Clear the screen of your mind. How did that feel … rewinding from inside the movie? Weird, huh?
5. Repeat the process five times.
Having arrived back to the snapshot at the beginning, clear the screen in your mind. Open your eyes and look around. Breathe!
Let’s do this again. Begin at the scene of comfort at the end again, and as soon as you step it, feel, see, and hear it fully … rewind the movie … do it even faster this time.
Good. Repeat four more times. Of course, as you do this over and over your mind will become more and more proficient and the rewind will go faster and faster until the rewind takes only a fraction of a second each time. Whooooosh!!
6. Test.
Okay. Stop, and break state. Stand up, walk around …
Now, try to recall that original memory of the trauma and try really hard to see if you can get those feelings back. Try as hard as you can to step into the scene and feel the full weight of the emotions.
Note: The emotional impact of that incident should have diminished or disappeared. Check that this is so. This pattern is about 70 to 80% effective. Like
