I just had an ART session yesterday and am just so impressed with the client’s reported outcome this morning. He’s a man in his 50’s with major depression, history of trauma, substance abuse and loss, trying to get his life together. He had been carrying around guilt, worthlessness – and images from age 17 at his mother’s hospital bed as she was dying. We used Gestalt in the Director scene, he completely erased and replaced 4 snapshots in outprocessing, and was able to do the pile and the bridge successfully. This man was very skeptical about ART but willing to try. He left me a vm last night and came in this morning saying he tried to find the images but couldn’t – asking if that was supposed to happen. He said he is not used to not carrying these images and feelings with him. He told me he has the memory but not the images and emotions – which I know is what ART does, but to hear this straight from a client and to see him smiling today and standing tall, is truly remarkable.
Marsha Mandel, LMHC