FAQs Archive | Gentle Reprocessing

Q: Are there any prerequisites for taking Gentle Reprocessing Level I?

One only needs to be a licensed psychotherapist in order to attend a Level I workshop.

Q: What is happening to the brain during Gentle Reprocessing?

Of course no one knows for sure, but there are some strong theories around the answer to this question. According to Dr. Earl Grey, normally when we take in information, it goes to the hippocampus, from a persons five senses, where it is sent to the thalamus and is eventually, from there, filed in the prefrontal cortex, in the front of the brain. The prefrontal cortex acknowledges a past, present, and future time line. Events can be put to rest. When something overwhelmingly upsetting happens to someone, such as in the case of a trauma, the hippocampus becomes unable to handle it. The situation is also sent to the thalamus, but this time it is rejected and sent to the hypothalamus basal ganglia or primitive brain, in the back of the head. Here there is no acknowledgment of a past or future. Everything is happening in the present. So a person reacts with flight, fight or freeze to the upsetting situation. In other words, the situation does not get processed and the person is stuck reliving it over and over. The upsetting event, the emotions and body sensations connected to that event and the negative cognitions that come out of this event all become repeated in this part of the brain. In my opinion, Gentle Reprocessing helps a person to release this repetitious pattern, by releasing the emotional connection to the event, allowing a new neural pathway to form to the prefrontal cortex, where the information can be stored in the past. Once this is done, the event is no longer emotionally connected to the client. The client remembers it, but the memory does not upset him.

Q: How does Gentle Reprocessing differ from EMDR?

Although much of the theory behind trauma work came from my studying EMDR, Gentle Reprocessing is a very separate therapy. It does use bilateral stimulation, but instead of asking the clients to face the traumatic event, all the emotions and body sensations and the negative cognitions all at once, it only asks the client to deal with one emotion and/or body sensation at a time. This helps keep a client from being re-traumatized by keeping them in their comfort zone. It also differs because the positive cognitions are installed once the negative emotions are neutralized. A safe place is built into the process of Gentle Reprocessing, thus allowing the therapist to start using it soon after a history is taken. There is not a long preparation time to get a client ready to do Gentle Reprocessing.

Q: How quickly does Gentle Reprocessing work?

Most clients start to feel some relief after a few sessions.

Q: Exactly how does Gentle Reprocessing work?

Trauma is stored in four different ways in a personʼs system; the actual event, the emotions around that event, the body sensations where the emotions are stored and a set of negative beliefs attached to the event. So if the event was ʻnot getting enough brownies when you were a childʼ, there may be hurt in his stomach, anger in his fists and sadness in his heart around this event. On top of all that he may begin to think “there is something wrong with me, I am not good enough to have brownies and I am unlovable.” Gentle Reprocessing dissolves each emotion, releasing each body sensation and then rewrites the negative cognitions into positive cognitions. Once this is done, the ʻeventʼ no longer is found to be upsetting. It is neutralized.

Q: What makes Gentle Reprocessing so gentle?

When working with clients with trauma, it is important to keep them in their comfort zone so they do not either shut down or become overly upset. They cannot continue the therapy process if either of these things happen. Gentle Reprocessing is designed to shield clients from their strong emotions around the traumatic incident through only looking at one emotion at a time and then turning that emotion into a moving symbol, which is released in treatment. There are also other possible shields that can be instituted should a particularly fragile client need them.