CASE STUDY 1
Testimonial
I decided to start emotive response training because I was suffering from some fear and anxiety when I was at home alone. It got to the stage that I was even afraid sometimes during the day when my housemates weren’t home. Any creak in my house would set my imagination running wild and I would convince myself that someone was in the house. Often I would hear a noise outside and get so scared that I would have to leave the house and go to a family member’s house or to a public place just so I would feel safe again.
During my sessions we talked a lot about my issues and why I behaved that way. I worked out some goals and then I started to learn a simple new technique. It was really good to be able to look at my heart beat and see that when I was feeling anxious that it changed from normal to erratic. The training made me more aware that I let my thoughts control my body’s reactions. I started to understand and recognize the changes in me and so it became easier for me to control my thoughts when I was starting to feel anxious. I felt a new found sense of confidence after each of my sessions. Now when I hear a noise I am able to bring myself back to reality by using the new technique and I am starting to get less anxious with each scare.
CASE STUDY 2
Objectives
-Career stress
-Low self confidence
-Pain management
Kristine decided to commence emotive response training after months of submitting unsuccessful work applications for post university employment. With many fruitless attempts Kristine was becoming increasingly bored and frustrated, causing a massive drop in her confidence and self worth. Kristine found that with each knock back she was less and less motivated to exercise and began to have trouble with sleeping.
In the meantime Kristine also started to get shoulder pains and was visiting a physiotherapist to treat the problem
Process
We began our first session by clearly identifying Kristine’s issues and discussed the way she handles career setbacks and manages her muscular pain. By looking at her university accomplishments so far, Kristine was encouraged to recognize how far she had come in her career before even finding employment. We then looked forward and outlined her goals for the future for both her career and personal health. Kristine was introduced a simple technique and showed some promising results in her first session.
In Kristine’s second session we looked at her progress over the week and it was immediately clear that her practice of the new technique was having its benefits. Kristine was using the technique at night to help her go to sleep and found that she was not only getting to sleep quicker she was also having a better quality sleep. Krsitine also started to take a different perspective on receiving unsuccessful job applications and was starting to see each setback as an opportunity for personal growth. Within the session itself, it was clear that Krsitine’s practice throughout the week helped to bring her closer to an optimized internal state.
Kristine arrived at her third session after having attended a session with her physiotherapist and was in quite a lot of pain. With her shoulder as a heavy distraction, Kristine was finding it difficult to concentrate when we were discussing her week’s progress. We revisited the learned technique and Kristine was amazed to see that when she was using it the pain disappeared. Kristine continued to improve throughout the session and recorded some great results highlighting just how far she had come.
When Kristine came into her fourth session she was really happy with the progress she had made. She had started exercising again and was more motivated to continue the search for employment. Kristine’s confidence had also increased as well as her mood and energy levels. During the session Kristine was challenged more and she continued to move forward and show improvements.
Kristine came into her final session with news that she was called for two interviews the week before and had gotten a position in the field she was interested in. We summarized Kristine’s progress and it was great to see how far she had come from the first session. Kristine had become better equipped to handle negative emotions in the moment that she felt them and successful pain management had become more achievable as each week passed. Her confidence had skyrocketed and it was now much easier for Kristine to activate positive emotions to overcome any stressors.
Outcomes
Overall Kristine
- became more motivated
- had increased self worth
- experienced better quality of sleep
- improved pain management
- had increased her mood and energy levels
- and had changed her reaction to stress
CASE STUDY 3
Objectives
Anger management
Financial stress
Gavin started emotive response training to work on his anger management and financial stress. With a busy lifestyle and several financial commitments, Gavin found that he was easily angered, especially when it came to interactions with his family members.
Process
During his sessions, Gavin’s discovered that his approach to handling stress was to focus on getting out of the stressful situation or fixing the problem rather than dealing with his reactions to stress in the moment that it happened. Gavin came to understand that his anger towards his family members may have been a reaction to time or financial pressures he was facing at the time. By using the simple new techniques in everyday life, Gavin became calmer when he was dealing with family members and reached a more positive emotional state when he faced daily stressors.
Outcomes
-more calm and relaxed in daily life
-had improved relationships with family members
- learned to effectively deal with stress
-better quality of sleep
“I was walking through the shops the other day getting really worked up about a conversation I had just had with my sister. She hadn’t really done anything wrong but I remember I had gotten quite irritated with what she was saying. I decided to do the technique I had learned while I was doing my shopping and found that I calmed down even while I was walking around. It actually gave me a better perspective of the situation and made me realize that I was probably more frustrated with something else and not my conversation with her.”
