We all know there are an overwhelming amount of folks that have mild, moderate, and severe PTSD, me included. Many recognize that what is happening on the planet has the distinct possibility to effect folks in a traumatic manner; whether it is war, climate anxiety, economic inequality, housing, disrupted family issues, infrastructure/institutional collapses, and countless other situations.
This past week Heidi Priebe posted an excellent video about “Complex PTSD; 10 Important Messages You May Have Missed In Childhood.” Heidi Priebe is a writer, coach, teacher, and practitioner. Ms. Priebe articulates an accessible and straightforward approach to many of the complex issues of the PTSD condition that I’ve witnessed in my career. In addition to her academic background, she has journeyed the path of the wounded healer. If an individual and/or caregiver (professional or family) is bumping up against the presentation or symptoms of PTSD, I highly recommend watching Ms. Priebe’s video.
My first viewing of this video, a few comments came to mind and inspired this post. First, the idea of spirit guides is huge! Underlying the notion of spirit guides is a nod, acknowledgment, and path to healing. It is the idea that there is a part of us, our soul or divinity is available to us which do not normally access. But we can learn to access it. Second, is the concept of reciprocity, i.e., a mutual influence. In this case, a reciprocity between the internal and external experience of the self or being. Which is the dissonance or difference between our self-perceptions of our internal versus our external experiences of oneself. In various traditions of metaphysics, religions, meditations, etc. this is an accepted truth. For instance, “as above so below,” the idea of the mirror and what we see is but a reflection, etc. Ms. Priebe notes the work is to “attune” or align between the internal and external sense of self is the goal. And the process of noticing differences between the two perceived selves via questioning, reality testing, skills development, etc. She notes that it’s part a matter of the LACK of caregiver support, role models, learning health adaptive skills and along with traumatic experiences which disrupts memory, attentional processes due fear (anxiety) response. And the subsequent dissociation derails the ability to form a congruent sense of self between the internal and external experiences of self. This makes excellent sense and sets a pathway of learning, adapting, and bringing into attunement, i.e., healing and empowerment of the internal psychological and the external social/relational self. But is also a path for parents and kids to help raise each other.
The Past 50 Years
The wee bit to add, is that during the past 50+ years there has been an ever evolving and opening access or remembering that there is to potential to heal or align rapidly. Not necessarily easy but can be done. Whether it is done via meditation, ice/cold submersion, psychedelics, ketamine, flotation tanks, hypnosis, etc. It is always helpful to have a therapist, shaman, or a practice and orientation/mindset that helps integrates an experience so that a person can take part in a healthy and integrative way with their internal, external and community experience/environment.
The ability to access help is very difficult because of a lack of access to seasoned therapist. Also expensive as in time, energy, and money. It’s arduous work both for the client and therapist, and there is the stigma of mental health. It is not a “one and done” session. But is an ongoing process of developing insight, skills, mindset. and wellness routine lifestyle. Fortunately, in the past 20-30 years there has been a growing acceptance, if not a sign of health to be in therapy, coaching or attending workshops. Yet all are not fortunate enough to access individualized services. Yet there has been an explosion of general information where if a person is motivated, aware and reasonably able to discern for themselves can go a long way into figuring out what to do.
So, unlike the organized and articulate style of Ms. Priebe, here are some-off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts… though headless they may be… lol.
Thoughts
Good luck finding the time, energy, money, to find a compassionate mentor, therapist, and supportive community.
The good and the bad is that there is a huge menu of therapies and approach to healing. The trick it to match the intervention to the condition, where the person is at and where they want to go. This is not a simple task. In part, because we rarely know where and how to get there. All we want the is pain and suffering to stop. It is easy to determine what happened in the past and where to go (future). The hard task is determining what are you going to do (now). It is important to understand the events, conditions, and environment of the past. But the important part of the past is to learn from it. And recognize that the hell you are experiencing is an opportunity to learn, change and do something different. Hell is the dawning of awareness. For example, the usual interaction goes something like:
Client: “I am in hell…, something has got to change!”
Therapist: “Yea you are in hell. And feel you like shit, ashamed, depressed, anxious, confused, etc. … and scared shitless.”
Followed by a long pause of silence.
Therapist: “So, what are you going to do?”
Client: “I don’t know frigg’n know.”
Therapist: So, do you want to know my opinion? And after sharing my opinion, I note “let’s switch gears. How do you think people change?”
Not to get any further into the weeds. Suffice it to say there is a pattern of a change in energy. Towards a towards a discussion of what the client might choose to do. The difference between an ongoing therapeutic relationship versus a crisis consult is in large part an issue of time and determining if the client wants and has the wits and access to the resources to change. Therefore, the in my experience, I developed and shared the short-hand metaphor and strategy of Love Change Grow. And referred them to other resources for support.
The great thing about crisis work is that clients are motivated. The hard thing (for the client) is to stay motivated and keep their wits about them. Which is essentially being able to remain calm enough so that they can process insights, learn new skills and mindset, and experience new feelings or ways of being with intermittent memory dropout or episodes of disassociation interruptions. Otherwise, the process is fairly straightforward… (rolls eyes). Thus, support, mentor/sponsor, and community are essential… but not in all cases (more later). But this is exactly what Ms. Priebe outlines in her video.
The bad and ugly thing about crisis work is that there is very little time, competing agendas, liabilities, and pressures. The core of crisis work is about managing anxieties and expectations of the client and other parties: such as significant other, family, ER docs, law enforcement, hospital and jail risk managers, and community safety and stakeholders, etc. However, the primary duty or responsibility is to the client in the form of “advocacy.” By far, most folks are not “crazy” but have gotten or found themselves to be in a crazy situation; either internally or externally. Internally, as in the sense of self efficacy (lack of agency), a loss of a sense of self, or existentially (a lack of meaning and purpose). Whereas externally are situations of relationships with others. Whether it is with a significant other, family, work, law enforcement, addictions, etc. Basically, an avoidant style of interaction, an escapism into substance abuse, an isolative depression, lack of healthy engagement (defensive) or have just lost touch with reality (psychosis).
In crisis work, there are three things. First, the pattern of crisis, i.e., “breakdown, break open and break through. Second, the client is ripe for a bit of an empathic experience of support (break open) and the breakthrough. Third is Breakthrough as an educational consult, i.e., the strategy of “Love, Change, Grow.” It is a psychological suave of that they are not crazy and in fact quite sane given their crazy situation (internally and/or externally). Love Change Grow is the opportunity and strategy of “hope,” i.e., of where and how to get there. It is merely a conceptual framework and process, giving them a 10,000-foot eagle’s view. A general idea of how to figure out what to do and how to do it. Let’s be clear, “hope” is an expectation. And often in crisis, a person looses or misplaces “hope.” https://lovechangegrow.com/the-hell-of-breakdown-breaking-open-and-breakthrough/
The final piece is a matter of their sovereignty, i.e., motivation, determination, and responsibility (i.e., agency). Which is clearly pointing out that they are at the threshold of becoming more than they thought possible… but it is their responsibility to choose to do so; absolutely no one can do this for them. In sessions, I ask, “what are you going to do? Get chased all over hell by your fears, demons and anxieties… or chase your loves, passion, and joys? It is their choice and responsibility to attuned or align and discover/reveal their authentic self via their passions, joys, and dreams… or not.
Side Note: There is an unspoken acknowledgement or blessing when a person is given the “secret knowledge.” Perhaps an initiation of “yes you can do this!” In mythical terms, it is like being anointed or knighted. Of course, the devil is in the details of the journey that lay before them… but the journey is also the joy of being on the path. Some call it shadow work but the flip-side are the feelings of joy in each battle/or step of becoming more than you thought possible. And this is the personal work in which Ms. Priebe notes.
Another way to view is the difference between the experience of the internal self-versus the external self. The fancy word is dissonance or “ego dystonic.” This even shows up when trying and doing something new and healthy. Often noted as “imposter syndrome” of feeling like a fake. However, with continued execution/practice/being, the experience can quickly change one’s feelings, thinking and perceptions of oneself more quickly than merely thinking and talking about change. The idea is doing something new will change your thinking faster than thinking will change your behaviors. An extension of this aspect is seen in the works of Joe Dispenza, Bruce Lipton, and Gregg Braden.
Now that I am surely lost in the weeds… “help me spirit guides!”
I posted the following comment on Ms. Priebe’s video. “Heidi, this is so great! Clear, articulate, pragmatic and very accessible. The concept of having a “spirit guide is brilliant…”
Spirit guides come in all forms. Underlying the premise of spirit guides is that they are a dissociated part of you. In psych terms, they are part of the unconscious, part of one’s soul or over soul, soul tribe, etc. Perhaps as a channeled being such as Kryon, Bashar, council of…, Pleiadian, Lemurians, Atlantean, St Germain, and an infinite presentation of elders, masters, beings, deities, etc. Whether in terms of the Atman, God, Source, Universe, etc. Spirit guides are part of our higher, super, or divine consciousness that in everyday consciousness we normally do not access. But can we? And how to access them? And then once accessed the guidance is presented in a symbolic, psychic or via a supernatural divination, much akin to the host of Carl Jung’s notions. And noted in treaties of meditation, prayer, ritual and etc. It seems this is the long tradition of decoding or interpretation of the signs were historically done by the chosen few; priestly anointed, shamans, crones, Dionysian virgins, etc. And the gatekeepers were the horrifying and terrifying beasts and demons. But this seems to be changing with the explosion of folks offering workshops. Has the “heal thyself” movement finally arrived?
The problem that plagues much of clinical psychology is the historical overlay of cultural, societal, and moral pathology. Whether it be via demons of succubus, incubus, and the contemporary concepts of schizophrenia, BPAD symptoms of delusions of grandiosity and psychotic depths of delusions, dissociative identity disorders, etc. These become weighty burdens whether it’s morality, societal stigma, feelings of being inadequate/embarrassed or the unfortunate result of a lack of opportunities to learn skills. Often PTSD is a complex of several things and despite socio, economic, and class, no one is immune. It doesn’t matter one’s education, position, resources or intelligence. When one experiences trauma, becomes overwhelmed, anyone can become a quivering pile of goo. The important thing is to recognize that you are not doomed nor inadequate and that it is possible to find hope and to find a way out of the hole… but it is your choice to do so or not.
The Juxtaposition
The juxtaposition is on one hand we have demons, disorders, and on the other spirit guides. This is like the Tibetan Buddhist notion of the wrathful and peaceful deities. It is a psychologically elegant and sophisticated integration between these opposing beings. The navigation is not the weaving between the deities but the one’s response(s) to the deities. https://lovechangegrow.com/wrathful-and-peaceful-deities/
Moving On
The idea of spirit guides as dissociated forms of our higher or divine consciousness (vs unconsciousness) that can guide and point us in a direction of not only healing, but of transformation and ascension? Are they a future or advanced part of ourselves that we might access? PTSD is horrific and borders on an unforgivable assault upon another and the residual terror. Is this old school karma? Or is it an advanced/expert lesson or opportunity? Is this the “hard mode” in the game of life? In my crisis experience, I have met innumerable severely traumatized people, of course have had residual sticky shit. Some of these folks have learned to move on from survival to thriving and most would never guess they were traumatized. But some, despite their severity were masterful teachers in that I was in awe of their character and integrity of being. I’ve had times of being having tears of gratitude and blessing of their compassion and grace. They were the healers that broke me open and lead me towards breakthroughs; I am eternally grateful for these souls.
In dedication to these guides, I wonder we can come to understand that we are the broken ones, and that some of the broken ones may be our teachers and healers who have made a great sacrifice in order that we may be healed.
Brilliance
Surely Ms. Priebe is quite familiar with dissociated, fugue, trance, and hypnotic states whether induced via trauma or otherwise induced via meditation, psychedelics, channeled, dancing, chant etc. Clearly there is a spectrum of states from unconscious, to conscious, to super conscious. There is also a spectrum of intention (or reasons) to induce different states and the resulting experiences for the good, bad, and ugly; to escape, numb, avoid, to be present, aware, in body, out of body, to experience, to heal, integrate and beyond. For example, in the PTSD complex, many already can easily dissociate. They have learned to dissociate as an ego defense mechanism. The problem is uncontrolled “triggering” and that repeated triggering establishes kind of hard-wired neuro pathway that becomes a habit and mindset.
The idea of spirit guides is that the person already easily dissociates. Thus, needs to learn instead of becoming dissociated as a reactive response. The thought is that dissociation is a defensive ego response when overwhelmed. However with some insight, guidance, skills and maturity can review the trauma and release its bounded or entrapped energy from a more mature perspective. The issue is not only the trauma, but the position of the ability to deal with (or see it for what it was) and release. The question is can we use an intentional dissociation technique to release, heal, integrate and aligned/in-tuned intentional self both internally and externally (in relationship with their environment) in short(er) order? Point is learning to intentionally access these spirit guides via meditation, auto-hypnosis, trance journaling, channeled art, etc. as a technique to heal a shattered soul? Can we ask our spirit guides for help (which is a higher/healthier/divine aspect of one’s self)? For example, WWMSGD? (what would my spirit guides do?).
Of course, this approach is not without some pitfalls, distractions, and realms of delusions. For which, in my way of thinking, the foundational question of “who am I?” is the place to begin. This establishes a connection to our divine consciousness. Followed by the question of what do you love, your passion or joy? This is a form of your northern compass point or guiding star that represents your existential meaning and purpose. And finally, the question of “what are you going to do about it?” Representing your integrity or authenticity of being sovereign, your freewill of choice, agency, and responsibility to be… both your being within and your being well with your relationships and connections with your world and environment.
The point is using the concept spirit guides is a step into having an infinite resource of the divine in which folks can progress along their path of resolving/integrating their internal sense of well-being along with the external reality of being well.
Personal Background
In the past 10 years, I have had two notable experiences of using the loose notion of “spirit guides.” Ever since being a child, because of my father’s interest in all kinds of weird things such as psychic phenomena, meditation, automatic writing, Silva mind control and hypnosis… it just seemed fairly normal. It wasn’t until grad school recognizing I’d always had a reasonably easy time of entering hypnotic or dissociated states. Side Note: I had unintentionally helped my young son to spell using what we called the “blackboard of his mind.” It became a bit of a parlor trick. At 7-8 years old he could read things like Jurassic Park, learned to spell “psycho-pharmacological dissection” and taught himself to recite the “Soft Parade” by the Doors. In grad school, my major professor was well known in the clinical and research hypnosis field. During my research, I conducted hundreds of hypnotic inductions.
The other thing, that in doing hundreds of crisis MH evaluations over 25 years. I become mindful of not inadvertently triggering dissociated states. And how to help and teach folks to ground themselves back into reality. I did not know that a background in hypnosis/attentional processing would be invaluable in crisis work.
Personal Examples
The first was a “quantum healing hypnosis technique (QHHT) developed by Delores Cannon. It was an in-person session with practitioner Allison Coe in Portland OR (link below). It was interesting and cemented the idea of using guided hypnosis. During the session at one level, I was tracking the experience noting guided meditation and my training in hypnosis as “attentional processing.” In a sense, I could double dissociate perhaps via parallel or more likely sequential switching back and forth between to states of absorption/attention. It was interesting being able to zip around to different times, dimensions, and experiences. Thus, accessing different information/experiences. It was an expansion of my awareness. Some of the “new age” folks refer to this as past and future life or soul readings. https://www.allisoncoe.com
The second example was a remote session with an energy healer Raisa (link below). It was a guided induction of moving beyond my body, home and into an infinite space. Then her reading of my energy via chakras, light, energy, and frequencies. Also calling in various higher spiritual beings, such as Jeshua/Jesus, Tara, Michael, Guanyin, Magdala. And recognizing symbolic geometric, totems and spirit animals. All of this was at least intuitively vaguely familiar. This was presented as basically a rewiring or reprograming my energy and chakras. And there were parts and places where my energy immediately cleared, giving revelations about my past and opportunities for the future. After this session, Raisa debriefed what she had seen and felt. Much of what she noted immediately made sense and connected long forgotten pockets of memory. The linking of pockets of memories that had been disassociated became unhidden and untangled. The process of untangling has taken some time. https://www.crystallineguidance.com
But reveals a process of entanglement and un-tanglement. Like a contraction (fear) and expansion (expansion) movement. Perhaps we move like worms wiggling and crawling about…lol. The revealing of past “traumatic experiences” could then be seen as a releasing and expansion and could become an appreciation that they are merely challenging steppingstones in life’s unfoldment.
Of course, these examples are suspect of being recovered false memories, such as UFO abduction or some other type of catch-and-release. Or they are tales of dreaming grandiose delusions of release? By-the-way sometimes dreams are nightmares challenging us to move along. From our current scientific perspective, this is beyond the ability and capacity of empiricism to test and disprove proposed theories. My only reply is that throughout the human experience there is something beyond everyday awareness of existence. Which inspires us to move beyond experiences of pain, suffering and trauma. The mystical experiences reflected this; whether in religion, contemplative spiritual/meditative treatise and practices, art, literature, music, and cultural studies. Despite all this wondering and pondering, each person has the sovereignty to determine what is useful and relevant to their experience. It is my opinion, based on experiences both personally and professionally, the notion of “spirit guides” offers a fascinating realm to explore, resolve and integrate our trauma so that a person can live a more fulfilled and aligned life with meaning and purpose.
Here’s the thing: our world is going through a transition or change. We are emerging from an ego centric paradigm into a unity, energy/frequency, psychic/sixth sense realm. And this is ramping up the rate of adoption/innovation/evolution curve. Is this an emerging opportunity to make enormous leap in our understanding of not only releasing old wounds but recognizing these wounds prepare us to recognize our divinity? Can dissociation be a positive technique when guided by the intention to heal and integrate a shattered soul?
Again, appreciation and gratitude to Ms. Priebe for her insightful work and the inspiration for this post. And I am indebted to the graceful and masterful teachers who wore the accoutrements of PTSD to help me on my path of healing and service.
Blessings,
Tim