treatments for post traumatic stress disorders

Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR):


The Rules of Facilitation

Edited by Nancy Day C.M.F., C.T.S

Excerpted from the April-June 1998 issue of INSIGHT: The Newsletter of the Kansas City Metapsychology Study Group

The information in this article is taken from the Traumatic Incident Reduction workshop manual, written by Gerald D. French, M.A., C.T.S. and Frank A. Gerbode, M.D., C.T.S., and from the writings of Robert H. Moore, Ph.D., C.T.S. The Rules of Facilitation are a key factor in giving a successful session.

Much of the skill of a Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) facilitator[1] has nothing to do with one's knowledge of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or of the theory or technique of TIR. The facilitator's greatest challenge is to create an environment suitable for viewing[2] and to conduct the session according to the strict rules governing the procedure.

The Rules of Facilitation were written to help the facilitator of a viewing session bring each session to a successful conclusion, that is, a successful conclusion according to the viewer[3]. In which case, it would also be a successful conclusion for the facilitator.

The Rules of Facilitation empower the viewer to be independent, instead of dependent on the facilitator.

Considering how important these rules are in a session, think for a moment what life would be like if we adapted these rules to our day-to-day interactions with others.

1.Ensure that the viewer is in optimum physical condition for the viewing session. This means that a viewing session is not delivered to someone who is hungry, tired, physically ill, or under the influence of alcohol or psychoactive drugs (except when drugs are prescribed as a medical necessity). Sometimes viewing is delivered to a person who is not in optimum condition because that seems like the only way the person may ever get to an optimum condition. However, a viewer in a non-optimum condition has to work harder in session.

2. Ensure that the session is being given in a suitable place and at a suitable time. Ensure that the viewing environment is secure, private, clean, quiet, and environmentally comfortable. Also make sure that the time is safe -- that is, enough session time is set aside for the viewer to reach a good end point[4] for the session.

3. Do not interpret for the viewer. Do not tell the viewer anything about the material being viewed, including what it means or how to think or feel about it. Facilitators differ radically from therapists, who often offer interpretation and advice to the client. When a therapist is delivering a Metapsychology viewing session, he informs the client that he will be operating under a different set of rules.

4. Do not evaluate for the viewer. Avoid indicating, in any way, that what the viewer has said or done is right or wrong. Do not judge, criticize, disparage, or invalidate the viewer or the viewer's perceptions, assumptions, conclusions, values, reactions, thoughts, feelings, or actions. Also, do not validate the viewer because such praise may lead the viewer to sense a judgmental atmosphere and to anticipate that the next judgment might not be so favorable.

5. Control the session and take complete responsibility for it without dominating the viewer. This makes it unnecessary for the viewer to be concerned about what comes next in the viewing procedure and allows total attention to be placed on the viewing.

6. Be sure to comprehend what the viewer is saying. A viewer knows right away when the facilitator does not comprehend and then feels alone and unsupported. The facilitator who does not comprehend must seek clarification and, at the same time, take responsibility for the need to do so. The facilitator might say, "I'm sorry. I didn't get what you said. Could you give it to me again", and would not say, "You are being unclear," or even, "Please clarify what you mean."

7. Be interested in the viewer and in what the viewer is saying instead of being interesting to the viewer. A viewer generally knows immediately whether or not the facilitator is really interested. If the facilitator becomes interesting, the viewer's attention will be pulled away from the viewing itself. The facilitator's interest supports the viewer's willingness to view and report on the material being viewed.

8. Act in a predictable way so as not to surprise or distract the viewer. It is not appropriate for a facilitator to disclose personal feelings during a viewing session. The viewer has enough to do when confronting their personal issues without having to deal with extraneous actions, remarks, or displays of emotion on the part of the facilitator.

9. Do not try to work with someone against that person's will or in the presence of any protest. Sometimes a relative, friend or employer will succeed in persuading a person to do viewing when he/she does not really want to. In such a circumstance, viewing does not work well or at all. Accordingly, the facilitator must be guided only by the viewer's interest and priorities and must never try to coerce or manipulate the viewer into running a particular procedure when the viewer is not really interested in doing so. The facilitator must never rush the viewer. The viewer who senses that a quick response is being demanded will not take time to do the major beneficial action in viewing -- the act of viewing itself.

10. Carry each viewing action to a success for the viewer. Be certain not to end a viewing procedure at a point of failure or incompleteness. This is the main reason sessions must not be fixed in length. One of the major functions of a facilitator is to help the viewer find the courage and confidence to confront difficult material that he/she has not been willing or able to confront alone. When viewing becomes painful, difficult, or embarrassing, the viewer may feel like ending the session. Should this occur, the facilitator's job is to encourage the viewer to stick with it and to confront and handle the difficulty to a point of resolution. Fortunately, viewing procedures are sufficiently powerful and effective to warrant such confidence on the part of an experienced facilitator.

11.Maintain a firm and primary intention to help the viewer. As obvious as it may seem, a facilitator who is mainly interested in improving clinical skills or in making money, even if he/she also intends to help the viewer, will tend to lose a viewer's trust. In order to maintain the level of viewer/facilitator confidence required to preserve the viewer's sense of session security, the viewer's interests must be preserved at all times. The facilitator must agree not to reveal or use anything the viewer says for any purpose except to help the viewer and to enhance the process of viewing.

Although some of these Rules may seem obvious or simplistic-particularly to trained therapists-their importance cannot be over-stressed.

TIR Specifics

Although certain discrete elements of the Traumatic Incident Reduction (TIR) procedure, can be found in other methods, the procedure, when taken as a whole, is unique in distinctive ways:


Glossary

1. Facilitator: A person who helps another to perform the actions of viewing.

2. Viewing: A systematic, one-on-one method for exploring and changing one's own mind. An activity in which a person systematically examines his world in such a way as to gain insight and ability by undoing repression.

3. Viewer: The one doing the viewing.

4. End Point: The optimum time to end a viewing procedure, or session.

5. Charge: Negative energy or force accumulated and stored within the mind, resulting from conflicts and unpleasant experiences a person has had, and the repressed unfulfilled intentions contained in these experiences.