Psychosynthesis Counselling and Therapy

I am delighted to be able to now offer my clients Lifespan Integration which I have added to my tool bag. This blog explains this new cutting edge approach.

Helping you move on from childhood and adult issues to create lasting change

What is Lifespan Integration?

Lifespan Integration (LI) is a relatively new but extremely powerful technique that uses the innate ability of the mind to heal itself. Guided by a trained therapist, clients revisit past memories that are causing them problems today and bring into the past whatever is needed to resolve these memories, effectively rewriting the experience of them.

LI works on a deep neural level to change negative and emotional behavioural responses to a particular memory trigger. This ‘healing’ occurs at a much deeper level than is possible with traditional talking therapies, which is why LI is able to achieve lasting and profound change.

” In more than forty years as a therapist, I have never come across a therapeutic method like Lifespan Integration that heals the pain and suffering of so many clients.”

Steven A Maybell Ph.D, Seattle Pacific University

How does it work?

As a therapist, I know that some adults who experienced abuse or neglect during childhood – or a trauma experienced in adulthood – can spend years in therapy talking about their difficulties, yet still have trouble moving beyond them. This is because people who were traumatised while their neural systems were developing become hard-wired to interpret events in a negative way. As a result, despite being outwardly successful, they often have a poor self-image, an ongoing internal dialogue of negative thoughts and chronic anxiety or depression.

Talking therapies can help clients understand why they have certain coping strategies and why they react in ways that are counterproductive, but are often unable to change these behaviours. In contrast, Lifespan Integration therapy bypasses the language centres of the brain to work on actual memories and neural networks. LI is a gentle approach that provides resolution to early triggers and trauma by helping people make a connection between unpleasant feelings and dysfunctional patterns of behaviour they may have and memories of past events from which these feelings and coping strategies originated.

Reimagining the past to heal old wounds

When a traumatic event occurs that overwhelms our emotional system, our neural networks become programmed to respond to all subsequent experiences that mimic the original traumatic memory as a form of protection against it damaging us again. The LI therapist works in the areas of the right brain that hold the memories and programming from our past experiences to prove to the client’s body-mind system that the difficulty has passed and they are no longer in danger. The walls of protection that were erected are not needed anymore.

We learn only 20% of what we hear but 80% of what we experience[1]

As a first step, before the LI session I ask clients to prepare, with my guidance, a timeline of significant events in their lives from their earliest memory to the present day, for us to review together. This should focus particularly on the sensory aspects of each memory – what they can feel, smell, touch and taste – to make each experience vivid and real, which activates neural pathways in the brain. Each memory is briefly revisited, like the tip of an iceberg, preventing the client from being immersed in the memory.

During Lifespan Integration clients create and watch a slideshow of their lives

During the LI session, I then take the client visually through their own personal timeline in such a way that their mind views a sequence of scenes, many of which are in some way related to their current problem. This is essentially a slideshow of their life. By repeatedly viewing this sequence in their head, the client recognises that they have survived the negative experiences of the past.

LI therapy heals deeply without re-traumatising

Once these painful memories are resolved, the original neural networks can do their job without engaging the protective fight or flight response of the nervous system. It’s very much like restoring your computer’s efficiency by removing a virus that interfered with its original programming.

After sessions of LI, clients have stated that they view life more positively and have greater self-acceptance or feel calmer. The negative charge from the issue that they brought has gone.

“I came to Claire feeling very anxious most days and always feeling in quite a low mood. After doing a lifespan integration session that is when there was a turning point for me. I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders and my anxiety disappeared. Every day I have felt better and better and have no more low moods.”

Peter, London

What difficulties can it treat?

Clients have seen striking results when LI has been used to treat problems such as:

 Anxiety                                                                                                                                                      Birth trauma                                                                                                                                            Early attachment issues                                                                                                                          Family conflict                                                                                                                                          Grief, loss and depression                                                                                                                      Low self-esteem                                                                                                                                      Neglect                                                                                                                                                      Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)                                                                                                Relationship issues                                                                                                                                  Trauma on any scale

LI is not a suitable treatment for all clients but in the right circumstances it has been shown to heal deeply without re-traumatising. If you’d like to discuss whether it could help you, contact Claire Pierce in complete confidence on 07957 418 985 or email.

[1] Source: William Glasser, Psychiatrist