Healing Presence

What is the essence underlying all successful psychotherapy, that something that almost eludes description? Clients who have benefited from it know when they have received it. Fellow professionals who have met psychotherapists who convey it know they have been in its presence. But, what is "it"?

In his book The Heart of Being Helpful - Empathy and the Creation of a Healing Presence, renowned psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin, MD, captures something of it -

"To create healing presence, we fine-tune our inner experience to the inner state of the other person. We transform ourselves in response to the basic needs of the person we are trying to heal and help. Ultimately, we find within ourselves the psychological and spiritual resources required to nourish and empower the other human being" (p.5)

Dr Breggin dedicates his book to those who wish to respond to others in a spirit of caring and empathy. He describes the healing presence as a

"way of being, rather than doing, that meets the psychological, social or spiritual needs of (the client)" (p.9)

This requires, first, that therapists / counsellors must find within themselves that which is necessary to create a healing presence. We need to pay attention to how people respond to us, not just focus on what we have to offer them.

If you're thinking, "This is great stuff. I know it when I find it, but how do I do it?" Dr Breggin does not disappoint. The book goes on to describe, in the context of empathy and love, how to:

·    accept and deal with our own inadequacies and vulnerabilities without trying to pretend that we don't have any;

·    address the need to love and be loved;

·    take care of, understand and transform ourselves that we may better care for, understand and transform others;

·    be spiritually uplifted through empathy, rather than being burdened or overwhelmed;

·    be open and responsive without being vulnerable to manipulation, hostility or conflict;

·    calmly respond to emotions, even in extreme cases;

·    base family and couple therapy around the clients' concept of and basic need for love;

·    bridge cultural and racial barriers to help people different from us, through assumptions of common shared human experience;

·    help a client come to terms with their childhood, including any abuse, and bring out anger and guilt in a way that leads to understanding and forgiveness.

Continuing throughout this book are themes from Dr Breggin's earlier books and reform work. He has been described as the conscience of psychiatry, speaking out against bio-psychiatry's use of drugs, electric-shock treatment and involuntary hospitalisation. (see Psychiatry Out of Control)

He gives practical empathetic alternatives to helping children "diagnosed" with "deficiencies" or "disorders", without putting them at the mercy of drug regimes.

There is a humility in Dr Breggin's writing that is rare. We discover the reason for this in his chapter on gratitude. Being able to help others is a gift - whether it is one that is innate or one that we have learned - and we can only be grateful for such a gift. When a client can sense that we psychotherapists are grateful for having the opportunity to help them, it breaks down any barrier created by our "professional aura", leaving room for our empathetic, healing presence.

Is love enough? No, of course not. Therapists need training, information, skills and wisdom. But without empathy and love to underscore our other professional resources there will be no healing or spiritual growth. Therapists who build other skills and techniques on this base are much more likely succeed.

There is a humility in Dr Breggin's writing that is rare. We discover the reason for this in his chapter on gratitude. Being able to help others is a gift - whether it is one that is innate or one that we have learned - and we can only be grateful for such a gift. When a client can sense that we psychotherapists are grateful for having the opportunity to help them, it breaks down any barrier created by our "professional aura", leaving room for our empathetic, healing presence.

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