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NARM Model For Working with Affect
2. Understandtheimplicitintentioninemotions • What message is the emotion conveying?
• What is the emotion trying to accomplish?
§Emotions are both messages to self & messages to environment
• e.g., If a person is angry, what is the intention of their anger? What is it that the anger wants to achieve?
oA child’s anger is generally a protest against the failures of the environment, so aggression mobilizes as a way to affect an environmental response
§Integrating split-off anger and aggression communicates a message to the self: I don't deserve to be treated this way
• Identifying the intention gives a context for understanding that the emotional response is in fact an empowering mechanism, an antidote to the belief that they deserved the treatment they got
NARM Model for Working with Affect Laurence Heller, PhD & Brad J Kammer, LMFT, LPCC 61
