Page 55 - NARM Model for Working with Affect

NARM Model For Working with Affect
§When clients begin to acknowledge and face their primary emotions, we must recognize that our client’s neural circuitry - laid down early during childhood - may not be fully capable of handling, at that moment, that much energetic charge
§We use Somatic Mindfulness, titration, mirroring, etc. as skills to support clients progressively being present to these feelings
§Unlike the therapeutic approaches that guide their clients into expressing or abreacting their emotional states - which can lead to further disconnection (as a way of not truly feeling) - NARM is containment-based (as a way of deepening feeling)
§We are not focused on expression - we are interested in completion, integration and re-organization
§We do this by not trying to make the emotional responses happen, but exploring what’s in their way of happening organically?
NARM Model for Working with Affect Laurence Heller, PhD & Brad J Kammer, LMFT, LPCC 64