I’ve heard many takes of this concept of “healing”. I acknowledge that many of the rational approaches to counseling and therapy don’t really work. Those “rationalizations” often come across as blaming or hiding or explaining. Healing has to happen at the very visceral level, all the way down to your primal feelings. A lot of effective therapy either works directly with the brain (such as EMDR therapy) or with emotions (many forms of psychotherapy do this).

But the first step is really acknowledgement. In my opinion, healing hurts requires a cycle of recognition, so I’ve put up a podcast here on the Cycle Of Hurt and Healing (give some time for loading if you have a slow connection).

A number of people have asked me via mail if I conduct counseling over the net, especially since they are in places other than Singapore.

Of course I do. In fact I’ve been doing it for a number of people already.

Question #1  - Does it degrade the quality of the counseling session?

Nope. Not at all. If anything, because you are at a location you choose, you’d most likely be comfortable with this mode.

Question #2 – Shouldn’t you see me to know exactly what’s going on?

I’ve continued to use EMDR therapy as a treatment modality, and so far it has proven nothing short of amazing in my books. That being said, I do know that there are other methods that fit in better for other clients with different issues. As far as phobias are concerned, this is amazingly simple, intuitive (once you get the hang of it) and also highly potent.

My experience of EMDR as it stands now:

• desensitizes original traumatic image within one session, assuming the therapeutic alliance is established;
• no relapse within the 6 weeks of using EMDR;