In last month’s article, we featured “thought stopping.” The number of calls I received was excellent. The thoughts ranged from “I never heard of this before,” or ” how come the three rehabs I was in never made a reference to this method of dealing with the ‘seven deadly sins’ of anger, rage, shame, guilt, anxiety, depression and fear?” I wasn’t able to answer questions of other people’s programs, but I simply stated that this is what I teach in REBT (Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy.”

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, since day one 32 years ago, has always maintained a commitment to abstinence to prevent relapse. This has been a key thinking pattern in a client’s journey in recovery. We have always prided our program on providing guidelines they can follow when cravings bombard them or thoughts of relapsing, to get some relief from irrational thinking, thus treatment methods like thought stopping and guided imagery play a rational part in getting them through the hard times.

Guided imagery should not be taught to others until you can work it yourself. As a counselor in my REBT group, which met for 13 years at the Holy Trinity Parish Center on Thursday nights from 7 to 8:15 p.m. Usually 30 to 50 people, some chemically dependent, some not, would go through guided imagery with me. So put your feet on the floor, elbows up on the desk. Now close your eyes and take three deep breaths. I now want you to think of a safe place that you could go to in good times and bad and now begin your journey to go there again. Take three deep breaths and begin going to your safe place, being aware of any sights, sounds, smells as you travel to your place. Now, take three deep breaths as you arrive.

As you arrive be aware once again of all sights, sounds, smells. I now want you to enter your safe place and once again be aware of any sights, sounds and smells.

I now want you to find a place to sit and sit down and enjoy the silence for as long as you wish to stay. When you feel relaxed and now feel you can handle what has troubled you, begin to say goodbye to your place.

Know that any time you wish to come here, you may, because it is yours. A you now travel away from this place, take three deep breaths and come back into this room and open your eyes.

For over 30 years with all kinds of addicts, this method has helped people with abuse issues, death issues, abandonment issues, issues of anger, rage shame, guilt, anxiety, depression and addictive behaviors. Addicts don’t just deal with negative emotions. For years, they have been dealing with “disturbed negative emotions” that repeat themselves over and over with little relief. Clients are good at hiding what they don’t want you to know. This is why so many people repeat inpatient treatment three, four, five times or more. Rape, physical and sexual abuse, abandonment all affect a person’s self-image. I’m not going to get into all the treatment issues except to say that when a person begins to solve their own problem, without you, the counselor, solving it for them, then a light will go on like Nike saying, “Just do it.” Getting clients to say to you, “I can do this” is giving them the confidence and power to go after what has kept them sick for years. Thus, the two tools of thought stopping and guided imagery to manage powerful thinking and feeling states are a God-send.

P.S. In one of the Spinners songs (my all-time favorite group), the line goes “Life is hard, when you’re against the tide.” Remember nothing is that awful, horrible, or terrible, that can’t be dealt with if you’ve learned anything from these articles the last three years. It’s “all of us are just passing through, so by changing your thinking about people, places and events, I hope can help you find peace and spirituality as you go through this thing called life. Merry Christmas, He is born again.”

Mike Tramuta, an REBT counselor, can be reached at 716-983-1592.