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In order to facilitate the utilization of tunnel therapy, I have prepared a videotape to illustrate some important steps of the procedure: the tunnel fantasy; the detailed explanations given to the client before starting the therapy; the relaxation technique; a regular session; the use of the body approach; and the reframing technique for resistance. In conjunction with the reading of The practice of tunnel therapy, this demonstration should enable an experienced therapist to use the approach with his clients. The cost is 95$can (taxes, shipping & handling included). If you would like to purchase the book along with the videotape, the cost is 125$can, all included.  |
The book The practice of tunnel therapy and its compagnion videotape are, in my opinion, explicit enough to enable an experienced therapist to use this approach with his clients. Nevertheless, I am aware that some people might prefer a more elaborate demonstration of this therapy before using it. For this reason, I offer a two-day training session if there are sufficient demands for it. Contact me to let me know if you are interested. Following is the agenda for the training session: Day One: 9:00 a.m. to noon:
Day Two: 9:00 a.m. to noon:
Cost: $300. |
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Training in tunnel therapy can also be provided on an individual basis so that it is possible to schedule meetings according to the trainee’s agenda. In addition, arrangements may be made for the supervision of therapists who have just begun to practice the technique. Supervision can be done by telephone in 15-minute intervals at $35 each. You choose the moment and the length of your consultation by communicating with me. Contact me to let me know if you are interested. |
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Excerpts: The à-propos of Pierre Janet in the false memory controversy |
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Introduction Glaude (1984), the discoverer of the tunnel, acknowledges his good fortune in having had two consecutive clients who alluded to a tunnel. And it is to his credit that he transformed this observation into a therapeutic tool which, if used properly, can be extremely effective. The aim of this book, addressed to experienced clinicians, is to explain how to use the tunnel properly. The rationale for this therapy is found in Pierre Janet’s theory on trauma and pathology which, according to Bessel van der Kolk the renowned trauma expert, is still unsurpassed today. Janet always considered traumatic memories an important possible cause of all types of psychological disorders and of many physical disorders as well. And, most of all, he was firmly convinced that treatment could not succeed if a traumatic memory was involved and was not dealt with. And he soon realized that in most cases the traumatic memory was unknown to the victim… Janet considered dissociation to be the most immediate psychological defense against trauma. Dissociated traumatic events can result in any type of pathology, not only the dissociative disorders as described in the DSM-IV; this point is crucial. In my practice, I have had very few cases of dissociative disorders. Nevertheless, my clients had been traumatized. The trauma treatment which is generally used today traces its origins to Janet. It has three phases: stabilization, the integration of traumatic memories and a post-integrative self and relational development. Since my clients generally have a good enough ego strenght and a history of adequate functioning despite their difficulties, I have very little to do with the first phase and I can use the tunnel immediately. The workhorse and the real agent of this therapy is the subconscious mind, which I consider to be the self-healing force in a person, the inner regulator of all biological and mental processes. Regardless of how you refer to it-- the Core Self, the Inner Mind, the Higher Self, the Basic Self-- it seems that in an altered state we have access to a source which knows everything and which has great wisdom. Chapter 1 makes a short presentation of the theory, which is developed in greater depth in Appendix 5. Chapter 2, the most important one, presents a simplified way of applying tunnel therapy, so that it may be learned more easily by non-initiates. Chapter 3 gives additional information, which would not have been suitable for inclusion in a simplified presentation of the approach. Appendices 1-4 complete the information required for the application of this therapy. A client once told me: «The tunnel is like something organic, it is like a wound that is healing.» |
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Age regression and revivification The fundamental tools of tunnel therapy are age regression and revivification. Tunnel therapy is based upon the postulate that the actual problems presented by the client are often caused by events from the past which have been dissociated from consciousness. These events, at the moment of encoding, caused a particular psychophysiological state; the events can only be recollected if the individual is in this state. Janet observed this phenomenon, and described it in the following way:
Janet, Breuer, Freud and a multitude of others have used age regression; the new element in the tunnel method, however, is its systematic applicability. The tunnel contains coded past events, whether unknown or partially known, that are responsible for the client’s problems. The therapy consists essentially in having the person relive those events using age regression. The triggers for those regressions already appear in the tunnel in the form of a door, a stone on the ground, a crack in the wall, a stalactite and so on. There is absolutely no need for the therapist to use suggestions, guided imagery or confusion methods. In tunnel therapy, the fundamental instruction is the following: never search for something; let things come. |
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Dissociation can result in any type of pathology According to the current nosology, dissociative disorders include amnesia, fugue, identity and depersonalization. These disorders are all hysteria symptoms studied by Janet, but we must not forget that Janet considered dissociation to be at the origin of any psychological disorder caused by a traumatic memory. In other words, dissociation, as conceptualized by Janet, can explain much more than the dissociative disorders. According to Janet, dissociation is the most immediate psychological defense against trauma, which can lead to any type of pathology. |
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Duration I can never tell a client how long his therapy will last, simply because I myself cannot make such a prediction . It is the time needed to reach the end of the tunnel that determines the length of the therapy. Thus, although we do not know the duration of the therapy, at least we know when it ends, namely, when the client exits the tunnel. In some cases, what remains is to complete the integration that was not quite finished at the moment of the exit. The amount of time required is variable. Six percent of my cases lasted less than ten hours; this situation is exceptional. Eighteen percent of my cases lasted between ten and nineteen hours; seventeen percent, between twenty and twenty-nine hours; sixteen percent, between thirty and thirty-nine hours; and nine percent, between forty and forty-nine hours. Overall, two-thirds of my cases lasted fifty hours or less. I have also had very serious cases requiring two hundred hours and more. I am referring here strictly to the age regression process that whose conclusion is heralded by the entrance into the landscape at the end of the tunnel. For many clients, the therapy is finished at this point . For others, the integration has yet to be completed. Thus, the duration of tunnel therapy can be moderately-to very short. Nevertheless, it is not considered to be a form of brief therapy as understood in clinical psychology, because we cannot determine its duration, and, more importantly, because tunnel therapy does not address the symptoms, but the underlying causes. |
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Symbolic scenes Symbolic scenes are important in tunnel therapy because they have many functions. They can effect a major change, bring about a reconciliation with the past, or give an important message, especially at the exit from the tunnel. A symbolic scene can also illustrate a situation exceptionally well.
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Changes Important changes mediated by tunnel therapy may manifest themselves in a dramatic way, such as the disappearance of a negative attitude, a phobia or a hindering physical problem. There are, however, many changes that appear in «a calm and peaceful way» to use one client’s expression. Other expressions heard very often include: «I am liberated», «I feel clean», «I have the impression of shedding my skin», «harmony is settling down in me», «I don’t feel burdened anymore», «it is like a wound that is healing», «I feel like a flower that is slowly opening up». Finally, the expression that summarizes all the others: «Before I was enduring my life; now I am living it». |
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Metaphors in tunnel therapy In tunnel therapy, the therapist does not have to create metaphors; the client’s subsconscious performs this task using symbolic scenes. The following is a good illustration. A client gets a scene that could be summarized this way: he is lying down under a slab which suddenly explodes, as if it were a volcanic eruption. He feels a tremendous amount of energy: «It is as if I have found my center». After this scene, which lasted around twenty minutes, the symptom, a social phobia, disappeared completely and permanently. |
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Old age Old age is not a factor to be considered in tunnel therapy. I have had many clients in their sixties and some in their seventies.Whatever the age in tunnel therapy, the goal remains the same: to clear the tunnel. Like any other life stage, old age requires an adaptation, and this adjustment can be jeopardized by a trauma that has never been addressed. In the very appropriate words of Janet, the person is still «attached» at some moment in his life, but he is not yet aware of it. Thus,when a stressful event occurs, it causes a crisis accompanied by depression, chronic fatigue, insomnia or anxiety. Since the person is elderly, the danger is to attribute these symptoms to the process of ageing, whereas in fact the stressful event is only the trigger and not the real cause. In other words, the correct diagnosis should be delayed post-traumatic stress disorder. Tunnel therapy is also especially helpful for older people who have not yet been able to come to terms with the all-too-familiar painful events of their lives. The wounds inflicted by these situations are still open. Tunnel therapy closes those wounds and gives the old person a serenity never before experienced. This type of therapy is usually of short duration. |
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Sexual abuse When I started using this therapy in 1985, the M.F.S. Foundation did not exist and even today, in Québec, the false-memory controversy does not have the same notoriety as in the U.S.A., where the therapy I am presenting in this book will seem like an abomination to some, and will even surprise and will probably be disapproved by many among those who recognize the existence and the importance of traumatic memories in the causation of pathology. I do not present myself as a clinician specialized in the treatment of victims of sexual abuse. First of all, it would be contrary to the fundamental postulate of this therapy, namely, to retrieve traumatic memories whose nature is unknown to the client. In addition, I would like to emphasize that I have treated many cases of psychological abuse whose consequences were much more serious than those observed in some sexual abuse cases. Soon after I started using this therapy, I parted ways with Glaude, the discoverer of the tunnel, for many reasons, one of which being that he saw sexual abuse everywhere. Although he was obviously wrong, I had to admit after a while that sexual abuse was more prevalent than I had imagined. When I wrote my first book, I reviewed my cases and realized that sexual abuse was present in forty-seven percent of them. Seventy-five percent of those were completely dissociated. Therefore, I am not one of those therapists who consider sexual abuse to be the root cause of all problems, far from that, but I have to admit that sexual abuse is frequent. And I think that the tunnel is a marvelous instrument precisely because it avoids suggesting sexual abuse: the triggers for the regressions are already in the tunnel so there is absolutely no need for the therapist to use suggestions, guided imagery or any other method. And the fundamental instruction to the client and to the therapist is never to look for something, but to let things come. When I see a client for the first time, I ask only one question about sexuality and I ask it at the end: « Is there anything you would like to mention concerning your sexuality?»» |
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The landscape Once the tunnel exploration is over, the client exits into a landscape that is often marvellous and beautiful, and confers an extraordinary feeling of well-being upon the client. You must give the client all the time required to enjoy this experience. He describes his landscape, at times all at once or slowly, with many pauses. Sometimes we can see him smile, laugh or cry with joy. Many say that they sing, dance or roll over and over in green grass. It is an experience of liberation, of lightness, of communion with life. It is euphoria. That experience can last as long as an hour. |
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Inhibition of action or a difficult present There are actual situations in a person’s life that can make him sick. In other words, a person can be confronted now by a situation that he cannot handle properly. The French surgeon and biologist Henri Laborit has written a book called L’Inhibition de l’action, which addresses this issue. Janet calls thid kind of situation an «attachment», which he defines as «...the exhaustion ...in persons whose situation is too complicated and too difficult, so that they go on struggling for an indefinite time in their attempts to cope with it.» Just as it is necessary to help people who are «stuck» in their past, it is also necessary to help those who are «attached» in their present. Tunnel therapy is totally appropriate for contending with this problem. Tunnel therapy deals not only with the past, but also with the present. For these people, tunnel therapy can be very useful for two reasons: it shows them clearly what decision to make and it helps them to mobilize their ressources to do what must be done. Generally, this process is of short duration. This notion of inhibition of action or «attachment» is very important in tunnel therapy, since this approach is as useful for the present as for the past. In both cases, it is a question of finding and living according to one’s own truth. And the truth, no matter how painful, is always liberating. |
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