What Is A Corrective Emotional Experience?

[Silent one]

I am confused. I'm not sure what this means. I googled it but I just don't get it.

 

[Friday]

It's like being in a healthy relationship after having been in an abusive relationship.

Or having sex after having been raped.

Or... 10,000 different examples, really.

The normal/good/healthy experience helps to correct the damage done by the abnormal/bad/unhealthy experience.

At least, that's my understanding of it!

 

[shimmerz]

To me, a corrective emotional experience is when I 'see the world differently'. Feel differently. A for instance would be a posting right now about a therapist throwing out to a member here that her abuser 'groomed her'. Changed everything for her. She is now seeing herself through different eyes. Kinder eyes.

 

[Silent one]

It's like being in a healthy relationship after having been in an abusive relationship.

Or having...

Oh, ok. Thank you.

 

[Silent one]

To me, a corrective emotional experience is when I 'see the world differently'. Feel differently. A...

That makes sense. Thank you

 

[EveHarrington]

Interesting.

I've never heard of this concept/term before.

 

[The Albatross]

Me either, never heard the term... the way it was explained to me was that I needed to scan for and seek out opportunities and challenge myself to create newer situations to "over-write" the old ones/script. New term for me... guess someone had to think of one.

 

[sun seeker]

It's mostly a term used in therapy, where in the course of relating to your therapist issues come up that remind you of issues from your past, but now in the context of the therapeutic relationship you get to work them out with a positive outcome. Like, say you were never allowed to cry as a child, but your therapist welcomes your tears and helps you feel safe expressing your grief. That's not a very good example, but the idea is it's an experience that fixes something that was damaged in the past.

 

[Leigh925]

I've noticed the term is used a lot with therapists that focus or use attachment therapy in their practice. Often my homework is to pick an experience or a false belief and then we figure out how we can rework it.

 

[sun seeker]

Yes, actually I don't recall hearing my therapist use the term, but we do a lot of things like this. It actually changes the structure of the brain, I think.

 

[Tinyflame]

I have heard the term. I suppose it's very important, by the sound of it.

 

[Silent one]

So basically it is doing the opposite of what was ingrained in your brain early on?