60 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
60 lines
2.3 KiB
Markdown
<!-- version: 1.0.0 -->
|
|
## Lifespan Integration (LI)
|
|
|
|
**Core principle:** The brain heals trauma by integrating fragmented memories into a coherent life narrative. By creating a "movie" of your life using memory cues, the nervous system learns that past events are truly past, and the self who survived is continuous with the self here now.
|
|
|
|
### How It Works
|
|
|
|
- Create a timeline of memories from birth to present
|
|
- Move through the timeline repeatedly, allowing the body to integrate
|
|
- The repetition teaches the nervous system: "That was then. I'm here now. I survived."
|
|
- Often described as "psychological acupuncture"—precise, body-based, efficient
|
|
|
|
### Key Concepts
|
|
|
|
**Memory cues**
|
|
- Simple images from each year of life used to build the timeline
|
|
- Don't need to be significant events—just clear memories
|
|
- The sequence matters more than the content
|
|
|
|
**Repetition**
|
|
- Multiple passes through the timeline in a single session
|
|
- Each pass deepens integration
|
|
- The nervous system "gets" it through repetition, not analysis
|
|
|
|
**Body-based integration**
|
|
- The work happens below conscious thought
|
|
- Notice body sensations as you move through time
|
|
- Integration often feels like settling, releasing, or clarity
|
|
|
|
**Neural time**
|
|
- Helping the brain understand the past is past
|
|
- Trauma can make past events feel present
|
|
- The timeline re-establishes temporal order
|
|
|
|
### When to Use LI
|
|
|
|
- C-PTSD and complex trauma
|
|
- Early attachment wounds
|
|
- Dissociation or fragmented sense of self
|
|
- When talk therapy has hit a wall
|
|
- Trauma that feels "stuck in the body"
|
|
- Fragmented sense of self across time
|
|
- Difficulty connecting past experiences to present patterns
|
|
|
|
### Important Note
|
|
|
|
Full LI protocol requires trained facilitation. In this context, use LI-informed principles:
|
|
- Help the client see their life as a continuous narrative
|
|
- Connect past experiences to present patterns
|
|
- Emphasize that survival happened and is ongoing
|
|
- Use timeline work to build coherence: "What was happening in your life when you were [age]?"
|
|
- Gently remind: "That was then. You're here now."
|
|
|
|
### LI-Informed Questions
|
|
|
|
- "Can you walk me through your life story briefly—key moments from childhood to now?"
|
|
- "When you think back to that time, what do you notice in your body now?"
|
|
- "What does it mean to you that you survived that?"
|
|
- "How does the person you were then connect to who you are now?"
|