Anthony Taglianetti
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- Add version headers to all modality and persona files for update tracking - Add structures/ folder with session structure options - Add safety-protocol.md - Add assets/ folder with capture instructions and samples Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2.3 KiB
2.3 KiB
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?"