| Control is the central theme of intimate partner | | | | abusive relationship. |
| violence. Both during and after the abusive | | | | Patients have told me that for the first time since |
| relationship, domestic abuse survivors seek to sort | | | | the abusive relationship began, they feel as though |
| out the unfinished business and unresolved issues | | | | they now own their own bodies. They know where |
| around control. | | | | the "on" switch is and where the "off" switch is, and |
| In my work with domestic violence survivors, I have | | | | they know how to actually turn it "on" and turn it |
| found that when I give them a regimen that assists | | | | "off." |
| them in cultivating internal control, they thrive. And | | | | That is, they know how to lower autonomic arousal |
| they heal. | | | | of the stress response at will. They are in the driver's |
| For example, when a domestic abuse survivor begins | | | | seat and have found the wheel. And once they hold |
| to learn how to regulate their autonomic nervous | | | | this wheel, they don't want to let it go. |
| system, they feel utterly empowered by the fact | | | | Empowerment is now in the tissue and giving it up is |
| that they are able to control their internal physiology. | | | | unheard of. |
| Symptoms are reduced, anxiety is regulated, | | | | I can hear in their voices less generalized |
| depression is lifted, insomnia is curbed, panic attacks | | | | vulnerability...greater command from the inside out. |
| are mitigated, chronic pain is significantly reduced, and | | | | While biofeedback and self-regulation are certainly not |
| irritable bowel syndrome and hypertension are also | | | | a panacea; this training provides an experiential |
| reduced. | | | | learning step essential to healing while in and after an |
| While the symptom reduction is extremely beneficial | | | | abusive relationship. |
| to the survivor, the psychological emotional effects | | | | If you are in an abusive relationship, or recently |
| of the ability to regulate one's internal physiology | | | | ended one, consider self-regulation training as a way |
| takes them miles into recovery...into healing the | | | | of catapulting yourself back into health and well-being. |
| effects of having been and/or being in a controlling, | | | | |