Joanna Personally I found that some s

Joanna Personally I found that some sexual stuff did come up in my head quite naturally during the course of therapy...it just didn't come out of my mouth, I was too scared to raise it, so I used to push it back down as best as I could. There needs to be something from the clinician that goes beyond the general level of reassurance that therapy is a non-judgemental environment, something more, something to counteract the client feeling that "I know you're not judgemental, but this is different, this is the ultimate in 'badness' and shamefulness,...if I tell you this you won't want me as your client anymore, and if the one person who seems like they care, rejects me, then there is no hope left..." and a fear that you will plunge into despair so great that there is no point in living. So it is far too dangerous to talk about sexual stuff So some work on trust, strengthening the therapeutic relationship, possibly something on the different types of things that therapists get to hear about from clients, something that can reassure that the therapist is used to hearing sexual disclosures amongst other things. In terms of making women question their sexual relationships, it might be possible to show film clips relating more broadly to all aspects of relationships some "better" than others - a mixture of modern screen, old black & white films and childrens films. This could be used as a basis for a discussion about relationships - what do "real" relationships look like? are (respectful, tender, loving) relationships portayed in films "real" or are they pure fantasy & fairytale? What makes healthy & unhealthy relationships? Are ther particular types of people that you associate with more and less idealised relationships? What qualities do those people have? etc Creative activities that may help to coax feelings - painting emotions, attributing complex layering and blending of shape and colour to various emotions, examining our own artwork and noting any physical sensations they bring about, and looking at other pieces and describing the response they evoke, how they make us feel within our bodies etc That's all I can think of really x