Lifespan Integration Therapy
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Lifespan Integration is a gentle, body/mind based therapeutic method which heals without perpetrating further trauma. Developed by Peggy Pace in 2003 it is relatively new but rapidly expanding therapeutic method.
Lifespan Integration (LI) relies on the innate ability of the body-mind to heal itself. LI combines active imagination, the juxtaposition of ego states in time, and a visual time line of memories to facilitate neural integration and rapid healing. Lifespan Integration uses a psychological technique called an "affect bridge" to find a memory which is connected to the current problem. The therapist guides the client to imaginally re-visit this past memory, bringing into the past whatever is needed to resolve the memory. After the memory is resolved, the therapist leads the client through time to the present using a Time Line of visual images of scenes from the client's life. This Time Line of memories and images proves to the client's body-mind system that time has passed and that life is different now.
The LI technique causes memories to surface spontaneously, and because of how memories are held neurologically, each memory which surfaces is related to the emotional theme or issue being targeted. The resulting panoramic view of the client's life gives the client new insights about lifelong patterns resultant from the past trauma.
Adults who experienced childhood trauma often continue to be "triggered" in their present lives. When people are "triggered", they often react in old patterned ways which are not helpful to the current situation and sometimes are harmful. Continuing in these repetitive and self-destructive patterns only makes the person feel worse and more hopeless.
LI is also very effective in the healing of various attachment disorders (the way we bond with others and relate to our emotional life). This is accomplished through imaginally 're-writing' and 're-living' the early conditions, and integrating the new (positive) feeling states which are generated in the client-therapist dyad.
Lifespan Integration is a very gentle method which works on a deep neural level to change patterned responses and outmoded defensive strategies. LI therapy helps people connect unpleasant feelings and dysfunctional patterns with the memories of the past events from which these feelings and strategies originated. Making these connections at a deep level of the body-mind "re-sets" the neural system so that it is more in line with the current life situation. LI also works well with people who have trouble remembering their pasts. During Lifespan Integration therapy, clients who began with memory gaps are eventually able to connect the pieces of their lives into a coherent whole. This "re-setting" happens very rapidly for most people. After LI therapy, people find themselves spontaneously reacting to current stressors in more age appropriate ways. After several sessions of LI, clients have reported that they feel better about life, are more self-accepting, and are better able to enjoy their intimate relationships.
In 2003, Peggy Pace published the first edition of her book, Lifespan Integration: Connecting Ego States through Time. In her book Pace describes the new therapeutic method which she developed through her work with her clients. Pace originally designed Lifespan Integration therapy for adult survivors of childhood abuse or neglect. She soon found that LI therapy facilitates rapid healing in people of all ages, and is effective with a wide range of therapeutic issues. Since 2004, Pace has been training therapists throughout the US and Western Europe. At the present time (2010), more than 1000 therapists worldwide have been trained in Lifespan Integration.
