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By Stuart Altschuler (Los Angeles Times,
4/22/O1): I am a licensed marriage and
family therapist in Los Angeles and have
been using Rebirthing personally and
professionally for more than 15 years. I am
one of very few licensed psychotherapists
who use this as a tool in therapy. It is one
of many approaches I have at my disposal
when working with a client. Most Rebirthers
are not licensed therapists but are very
professional, compassionate, intuitive, and
well trained.
The process used to treat
Candace Newmaker in Evergreen Colorado has
nothing to do with what is commonly known as
Rebirthing, or Conscious Connected
Breathing.
What the therapists in
Evergreen call Rebirthing is quite a
different process. What they were doing is
more of an age regression and psychodrama in
an effort to psychically and psychologically
recreate the birth experience, as a way of
attempting to heal the wounds created around
bonding and trust.
Rebirthing, as it has been
known for about 30 years, is a breathing
technique used to access repressed memory
and blocked emotions that have impacted
ones' beliefs systems about life,
relationships, and oneself. Through an
extended use of connected breathing, a
client oxygenizes the system and removes
defenses to change and growth. It can help
someone achieve a higher level of daily
functioning, open the heart to more love and
safety, and help one achieve a greater sense
of peace and clarity.
The process described in
many Los Angeles Times articles had nothing
to do with the breathing process used by
trained and certified Rebirthers. There is
not state licensing for Rebirthers, but it
is important that anyone interested in the
process learn more about it and know the
Rebirther's training and length of
experience. Usually, a referral from someone
they know and trust is helpful. They have to
feel safe with the practitioner and realize
that they actually can stop the process at
anytime, if they do not feel supported.
There are many licensed
psychotherapists who judge my use of
Rebirthing as an inappropriate tool in
therapy. Yet, I have Rebirthed other
therapists, lawyers, doctors, celebrities
and others from all careers and backgrounds.
Some of these individuals achieved greater
genuine results in a few sessions than they
did in years of other more traditional
psychotherapy. In fact, I have a couple of
Rebirthing sessions when they have reached a
block in their therapy. This often gets
their sessions moving again. This breathing
technique is not for everyone, anymore than
psychoanalysis is for everyone. But both
have helped many people.
There are individuals who
have disorders that traditional and
researched therapies have not helped. It is
my understanding that the general approach
used in the Evergreen clinics have helped
many children and families. Even the
greatest surgeon will be unsuccessful on
some occasions. Loss of life is never easy
and certainly never the desired goal. I
would guess that more safeguards might have
been employed so that Candice could have
survived the treatment and achieved the
success that other children have achieved by
this therapy used for reactive attachment
disorder.
As therapists, we all have
responsibility to stay alert to the effects
our approach is having on our clients and
the flexibility to alter direction when
necessary. We also need to accept that we
are not capable of helping everyone that
comes into our office. Humility is a more
healing tool, as a therapist, than
arrogance.
Basically, a particular
technique use may be very helpful in many
cases and a hurting family has the right to
choose any course of treatment outside the
realm of traditional acceptance. They have
the right to be able to find practitioners
who are capable and responsible.
I cannot imagine the grief
and other feelings Candace's adopted family
must be experiencing. Her mother was
reaching for solutions and only had her
daughter's welfare at heart. The lives of
the therapists, and their families have also
been destroyed. My heart and my prayers go
out to all involved.
However, please do not
confuse this treatment, which withheld
breath from Candace, with a process that
actually helps one breathe and live more
fully.
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