ABSTRACT
Within the context of CRM, conceptualised as a nested hierarchy of resources, how can distress be considered one of the key resources, the sixth of the Russian Dolls? How can the pain of emotional distress experienced somatically be resourcing when everything else in the model is about making the healing journey bearable? This can initially appear paradoxical and counterintuitive, but in CRM the distress that occurs as a result of attachment disruption, survival terror and the truth of one’s life is conceptualised as providing the opportunity for healing without which no forward growth or movement would be necessary or possible. If human beings did not experience and hold the gifts of traumatic, agonising suffering, there would be no evolutionary imperative in terms of expansion and sentience.
