ABSTRACT
The practitioner needs to be able to be psychologically strong and calm enough so that the teenager feels sufficiently safe to be able to release shock that has often been locked up in their body. They may need to shout, scream and howl. As Panksepp, a leading neuroscientist, says, ‘We are deeply feeling creatures. We must come to terms with the human condition.’ If the teenager senses that you are too emotionally fragile they just won’t go into this level of discharge. They will instead stay defended and may not even want to talk about it.
