{"id":9368,"date":"2011-07-13T10:05:34","date_gmt":"2011-07-13T17:05:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/?p=9368"},"modified":"2024-04-01T17:48:06","modified_gmt":"2024-04-01T21:48:06","slug":"shadow-work-emotional-suffering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/shadow-work-emotional-suffering\/","title":{"rendered":"Shadow Work: Transforming Emotional Suffering into Freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"GoodTherapyIf you read last month\u2019s blog, Creativity vs Shadow<\/a><\/em>, you will remember a brief mention of Deepak and Gotham Chopra\u2019s book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes<\/em>. In the book Chopra identified shadow as a \u201cforce of the unconscious that can be destructive, divisive and\/or self-sabotaging if it remains unconscious\u201d. Shadow is difficult to recognize because left to it\u2019s own devices it remains unconscious. Shadow is a zapping energy that lurks in the area of emotional suffering caused to oneself or to another. The concept can be broadly applied to families, groups, religions, governments, countries, etc. if we consider them bodies of energy.<\/p>\n

It is often easy to recognize someone else\u2019s shadow energy because it is not unconscious to us. It is recognizable it in the behavior of someone who is \u2018acting out\u2019 or conversely, someone who appears emotionless. Pointing out someone\u2019s shadow is often met with resistance because shadow is tenacious. It develops as a coping mechanism over time. It pulls vital energy to it to enforce its stronghold.<\/p>\n

Shadow is often the very issue that brings someone into therapy, although they may not recognize that aspect of themselves when they begin therapy. They come to therapy because they are suffering in some way and are looking for relief. Often therapy provides relief by helping people to understand their part in their own suffering and to develop new strategies to cope with their emotions.<\/p>\n

Art therapy<\/a> is a powerful tool for helping to get in touch with shadow. Art therapy brings images out from the unconscious to the surface where they can be experienced and felt through the senses and processed verbally. Creative arts therapies can include painting, drawing, collage, movement, sound, video, performance art, writing, dreams, digital media: such as dating profiles, pornography choices, avatars, gaming environments, etc.<\/p>\n

Therapists often try to help clients to transform their emotional suffering (shadow) into well-being (freedom) through awareness and change of behaviors that do not ultimately serve their goals. Many of the blogs here on Good Therapy.org provide examples of shadow work. For example: Darren Haber, MFT, Addictions & Compulsions Topic Expert Contributor wrote about The Abused Husband<\/a> <\/em>a topic that is gravely under-reported. In Haber\u2019s scenario, the most obvious example of shadow resides with the abuser. The abuser often does not know how s\/he gets caught in the cycle of abuse that often escalates and can become very dangerous. The abused person on the other hand, not only suffers the abusers wrath but s\/he is not able to understand how to stop the cycle of abuse by recognizing their complicity in it. I realize that my statement may jar strong reaction. Abuse<\/a> is a dynamic between people. Darren Haber\u2019s blog also contains a subtle example of shadow in the Abused Husband<\/em> scenario. It resides with the onlooker who \u201ceven pumped her fist happily as she watched the woman slapping her partner.\u201d Shadow is present in any violent<\/a> act, or superficial judgment against another. In this example the onlooker\u2019s shadow was triggered. It is particularly difficult to unravel a dynamic of abuse when it involves people whose lives are closely bonded.<\/p>\n

Shadow is the part of the self that most humans get glimpses of but ignore or deny in favor of a self-perception that is \u2018inflated\u2019 or in some cases \u2018deflated\u2019 by ego. Neither ego inflation nor ego deflation can be sustained without some form of destructive result. For example: Jim Hutt, Ph.D., Family Problems<\/a> Topic Expert Contributor too Good Therapy.org recently wrote in his blog, Resentful Compliance vs Commitment<\/a> <\/em>about a relationship where one person is \u201cresentfully compliant\u201d by doing what their partner wants, while they are \u201cresentful about doing it\u201d.\u00a0Resentment falls to shadow. The resentful person may say to themselves, \u201coh, it doesn\u2019t matter that my partner is getting their way again, it\u2019s no big deal\u201d, (ego deflation) when in actuality, resentment grows into a big deal because their true feelings are denied. The result can often be passive-aggressive behavior. The other partner may think that there is nothing wrong with being persistent and that getting their way is a sign of strength (ego inflation). Oftentimes that ego inflation comes out of a profound fear and vulnerability. Most of the time, without realizing how they are complicit in the toxic environment of the relationship both parties continue to project their emotions out onto the other.<\/p>\n

In therapy, the therapist encounters shadow in the painful experiences that their clients share. The therapist and client build a safe relationship where shadow can be explored. Shadow is very difficult work because of resistance. The outcome of examining oneself and facing what has happened in one\u2019s life, however, gives a person freedom to create change and use the wealth of energy that was tied up in shadow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you read last month\u2019s blog, Creativity vs Shadow, you will remember a brief mention of Deepak and Gotham Chopra\u2019s book, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Superheroes. In the book Chopra identified shadow as a \u201cforce of the unconscious that can be destructive, divisive and\/or self-sabotaging if it remains unconscious\u201d. Shadow is difficult to recognize […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2383,"featured_media":43066,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[252,425,31,256,387,25,27,41,57],"class_list":["post-9368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-abuse-neglect-survivors","tag-aggression-violence","tag-psychotherapy-practice","tag-art-therapy","tag-communication-problems","tag-psychotherapy-issues","tag-psychotherapy-models","tag-marriage-counseling-relationships","tag-the-human-being-of-therapy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2383"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goodtherapy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}