The emotional dimension is the arena where clients can locate and explore a full range of their emotional feelings…
including how they experience their sexual identity and orientation, how they relate to themselves, their partners, and others, and how their present emotions may be affected by past and possibly the future.
Issues in the emotional dimension include:
- Love
- Passion
- Compassion
- Empathy
- Longing
- Anger
- Fear
- Grief
- More/other____________________
Positive aspects of the emotional dimension are characterized by:
- Open-heartedness
- Heightened emotions
- Nuanced emotions
- Trust, ability to let go of control
- Empathy, ability to feel what others feel
- More/other____________________
Shadow aspects of the emotional dimension are characterized by:
- Constriction
- Anxiety
- Disappointment
- A closed or broken heart
- Distrust, the inability to let go of control
- Depression
- Conflict
- Rage
- Boredom
- Shame
- More/other____________________
Hot Tip—The emotional dimension is where clients often reveal issues of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It is in this dimension that I most often see time literally collapse, as a client suddenly begins to speak in a child-voice and exhibit child-like body language (especially notice fingers, toes, positioning of head, and facial expressions).
The therapeutic dialogue might begin like this:
Therapist: “How old do you feel right now?”
Client: “I’m three years old—and I’m so small, and my brothers are so big and so mean . . .”