In a week I'll be traveling to Japan to give two workshops at the Japan EMDR Association annual conference. My introductory workshop will be about basics of assessment for dissociative disorders. My advanced workshop will be about the use of ego state therapy in conjunction with EMDR. My colleague, Dr Ulrich Lanius of Vancouver, British Columbia, will presenting a beginning workshop on the neuroscience of dissociation. His advanced workshop will be on the integration of somatic therapy with EMDR.
I'll be using cartoons to communicate with this Japanese-speaking audience, in addition to an interpreter. I am hopeful that the cartoons will facilitate understanding across the language barrier. In fact, they often transcend language, by their very nature. They speak to the right hemisphere of the brain.
The greatest compliment I ever got was after giving my basic Looking Through the Eyes Workshop using cartoons. A workshop attendee came up to me the next morning at breakfast in the hotel cafe. He said, "Dr Paulsen, thank you for your workshop. I didn't learn a thing!" I no doubt looked puzzled and perhaps a bit startled. He explained, "I attended this workshop 5 years ago. It changed the way I practice completely. I attended again yesterday to see if I had missed anything. I didn't. All of your cartoons stuck firmly in my mind, and I got it all the first time." The explanation delighted me, still makes me giddy, and reminds me why I include the cartoons in the first place.
Those cartoons are contained in my book, "Looking Through the Eyes of Trauma and Dissociation: An Illustrated Guide for EMDR Therapists and Client."
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