Krystyna Kinowski

"The theoretical position that has evolved from the results of Best Foot Forward is a conceptualization of therapy in the midbrain -- that collection of older brain structures including the hypothalmus, the cingulate, the thalamus, hippocampus, and, in long-term trauma, the amygdala. The majority of explanations for the outcomes of BFF involve the interrelationship of these areas. As a group, they retrieve, regulate, and reconstruct the foundation of our experiences, smoothing the path for higher level cortical procesing.

Midbrain therapy, as I see it, is a non-logical, preconceptual endeavour to recalibrate the capacity for fulness of experience. It is focused on positive affect and its physiological substrate, in a highly visual, right brain therapy that is insulated for a while from preconceived ideas. It uses associational information processing to net its catch and simultaneous information processing to correctly identify the fish. When applied to real life problems, midbrain therapy has dual goals of psychological containment and system homeostasis. In titrated exposures to the problem, both containment and homeostasis are disrupted just enough, and no more, to see if the body/brain can absorb the tremor. When the vibrations from repeated practice have settled, the brain has hopefully revised the activation code for the problem, which alters the probability of it happening all over again in exactly the same way. The client's system is still functioning within energy-efficient parameters but now has a new linkage for more differentiated behaviour. With very little input from the therapist, the client then seems able to make those connections that bring perspective to the problem. The fact that the raw ingredients of this therapy process can come from the client's own life is a little like icing on the cake. Clients come for therapy expecting a leg up with problems only to find that said leg is attached to their own best foot." (from the last page of the Clinical Practice Manual)

Krystyna Kinowski, M.A.,Ph.D.

Registered Psychologist

201-1005 Cook Street

Victoria, BC, Canada V8V 3Z6

250-380-0361

krys@krystynakinowski.com

Go to www.krystynakinowski.com and check the Best Foot Forward list on the left hand side of the home page. Here you can read more about it and, if you wish, download the protocol, manual, clinical record form, and/or body saftety rating card. Electronic downloads are quick and inexpensive, helped by a PayPal link.

To see the Table of Contents of the Best Foot Forward Clinical Practice Manual, go to Jim Lichti's on-line bookstore at http://emdrresources.com/oscommerce/product_info.php?cPath=21_87&products_id=145

Coming soon: Best Foot Forward Casebook co-authored with Susan Hubbard LCSW, EMDRIA Consultant in Boulder, Colorado.