Pendulation as a Core Trauma Healing Model
Cornelia Elbrecht AThR, SEP, ANZACATA, IEATA
The term Pendulation was coined by Peter Levine (Levine 2010), describing a process of oscillating between two vortexes, a trauma vortex, and a healing vortex, to titrate the recall of stressful events. Pendulating between fearful and hopeful or joyful memories makes the trauma therapy process manageable, rather than re-traumatising. Levine’s insight into Pendulation has informed my approach to trauma therapy fundamentally. Thousands of therapists and clients have benefitted from this approach.
I first came across this concept in a lecture many years ago, where trauma-therapist Babette Rothschild (Rothschild 2000) told the story of finding herself seated next to her teenage nephew in the passenger seat of her car. She had volunteered to give him a driving lesson; instead, she started having a panic attack. She realized in that moment that her nephew, just like the many clients she was seeing, would be easily tempted to accelerate the car without knowing how to stop.
Figure 1: Rothschild’s model of unmodulated trauma activation during a therapy session spiralling out of control, being retraumatizing for the client.
When clients begin to remember traumatic events in a therapy session, they tend to get drawn further and further into the details, and it is these details that hold the unmanageable emotions. We can observe the accompanying physiological symptoms such as speaking faster, heightened heart rate and restlessness, while emotions such as frustration, irritation, and anger increase, even to rage. Or worry, becomes anxiety, fear and ultimately panic. High sympathetic activation states render clients unable to process any therapeutic insights and instead they become retraumatized. Accordingly, Babette Rothschild realized, she needed to teach clients how to stop, just like her nephew needed to know, how to apply the brakes before he could drive off.
Figure 2: Rothschild’s model of applying the brakes to down-regulate arousal states.
Rothschild described in the lecture, how she would encourage her clients to define one source of joy in their life. This could be gardening, football, the family pet, knitting, or whatever interest her clients had that allowed them to calm down. In the art therapy context this could be creating a collage, drawing a mandala, or sculpting with plasticine.
Focusing on this healing vortex clients can apply the brakes to stop overwhelming activation, settle their nervous system to the extent that they will not get too overwhelmed and dissociate. The flow between activation (red line) and settling (blue line) allows clients to stay within the window of tolerance (Thai 2022), while they process trauma-memories, they could not cope with in the past.
Many trauma therapists have since found ways of applying this model. Deb Dana (Dana 2020) calls the healing vortex a Glimmer that can be strengthened into a Glow. Trauma-informed practice always needs to focus on that glimmer first. We cannot safely engage with the trauma vortex without having access to hope. If this glimmer is not available, the therapy first and foremost needs to focus on strengthening such resources, gradually building a stabilizing platform. Only once this healing vortex can be accessed under duress is it safe to proceed with trauma exploration.
Figure 3: Pendulation between the Trauma Vortex and the Healing Vortex allows post traumatic growth.
Now pendulation between the counter vortex and the trauma vortex can begin, illustrated here as a Figure Eight movement between the red trauma vortex and the white healing vortex. Being sufficiently safe, clients can come back to their senses and find their inner responses. The rhythm of life can recommence to pulse through pendulating between the two vortexes. This pendulation will gradually pull the trauma vortex back into the boundary and reintegrate it into the flow of life. In Guided Drawing (Elbrecht, Healing trauma with guided drawing; a sensorimotor art therapy approach to bilateral body mapping 2018), the internal “massage therapist” becomes the healing agent who applies pendulation and knows what is needed to bring relief. At the Clay Field (Elbrecht, Trauma healing at the clay field, a sensorimotor art therapy approach 2013) clients can find an active response to once paralyzing overwhelm through for example pushing the resistant clay away, out of the box, even onto the floor, if need be. This is utterly empowering and moves clients out of helplessness and feeling overwhelmed. They are now able to self-regulate, pendulating between the two vortexes, between pain and soothing, between fear and joy, between activation and settling, and they can apply their own healing strategies accordingly.
Bibliography
Dana, Deb. 2020. Polyvagal exercises for safety and connection; a guide for therapists to help their clients. New York: W W Norton & Company.
Elbrecht, Cornelia. 2018. Healing trauma with guided drawing; a sensorimotor art therapy approach to bilateral body mapping. Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
—. 2021. Healing traumatized children at the clay field; sensorimotor embodiment of developmental milestones. Berkley CA: North Atlantic Books.
—. 2013. Trauma healing at the clay field, a sensorimotor art therapy approach. London/Philadelphia: jessica Kingsley.
Levine, Peter. 2010. In an unspoken voice; how the body releases trauma and restores goodness. Berkeley: North Atlantic Books.
Rothschild, Babette. 2000. The body remembers. New York: Norton and Company.
AThR, SEP, ANZACATA, IEATA
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