The Gatekeeper

Part III Love Child Chapter 28

28

FROM THE VERY BEGINNING I had a deep vested interest, both moral and personal, in helping Lauren overcome the debilitating effects of her early childhood trauma. She was now family—soul of my soul, if not blood of my blood. 

When we first met Lauren was a strong, healthy, vivacious, stimulating, intelligent, talented, productive, warm, wonderful, and absolutely gorgeous human being both inside and out. I desperately wanted, needed to see Lauren that way again. Just because she was leaving, probably for good, I had to help her get well again if I possibly could. 

In the search for a solution to her mysterious malady, I read everything I could about Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD), or later known by its new name, Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), often associated with the complication, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), all spawned by the terrible child abuse. Beyond reading, I watched and listened as her traditional therapy unfolded.

I was with Lauren every step of the way, from co-consciousness sessions to the power of imagery in hypnosis, through drug treatment and hospitalization. At best, traditional therapy was a long, drawn-out process with no guarantees for a cure. The word cure was not used among psychotherapy practitioners. 

The expense for traditional therapy was considerable, often running into thousands of dollars. The patient inevitably suffered tremendously while dredging up painful memories. The drugs were basically powerful tranquilizers and didn't really deal with the latent, repressed effects of deep-seated embedded traumas. Outside of a miraculous healing, did any therapy exist that could resolve once and for all Lauren's flashbacks and panic attacks in real time?

I didn't dismiss the possibility of a supernatural healing for Lauren. I was prepared to transport her to the location of one or more practicing healers who apparently channeled the power of the living God through their sanctified hands. 

Even locally, healers practicing the art of Reiki attunements seemed to be able to balance the vital flow of life energy coursing through the human body and the universe we live in. They healed the way Jesus Christ cured the sick, by placing their hands on the person and facilitating the energy transmission that results in a tissue or mind restoration.

A Reiki master will explain that emotional issues can block the free flow of energy required by the body to maintain health and balance. The person must invest at least the belief that what is happening to them is real, and that's where the faith connected to historical Christian healing comes in. Recent scientific studies had documented the healing effect of prayer. 

Two groups of patients with similar ailments were treated with the same medications. One group was prayed for while the other group was not. With statistical significance, prayer improved the recovery of those heavenly thought-of patients. Perhaps prayer is a kind of psychic Reiki, where a mind channel replaces the hand, and works to balance the energy flow in the person prayed for.

Every living being has a life force, an energy aura surrounding them. There is also a more cosmic or universal life force available to be used in restoring the proper balance and flow of energy in the body. 

Unfortunately, I was never able to explore those healing options with Lauren. The best books written on the subject of clinical therapy described healing as a long-term process with no guarantees.

EXPERIENCED PROFESSIONALS who'd operated successful clinics specializing in treating the adult victims of child abuse have identified steps or stages that people go through who eventually become whole and stable again. 

To begin the healing process, the person must accept what happened to them and recognize the damage done to mind and body. After deciding to actively work through their problem, it is important to break the silence and openly discuss what they experienced. Recognizing that it wasn't their fault, they can begin to resolve the emotions connected to the abuse.