Interpretation

© Helen Lesser 2006

Question: I am 100% confident that I have all the S, R and B, and that I have all the information about the Causative event, but I can’t see how to help her to correct or reinterpret any of it.

8 years old, she was told off for doing something wrong. She knew it was wrong, but did it anyway.
An adult punished her (physically).
Emotion which had major effect on her at the time: Rejection.
Interpretation:- she believed she was inadequate for what she did.

I checked whether there was a reason for her acting in that way – there wasn’t.
I checked whether she acted that way as a reaction to something else – there wasn’t.

The emotions she experienced immediately prior to making the action were Embarrassment, Shame, Guilt, Insecurity and Inadequacy.

She HAD done this thing before, but there’d never been problem with it and she believed she could get away with it this time too. Whatever it was, she never did it again after this event.

On the face of it, she did something she should not have done and was punished for it. There is nothing here to correct.

If she is totally insistent that this really is the Cause, then there is something missing.

For her to have experienced embarrassment, shame, guilt, insecurity and inadequacy, clearly her action