Melissa,
About that section with Polly. I think of how dysregulated Polly is and how Bromfield holds her. He is aware of not showing fear in his face because he does think there is some danger. He knows though the best think he can do is let her burn off her violent feelings. Releasing words are better than releasing physical acts, so he is helping to teach her to do this. The mother sounds frighteningly cold and cut off. Polly could easily turn it inward. Because Polly was so receptive to therapy shows to me that her desire to be listened to was greater than her desire to hurt her mother. Mother hurt is one of the biggest pains in the whole world, and she wanted to put an end to that pain. Working in a drug rehab I've seen countless women who self soothe with hard drugs in order to escape the pain of "mother hurt". I think Polly was enormously lucky to have Bromfield. To me that office did hold her large hurt and violent feelings and maybe planted a seed for not having to escape with drugs or alcohol in the future.
About that section with Polly. I think of how dysregulated Polly is and how Bromfield holds her. He is aware of not showing fear in his face because he does think there is some danger. He knows though the best think he can do is let her burn off her violent feelings. Releasing words are better than releasing physical acts, so he is helping to teach her to do this. The mother sounds frighteningly cold and cut off. Polly could easily turn it inward. Because Polly was so receptive to therapy shows to me that her desire to be listened to was greater than her desire to hurt her mother. Mother hurt is one of the biggest pains in the whole world, and she wanted to put an end to that pain. Working in a drug rehab I've seen countless women who self soothe with hard drugs in order to escape the pain of "mother hurt". I think Polly was enormously lucky to have Bromfield. To me that office did hold her large hurt and violent feelings and maybe planted a seed for not having to escape with drugs or alcohol in the future.