Journal December 2025 Release - Flipbook - Page 34
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David: I WAS SOMEHOW OR OTHER DEEPLY TOUCHED BY THAT EXPRESSION'SWEETNESS.’ I SUPPOSE IT REMINDED ME OF HOW BITTER ANOREXIA IS!!!
Radical Externalization
David never faltered in his commitment to our Virtual Response Team’s threeway conversation. I still wonder where he manufactured the time to pay
attention to our emails and to respond in such life-changing ways. Joanna was
never “the anorexic”; he always saw her as separate from the problem. He made
it very clear that Joanna was the expert and that her experience is valuable. I
learnt to focus on Joanna’s relationship with the problem as the problem, with its
own agenda, voice, and modus operandi.
As time progressed, through our Virtual Response Team communications, I
became acutely aware of Joanna’s voice and the cruel and usually seductive voice
of SS. When Joanna spoke in her own voice and did not perform as a ventriloquist
prop to SS, her words were filled with hope for now and the future. Joanna
wanted to work, earn a living, and live and love like any other person without
being regarded as a discarded, damaged rag doll thrown away on the dung heap
of psychiatry. Joanna did not want to die or harm herself. SS loved to use Joanna
as its mouthpiece, but here the letters between all the Virtual Response Team
members helped to expose its lies as our letters offered alternative discourses
and resources to assist her in quieting that parasitic voice.
David: JOANNA, JACQUI (ANOTHER CLIENT OF DAVID’S) TOLD ME IT WAS A 'DEAL’
WITH THE DEVIL!
Joanna: SS will NOT use this eating struggle as an opportunity to infiltrate.
David: I BELIEVE WE ARE ALL TOO AT ONE WITH EACH OTHER TO EVER BE
INFILTRATED FOR LONG. I THINK WE COULD ALWAYS 'SMELL A RAT', DON'T
YOU?
Joanna: Obviously, this behaviour is not a cool idea as it loves to increase stress
and anxiety, but I choose to bear it and forgive myself and be patient for a
while. I know I will recover gradually. I have overcome eating difficulties on
An Apprenticeship in Extremis
Journal of Contemporary Narrative Therapy, December 2025 Release, p. 5-44.
www.journalnft.com
