Trauma Egg

This is a tool for those who are working through difficult memories and childhood experiences.  It is a structured approach to surface the memories and to tap into the brains visual processing with the intent of lessoning the power of the trauma(s).  

Uncovering Unconscious Beliefs Using The Trauma Egg
The Trauma Egg was developed by Marilyn Murray as part of her theoretical treatment model for treating emotional trauma called, The Murray Method, and later adapted by Patrick Carnes in his work with sexual addiction. It is a useful tool for processing various levels of trauma, from hurtful childhood experiences to big traumas, to help anyone understand the impact of their experiences on their lives. Traditionally, this exercise works best in a group format, with the support of others, but individual therapy works well too.
As homework, ask your client or congregant to spend about two hours drawing the trauma egg using the following directions and referring to the picture provided as a template on the last page. Pace your next session so that you can cover the whole Trauma Egg together in one session.
Drawing the Trauma Egg

• Use a blank sheet of paper (ideally 11x14 or larger), but if not available, a regular letter size is fine.
  
• Use colored pens or pencils.
  
• Draw a large oval that takes up most of the sheet.
  
• About three-quarters of the way up, draw a dotted line across the oval.
  
• Select 8 – 10 events in your life that were most painful or difficult. Usually these are events in which there was profound disappointment, betrayal, anxiety or abuse. Think of times when you were embarrassed or let down, or when you were involved in some crisis.
  
• Start with the earliest events you can remember from early childhood. For each event, draw a small, simple picture or symbol and separate it by a small curve. Do not use words—only drawings or symbols.
  
• As you record events, the oval will start looking like a honeycomb. Keep adding events through the various phases of your life—preschool, elementary school, early teenage years, young adulthood to the present. Fill the oval up to the dotted line. The most recent should be near the top and the earliest at the bottom
  

Discussing the Trauma Egg
The goal is to go through all of the Trauma Egg, identify key feelings and mission statement.
Ask your clients to describe each drawing briefly. Have them elaborate on feelings and have them make statements about the self.
• Ex. “What do you think you were saying to yourself about yourself at that moment/time?” and “What were you feeling then?”
After the client goes over all the drawings, encourage the client to reflect on the whole picture and ask him/her to fill in the blanks (without thinking too much) as you read the four elements of the mission statement:

• Life is ______________
  
• People are ____________
  
• I am ___________
  
• Therefore, I will ____________
  The key is identifying your client’s mission statement that has been unconsciously shaped by his or her negative experiences. Keeping that mission statement in mind throughout your client’s treatment will help clarify what you are trying to transform as you help clients heal and learn new ways of trusting God and responding to life.