Scary Shadow
She suddenly refused to sleep in her own room. When she finally found out why, she laughed.
Meli (7) suddenly refused to sleep in her own room.
No explanation. No obvious reason. She hadn’t had a nightmare. Or seen something scary on TV. From one day to the next she was afraid, but couldn’t tell her parents why.
Eyes closed, I had her visualize her room during daytime.
We took a close look together. Question by question.
Where is the door?
Where is your bed?
Do you have a soft, fluffy pillow? What color is it?
Where do you keep your toys?
Meli described the layout of her room.
Then I had her visualize herself lying in her bed at night.
“I see a scary shadow.”
Where is it?
How big?
What shape?
Does it move?
Then I had her turn the light on. And off. And on again,.
I asked her if she saw what was throwing that shadow.
You could see it on her face the moment she understood. The shadow in her room wasn’t a monster. It wasn’t a ghost.
It was her stuffed Hello Kitty animal.
We both laughed out loud.
After finishing up the session she couldn’t wait to run out and tell her mother. Excited and proud she told her about the toy, the shadow and most importantly that she could sleep in her own room again.
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Not every case is complex. But even simple ones have a reason they couldn’t be solved at home.
Meli wasn’t hiding anything from her parents. She genuinely didn’t know. In the dark, half asleep, inside a frightening moment, she didn’t have the chance to find a logical reason.
In our session that became possible. Safe, calm, eyes closed she could look around her own room without being overwhelmed by it.
When she took a closer look without fear, the answer becomes obvious.
In her case so obvious that it made her laugh.
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