Anytime you have stress in your life that consistantly gets you down, it is because the brain has not adapted to it. Our brains automatically try to suppress painful emotions or events as a defense mechanism. Of course, the memory remains and so does the impact it has on your life. More importantly, since the brain has effectively tucked it away into the subconscious mind, it does not learn to handle the stress more effectively. IMHO, it actually becomes more vulnerable to stress. The mind has some very creative ways of avoiding pain. Some people try to distract themselves by overeating, watching too much TV, e.t.c.. Bill Harris, the president of Centerpointe, wrote about this in his book.
Open Focus is great because it FORCES your brain to deal with the things that are stressing you. You will be asked to imagine the pain that is overwhelming you in as much detail as possible. Whatever pain you have in your life, you will have to experience (as much as possible) while listening to the tapes. It doesn't matter what causes your stress - it is effective against anything that affects you negatively. When I was trying to deal with my panic attacks, I actually had to create a panic attack while listening. I tried my best to relax and to surrender to the experience. Not to sound crude, but my nervous system had to vomit up some truly toxic feelings and beliefs. I use the word vomit because that is really what it felt like. The interesting thing is that the more I used the tapes, the more the negative feelings began to separate from me. Eventually, they completely lost their hold.
