How alternative massage therapy cured my fear of intimacy
This article, recently featured in ‘i news’ is a personal account given by one of Colin’s female clients who came to him for help to overcome her fear of sexual intercourse.
Feature
Sensual massage therapy for survivors of sexual attacks and other traumatic experiences is one way people seek to recover from trauma, but is still considered controversial. Tara (not her real name) – a 46 year old TV production executive – explains her reasons for taking the alternative route to enjoying intimacy again Like many women, I was raped.
It happened in 1997 and was a particularly traumatic event that left me scared and nervous of opening up to anyone. It’s something I spent many years not talking about, which I now realise probably did more harm than good. I reported the rape to the police, but – for various legal reasons – no charges were brought, and my attacker was never held accountable. Before this event, I’d been a happy, bubbly, outgoing person. But my life changed. I become almost reclusive, with daily panic attacks that left me vomiting before leaving the house to go to work. I was unable to be in groups of people that I didn’t know, and didn’t want to date again. ‘Finding a way back to the original me’ When I turned 40 in 2010, I decided the time had finally come to sort myself out. I wasn’t leading the life I knew I should be, so I went to therapy, did some life coaching and found my way back to the original me. Looking back, I don’t think the traditional counseling helped me at the time.
