You might wonder if I’ve gone off my rocker.  Rubber duckies can help you heal?  Yes they certainly can!  Many clients will attest that this form of trauma therapy can be beneficial for easing PTSD symptoms, healing the child within,  and increasing self awareness of emotional states of being.

OK how the heck is this possible you’re asking.  It’s simple:  it’s all about “Parts Work”.  In my trauma healing therapy practice one of the modalities I incorporate is the use of  rubber ducks to represent, or “externalize”, the various PTSD/traumatized emotional parts or aspects of our personality.  For example, rather than only talking “about” overwhelming anxiety, we can speak directly to the anxious part to better understand why it’s triggered and what it needs to feel safe and calm.

This  allows us to clearly see, hear and understand “outcast” parts (like fear, grief, and shame), which parts are in conflict with each other (like the “nice girl” part in a tug of war with the protective “fight” part), and which parts helped us to survive.

The 2015 Pixar hit film Inside Out did a wonderful job depicting internal emotional parts.  Many of us could relate to Riley, the 11 year old animated character in the film, and the emotional parts swirling and competing for attention in her mind.  And what were the major lessons of this movie?  That all inner parts must be honored, each has an important role and function, and they need to work with each other as a team rather than against each other.

So why rubber ducks and how does this work?

—Duckies are cute and non-threatening; they add humor and a light touch to the hard work of trauma healing.

—Many people have a traumatized, “parentified child” inside who was so busy caretaking the wounded adults in the family they had no time to play—the rubber ducks give that inner child a sense of safety, fun, and freedom to play.

—PTSD triggers can hijack us with overwhelming fear, anger, and shame.  Externalizing these Fight/Flight parts with the ducks gives us emotional space to slow down and witness these old trauma emotions from a distance, rather than becoming them or defensively acting them out.

Right before our eyes we can watch the healing and repair of early attachment wounding.  Through a form of gestalt role play with the ducks, the wise Adult self can finally see and hear the wounded child’s emotions and triggers, develop an internal relationship with her, and have empathy and compassion for her pain.  This in turn calms the nervous system, PTSD symptoms abate, and the inner child feels more safe, secure, and protected.  The wise Adult self can now function and show up in the world with more ease, happiness, empowerment, and authenticity.

It’s truly remarkable.

Slowly but surely, one mindful exploration of the emotional parts after another, early traumatic attachment is transformed into a sheltering, comforting cloth of inner secure attachment.

This is a meaningful, wonderful gift for the mind, heart and soul.  A sense of wholeness and inner security arises.  If Sensorimotor psychotherapy, EMDR, the Flash Technique, and Parts Work—with or without the rubber ducks—resonates with you, I invite you to expand your notion of what might be possible in your healing process, and take the leap.