A nineteen-year old African American women named G. came to Dr. Stone to stop sucking her fingers. The father of G. abandoned her and her mother when G. was an infant; G’s mother was a drug addict and was in jail at the time of her session. When G. was 15 years old she gave birth to a daughter. G. and G’s daughter were living with G’s grandmother.
Although G. was nineteen, G. was still in high school as she was making up the academic credits she lost when she missed school to have her baby. G. enlisted in the army, and was to begin her basic training two months following her appointment with Dr. Stone.
Dr. Stone told G. about Feldenkrais, a method of physical therapy that is practiced throughout the world. Feldenkrais is commonly defined as, “awareness through movement.” As a means for G. to create more awareness of her arms, hands and finger movements, Dr. Stone asked G. to print, “I will keep my fingers out of my mouth.” Next Dr. Stone asked G. to write, “I will keep my fingers out of my mouth.” Dr. Stone explained English is written from left to right, but the Hebrew language is written in reverse, from right to left. Dr. Stone asked G. to print “I will keep my fingers out of my mouth” like Hebrew, from right to left. Dr. Stone told G. that the Chinese language is written from top to bottom. Dr. Stone asked G. to print “I will keep my fingers out of my mouth” like Chinese, from top to bottom. Note when writing from top to bottom, G. separated the words, “my mouth” from the rest of her sentences. By this time G. had spontaneously gone into a trance. Three times G. unconsciously and on her own accord separated “my mouth” from the rest of her sentences.
Next Dr. Stone asked G. to close her eyes and print, “I will keep my fingers out of my mouth.” Four times G. unconsciously separated the words “my mouth” from the rest of her sentences. Also note that the words “my mouth” were separated by larger distances from the remainder of her sentences. Given that G. spontaneously entered a trance and separated the words fingers and mouth on her own accord, Dr. Stone believes G.’s brief intervention was quite successful. Before G. left the office, Dr. Stone told G. if she had any problems to call him. Since G. never called, Dr. Stone assumes G. no longer unconsciously places her fingers in her mouth.
