17/10/2016
Dr. Ora Golan on Home Break-Ins:
We’re here with Dr. Ora Golan of the Ora Golan Center, an expert in the elimination of emotional blocks. Today we’ll be talking about the unpleasant subject of home break-ins. What kinds of behavior are characteristic of individuals whose home has been broken into?
Society tends to relate to break-ins as a minor incident and to boil it down to the fact that something was stolen. Neither the authorities nor society genuinely relate to the break-in itself, and at most consider the economic damage it caused and recommend the installation of an alarm system. But people who have experienced home break-ins view them much differently. For them, it is something immensely traumatic – an experience that is more difficult than the feelings left by infidelity, a break-up, being cheated, or fraud. People who have suffered home break-ins experience it as a genuine form of violence. After all, “my home is my fortress.” Home is supposed to be a place we feel safe, protected, and relaxed – where we can rest easy and sleep in peace. When someone breaks into our home, it destabilizes us emotionally and disrupts our entire ability to function.
Example: Sue and John, the parents of three young children ages 5, 7, and 9, had their home broken into one evening when they were at home putting their kids to sleep upstairs. They heard some noises from downstairs, and John came down just in time to see the burglars fleeing without taking anything. They too were surprised, as the house was dark, they thought no one was home.
As a result of this unpleasant experience, all the members of the family came in to the clinic for treatment. Sue and the children were experiencing heightened anxiety: trouble sleeping, fear of staying in the house alone, fear of entering rooms in the house, and fear of going to the bathroom. After the break-in, they encountered difficulties and a sense of restlessness everywhere they went. Following treatment, however, they experienced a significant improvement in their ability to function and were able to deal with the situation better. They installed an alarm system and got a dog. Most importantly, because the family lives in the south of the state in an area with a large number of break-ins, they made contact with others in their locality – a few close neighbors with children who have become a genuine support group for one another. When Sue stays at home alone with the children, she informs one of the neighbors so she can call someone nearby in the event that the need arises. This solution, which they were able to create on their own, provided a sense of security for the entire locality.
How do you treat someone who experienced a break-in?
In such cases, it is actually preferable to treat the entire family. The treatment consists of six-stages. It treats how we deal with failure, competition, and success; lack of control; and the ability to take care of your own needs based on the existing situation.
When treating and eliminating emotional blocks, it is important to put things into perspective, to deal with the problem, and to be more relaxed. People who live in areas with a high break-in rate cannot live in this anxiety all the time. The aim of treatment is simply to enable people to make choices that are better for themselves. People are afraid to leave their homes and afraid to stay home alone. They check their shutters and their doors and install alarm systems, which is a significant expense and a major headache, as it needs to be activated when you leave the house and deactivated when you get home. And if you don’t manage to deactivate it in time, the alarm goes off. In some parts of the locality, people started conducting patrols, assuming responsibility, and securing their own homes. Getting a dog also helps, both as deterrence and as a means of securing the home. So does being in contact with the neighbors and letting them know if you will be leaving the house for a few hours or a few days, in order to make sure they’re aware and alert. Awareness regarding the phenomenon and the impact of home break-ins is extremely important in enabling us to relate to the problem on a community-wide and society-wide level and in a manner that is more serious than how we typically tend to relate to it. After all, home break-ins destabilize us and impact our daily functioning.