MEET

Minimal Evaluation & Exposure to Trauma

A TIFT® first-session procedure

First-session orientation towards a probable complex-trauma hypothesis

WHAT MEET IS AND ITS PURPOSE

MEET is the TIFT® first-session procedure for recognising a probable complex-trauma configuration while preserving the person’s present organisation. It gathers only the information needed to establish the therapeutic process parameters: why now, current symptoms, present living conditions, what remains unresolved in the present, and what the person wants to change or move towards. The therapist also perceives the person’s position within the window of tolerance and listens to what is already available in the encounter. Traumatic exposure remains limited to what can be held and integrated at that moment.

WHAT SUPPORTS THE CLINICAL HYPOTHESIS

The three present ICD-11 Disturbances in Self-Organisation:

• Affective dysregulation Overwhelm · shutdown · unstable recovery • Negative self-concept Diminished · defeated · worthless • Relational disturbance Trust · distance · connection When all three DSO domains are present together with chronic symptoms and/or comorbidities, this supports a provisional hypothesis of probable complex trauma and the use of complex-traumasensitive parameters from the first session.

HOW THE THERAPIST MEETS

The therapist perceives the person’s overall state: rhythm, activation or shutdown, voice and prosody, bodily presence, relational distance, and coherence between verbal and non-verbal communication. Most importantly, the therapist also “listens silently from within” to the client’s overall state. In the first session, the therapist is still unknown. Closeness is therefore never presumed. Contact remains clear, low-intensity, proportionate and non-intrusive. The therapist regulates the amount, pace and depth of information entering the session. When the person begins to “tell it all”, the therapist remains present and ready to step in before traumatic material is activated and left exposed without sufficient time or conditions for integration. This active containment is the first clinical expression of safety, responsibility and an integrative therapeutic frame.

THE BOUNDARY IN THE INITIAL SESSIONS

Childhood, past trauma and earlier parental attachment patterns remain unopened during the initial sessions. Any later approach depends on the client’s activation or shutdown states. During that period of life, the person was entirely dependent on preserving the attachment bond. This material is approached only within a therapeutic architecture capable of containing what its opening activates.

CLINICAL CONSEQUENCE

MEET proceeds through few questions, small steps, present-focused attention, clear boundaries and continuous perception of the person’s capacity. It protects the present organisation: the optimal yet unstable organisation currently possible.