A Case of Chronic Bruxism:
Emotional Integration and Elimination of Persistent Symptoms

Leopoldo Ceballos del Castillo (Spain)

 

Abstract: This paper presents the clinical case of a 36-year-old woman with chronic bruxism who experienced significant symptom improvement following a regression therapy process. Through the evocation of a traumatic childhood scene, a pattern of muscular tension associated with perfectionism, excessive self-control, emotional repression, and guilt was identified. The intervention subsequently included a phase of somatic integration through active imagination and visualization, following Martin Roesch’s technique. Clinical implications are discussed regarding the relationship between emotional memory, neural plasticity, and psychological compartmentalization.

Keywords: Regression therapy, bruxism, guided imagery, symbolic visualisation.

Introduction

Regression therapy is a form of deep psychotherapy that enables patients to access memories stored in the unconscious in order to identify and heal past experiences that continue to negatively affect their present lives. Through expanded states of consciousness, the client may revisit scenes from childhood, the prenatal period, or even what some traditions refer to as past lives. The core objective is to release traumas, emotional blocks, and repetitive patterns rooted in those unresolved moments. This technique operates on the premise that many current difficulties originate in unintegrated past events. By reliving those experiences from a renewed emotional understanding, the individual can integrate them and transform their current reality. Regression therapy does not impose interpretations; rather, it facilitates the unconscious in revealing the precise content needed for healing. It can be used in both individual personal processes and broader clinical contexts and is fully compatible with other psychotherapeutic approaches. Essentially, it is a powerful tool for self-knowledge, emotional release, and personal growth.

In addition, Martin Roesch developed a technique known as body travel, which consists of inducing a deep state of concentration and expanded awareness in order to establish a symbolic dialogue with organs, cells, or tissues. According to Roesch, this process allows patients to communicate directly with affected areas of the body, making it easier to detect underlying emotional causes and supporting the resolution of chronic symptoms. This approach has been applied in oncology cases and other complex conditions.

Case Description and Clinical Background:

One case that clearly illustrates this approach is that of Zoe (a pseudonym used to preserve confidentiality; the case content is published with her informed consent). Zoe, a 36-year-old woman, sought consultation for a severe case of bruxism, a multifactorial disorder characterized by the involuntary clenching or grinding of teeth during wakefulness or sleep. In her case, the bruxism was constant and had significant effects on her physical and emotional well-being: she presented with notable dental wear, fissures at the base of the gums, muscle contractures, inflammation in the masticatory muscles, and even functional blockages of the temporomandibular joint, causing frequent headaches.

Zoe came seeking relief from persistent tension and pain. In her first regression therapy session, she accessed a childhood scene involving a car accident that occurred while she was playing with her brother in the back seat. At that time, children did not wear seat belts or use safety seats, and they often moved freely inside the vehicle. While teasing her brother, the car collided with another and spun several meters. Fortunately, there were no fatalities or serious injuries. However, in Zoe’s unconscious, a strong association was formed: “bothering,” “doing something wrong” became linked to a physical tension response—especially in the neck, jaw, and arms.

During the regression, Zoe clearly re-experienced the accident and consciously associated her chronic jaw tension with a broader emotional pattern in her life: perfectionism, excessive self-control, repression, and guilt. At the end of the session, she reported a deep sense of relief and noticed an immediate relaxation of her jaw. She was provided with specific post-session instructions for symptom management, including tools to reinforce the conscious disconnection from the original event in case of recurrence.

Relapse and Consolidation of the Process

Several days later, the client contacted me again, reporting a reactivation of her bruxism and the return of mandibular pain following a stressful event at work.

This phenomenon is common. Regression therapy can produce immediate symptom relief, but if the underlying neural pattern is strongly consolidated, symptoms may resurface. Post-session recommendations often include affirmations such as “this is over” or guided mental reprocessing of the event with updated emotional meaning. Nonetheless, symptoms may persist if the emotional link has not been fully re-signified.

From a neurobiological perspective, when a behaviour is repeated over a long period of time, the nervous system tends to optimize the synaptic pathways involved, making the response more automatic. This process, known as neural plasticity (Kandel et al., 2013), explains how patterns like bruxism can become deeply entrenched. In Zoe’s case, this circuit was already firmly established.

A second one-hour session was scheduled to somatically anchor the new conscious learning. For this purpose, Martin Roesch’s technique was employed, adapted in this case to address residual symptoms rather than its original oncological applications.

Excerpt from the Intervention (adapted transcript)

Therapist: All right, close your eyes. A part of your awareness is going to become very small, so small that you can enter the palm of your own hand. Make yourself so tiny that your fingers look like skyscrapers. Let me know when you’re there.

Zoe: I’m there.

T: Now make yourself even smaller, until you can see the pores in your skin as large holes—big enough for a van to drive through. Let me know when that happens.

Z: I see them.

T: Now go down through one of those pores until you reach a bloodstream. It can be a capillary, a vein, or an artery. Let me know.

Z: I’m there.

T: Good. Enter the bloodstream without being swept away by its current so you can move freely. Now choose a red blood cell that you like and sit on it as if it were a magic carpet.

Z: Done.

T: Stroke the red blood cell and trust it. It will take you to the origin of all that tension in your jaw. Ask it to guide you to the part of the body responsible for the bruxism. Where does it take you?

Z: To my jaw.

T: All right. Step off the red blood cell now. I want you to look at your jaw. What’s the first image that comes to mind?

Z: I see an old factory, like from the early 20th century, with big wheels and pistons. It’s dark, with no lighting.

T: Ask out loud for the person in charge of the factory.

Z: Excuse me, I’d like to speak to the person in charge.

T: Who appears?

Z: No one. It seems abandoned.

T: Approach a small table where there’s a bell—like the kind they had in old hotels. Give the bell a little tap. With that sound, the person in charge won’t be able to resist coming to greet you.

Z: Done.

T: Who appears?

Z: A fat, dirty man covered in grease, very angry. He’s wiping his hands with an old, disgusting rag.

T: How old does he look?

Z: About 50 or 60.

T: What do you see in his eyes? How is he feeling?

Z: He’s annoyed that I’m bothering him. (Interestingly, this character could symbolize the brother Zoe was bothering during the accident—but that’s just my association, and I avoid suggesting it to her.)

T: Ask him: What are you so busy with?

Z: He shows me some old machinery. It looks broken. It’s the mechanism that opens and closes the mouth, and it’s all worn out.

T: Tell him: “I’m sorry. I didn’t know you had so much work. I didn’t know you were in such a dirty, neglected state, or that you worked in such a terrible place. That must have been really hard. Look—I’m only 36 years old and you’re almost twice my age. You’ve been working longer than I’ve been alive. All this started with the accident, but I’ve already taken care of it, and I forgot to tell you.” How does he react?

Z: (Repeats message.) He feels grateful and acknowledged. His face has changed. He looks calm now.

T: Great. Let’s create a comfortable room for him inside the factory. Put him in a big couch, a little table with some cookies, coffee, or whatever he likes. Sit down and invite him to sit with you.

Z: He won’t sit. He says he’s too dirty.

T: Then set up a bathroom with everything he needs to wash up. Leave him clean, comfortable clothes too.

Z: He says he’ll use it and then join me.

T: Perfect.

Z: He’s already sitting with me now.

T: How does he look now? What age would you say he seems?

Z: Cleaned up, he looks like a young man—actually slimmer too.

T: Explain to him that this room is for him, to rest and take care of himself. Add anything else he might need: books, a window, a gym… What do you think he would like?

Z: He wants to go outside for some fresh air.

T: Okay. Create a door that leads to a beautiful, well-kept park that smells fresh, like right after the rain. How is he feeling now?

Z: He’s great. He’s getting ready to go for a walk.

T: Tell him: “Perfect. But before he goes, I want to teach you how to make this place work better”. Does he want that?

Z: Yes. He suffers a lot.

T: Place a button on the wall. When he presses it, hundreds of workers will come to help him.

Z: He’s already done it. He’s amazed.

T: Tell him: “See? You don’t have to do it alone. With this button, you can ask for help anytime.”

Z: (Repeats message.)

T: Now the workers are going to clean the whole factory, polish it, replace the broken parts, and connect everything to a monitor screen inside his room.

Z: He’s thrilled.

T: How does your jaw feel now?

Z: It’s relaxed, but my muscles are still tense.

T: Bring the muscles up on the monitor screen.

Z: They look like old cords—very tight.

T: Have the team replace them with new cables covered in plastic to prevent corrosion, and install tension sensors every two meters. How do they look now?

Z: Brand new. No tension.

T: How’s your jaw now?

Z: Wow. The tension is completely gone.

T: Say goodbye to the man and remind him that he can manage the factory from the control panel and ask for help with the button whenever he needs.

Z: He’s really happy. He’s going out for a walk in the park.

T: All right. Now call your red blood cell to bring you back to your hand. Exit through the pore and return to your normal size, back into your body.

Instructions are provided for potential future relapses: the client should access the factory again through guided imagination to verify that the man is well, relaxed, and enjoying himself, and that he has sufficient support. The client is encouraged to remind him that “that moment has passed” and that he no longer has to take care of everything alone. The visualization should be repeated as many times as necessary, adding new elements as needed to ensure that the factory continues to function properly and that the man remains at ease.

Discussion and Conclusions

This intervention illustrates how guided imagery, within an expanded state of consciousness, can facilitate the somatic restructuring of an unconscious emotional pattern. No new information was introduced; rather, pre-existing insights were updated and embodied through symbolic visualization.

Over time, Zoe returned to therapy for unrelated matters. Her bruxism had nearly disappeared. She reported repeating the exercise around ten times and, in doing so, identified a recurring pattern: her life was highly compartmentalized. Each time she felt she had done something “wrong” in one of her personal environments—whether professional, familial, or social—the symptom would reappear. As she applied the body travel technique to each of these contexts, the pattern ceased to activate.

A personality that tends to segment its vital environments—maintaining distinct compartments for work, relationships, family, or intimacy—can develop a form of psychic self-organization that helps contain conflict (Showers, 1992). This internal compartmentalization functions as a boundary system: what affects one area does not necessarily spill into the others.

This kind of structure can offer significant emotional protection, particularly in high-demand or crisis situations. However, in Zoe’s case, it initially limited the generalization of healing to all her life contexts. The body travel technique allowed her to apply the therapeutic changes to each of these environments, reunify the emotional memory, and update her inner response accordingly. This led to a more integrated experience and a transformation that proved both lasting and holistic.

 

References

Showers, C. J. (1992). Compartmentalization of positive and negative self-knowledge: Keeping bad apples out of the bunch. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 62(6), 1036–1049.

Kandel, E. R., Schwartz, J. H., Jessell, T. M., Siegelbaum, S. A., & Hudspeth, A. J. (2013). Principles of Neural Science (5th ed.). McGraw-Hill Education.

Roesch, M. (2023). Can regression therapy contribute to healing even in chronical diseases like cancer? The International Journal of Regression  Therapy, XXIX (33), 39–48.

 

Biography – Leopoldo Ceballos was born in Madrid in 1978. He holds a degree in Psychology from the National University of Distance Education (UNED) in Spain and a degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Lincoln (United Kingdom). Before fully committing to the field of psychology, he was actively involved in the business world as the founder and director of several companies, as well as co-founder of the OCD Association of Madrid (Asociación TOC de Madrid). His therapeutic vocation was consolidated after training with Dr José Luis Cabouli, at which point he decided to devote himself entirely to his work as a therapist. He currently works as a psychologist, couples’ therapist, and specialist in Regression Therapy. Over the course of his career, he has conducted more than 4,000 regression sessions, which he considers an inexhaustible source of wisdom and healing. He is also a writer and speaker, committed to sharing therapeutic knowledge from an integrative perspective.

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