Janet,

I believe that you may have hit upon a major revelation regarding this client’s suffering and his ability to use it in a creative fashion. Maybe instead of focusing on the negative aspects of his schemas, you could use the positive aspects of his belief system to help him fertilize his own self concept. Milton Erickson once said “look forward to the days when you can look back knowing that you left a trail of happiness.” Maybe you can help him look forward to the future days when God has allowed him to help so many people through his writing as they also suffer through life. After all, writers are a self sacrificing bunch as most do not get their due until they are dead. However, many of these writers are a great source of comfort to other people. Maybe after you get him focused on all of the ways that God allowed him to help other people then he will feel better. I suggest using God here since he will not want the focus on himself. Really build up the resources here about how comfortable he will feel in the next life having left behind such comfortable writings. Maybe after a couple of sessions working on his resources, you can begin to ask him how he might suggest that others find peace in this world. After all, if he is going to be a comfort to others by sacrificing his current life so that others can feel better in the future then maybe someone also did that for him already. Is there a writer or story that resonates with him now that can make him feel better? Just a thought.

John