In This Chapter
^ Exploring a hypnotherapist’s choice of tool
»> Suggesting solutions
^ Taking a separate view of yourself
^ Altering time
^ Checking other methods
Our mind is like a complex network of pipes, with each pipe having its own function and route. Some pipes are interconnected, and some pipes
Run on their own; some pipes are very small, and some pipes are extremely
Well hidden. In order for the network to run efficiently, all these pipes need to
Be kept in good working order; occasionally polished, or repaired, or even
Replaced. Most of the time, you can take care of your own plumbing, ensuring
That it flows freely, by giving it a bit of a clean every now and then. Sometimes
Though, something happens that is beyond your ability to cope, and you need to call in a plumber to prevent the network from collapsing.
Think of your hypnotherapist as that plumber. The hypnotherapist’s job is to ensure that your psychological pipework is flowing well, by cleaning and unblocking the pipes; sometimes replacing pipes that have been worn away, or repairing those that are leaking. It may be necessary for the hypnotherapist to go on a search to find a hidden and elusive pipe that is proving to be irksome. You may find that your hypnotherapist has to look at old plans of
The pipework with you; or perhaps help you plan a new way to run those
Pipes. Whatever the job, your hypnotherapist is there to help you return the network to normal or even improve it in some way or other. In order to do this properly, just like any plumber, your hypnotherapist uses an impressive array of tools.
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All the techniques we talk about in this chapter comprise only some of the tools available in your hypnotherapist’s toolbox. Your hypnotherapist may
Use some of these tools and not use others. More than likely, you’ll find your hypnotherapist using a combination throughout the time you are in therapy, in order to help you achieve your outcome.
Choosing a Tool from the Hypnotherapist’s Toolbox
When you visit a hypnotherapist, you’re visiting someone trained to carry out a specific job – a skilled craftswoman as it were. And like every skilled
Craftswoman, your therapist has a range of tools that allows her to efficiently
Complete any job. The hypnotherapist has tools to take your case history,
Tools to take you into a trance state, tools to take you deeper into the trance
(see Chapter 4 for more on these), and tools to do the therapy itself.
Whatever the job at hand may be, your hypnotherapist selects the appropriate tool for the job. And, as a skilled professional, she must have a full toolbox of techniques from which to choose. After all, you would never employ a
Plumber who turned up with only a spanner in her toolbox would you?
A plumber has an idea of the job she’s about to undertake when she turns up on your doorstep. However, until she actually looks at the pipework, she
Can’t fully assess what tools are required. It’s much the same with hypnotherapy. When you book your first appointment, you inevitably let the therapist know why you’re coming for therapy. However, your hypnotherapist probably won’t decide which techniques to use with you until she meets you.
In fact, many factors determine which techniques the hypnotherapist decides to use, including
W Your specific symptom: Certain techniques have proved to be very
Effective in dealing with certain symptoms.
W Your goals for therapy: Perhaps you want to know why your symptom started in the first place, or perhaps you don’t care about that and simply want it to go away. What you want determines whether your therapist uses techniques that help you explore your past, or works in a goal-directed manner, aimed at moving you towards a healthier future.
W Your personal history: It may seem strange, but your career, hobbies,
Likes, and dislikes can give clues as to the right technique to use. For
Example, if you enjoy gardening, your therapist may use metaphors
About gardening to help you dig up your problem and plant the healthy
Seeds of a solution. However, if you suffer from hay fever, your hypnotherapist will avoid using the allergy as a metaphor, so that you don’t end up with streaming eyes, sneezing your way through your session!
W Your therapeutic history and personal preferences: Perhaps you’ve
Seen a hypnotherapist before who used a technique you found particularly effective. In this case, let your therapist know. She may be able to
Use it again to help you overcome your current problem. On the other
Hand, you may have experienced a technique you hated, or you may
Have concerns about a technique such as regression, and don’t want to
Use that approach. Again, let your therapist know so that she can avoid using this with you. After all, she doesn’t want to put you off your therapy!
W Your belief system: Perhaps you believe that your current problem
Stems from something that occurred to you in a past life, in which case your therapist will consider using a past-life regression technique (see
Chapter 10 for more on this method). On the other hand, if you strongly believe you haven’t lived before, there’s little point in taking you down
This route.
W Your hypnotherapist’s personal preference: All therapists have techniques they favour. The method your hypnotherapist chooses may
Simply boil down to the fact that she likes a specific technique, is skilled
At using it, and knows it works.
W Your hypnotherapist’s training: As with the majority of psychotherapy disciplines, hypnotherapy offers a variety of training approaches. For example, your therapist may have been trained in the analytical approach, in which uncovering reasons for the development of a symptom is an integral part of resolving it. Or her training may be in the solution-focused
Approach, in which therapy is focused on resolving a symptom with little or no reference to the past. Or perhaps she uses an eclectic approach (probably the most popular today) that incorporates a variety of systems.
The techniques your hypnotherapist uses may vary throughout your sessions as you work on different aspects of your problem. Even though changing a washer in a tap is a relatively straightforward job for a plumber, they may use several tools to complete this task. The same goes for hypnotherapy. No matter how hard or simple the job is, you may need to use several tools.
^.rABEfl Ultimately, your hypnotherapist wants to choose a technique that’s right for you. If you want her to use a particular technique but she’s negotiating to use IM ) Another, she will have a good reason for her preference. Be prepared to dis -
\|||/ cuss the matter with her and at the same time allow her to explain the reasoning behind her decision.
Giving It to You Straight and Not So Straight: Direct and Indirect Suggestions
Perhaps the earliest tool created for the hypnotherapist’s toolbox is the use
Of suggestion. In hypnotherapy terms, a Suggestion Is a statement given in trance that something will happen. For example, your hypnotherapist may suggest that your hand is beginning to lose all sensation and become completely numb; or she may suggest that you feel completely relaxed as you
Think about walking across a bridge.
Simply put, a suggestion is the tool that helps you reprogramme your mind to
Respond in a healthier way to something. As we write this book, a very pertinent analogy springs to mind: We write what we think is best and submit it to our editors. They may then suggest that such-and-such a paragraph would
Sound better if it were written in such-and-such a way. We listen to their suggestions, and if we feel that this is sensible and safe, we make the appropriate
Changes. If we don’t agree with what they suggest, we can reject the changes;
After all, it’s our book, and we’re in control. In a similar way, you can view your hypnotherapist as being the editor of your mind. She’s there to make suggestions to the way you write paragraphs of your life. You can choose to accept her suggestions, or to reject them if you want; after all, it’s your mind and You Are always in control.
A Post-hypnotic suggestion Is a suggestion given in trance, for you to make
Something happen when you are not in trance.
Someone who has a problem bingeing on chocolate may be given the post -
Hypnotic suggestion that they enjoy a sense of self-control whenever they see chocolate, and choose not to eat it.
Like every other discipline in psychotherapy, hypnotherapy has developed
Over the years. As it has done so, the techniques it uses have developed too. This becomes very obvious in looking at the use of suggestions. Originally suggestions were given in a very direct manner, sometimes called Authoritarian. After Milton Erickson came on the scene (see Chapter 17 for more on
Him), a new approach to suggestions was placed in the hypnotherapist’s toolbox: that of Indirect Or Permissive Suggestion. Both approaches are still used effectively in therapy, and both form the most basic tools in any hypnotherapist’s collection.
Getting direct suggestions
A Direct (or Authoritarian) suggestion Is one that gives an explicit instruction
To do something. It leaves no room for error in what it asks you to do – for
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Example, ‘Stop smoking now’ or ‘You have no desire to eat sickly sweet chocolate cake’ – and it really acts as a form of reprogramming.
Generally, your hypnotherapist uses direct suggestions if you are trying to give
Something up or want to make a specific change to a particular behaviour.
Convention has it that direct suggestions tend to be used with people who are used to taking or giving orders (such as soldiers, teachers and policemen for example), and with people who have very logical minds (scientists, mathematicians, chessplayers and so on). However, nowadays this convention
Seems to have fallen by the wayside, as many therapists use direct suggestion with a broad spectrum of people. It’s down to your therapist’s judgement as to which type of suggestion (direct or indirect) is most suitable for you.
In ye olden days, direct suggestion was virtually the only approach used in hypnotherapy. Today, most therapists now find only using direct suggestions
To be restricting because many other approaches have been developed (as this chapter shows) that complement and enhance their use.
Going the indirect route
An Indirect (or Permissive) suggestion Is one that allows your unconscious mind to explore a variety of possibilities before coming up with a response. For example, ‘I wonder how soon it will be before you stop eating sickly sweet chocolate cake, and start to enjoy eating the right kind of healthy food
You know will help you to lose weight?’ An indirect suggestion induces an
Expectation of change without explicitly stating it. It also allows your unconscious mind to make that change in a way that fully suits you.
So why choose this approach over direct suggestion? The answer is simple. Some people find the direct approach threatening, and some people don’t
Respond to authority very well, for one reason or another. Also, children are typically more responsive to an indirect approach (see Chapter 10 for more
On this). Indirect suggestions are seen to be less demanding and seemingly more comfortable to accept.
This indirect approach can be restricting, and many therapists now favour a mix-and-match approach when using suggestions.
Blending both
You’re halfway through your hypnotherapy session and you suddenly realise
That your therapist has switched from using direct suggestion to indirect suggestion. Why is this? Well, possibly she realised that you’re not responding
Very well to the authoritarian approach. However, it’s more likely that she’s
Using a two-pronged approach in helping you to resolve your symptom.
By using direct suggestion, she’s explicitly stating what you want to hear,
Helping you to reprogramme your behaviour. At the same time, your unconscious mind is allowed to explore a variety of possibilities and options, stimulated by the use of indirect suggestions.
Even when you’re in trance, you are still in control throughout your hypnotherapy session. Your unconscious mind will always protect you. You
Cannot be programmed to accept any suggestions that go against your own moral or ethical framework.
Safely Splitting Your Mind With Dissociation
Have you ever been in two minds over something; one part of your mind thinking one thing and another thinking of something else? Have you ever had the experience of slipping into autopilot when you’re doing something, hardly aware of what you’re doing, because your concentration is focused elsewhere? These represent times when your mind appears to split into several parts, each seemingly operating independently from the whole. These
Are times when your mind experiences dissociation. Some examples of everyday dissociation:
W Safely ironing whilst being completely engrossed in the television
Programme you’re watching.
W Talking to a friend in a noisy and crowded bar and editing out the surrounding din as you focus on your conversation. (Or perhaps editing out your friend as you tune into someone else’s more interesting
Conversation!)
W Driving your car without having to think about how you do it.
W Daydreaming in class as you tune out the boring drone of the teacher.
Dissociation is a natural phenomenon you experience every day of your life. It helps you to function in the world at large and allows you to cope when
Things start to get tough. And as your problems form part of your daily existence, it’s only natural that dissociation can have a role in the development and maintenance of these too.
Minding your associations
Your mind is like a computer. All your thoughts and behaviours form part of the computer program that is your life. Like all computer programs, your mind contains many subroutines that have specific functions with regard to running certain behaviours. You can say that when these subroutines are
Running, functioning independently of the rest of the program, your mind is
Dissociated.
When you’re ironing, a subroutine (or dissociated part of your mind) allows
You to carry out all the functions associated with ironing automatically, so
That you don’t have to consciously spend much time focussing on the ironing actions. Running the subroutine frees up the rest of your mind (the main body of the computer program as it were) to watch TV, or listen to the radio,
Or compose your shopping list, or plan a project.
As any computer programmer knows, a program doesn’t necessarily run
Smoothly the first time you run it. This is true of the mind, too. When you encounter a regular situation in your life, a subroutine in your mind allows you to cope with it in whatever way is appropriate. Many of these subroutines are written, as you progress through life, to incorporate what you learn and experience. Some run smoothly, whilst others have little glitches in their programming (and some have major glitches!).
Whenever you encounter a new situation, your mind has to create a new subroutine on the spot in order to help you cope with it. Your mind may copy elements from older subroutines, or it may have to write the new one entirely from scratch. However your mind does it, it may or may not get it right
Straight away, so your life may proceed smoothly, or things may go spectacularly wrong.
Even when it does get it right, the new subroutine can sometimes corrupt older subroutines, or end up completely erasing them.
Take the development of a flying phobia. You have comfortably flown many times before. Your mind holds a subroutine that allows you to relax as you are on the plane. Then, on one flight, you experience dreadful turbulence. Your mind has to come up with a new subroutine to allow you to cope in this situation. Part of this new program, rightly or wrongly, causes you to tense
Your muscles and become fearful. The next time you fly you may find that
This new subroutine has either corrupted the old one, or completely overwritten it, and what you now experience is good, old-fashioned fear!
Associating hypnosis and dissociation
As you have probably worked out by now, there is a very close link between
Hypnosis and dissociation. To put it simply: when you dissociate, you enter into a trance state, and entering a trance state is the basis of hypnosis.
So, the ability to dissociate is very useful for us hypnotherapists, as it provides a means of helping patients into the trance. But it doesn’t stop there. Not only can we use it to induce trance, but dissociation can be a very powerful therapeutic tool.
Gaining a more objective point of View
One of the main aspects of dissociation is that it allows you to leave feelings
Behind. This means that as the mind splits, it can separate you from feelings both good and bad. Okay, so why is this important?
Your feelings colour your experiences in life. How you feel at the time can determine how you respond to a specific situation, which, in turn, can affect how your mind handles that situation. The next time you experience the
Situation – or even think about it – the feelings you had at the time can come
Back and once again influence how you experience it this time round. The
More this happens, the more likely you are to develop an automatic response to that situation, governed by your unconscious mind. Because your response becomes automatic, you may not understand why you respond the
Way you do, or be able to control yourself.
For example, when you think about, or meet someone you love, your feelings
Play a role in determining your behaviour – being soppy and childlike with
A big grin spreading across your face, and so on. By the same token, when you meet someone you don’t like, your feelings once again shape your
Behaviour – you become tense, use an aggressive tone of voice, show defensive or aggressive posturing, and so on.
Using dissociation hypnotherapy allows you to separate the feelings you experience with regard to the event, from the event itself. In this way you are able to examine the event more objectively, and consequently alter your response to it.
The words Subjective And Objective Have a variety of meanings, so it’s useful
To have an understanding of what they mean when used in hypnotherapy-speak:
W Subjective: Your feelings and emotions intervene and affect the way you
Assess a situation.
W Objective: Your feelings are put to one side, and you can assess a situation without involving your personal opinions.
Using dissociation in hypnotherapy can help you gain a more objective view of your problem without your emotions affecting your judgement. This separation is important so that you get a clearer picture of what is going on.
Supposing you’re very stressed at work. The amount you have to do keeps piling up and you feel completely swamped. When you try to think about
Ways of managing your workload, those stressful feelings come flooding in
And cloud your judgement. You can’t see a way round it all and your stress
Increases. In hypnotherapy, your therapist can use a technique that dissociates you from those feelings, so that you can view that stressful situation as if it were on television. You can see what’s going on, but you have none of those awful stressful feelings you had whenever you thought about the situation before. You are now viewing the situation objectively. Because the feelings are no longer interfering with your thoughts, you can see how to prioritise
Your workload or where you can delegate tasks. You realise that by having
Some leisure time you can actually work more effectively. The result: your stress levels drop!
Stepping away from yourself in stage dissociation
There are several different ways of working with dissociation in hypnosis. Your hypnotherapist may use it as a method of taking you into trance and as a very powerful therapy tool. One of the most common approaches to using it in either of these ways is an approach that is sometimes called Stage dissociation. Simply put, Stage dissociation Is imagining seeing yourself – seeing yourself sitting in the chair you are in, seeing yourself enjoying a wonderful holiday, seeing yourself reading this book and so on.
Dissociation is useful in a variety of hypnotherapy situations: W To take you into trance: Your hypnotherapist may ask that you imagine
Stepping or floating out of your body, perhaps taking you on a journey to a favourite place. She may even ask you to imagine that you step out of
Your body and see yourself enjoying that wonderful holiday you are
Soon going to be taking. In other words, your therapist encourages you
To daydream (and you won’t get told off for doing so!).
W As a therapy tool: Your hypnotherapist may ask you to imagine seeing a scene projected onto a screen. For example, she may ask you to see
Yourself handling a specific situation in a certain way. Because you’re
Dissociated from the image (you’re watching it), you can view it more
Objectively, with few or no unwanted feelings.
This isn’t all there is to dissociation. Far from it! Another very powerful use is
In Parts therapy.
Adding the Sum of Your Parts: Parts Therapy
How often have you said to yourself ‘There’s a part of me that…’; or ‘I want to quit (some bad habit), but that rebel inside of me just won’t let me do it’; or
Even ‘Something just makes me lash out when…’? Whenever you come out
With a statement like any of these, you’re simply recognising that one aspect
Of your mind is responsible for a particular behaviour, or for making you feel a certain way, or for stopping you from doing certain things. As hypnotherapists, when we hear one of our patients coming out with a statement like these, we have a very good pointer as to the therapy technique we can use: parts therapy.
In Parts therapy, The therapist isolates the subroutine that controls a particular behaviour, or emotional response, and does therapy on it. In effect, separating the Part Of the mind responsible for the problem. Why? Because it’s the
Part of your mind that needs corrective action. It’s the part of your mind supplying the reason you’re going for therapy. It’s the part of your mind annoying
The heck out of you.
But hang on a moment. You also have a part responsible for your confidence,
A part responsible for your ability to focus as you study, a part responsible for your ability to be courageous, and so on. You, or your hypnotherapist, may also want to work with more than one part. For example, you may be going to
See your therapist because you have lost confidence when you’re driving.
Your hypnotherapist may want to help you get in touch with the part of your
Mind responsible for your confidence and help you to make it stronger; or perhaps just to bring that part back into contact with the rest of your mind so that once again you can enjoy (safely!) getting back behind the wheel.
Communicating and negotiating With a part of you
So, how do you and your therapist work with your different parts? In a nutshell, you isolate the offending part and simply talk to it. The basic process is as follows:
1. Become aware of the part.
Your hypnotherapist may ask you to become aware of the part, perhaps
By asking you to float it out of your body, or maybe by asking you to look at the palm of one of your hands and to imagine it resting there. You
May be asked to describe what the part looks like. Don’t worry if you
Imagine it to look like something strange, such as a lump of coal or a cute bunny rabbit. It’s your perception that counts!
If
By imagining the part in this way you are dissociating it – splitting it off from the rest of your mind. In this way, you can remove any unwanted feelings that accompany it.
2. Find out what the part has been trying to do for you.
In hypnotherapy-speak, this is called Eliciting the positive intent, Or finding out what function this part has been serving in your life and why it’s there.
The simplest way of eliciting the positive intent is to ask that part what it has been up to and why it was doing that, and to then listen to what it has to say.
No, we haven’t taken leave of our senses and drifted into the mystical world of the arcane. This is all about helping you to gain insight into what that annoying little part of you is up to. The interesting thing is that once you gain insight, your symptom starts to collapse as you gain
A measure of power over it.
3. Thank the part for what it has been doing for you.
‘What! Thank it! It’s been such a pain for so long why should I do that?’
Because it was originally trying to do something of benefit for you. Whatever benefit there may have been is long gone, but it is important that you keep a positive state of mind for the rest of the procedure.
Ranting at it will hardly achieve that, will it?
4. Negotiate with the part so that it is happy to change.
Your hypnotherapist may then suggest that you explain to the part that
What it was doing for you is no longer needed. After this, you can ask it if it’s willing to make a change in what it has been doing for you, so that it can do something that is more acceptable for you both. You may find
That it says ‘yes’ straight away, or it may need some resource to help it.
If the part needs some help, your hypnotherapist will then ask you to become aware of what resource the part wants (for example, more confidence), and to dissociate the part of your mind responsible for that
Resource in the same way as in Step 1.
After you do this, you will be asked to give that resource to the first part you dissociated, perhaps by imagining that resource floating into and merging with it.
5. Transform the part to serve a useful role.
The part has finally said ‘yes’ to making the change and it now has the
Resources to do that. So now what? Your hypnotherapist will ask you to
Thank the part for agreeing to make the change – as this maintains the
Positive state of mind. To further enhance this mindset, your hypnotherapist will also ask you to make the image you have of the part more
Pleasing to you, perhaps by imagining a smiling face on it, by changing
Its colour, by changing the way it feels to you, or through some other
Means.
The part’s agreeing to change, and your subsequent altering of its image sets in motion an unconscious process that allows the part to take on a new and more functional role; one that allows you to get on with your
Life Without The problem you originally came to see your hypnotherapist
About.
6. Bring the part back home.
You’re almost done! The final step is to bring that part back home. It is no good thinking ‘Oh, I can just chuck this unnecessary part away.’ Remember, it is a part of You! It may have been unintentionally naughty,
Disruptive, or whatever, but it has changed its ways and now holds a
Positive and functional role in your life. Just as the parent of a naughty
Child, after sending her to her room, gives her a hug and welcomes her back to the family after she has repented, so it is with your errant parts. Welcome them back and let them rejoin the family of your mind.
To accomplish this, your hypnotherapist may ask you to imagine the new, improved part floating back inside you and once again becoming a fully functioning part of your own inner world. Or maybe she’ll ask you to pull the part in with your hands, as you welcome it back inside yourself. However you are asked to do it, it is important that you bring the part back home. The next section explains why.
Bringing it all back together again: The importance of reintegration
So, what will happen if you don’t bring that part back in or, as we like to say in hypnotherapy circles, reintegrate it? Remember that your mind has been split wide open, and if you don’t reintegrate the split part, you’re going to feel
A little spaced out, to put it bluntly. After a period of time, you would feel normal again. But in the meantime something just as bad as the part you just
Got rid of may well take its place. So why risk it? Welcome that changed part
Back with open arms.
If you do come out of a dissociation technique feeling a little spaced out, let your hypnotherapist know. It may be that another part has dissociated with-IM ) Out your being aware of it. That part may simply need to be brought back in; VIH/ A very simple and straightforward process.
Travelling in Time
You may want to play the theme tune to Doctor Who as you read this section!
As with the good Doctor (a television time traveller), time can play an important role in vanquishing your adversaries. Unlike the Doctor, your adversaries
Do not come in the form of Daleks and Cybermen (although the upcoming
Section on metaphor may turn that statement on its head). Instead, your foes come in the form of phobias, anxieties, and so on. Oh, and it’s worth knowing
That hiding behind the sofa won’t make them go away either!
Your perception of time plays an important role in both the development and maintenance of your symptoms. How you perceive the past, the future, or even the passing of time, influences the way you handle the problems in your
Life. And with that in mind, your ever resourceful hypnotherapist has an array of tools to help you alter your perception of time: taking you back into the
Past, forward into the future, or helping you to alter your perception of the very passing of time.
Going back in time: Age regression techniques
Let’s start by dispelling a myth: You do Not Have to be regressed for hypnotherapy to be successful! Despite what you may hear or be told, uncovering the past and dealing with it is not an essential part of getting over your symptom. Regression is simply another tool in the hypnotherapist’s toolbox that can be very effective, when used at the right time and in the correct
Manner.
That little rant over and done with, let’s get on with talking about what
Regression is. Very simply, Regression Is a technique in which your hypnotherapist takes you back in time, in your mind, to an event that actually happened or that happened in your imagination.
Considering the reasons for regression
Why does a hypnotherapist consider using regression? For several reasons, that may include:
^ You want to find out about the origin of your symptom. You’ve had your symptom for a long while, but can’t remember how, why, or when it
Started and want to.
Your therapist may suggest you find the origin of your symptom, believing the origin may well have an important bearing on helping you to
Finally remove the symptom.
Several seemingly small events may have compounded together to give
You the symptom you’re experiencing. And your therapist may suggest that in order to remove your symptom, you need to work through the individual components.
^ You want to change the way you perceive an event in your past. You
Have experienced an event in the past, and as you think about it in the present, you find it disturbing; perhaps feeling disempowered, lacking in
Confidence, anxious, and so on. Your hypnotherapist may regress you to that time and allow you to change how you remember that event, or how you responded to it.
For example, you may remember being scared as a child by a particularly grumpy dentist who was nasty to you when you cried as you were being
Given an injection. The sense of powerlessness you felt then contributed greatly to the dental phobia you have in the present. You can be regressed to that time, but this time, as you remember it, you can be empowered to
Safely tell the dentist exactly what you think of her. Once you’re empowered in the past, that sense of empowerment can be brought back into the
Present and sort out a major component of your phobia.
^ You want to remember an event from your past. Perhaps you hid a particularly valuable piece of jewellery in a very safe place, so safe in fact that you can’t remember where you put it!
You may have prevented yourself from experiencing some emotion connected to an event in your past, such as bereavement. Unfortunately,
That emotion got locked away inside you, fuelling your symptom in the present. Your hypnotherapist may use a regression technique to let you
Re-experience the event and let out that emotion in safety. Because the
Emotion is no longer locked away, your symptom runs out of fuel and disappears.
^ You want to access a good feeling from your past. Perhaps until
Recently you have always been very focused when you are playing
Tennis. However, recently your game has been very poor for one reason
Or another. Your hypnotherapist can use a regression technique to take you back to a time when you had those important feelings of focus; allowing you to once again get in touch with them, and to bring them back to the present and back into your game.
Regression allows you to gain insight into what has gone before. And with insight comes a measure of control over your symptom. Once you have control, it’s a relatively simple step to progress forward to finally ridding yourself of the symptom.
Going through the techniques
The time is right and you have agreed to be regressed. So how will your hypnotherapist do this? There are several ways to go about it:
^ Counting you back through the years. Your hypnotherapist may take a
Formal approach, counting you back through the years as your mind drifts back through time.
Your hypnotherapist may also use a technique that allows you to scan
The years to find those times that contributed to your problem; asking your unconscious mind to lift one of your fingers each time you identify an event. The hypnotherapist may then use one of a variety of approaches to let you visit those times.
Defining the terms
It’s useful to define some of the terms associated with this process of going back in time:
^ Regression: Going back in time but viewing past events with your adult eyes. Through regression, it’s as if you’re watching yourself as the event unfolds. And yes, it’s a form of dissociation (see the preceding ‘Safely Splitting Your Mind with Dissociation’ section).
^ Revivification: Going back in time and experiencing an event as if it were happening to you now. Your reference to the present is lost and you act, think, and feel as
You did during the event.
^ Past-life regression: An interesting one this: Going back in time to a life you experienced before you were born into the one
You are living now.
If you read the hypnotherapy literature, you see that the terms Regression And Revivification Are
Often used interchangeably. More often than
Not authors don’t bother with the word ‘revivification’ and stick to using the word ‘regression’. We have often wondered why this is, and apart from it being sheer laziness, have come to the conclusion that it is because ‘revivification’ is harder to spell than ‘regression’!
^ Letting your unconscious mind decide where to go. Your unconscious
Mind is given the task of taking you back in time to an event that has relevance to the development of your problem.
^ Asking you to remember a specific time in your past. This technique is
Nice and straightforward. If you know when an event happened, and
Some of what happened at the time, your hypnotherapist may simply
Ask you to start remembering that time. As you become more involved in that memory, your recall will improve.
^ Being creative. You, or your hypnotherapist, may have a creative streak and take you back by having you, for example, imagine that you’re flicking through the pages of a biography of your life. As you reach the chapter detailing the events that led up to the development of your
Symptom, you may be asked to step into the pages of the book and re -
Experience what happened.
And for those with a liking for science fiction, you can always imagine that you’re travelling back in time in Doctor Who’s time machine, the TARDIS!
You do not have to be regressed if you don’t want to. However, your hypnotherapist will always make sure that it is safe for you to go back in time, if you do agree to it.
Going forward in time: Age progression techniques
If you can go back in time in your mind, it stands to reason you can go forward, right? You may be thinking that the past has actually happened, and
You have memories of the events in your life, and think that the future is yet to occur, and wonder how you can progress into a future that hasn’t happened yet.
Well, the truth is, you go forward in time, all the time. Whenever you start
Thinking longingly about an upcoming event, you travel forward in time in your mind. Whenever you plan an event or make a date, you travel forward in
Time. Your hypnotherapist can use this ability as part of the package that
Helps to resolve your symptoms.
Your mind is goal-directed (we talk more about goals in Chapter 3). This
Means that you consciously, and unconsciously, set yourself up to achieve
Things – both good and bad!
When you think about an upcoming event, your mind has a habit of playing out various scenes relating to that event, perhaps creating pictures that almost predict how you’re going to look or behave. You also create a wide variety of self-statements that describe how you think things are going to be. In effect, you set goals in your mind that influence the way that you approach an event, subtly altering your feelings and behaviours.
If
Self-statements are those little things we say to ourselves that confirm our
Attitude towards some event, person, or situation. They can be positive; for example, ‘I can do this’ or ‘I’m enjoying this’. Or they can be negative; for example, ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘I’m fat’.
For example, if you’re scared of giving a talk you have to make in the near future, how you view that future talk affects you in the present. You may see yourself as being nervous, stumbling over your words, and panicking. Because of this vision, you feel anxious in the present, which may influence
How you behave – becoming snappy with people around you, for example. Furthermore, you give yourself negative self-statements such as ‘I’m going to be dreadful when I give this talk’ or ‘I’m going to be so nervous when I am up there.’ When you finally give the talk, you will more than likely have the same
Negative experience that you have been visualising: you will have achieved your negative goal.
However, if you think about the talk in a more optimistic way, you create
More positive goals. Perhaps you can see yourself confidently stepping up to
The lectern and clearly delivering your speech. You give yourself positive
Self-statements such as ‘I am going to do well when I give this talk’ or ‘I am going to remain confident when I am up there.’ You feel good in the present
And when you finally give the talk, this time you give it well, because you’ve
Been focusing on a positive goal that subtly altered your feelings and behaviours in a positive way.
Your hypnotherapist can take this process of looking into the future and use it in a very beneficial way, helping you to create very clear images of what you want to achieve. As she continues with this process, so you break down the negative goals that you have unconsciously set yourself, which have been keeping your symptom in place. By changing your view of the future in this manner, you change the negative feelings and behaviours that you’ve been
Experiencing in the present. Both consciously and unconsciously you start to
Move towards this positive new goal.
So, how does your hypnotherapist send you into the future? Simple! She uses
An age regression technique (outlined in the preceding ‘Going through the
Techniques’ section), but takes you in the opposite direction. Instead of counting you back in time, she counts you forward; instead of letting your unconscious mind decide where in the past you should go, she lets it decide where in the future you should be, and so on.
Age progression techniques are often referred to as Pseudo orientation in time
Or Hallucinated age progression.
Altering time: Time distortion techniques
‘We’re preparing to deploy the Phase Shift Stimulator in order to distort the time/space continuum!’ Er, no. This isn’t how this works (although it would
Be fun if it were!). What we’re referring to when we talk about time distortion is not altering time itself (that does lie firmly in the realms of science fiction), but how human beings perceive the passing of time.
There are two types of time:
^ Clock time: This is a constant and is not affected by your own point of
View or thoughts because it is determined by an instrument such as a clock (unless you have access to a Phase Shift Stimulator!).
^ Subjective time: Your personal perception of passing time, influenced by
The way you feel. As such it is variable.
So, why would your hypnotherapist want to help you alter your subjective time? Because subjective time influences how you feel about something, and vice versa.
Sometimes you feel that time seems to fly when you’re enjoying something but drags when you’re not (and we hope time is zooming past for you as you
Read this book). Enjoyment and boredom are not the only factors that can affect your perception of passing time; many emotions and feelings – including anxiety, depression, pain, sadness, stress, elation, and interest – and their
Consequent effects on your perception of passing time, determine how you view situations and events in your life.
If your hypnotherapist decides to use time distortion with you, she will probably do so by reminding you, when you are in trance, of positive times in
Your past when time seemed to either speed up or slow down. She then associates those experiences to the event you want to change your perception of, by using direct suggestion.
KPU – Take the tennis player who feels she never has enough time to accurately
Serve the ball, and the flying phobic who feels that a one-hour flight seems to
Last for ten. In both these examples time plays an important role in manipulating feelings. For the tennis player, her perception of passing time causes her to experience anxiety and stress to such an extent that it interferes with her game. For the flying phobic, the experience of time dragging as she sits on a plane serves to heighten her feelings of fear. In hypnotherapy, the tennis player may be given a suggestion that time slows down when she’s serving,
Just as it did when she was waiting to go on that holiday of a lifetime, and
That she now has all the time she needs to toss the ball in the air and accurately serve it to her opponent. By altering her perception of time, her feelings change too, and her serve improves. Alternatively, the flying phobic may be given suggestions that time flies by as she sits on a plane, just as it did when she got those wonderful presents on Christmas Day, when she was a
Child. She’s encouraged to experience every minute of the flight as just a second, so that she reaches her destination before she knows it. Contracting her perception of passing time helps break the fear response, allowing her to feel more comfortable as she journeys towards her destination.
^?BEf> Time distortion techniques manipulate your Perception Of events past and
YJS\ Future, as well as how you experience the passing of time. You only have
JIM ) memories of what has been, or hopes for what is yet to come. By working
VHjj/ with these memories and hopes, you can make positive changes in the way
So far we’ve discussed the major tools in your hypnotherapist’s toolbox. But
That doesn’t mean that’s all there are. Far from it. Your hypnotherapist has plenty of other tools to use; some more popular than others. We explain the
Most common in the following sections.
You live your life today.
Visualising, imagining, or pretending change
Because change always begins in the mind first, your hypnotherapist may suggest that you ‘visualise, imagine, or pretend’ that you are enjoying the change you wish to make. If you want to be confident taking an upcoming
Exam, she may ask you to visualise, imagine, or pretend that you are well rested, thoroughly prepared, and actually eager to get the answers out of your mind and onto the paper! Virtually everyone has the ability to visualise,
Or to imagine, or to pretend. All are valid modalities of representation to achieve the same goal.
$f/7\ Modality of representation Describes how you use your senses to represent ~* C ) Things in your mind.
When you think, you don’t use just words. Thinking is a creative experience that involves your five basic senses – sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell.
Your mind uses these senses as a means of expanding and enhancing your
Thinking process. For example:
^ Sight: As you think you see images in your mind.
^ Hearing: As you think you hear sounds in your mind.
^ Touch: As you think you experience feelings in your mind.
V Taste: As you think you experience tastes in your mind.
^ Smell: As you think you experience smells in your mind.
Most people favour one sense (generally sight, hearing, or touch) as their primary modality of representation, and favour the other senses less – their secondary modalities of representation. This doesn’t mean that you only ever
Think in one modality. For example, when asked to imagine a beautiful garden,
Some people see the garden in their mind very clearly (visual primary modality). However, they may also be able to hear the sounds of the birds and the bees (hearing as a secondary modality). These modalities colour your
Thoughts and help to give them meaning and vitality. Try thinking about your best friend.
^ How do you know you’re thinking about your best friend?
^ What comes into your mind that tells you who you’re thinking of?
Whatever your answers are, they’re proof that you can visualise or imagine! You’re representing your best friend in your mind.
In hypnotherapy, this process is used in a variety of ways. It’s certainly used in age regression and age progression techniques (see the previous
‘Travelling in Time’ section) because you need to imagine yourself in your
Past or future. You may also be asked to visualise and engage in a dialogue with a wise person who has the answers to all the questions you want to ask. You may be asked to pretend that you’re digging up weeds in a beautiful garden; where the digging up of the weeds represents digging up and getting rid of your problem.
Using your mind in this way is a powerful tool because it lets you fully represent whatever it is your hypnotherapist is asking you to do. You will find that this technique holds a very important position in your hypnotherapist’s toolbox.
Finding out how to forget
What were we going to say about forgetting? We can’t remember! Okay, we
Know it’s a very tired joke! However, your ability to forget can play an important role in therapy. How you remember things in your past can taint the way you experience similar events in the future.
^$MЈ A person who has to have a regular and painful procedure carried out by her doctor has a memory of the pain she experienced during that procedure in
(l^P) the past. This memory influences the way she thinks about future procedures, predicting that they will be as painful, if not more so, than those she’s already had. As a consequence she’ll experience the next procedure as a
Nasty and painful event! However, if she can forget about the previous pain,
She won’t necessarily set herself up in a negative way, and can experience the
Procedure with considerably less discomfort.
If your hypnotherapist decides that it would be useful for you to forget something, she will probably do this by using suggestions that you simply forget it.
Because you are motivated to do so, your unconscious mind allows it to happen. It’s almost as though you push the erase button on that particular part of the memory. In fact, your hypnotherapist may ask you to visualise
Yourself doing just that.
■jjjttMG/ You may have an event in your past that you particularly want to forget.
Dealing with the emotions that accompany the memory is much healthier (ttk ) than forgetting it in its entirety. In this way you can recall the memory with-V^/ Out feeling pain or discomfort. Even if you consciously forget the event, your
Emotions about it are still there in your unconscious, festering away and perhaps leading to a whole new batch of symptoms.
Another area where you may experience forgetting is when you awaken from
The trance and can’t remember what went on during the session. This can be
Because:
^ It is a natural response of having drifted into one of the deeper levels of
Trance.
^ Your hypnotherapist has asked that you forget what happened during
The trance.
It may seem strange that your hypnotherapist wants you to forget events in trance. You may wonder if she’s trying to hide something from you. The answer is no. The reason your therapist will suggest that you forget your
Trance may be because she feels that you’re a very analytical person, and
That the moment you are out of trance you’ll start analysing everything that went on, and in the process undo all the good that the session has brought you!
<t CHfty. Even though you will probably forget whatever it was suggested you forget, the reality is that your memory eventually will return. However, as it returns, •if, you will probably find that your perception of the memory has changed to V^yp/ something much more positive.
You cannot be made to forget anything you don’t want to forget. If you are in good rapport with your therapist, you’re motivated to forget something IM ) Because you know that doing so will help you to achieve your required goal VIH/ From the therapy. The result is that your unconscious mind is much more likely to allow you to forget.
Substituting a memory
If you can forget something, surely you can fill that gap in memory with something else? This is very true. You have a great capacity to alter the way you
Remember events from the past.
If you were to ask a group of people to recall an event they had all witnessed,
You would get as many different versions of that event as there are people in
The group. This is not because they are all inattentive, and can’t remember
Things very well, but because of the way memory works.
When a digital television signal is sent out, only the important parts are transmitted over the airways. When they reach the television set, the set itself fills in the missing pieces, and creates a representation of the original image. Your memory is a bit like digital television signals. Very few people
Have 100 per cent accurate recall, which means that most of us store only a
Variety of fragments of a memory. When you retrieve a memory, you pull up only those fragmented parts stored in your brain. Your brain acts a bit like a television set and fills in the missing pieces so that you can have a reasonably accurate recall.
Your hypnotherapist can use this ability of your brain to create components of a memory as part of the process of resolving your problem. By taking the original memory and forgetting specific parts of it, your therapist has an open canvas upon which to help you create a more acceptable memory through a process of suggestion and visualisation. Don’t worry, your therapist won’t
Alter your memory to suit herself. She will have discussed the process with
You beforehand, and asked you what you would like to remember – this is the
Picture that she helps you paint onto the canvas.
Exchanging an old memory for an entirely new one is very difficult. This technique works best when an old memory is subtly altered in some way.
A flying phobic, who has developed her phobia because she had one bad
Experience of turbulence on a flight, may wish to alter the memory of that
Flight so that she recalls having remained calm, relaxed, and in control as she sat through the experience. This has a knock-on effect into the present, helping her to feel comfortable whenever she flies, because she does not have the negative reference to the original memory to taint her flying experience.
You are likely to retain the original memory after a memory substitution.
However, because you have been playing around with it in a positive manner,
Your perception of that memory will be radically changed.
Memory substitution is carried out only with informed consent from you. You cannot be made to change a memory if you don’t want to.
Telling stories
Perhaps the oldest form of learning is through listening to stories. You teach your children important social and moral truths by reading them fairy tales and various stories found in religious texts. As you grow older, you learn further truths through reading stories in newspapers (hmm! Truths?), magazines, books, television, and films.
The psychotherapy community being the resourceful thing it is, recognised that stories offer an indirect learning method and began to use the concept across its various disciplines, including hypnotherapy. As the listener pays attention to a story, its content creates associations with material already
Stored in her mind; helping to shape and alter self-perceptions and the way
She views the world in general, in a positive or negative way, depending on the story. This means that a positive story can be used in therapy to help you resolve your problems.
In psychotherapy, a story representative of something that holds some significance to the listener is called a Metaphor.
Your hypnotherapist may use a metaphor during the trance session, or may deliver one when you are not in a state of hypnosis. It may come in the form of
A story, or it may come as a reminiscence of the way a previous patient dealt
With a symptom similar to yours. Your therapist may tell several metaphors at
The same time, one embedded in another, in order to make several different points about the way you can resolve your symptom.
Another way your therapist may use a metaphor is to create a metaphorical representation of something. For example, for a person beset with the problems of premature ejaculation, a therapist may use a version of the following metaphor:
‘As a child you may remember feeling hungry, enjoying an urge to eat. Perhaps you can remember rushing to sit down at the dinner table and wolfing down your food, paying little attention to anything except the instant gratification of your hunger. But now, as an adult, you can appreciate that hunger in a different way. You can take your time arriving at the table, enjoying looking at the feast that is laid out for you, perhaps complimenting
The cook, before you take your first mouthful of food. You can slow down in
Satisfying your hunger by savouring each and every mouthful you take, pausing every so often to appreciate the flavours and aromas that have been so carefully prepared for you. And slowly, gradually, you prolong your enjoyment, and the enjoyment of others around that table, as you learn to appreciate and control, in an adult way, the satisfaction of your hunger.’
The message contained in this metaphor is to slow down and take your time during sex, as you appreciate your partner more. At the same time there is encouragement to take a more adult approach to making love.
Metaphors can be scattered liberally throughout your hypnotherapy sessions (and they are certainly scattered with gay abandon throughout this book!). They can inspire you by telling stories of how people overcame adversity. They can help you understand something (as we did at the beginning of this chapter where we likened the mind to a network of pipes). They can empower
You by getting you to imagine, for example, that your immune system is a
Phase Shift Stimulator blasting cancer cells into oblivion. Metaphors can help you overcome a whole variety of difficulties and concerns. However they are used, they provide a very gentle and effective form of therapy.
