The Transparent Hypnotist

Photograph by alfredo lietor

Sitting along in the darkness, she found herself wanting to blend in with the darkness, to become a part of it. She longed for the ability to be invisible, not noticeable, not even a shadow with some bit of distinction, but to merge with the absence of color. But the rapid hear beat, the sweaty-stickiness of her hands, and the idea of not getting quite enough air told her she was not at all merging with the night. Instead she was defined, something a part from that which could not be seen. The crawl space would not conceal her loudness of just being.

The little door concealed behind the bags of winter clothes would be found. Even on the extreme end away from that little door, she just knew she would be discovered and the terror of being detected would fade away into something so much more sinister. There would be pain, flashing through like the ice of cold steel. There would be the momentary warmth of blood, seeping out from imaged wounds, and then a gradual death. Perhaps that would be a release.

These were the thoughts (imagined by me) of a past client. Was she coming to me to deal with the trauma of some fear she had experienced? Was this during a time when her house was burgled by cruel criminals? Was it a fear of an abuser of some sort?

No, this was a phobia. She experienced these ideas often as a child, when her parents would at first bring in new babysitters, and eventually it blossomed into something unmanageable. No one new could come into her living domain.

It seems timely to share this since this week we have been discussing the idea of fear and phobia. In talking about this topic through behind-the-scenes emails and such, the question was bridged about what is the difference between fears and phobias (especially when doing circle therapy). In looking at the first paragraphs of my client’s scenario, her experience could be interpreted as fear (before knowing it was a social phobia) if had she been hiding from a perpetrator of some sort who made her feel threatened (someone had broke into her house or someone was specifically coming to beat her). Fear is an emotional response to a danger or threat. It comes from an external source and causes feelings of wanting to avoid something or escape the danger (1).

Phobias are a bit different in that they are more irrational or their causation stems from a fear gone wild (2). In my client’s instance, she would have the fear reaction to anyone unknown entering the house, be it Girl Scout selling cookies or the girl next door coming over to babysit. She had developed a persistent, irrational fear of a specific thing - people coming into her house and causing her harm.

Phobias are often classified into three direct types (though they are considered anxiety disorders - we will cover that on a different day). These include social phobias (as in my client example), specific phobias, and Agoraphobia. Social phobias deal with responses to other people and social situations. Specific phobias have something that triggers the phobia. This is the rodent, bug, water type phobia. Agoraphobia is experienced by those who have irrational fears of leaving their living space (3).

It is fairly clear-cut in my example and there are of course fine lines that can blur the reality between fear and phobia, but it is good to know where the dividing line is between the two. The fear of flying, for instance - fear or phobia? Both maybe? I guess it would be the perceived threat of immanent death that causes the fear (stemming from either having known someone who was involved in a plane crash or watching the news). Yet, there are statistics that say that flying is safer than being in a moving car…so then the fear is more irrational. Hmmm…

What are your thoughts?

Sources:

1. Ohman, A. (2000). Fear and anxiety: Evolutionary, cognitive, and clinical perspectives. In M. Lewis & J. M. Haviland-Jones (Eds.). Handbook of emotions. (pp.573-593). New York: The Guilford Press.
2. Edmund J. Bourne, The Anxiety & Phobia Workbook, 4th ed, New Harbinger Publications, 2005.
3. AllPsych Journal | Phobias: Causes and Treatments

It is the last teaspoon of Darjeeling. It is a sad moment, but it has been a lovely satchel of tea and a new beginning for some other type. Tomorrow will be a reinvention of my morning ritual - a whole new flavor experience

Perhaps today should be about new flavors then. There have been times when I am a little terse or even a tad bit harsh on psychology attitudes and views on hypnosis. I suspect I have parceled them together and lumped them in a category that is not so favorable based on a few personal experiences where I found certain members of the psychologist family to be just awful and completely useless. I do realize this is so not fair (and when I dug into my notes yesterday, I found many of the ones I have thought to be useless were not psychologist at all, but trained social workers). I shant go into a negative rant, but rather will shift the balance to the positive. Psychology (and social work) is like everything else. There are the good and the bad. For every bad, I suspect there are two or more good ones out there.

But, I am human and it is easy to get peeved by those psychologists (those in the western hemisphere particularly) who blow off the value of a good hypnosis session. I suspect these same psychologist are annoyed at me for blowing off long-term talk therapy. But then there is the other side, as I was reminded on Monday by the Australian psychologists who do not want to deregulate hypnosis so that the lay population can practice it.

I know, I know. Relax my fellow hypnotists who do not live in places where hypnosis is regulated. I shant preach about why or why not it should be regulated, but we should take a pause here. What does this actually say about hypnosis, this little fight down under. In many ways it is actually exalting hypnosis. It preaches the validity of it. If psychologist over there are so concerned that in the wrong hands, hypnosis could be a bad thing - is that not an acknowledgment of the potential benefits for hypnosis? Okay, so it is a bit skewed - it does not do much for the general public to hear all this because it could lead to fear or more misconceptions. But on a professional level, it is really very interesting.

Any thoughts?

Yesterday I mentioned doing a post on the “AH HA” moments and psychologists, so as promised here is the skinny

The first time I knowingly hit an “Ah Ha” moment with someone else, I actually had no idea. In fact I felt terrible about it. It was during a group session and I had not gotten very far in the process. We had done a basic progressive relaxation (relaxing body parts from the top of the head to the tips of the toes). Then I even did the standard (maybe not so creative, but often effective, stairway of relaxation as a deepener - on each step the object is to go into a deeper state of relaxation). At the bottom of the stairway, one would get to place of complete tranquility, a sanctuary. There was nothing in my words but peace, relaxation, and suggestions for obtaining more of each.

But, this was to be a moment of abreaction (so early). I noticed one of the participants sobbing away in the background. I did suggestions for the rest of the group to allow the sounds in the room to fade into the background. Then I had them concentrate on doing a countdown to 100 internally. Quietly, I moved over to the crying man and put a tissue in his hand. He opened his reddened eyes and whispered that he would like some water. So, I escorted him into another room, gave him a glass of water and asked him to wait before leaving. Then I continued the session for the others.

At the end, when everyone else had left, I sat down with the now composed gentleman. I asked what he experienced and he told me the stairs led him to a place of great sadness, where once he reached the bottom, he saw his deceased grandmother in a coffin. And then he repeated several times that it was just so sad. I asked him if he wanted to try doing a one on one hypnosis session and either work through that or take a different approach to the original reason he was there. At the time he said he would let me know.

Enter my relationship with his psychologist. She called me a few days later to give me a follow up. She wanted to let me know that the misery he had experienced in my office had led to a big break through for him. They had talked about it and it led to his dealing with grief he had never allowed himself to experience before. At the time of his grandmother’s death, his had been living with her as his parents had died when he was very young. This led him into a world of instability (governmental bodies got involved and it was all very unfortunate). In turn, he had felt great relief at being able to finally loosen his disappointment from losing his grandmother.

This was similar to the other case I had, where the client had a breakthrough with childhood issues during a weight loss session. I think it is the group sessions that make these abreactions more difficult and harder to see any “ah ha” moments. When doing individual sessions, they seem to happen pretty regularly.

But anyway, that is one of my very positive psychology stories.

I’d love to hear about your “Ah ha” moments?

And so synchronicity strikes again, much like a random lightening bolt illuminating during a hot spell. Yesterday’s client story about success with an up and coming psychologist came about at an interesting time. As I continue to shift through past files, I came across two stories from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal. I suppose writer Michaela Gibson Morris has an interesting sense of irony. In this case, on May 9, she published two stories about hypnosis

One was a very personable article about two hypnotist, one a social worker who uses hypnosis for dealing with traumas (Melissa Ratliff) and one who does smoking cessation and phobia work (Steve Dunn). The article talks about their methods and philosophies.

But interestingly enough, on this same day, Morris wrote another article titled “Hypnosis not always best choice.” It is based on an interview with a clinical psychologist. This particular professional is a bit skeptical about using anything but “cognitive” approaches. The article does wisely point out some of the ideas that are important with work in hypnosis, such as it is not an instant, miracle cure for things like weight loss (you still have to do the work). On the whole, it is not a bad article and does state some good points, but it is just oddly titled perhaps. What a strange piece overall.

I should note that there are time stamps on the articles. The negative one actually appeared before the positive one. Perhaps the positive one happened because the paper wanted to show both sides? If so, bravo Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

Over dinner last night, my partner and I discussed these articles. His take on hypnosis and psychology is that it would not be productive often in a psychology setting because it would mean less time seeing the same patients. It would mean a decrease in appointments, hence a potential decrease in income. That may be a good point. I would love to know Melissa Ratliff’s, the social worker first mentioned in this post, take on it.

And these articles are synchronistic because of the unusual session I had with a psychologist and her ideas that hypnosis can cut to the case in certain therapy situations. It can often lead to the break-through “ah ha” moment. Now I know I cannot really say such things, not being a psychologist myself, but I have heard this from other psychologists who have recommend clients my way. Maybe that will be a story for tomorrow.

Once upon a time there was a man name Sigmund Freud who became a legend in the psychiatric field. This particular man decided to use hypnosis in his practice. Through the use of authoritative hypnosis techniques, he had his clients access the unconscious to help with various mental afflictions. However, he had a few issues with this. He believed that the unconscious mind was a collection of the unseemly aspects of the human mind. It is also rumored that he did not like this process and wandered away from it because many of the clients felt like they had fixed themselves, rather than with heralding Freud with the success. (1)

Though if Freud were reading this, I suspect he might balk at it and reprimand me in that famous German accent we all love to imitate. It may be further noted that he was opposed to Bernheim’s hypnotic suggestions (direct, authoritative suggestion for symptom removal), but he himself was known to be intense and leading in an authoritative manner. (2) This would either cause the client to never return or “remember” traumas that caused their hysteria (often sexual abuse). We could talk about false memories here, which has been a problem in the history of regression hypnosis, and more about Freud’s hypnotic processes but that would cause us to digress, so we shall save it for another post.

So then, where is leading, Ms. Blunt, you might ask? This segways from authoritative techniques to the need for more permissive ones, where the client is not forced to create memories and feels more secure in the therapist’s hands or rather - words.

Enter Milton Erickson, the more modern hero for the present hypnotist. Feeling a bit of an opposite, he believed it was just fine for the client to feel they had fixed themselves. One might say, he had his ego a little more together than Freud (ouch, I feel the harsh slap across the dimensions of time and space). Sorry. Erickson also found success in using the client’s own belief system and terminology to induce a trance. The idea of being kinder and more supportive of the client was felt in his hypnotic work. And one of his biggest concepts brought out the use of the metaphors as a handy tool. But again I digress. We will come to that later.

Let’s go back a few sentences to “Feeling a bit of an opposite, he believed it was just fine for the client to feel they had fixed themselves.” Erickson was the one who believed that unconscious mind was full of solutions and possibilities and that a person could find their own inner answers to their ailments. By being polite and allowing clients to feeling in control during hypnosis, they would relax more easily and be more open. (1)

So hence, we have permissive hypnosis.

Sources:

1. Headcleaners.com
2. Freud and hypnosis: The hypno-suggestive roots of the Oedipus complex
3. Getting Past that Old-Style Hypnosis

Yesterday I blogged about IBS and a study that found great success with using hypnosis as a cure. Yes, the source actually used the word “cure.” Then of course, I found the usual medical sites saying that hypnosis can help eliminate the symptoms, but it does not “cure.” Normally, the later just irritates me a little and I go about my day. But not today.

I guess it depends your school of thought on whether hypnosis is a cure or not. I suspect that those in the medical fields or organizations that more represent doctors and psychologist, one would probably say that hypnosis is not a cure, but a tool in complimentary medicine. I give you that, it is a great tool used in complimentary situations. But I think it can also be a cure, especially in cases where the client has eliminated or worked through some psychological concept that was creating a physical effect. But I can understand that this might be a threat to traditional medicine (or at least some pharmaceuticals).

Do I think it can always be a cure? No. It depends on the issue and the client. And as I say that, here is the paradox, though hypnosis can cause a curative outcome, it is the client who creates the cure. It is the client’s work, mind, thoughts, and connection with his or her subconscious mind that brings about the result. Hypnosis is the vehicle in this case. So maybe when other’s say hypnosis is not a cure, maybe this is correct. It is just a tool in self-healing.

Does this make sense? What are your thoughts?

Ah, a cup of tea, a fire large in the fire place; one can almost look forward to the winter. Maybe.

I had an interesting client yesterday. She wants to change her eating habits before they cause problems. But she is a person definitely into the New Age school of thought, and I so enjoy those. I guess this is because I tend to fall on that side of philosophy. Well, it was a fabulous session. I guided her to a location where her issue was housed. And there it was, in the second chakra (here is the thing - I know little about the chakra’s - only what Ken Wilber has written about them in his book Up from Eden - and I am only on chapter four). And the answer to helping herself with her eating habits is the word “baby.”

It is so tempting and hard sometimes not to interpret these mind messages for others, but I tend to believe it is a message only the client can decipher. However, it will not stop me from writing about it here (my dearest client from yesterday, stop reading here. Just kidding). What interest me is that one could take it literally or not. It had not really occurred to me that when doing this type of hypno work, the mind maybe (and is) sending symbols to be deciphered. Puzzles, if you will. It reminds me a little of dream interpretation and all the potential symbols that Jung believed were delivered to us (I just cannot completely go with Freudian sexuality in everything). In my client’s case, she just had her first child. The child was a bit unexpected but welcomed none the less. However, it has been a bit difficult on many levels for her, and now she describes the second chakra as being an empty void. It is fascinating how many things that “baby” could mean in terms of this emptiness.

I think we tend to look at literal translations when we get these sort of messages, wanting them to be black and white. But I suspect they are rarely anything but grey.

More thoughts on the degree thing. Which would be better for being a hypnotist – being a counselor or being a psychologist? This gets really touchy. There are many different types, such as Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Licensed Master Social Worker, Licensed Independent Social Worker (LIS), and Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker (LICSW). Then there are therapists: Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT), Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC), Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), or Licensed Psychologist (PhD, PsyD, EdD). And these are just Us designations. Good grief.

Again, I reiterate, there needs to be an accredited hypnotherapy college out there.

Yesterday I talked about counseling and therapies that could go hand in hand with hypnosis. That has caused me to lament that there are not many resources in the US for college programs that specialize in hypnotherapy. There are some programs, but you have to careful if you want a degree from an accredited school, provided this is important to you. So what does that leave? Psychology and counseling, perhaps.

One such college that does offer a plethora of degrees is capella university, which is an online college (meaning the computer is your classroom). They are accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and are a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. Out of their 104 graduate and undergraduate specializations and 15 certificate programs, they feature mental health counseling and have a whole division related to various forms of psychology. These include:

* Clinical Psychology
* Counseling Psychology
* Educational Psychology
* Evaluation, Research, and Measurement
* General Psychology
* Industrial/Organizational Psychology
* Leadership Coaching Psychology
* Organizational Leader Development
* School Psychology
* Sport Psychology

Not only do they serve the US, but have an international student base. They have been around since 1993 and are listed as one of US News and World Report’s Best American Colleges of 2008.

So now my question is do you think having such a degree would help in the practice of hypnosis?

Memory is a fascinating thing. Why is it that some things are easier to remember than others. For example, I cannot recall a series of four numbers easily, even to the extent of when people hurriedly give me their phone numbers. Even in the two second attempt to write it down, the numbers are gone.

A few days ago, I posted about National Memory Screening Day. Since that time, and a party later, questions have arose about how to tell if you should get a memory screening. How do you tell if it is acute memory loss verses aging? Good question.

So according to the National Memory Screening web site (in case you have not looked for yourself), here are a few questions you should ask yourself:

• Am I becoming more forgetful?
• Do I have trouble concentrating?
• Do I have difficulty performing familiar tasks?
• Do I have trouble recalling words or names in conversation?
• Do I sometimes forget where I am?
• Have family or friends told me that I am repeating questions or saying the same thing over and over again?
• Am I misplacing things more often?
• Have I become lost when walking or driving in a familiar neighborhood?
• Have my family or friends noticed changes in my mood, behavior, personality, or desire to do things?

If you have answered “yes” to any of these questions, you might want to consider getting a screening.

Other questions that I have heard this week include “what is the memory screening process.” Again according to the same web site it is as follows:

Various types of healthcare professionals provide memory screenings, including social workers, pharmacists, physician assistants, nurse practitioners, and doctors.

The face-to-face screening takes place in a private setting; only the individual being tested and the clinician are present.

A screening consists of a series of questions and/or tasks designed to test memory, language skills, thinking ability, and other intellectual functions. Screening tools include a Mini-Mental Status Exam, a Seven-Minute Screen and a clock drawing.

The person who administers the screening will review the results with you, and suggest whether you should follow up with a physician or other qualified healthcare professional for more extensive testing.

Results of the memory screenings are confidential. Typically, you will receive the screening results to bring to your healthcare professional or, with your permission, the clinician at the screening will send the results to your physician.