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Transcript of Becoming a Brief Therapist Learn Solution Focused Human Givens Ericksonian Hypnotherapy Ideo Dyna 0
1
Becoming a Brief
Therapist:
Special Edition
The Complete Works
By
Daniel Jones
2
Contact the author:
www.discoverdanjones.co.uk
First Edition 2008
Published and Printed By Lulu.com
Copyright © Daniel Jones 2008
Daniel Jones asserts the moral right to be identified as the
author of this work
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or
otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers or
author.
ISBN 978-1-4092-3031-1
1 First Edition 1
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Acknowledgements
A huge thanks to Abbie Piper for supporting me and
putting up with me while I worked on this book day and night.
Graham LeVell for his input and for letting me try things out on
him, both with and without his knowledge. Mark Tyrrell, Roger
Elliot and Jill Wooton for imparting their invaluable knowledge. I
would also like to thank Paul Murphy and Tony Higgins and Terry
Stewart for their interest and support. And finally I would like to
thank anyone reading this that I should have thanked but didn’t
mention here. You are not all forgotten I know who you are, I just
saved you from having to see you name in print!
Thank you to Stephen Brooks the founder of British
Hypnosis Research; for his encouragement and training in Indirect
Hypnosis, Ericksonian Psychotherapy and the use of Neuro-
Linguistic Programming with deep trance.
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Contents
Introduction to Part One Foundations 11
Pattern matching, problem structure and effective therapy 15
Pattern Matching 35
Problems & how they are structured 41
Utilisation 59
Re-framing 63
Hypnotic language patterns 107
Psychotherapy 143
Effective Psychotherapy & the structure of therapy sessions 149
Introduction to Part Two Therapy, Techniques & Treatments 177
Psychotherapy 179
Identifying limiting beliefs and challenging them therapeutically 205
Psychotherapy in the workplace 209
Needs and innate ‘coping’ skills 215
Therapeutic tools & techniques for change work 223
Psychological conditions: symptoms, understanding & treatment 265
Basic Emotional Needs 271
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Essential Skills 273
What to look for in a therapist 277
Depression 281
Anxiety 285
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & Phobias 289
Addictions 293
Sleep Disorders 299
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder 305
Anger & Stress related disorders 309
Low self-esteem, lack of confidence 311
Pain management 323
Self Hypnosis 329
Introduction to Part Three Collected Works 339
The Importance of Keeping the Problem in Mind 341
Gestures and Internal Reality 345
Erickson’s Early Learning Set 349
Hypnosis & Trance 351
Emotional Trance States 357
Psychoneuroimmunology & the work of Dr Ernest Rossi 361
Understanding Energy Therapies 369
Energy Therapies and Guided Imagery 371
Working with Ideo-Dynamics 375
Subliminal Auditory Stimulation 379
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The Unconscious Mind 383
Therapeutic Dowsing 385
Learning to Notice Minimal Cues 389
Hypnotic Language Patterns, Skills and Ideas for Working with People 393
Mental Processes 443
Managing Relapses 445
Thinking Styles 447
Altering Problem Patterns 449
Reframing and Accessing Resources 451
Expectation and Duration of Therapy 455
Motivation 463
Creating Change or Changing Perceptions 465
Creating Your Image & Whether You Should Specialise 469
Beliefs and Values 473
Be Creative – Absorb the Principles and Create Your Own Therapy Style and Techniques 475
Investigations into Past-Life Regression 479
Introduction to Part Four Further Collected Works 483
Motivation and Paradoxical Interventions 485
Memories and Sensory Thinking 493
Learning the Process and Structure Behind Techniques to Create Your Own 495
Relaxation; Trance and Trance Signs 497
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Polarity Responders 501
The Classic Staircase Induction 503
Why Do People Have a Built-in Process For Getting Phobias and How Can You Help Them? 505
How Do You Get To The Root Of What A Client Really Wants From Therapy? 513
Creating Dissociation, Metaphors and Age Regression 515
Hypnosis, Trance Induction & Utilisation 525
Observation Skills 559
Six-Step Reframing 563
Cause, Symptoms, Problem Perception & Solutions 565
Time Distortion 571
Analogue Marking 577
Rapport 581
Working with Problems 583
Looking for Patterns 601
Bibliography 603
Index 611
11
Introduction to Part One Foundations
For many years psychologists have wondered about the
mind. They have wondered about how problems are caused and
maintained, wondered about how different people can respond
to the same situation in different ways.
Over the last few decades psychologists have been able to
take a closer look than ever before into how the mind works. With
the latest brain scanning technology scientists have been able to
watch thought processes in action.
As well as having new and improved technology there was
some people that began to look at problems and treatment in a
different way. In the 1970’s John Grinder and Richard Bandler (the
co-creators of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP)) set out to
discover what many top therapists had in common. What they had
noticed was that regardless of the therapy certain therapists
achieved very high levels of results. In the same way that thousands
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of people can play golf but certain people can play golf
exceptionally well.
Not only did Bandler and Grinder see what made some
therapists highly effective, they also decided to find out what it was
that people who used to have problems did to overcome those
problems. At the time most researchers would focus on those that
couldn’t get over their problems. For example at the time most
researchers would gather together groups of people with phobias to
try to work out what is going on and how to treat them.
What Bandler and Grinder did was to create techniques and
structures for treating people based on how those that used to have
problems but overcame them managed to get better. This way of
looking at problems was a new approach. For years it had been
used in sports, for example where you would learn how a top golfer
plays, you would learn how they stand, how they hold the club,
where they look as they swing the club, etc. But it had not really
been used in therapy to see what made some therapists more
effective than others, or what people did to get over problems they
once had.
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Since the 1970’s many psychologists have studied how
problems are formed, maintained and why different people
respond differently to the same situation.
This book is designed to be useful as a practitioners guide
to effective therapy.
Often having an understanding of a problem, knowing
what is wrong and how it should be treated can give piece of mind.
With so many types of treatments available for psychological
problems it can be difficult to know what treatment is effective and
what treatment could be harmful. Currently there are over 400
different types of psychotherapy and counselling.
This book is aimed at increasing the knowledge of
practitioners. The next chapter will cover pattern matching,
problem structure and effective therapy. This chapter is an
overview giving a foundation on which the rest of the series of
book is built on. The series is structured to increase your
knowledge in stages.
Each chapter and book builds on what you have learnt
previously.
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Throughout this book and Part Two: ‘Therapy; Techniques
and Treatments’ there are exercises to help you to integrate and
practice what you have learnt.
15
Pattern matching, problem structure and effective therapy
How the latest findings in psychology unite Dreaming,
Trance States and Problem Formation, helping
psychotherapist and counsellors treat clients more effectively
The latest research findings on psychology and human
nature help to explain why we dream, what we are likely to
dream about, what hypnosis and trance states are, and the
structure of problems and solutions.
These findings allow psychological problems to be resolved
quicker than previously thought. Dramatic changes can be made in
a single session for problems like depression, anxiety, phobias or
post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and many others.
These findings explain how NLP (Neuro-Linguistic
Programming) techniques work, why we dream and what hypnosis
is. They also give a structure on how to do effective therapy by
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explaining how problems are caused and how to set up lasting
solutions.
In the 1990’s Irish Psychologist Joseph Griffin
researched dreaming and why we evolved to dream. He carried
out this research firstly on himself. He would wake himself
regularly throughout the night for many nights to record his
dreams. Over time he started to build up a picture of what he
dreamt about and what it could mean.
One morning a thought crossed his mind. He didn’t have
to be up yet so he decided he would go back to sleep. He expected
to dream about this thought when he fell asleep. When he didn’t he
wondered why not.
As Joe continued his research he continually found
situations that he felt he would dream about yet didn’t. What Joe
eventually found out led to his creating of a new theory of why we
dream. Joe found that we dream to close off patterns that have
been started during the day but not completed and to integrate new
parts of patterns. Joe found that if you have an argument and it
gets resolved then it won’t crop up at night, but if you start an
17
argument and walk away without resolving it then that night it will
crop up in your dreams.
He discovered that dreams are ALWAYS metaphorical. So
if you see your wife in the dream she doesn’t represent your wife
(If the feeling you get is that it definitely WAS your wife then if it
was something WILL be different to what the real person is like. It
could be that they are fatter or slimmer, or different to normal in
some other way). She could represent an aspect of you or another
person etc. The dream will ALWAYS pattern match to an event
from the previous day. NOT TO LONG FORGOTTEN
EVENTS like many people previously thought (It used to be
thought that dreams were manifestations of deep-rooted hidden
desires). The event could be an unresolved thought or a real
incident.
Pattern-matching
The brain is essentially a pattern-matching machine. When
you learn something new it pattern matches to what you already
know and builds on this. When you think of something (like
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wanting to hit your boss) and don’t act on it, your brain keeps the
pattern open waiting for the expected outcome or a metaphor of it.
(Instead of kicking your boss when you dream it maybe of kicking
a soccer ball as a metaphor to close the pattern)
This research can be tested by anybody. It also explains
why babies spend so much time dreaming in the last three months
before birth, as this is a vital time for laying down new patterns
(like suckling). The patterns are all metaphorical in themselves
because they need to be for survival (for example a language
pattern that allows the capacity to learn language but is flexible
enough for that language to be any one of the languages we learn).
If they were too specific then we would have died out long ago.
For example the pattern for suckling can be met by the use of a
dummy or a thumb, not just a nipple. The patterns also need to be
adjustable so that any changes (to the environment) can be learnt
and added to that pattern.
Sometimes in therapy you can get clients that have
presenting problems that are metaphorical. For example;
someone could come in with a pain in the neck and talk about a
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difficult relationship they have that needs sorting out but they
don’t know how to approach the situation.
Dream Interpretation
The important part of the dream that leads to interpretation
is the feelings. When we dream all the feelings in the dream are
exaggerated. To interpret the dream think about the previous day
and when you felt those feelings but perhaps didn’t act on them.
What happens is that each time you don’t fulfil a pattern it
needs closing off so that you are ready for the next day. It is a bit
like opening lots of files on a computer. If you don’t close files
down the computer gets slower and slower until it crashes.
A new understanding of depression
This research led to a new outlook on why depressed
people dream more than non-depressed people do, and why they
always wake up tired. Which led to quicker treatment of people
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with depression. When someone is depressed they worry regularly
throughout the day. Each time they worry they set off a pattern
that often doesn’t get closed.
For example: worrying what people think or what if this
happens etc. All these open patterns need closing that night which
causes over dreaming due to the increased number of patterns that
have been opened. Because so much of the night is spent dreaming
which is as exhausting as being fully awake, and missing out on
deep recuperative sleep the brain wakes the depressed person early
to stop them dreaming. They feel exhausted due to the lack of deep
sleep.
Excessive dreaming also stops serotonin production, which
leads to feeling low and unmotivated. It also continually fires off
the reorientation response which adds to the low motivation as the
response stops working effectively at focusing attention and
motivating the depressed person. Once the depressed person
spends one day not worrying they sleep properly that night and feel
immediately much better and more able to cope the next day.
As I have shown the reason why we dream is to close
patterns that have been fired off throughout the day which allows
21
the mind to be clear to work fully and effectively the next day.
What you will dream about therefore will be a metaphor of these
patterns.
What hypnosis really is
The idea of pattern matching solves what hypnosis is. The
pattern-matching model is called the APET model. This stands for
Activating agent, Pattern matching, Emotion, Thought. This is how
we experience the world. Something (Activating agent) sets off a
pattern (Pattern matching) which leads to an emotional reaction
(Emotion) which in turn causes a thought.
The reason for the emotion coming before the thought is
that it allows for you to respond to a stimulus if necessary without
conscious thought involved if it will help with survival.
For example a phobia – unconsciously you see movement
in the bushes. Previously a tiger jumped out of bushes and attacked
you so you panicked and ran before you knew why you were
running. If you had to think about what that rustling was before
22
you decided to respond and it was another tiger you could be killed
while you decide what you were going to do.
Hypnosis and trances are just the dream-state being
accessed. People go into trances all the time. People sitting in
cinemas watching films go into trance states at exciting parts to
which they respond by showing phenomena like catalepsy. They
could be about to put popcorn into their mouth when they go into
the trance then sit there for the next five minutes without moving
their hand, at the end of the exciting bit of film they finish putting
the popcorn in their mouth without realising what they did.
To induce hypnosis all a hypnotist does is helps the client
access the dream-state by firing off the pattern for sleep or for the
reorientation response which is the same state of mind. The
reorientation response fires when something happens causing your
mind to search for how it should respond and to find out what is
happening. It then locks on to the first concrete idea.
For example you hear a loud bang, you get startled
(reorientation response); you then see a car and think it must have
backfired. Stage hypnotists often set off the reorientation response
23
whereas therapeutic hypnotists often gently take the person into
the dream-state.
How to induce a trance
Hypnosis can be induced by focusing your attention (could
be on a spot on the wall, or on a thought, or on a rhythm, or on
almost anything else) which is what happens when the reorientation
response is fired.
Hypnosis or trance states can be induced in many different
ways:
• By confusion followed by a solid suggestion.
• Pattern interruption, (like handshake inductions)
these fire the reorientation response as the correct pattern isn’t
happening so they take their cue on what to do next from the
hypnotist.
• Shock inductions (like most stage hypnotists do,
these set off the reorientation response).
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• Relaxing the muscles (which are part of the process
for falling asleep).
• Deepening rhythmic breathing (part of the process
for sleep).
• Visualisation (part of falling asleep and dreaming).
Everyone uses hypnosis all of the time. People think about
winning the lottery and what they would do with the money, they
are visualising which induces a light trance. Smokers may go into a
trance when they focus on the cigarette they are having and they
take deep breaths as they allow their muscles to relax. When people
have cravings they enter a trance as they as so intensely focused on
what they crave. When people get angry they focus on what is
causing the anger. When people get depressed they focus on
worrying and negative thoughts.
Doctors, counsellors and other psychological therapists all
use hypnosis all of the time, often without realising it. It is when
they don’t realise that they can cause more harm than good.
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For example: when a doctor is seeing a patient, that patient
is in a mild trance state, usually a slight anxiety trance. Their whole
focus is on the doctor and on what the doctor has to say. If the
doctor gives any suggestions they will be acting like a
Hypnotherapist so it is important that they give good suggestions.
If they say ‘this is going to hurt’ it increases the chances of causing
pain. If they say ‘80% of people die from the cancer’ they are
suggesting the patient is unlikely to live.
Many counsellors and psychotherapists that don’t realise
they do hypnosis can give equally harmful suggestions that make
clients leave sessions feeling awful. Whenever a client leaves a
session they should feel empowered, they should feel like they have
achieved something in the session. They shouldn’t leave feeling
worse than they came in. It is the therapist that has the power to
make the client feel better or worse.
Each time a doctor, counsellor or other psychological
therapist asks a patient to think about something they are making
the patient visualise which is causing them to enter a light trance.
Depending on what they are being asked to think about each thing
they think of will have the effect of updating current patterns in the
26
brain. This is why it is important to have patients think of things
that desirably adjust patterns rather than getting people to keep
thinking about their problems.
Hypnosis CAN be induced in anyone
It used to be thought that not everyone could be
hypnotised but this was because in the past hypnotists would use a
script that was the same for each person. This didn’t work on
everyone because people are all different. For example, some
people might feel uncomfortable with an induction that guides
them down in an elevator so they won’t respond by going into a
trance. Now well-trained Hypnotherapists will tailor the induction
to the specific client and let clients go into trance in their own way.
How we now know dreaming and trance states are the same
There are many similarities between dreaming and
hypnosis. In both there is catalepsy, amnesia to varying degrees
27
depending on the depth of the state you are in and how soon after
coming out of the state you try to recall that period of time.
Anaesthesia/analgesia, hallucination, and suspended belief also
occur in both dreaming and hypnosis.
As you now know the dream-state is also the state of mind
that allows you to integrate new learnings onto old patterns, which
is what happens under hypnosis. As you do this integrating you are
in a trance or the dream-state which is one reason people regularly
drift into daydreams every 90 minutes or so throughout the whole
day and more so when they are learning. This is called the Ultradian
Rhythm.
Therapeutically inducing a trance state and its uses
To therapeutically induce hypnosis can be as simple as
saying:
“Imagine what it would be like when you discover now that
you feel calm and confident giving that presentation. What is that
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like? How do other people notice that you are calm and confident?
Who comments on how well you do first? What do you notice
about the audience that lets you know you are doing well? How do
you know that you are calm and confident?”
This causes the mind to build a new pattern that has a
stronger positive emotional feel than the old negative one. This
causes you go into a trance state and adjust the pattern so that the
activating agent (presentation) leads to this pattern match which
leads to a calm and confident emotion leading to positive thoughts.
The lower the emotion the more repetitions need to be
done to make the new pattern strong. For example for a phobia or
PTSD only one repetition needs to happen for the pattern to stick
(although the pattern can very easily be changed) whereas like
Pavlov’s dogs the repetition is higher for a lower emotional
‘anchor’. After many rings of a bell with food it only took the ring
of a bell to make the dogs salivate.
Using the APET model therapy is made easier. NLP
techniques are explained as they are changing a part of APET
whether it is giving a different emotional ‘tag’ to a pattern or a
29
different interpretation (thought) to the emotion. Hypnosis gets
explained and can clearly be seen as the dream-state. And using this
new understanding of dreams everyone can interpret their own
dreams and the dreams of others, many psychological problems
can be resolved quicker than previously thought and there is no
longer any mystery as to why we dream. It also finally demystifies
hypnosis.
How these understandings have lead to a new breed of more
effective therapists
All effective psychotherapy changes part of the problem
pattern. This means that as the pattern only changes during trance
states or dreaming, a knowledge and full understanding of hypnosis
is useful for any therapist. Even getting a client to view a situation
differently causes a trance.
The mind can’t tell the difference between real and vividly
imagined so if something is imagined to go a certain way it builds
on the pattern for that outcome. This is why NLP techniques can
30
be useful. Gone are the days when people had a naïve approach to
therapy that if you found out the root cause the problem will get
cured.
Now we know that the past has happened and can’t be
changed. Your perception and understanding of past events can be
changed if necessary. Change is now known to occur quickly and
just because it is quick doesn’t make it superficial or ‘only getting
rid of the symptoms but not dealing with the cause’.
A long drawn out therapy only gets results once the client
enters a trance and views the problem differently, learning
something new. When you know this all you have to do is find out
what the person wants and you will know the solution regardless of
the problem. This has led to a more effective breed of therapist.
For example;
Shyness could be caused by not being allowed to speak out
as a child or else you get hit or abused so you become too scared to
speak out. Or you could not know the reason for the shyness.
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Either way if when asked what they want and how they will know
when they are no longer shy the person says I want to feel
confident when talking to people at a party. You don’t have to find
out why they can’t do that. You just alter the pattern to lead to the
appropriate emotions and thoughts to quickly allow them to do
that. Some people may need past memories de-traumatising, which
would usually only take one session.
Therapists should be aware of dreams that clients say that
they have had, especially if the dreams are recurring dreams as this
is often a sign of an ongoing issue that is playing on the clients
mind. Dreams or metaphors that the client uses can be used to help
to treat them by altering them slightly to include a useful solution.
They can also let the therapist know about issues that the client
doesn’t readily talk about.
An example dream I recently interpreted
Dream
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‘I am in my flat with a friend. She comments on how my
fish in the fish tank look like they are dying. The water in the fish
tank looks horrible. One of my fish is still alive and jumps out on
to the floor. It flaps it’s self along the floor and out of my living
room. Outside the living room is not the corridor that should be
there but the outside of the house. It didn’t seem odd at the time,
in the dream. The fish continued to flap across the ground away
from the house. I was sad that it would die; I was still trying to
catch the fish to get it back in the fish tank. Just then a fat cat
suddenly pounced on the fish and ripped its head off. I got to the
fish and picked it up. It was dead, had turned orange and was
hollow inside. This upset me. I wanted to cry.’
Reality
The person above had found out at short notice that over
half the staff team where she works was going to be made
redundant. This did upset her as she got on with those that were
33
leaving (friend leaving, fish dying, fish flapping out of the building).
She had concerns over whether the company would keep going
(the references to dying, the dirty fish tank). She felt that it was the
employer’s fault that the staff were being made redundant (fat cat
killing the fish and making it hollow). She had been worrying a lot
at this time about the situation. She felt that work was going to
seem empty. She didn’t really get on so well with the staff member
left working with her (hollow fish, fish turning all orange with no
head and dead – staff member left working with her had ginger hair
and she wished he was one of the staff going instead - dead fish).
Conclusion
The authoritarian hypnosis approach that many hypnotists
still use is out of date. The scales used to study hypnotisability are
inaccurate, as using an authoritarian, scripted approach doesn’t
hypnotise everyone, as people are all individual. Everyone can be
hypnotised and can show all the phenomena they just need to be
hypnotised in the way that suits them.
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NLP is highly effective if done to suit the client due to
individuality. And dreams are now understood so hopefully people
will interpret their own dreams rather than buy cheap dream books
that don’t give the individual their own personal interpretation. I
would love to hear that many readers decide to experiment with
interpreting their own dreams and the dreams of others.
35
Pattern Matching
Previously we touched on pattern matching. Now I will
go into a little more detail. Pattern matching is how the brain
works. It is always happening from moment to moment with
everything that you do.
There have been many models of how the mind works.
Some of these have been more accurate than others.
With the latest understandings from psychology,
neurology and brain scanning we now know that emotions
happen before thoughts. Many schools of therapy used to think
that thoughts caused emotions and some thought that emotions
weren’t important at all.
36
The new model of how the mind works is called the APET
model.
As we have covered earlier APET stands for:
• Activating agent
• Pattern matching
• Emotion
• Thought
It is important to understand that most psychological
problems arise from faulty pattern matching.
For example:
• Someone walking out onto a stage to give a talk,
then blushing and feeling embarrassed, and thinking “I’m
stupid, I can’t do this”
Or
• A smoker answering the telephone, then feeling the
need for a cigarette, and so thinking “I’ve got to have a
cigarette”
37
Pattern matching is involved in everything that we do.
Whether it is the routine we go through when we get up in the
morning or instinctively knowing to stop the car when you see a
red traffic light. The important thing to remember is that patterns
can be changed. Patterns aren’t stuck in place. They are adaptable.
Your brain is always updating its patterns. In everyday life this
happens automatically with each new piece of learning.
Unfortunately this can lead to patterns being reinforced causing
problems to last. Like believing that smoking is the only way you
can relax, then each time you get stressed or bored and need to
relax you smoke. As this does temporarily relax you, you assume it
was because of the cigarettes so this reinforces the pattern. In
reality it is the way that a smoker breathes while they smoke that
relaxes them, not the cigarettes.
In therapy sessions or taking some time to help yourself it
is possible to alter these patterns by choice. For example the
smoker can practice breathing in to the count of 3 and out to the
count of 5. This longer out-breath triggers the relaxation response
and if done for a minute or so can give a light sense of euphoria
with a sense of relaxation. As this is practised it offers the smoker a
38
new choice. They can use this breathing technique instead of
cigarettes as they have added this to their pattern for relaxing.
As a practitioner you should learn to notice processes or
patterns. This is where the problem formation lies. The content is
useful for rapport, or for finding resources or highlighting the
problem areas you need to extract the pattern from. But it is the
structure of the problem that is important to finding a fast way to
help the client not the content. Many therapists get bogged down
in content. They get drawn in by all of the talk of the problem.
Often therapists begin to feel emotional about the content,
especially if the content is sad or disturbing.
Obviously it is important to let the client talk and get the
problem off of their chest. But as a therapist you want to be able to
listen and notice patterns. For example it could be that when the
client is talking about mundane things they go in to detail saying
that that is what is important, yet when they come to talk about
what seems to be an underlying issue they skirt over it. Or a client
could do a specific gesture like rubbing the neck when talking
about a partner. If they repeatedly did this each time they talked
about that person you could notice the pattern and assume that
39
maybe the partner is a pain in the neck, even if it hasn’t been
verbally stated.
STEP BACK AND SEE THE PATTERN OF THE
PROBLEM
Look out for how you can change patterns easiest. It could
be that you change the frequency of the pattern, or the duration, or
the times that the pattern takes place. It could be that you add an
extra stage to the pattern or change a stage in the pattern. Most of
what will be covered throughout this book aims to make alterations
to patterns. Teaching how best to do this with different problems.
As well as the more common changes to patterns it is useful to
learn how to notice patterns for yourself. Not everyone is the same,
so what works well for one person may not work so well for
somebody else. For example, to cure phobias there is a really useful
technique that involves visualising. What you may find is that not
everyone is able to follow the instructions well, or they believe they
can’t visualise well so you would have to do something different
40
with them. Often the language that they use will give away what
they need. They may say ‘I need to be able to step back and see
what is happening’ or ‘I just wish that the problem would
disappear’.
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Problems & how they are structured
Over thousands of years humans have evolved as problem
solving creatures. They have needed to do so to find solutions to
help them survive harsh and threatening environments.
Often problems that people present with can be seen as
sloppy or attempted solutions. Perhaps once the solution was
useful but has now remained as a habit. This happens because
we once something we do works we often stick with what we
know rather than trying something different.
For example:
A person with a bad back due to an injury may walk with a
specific posture for the few weeks that their back is injured as this
new posture brings relief. This person may then get stuck always
walking with this new posture as it has been learnt as something
that once made the person feel better. Years later it may turn out
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that this posture has caused damage elsewhere in the back leading
to a problem.
This example shows how the problem was originally an
attempted solution.
The same can happen with psychological problems. It
could be a smoker that smokes to relax or to fit in with a social
group but then gets stuck with a habit. Or a person that once had a
high powered job and used to only sleep a few hours a night gets
stuck with not being able to stay asleep so find they are now
lethargic and tired all of the time. Or a mother that had to sleep
light and wake regularly to care for a child that years later after she
no longer needs to do this now finds she can’t stay asleep.
Problems can sometimes meet otherwise unmet needs. Like
smoking meeting a need to relax, getting a headache before a
presentation saving you from the embarrassment of having to stand
up and talk in front of a group of people etc. Sometimes all that is
needed is to help the person to have choice by helping them to find
a healthy alternative to meet the same needs. Other times the need
is now being met in a more beneficial way but a habit has formed
from when the problem started.
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Before clients come to therapy they have almost always
tried to solve their own problems and failed. They very rarely
choose therapy as the first option as this costs money and some
people feel embarrassed to ask for help or to attend therapy so they
don’t until they reach a point where they don’t know what else to
do. They will come in saying they have tried everything and yet still
are stuck with their problem.
Contrary to popular belief most people know why they
have a problem but still can’t get rid of it. It used to always be
suggested that people should find the root cause of their problem
which would have originated in childhood and by finding this root
cause they will gain an insight and understanding that helps them to
move on and be problem free. Searching for the root of the
problem may be interesting for the client but the question is do
they want to know why they have the problem or not have the
problem at all?
There is nothing wrong will people wanting to have an
insight into why they are the person that they are and where
problems have stemmed from. It is just not something that is
usually necessary for helping them to get better. If once they are
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problem free they would still like to analyse how events and
reactions to events throughout their lives had shaped them and
helped caused the problem then that is fine.
It is rare for someone to have a problem and not know
when it started. With some things they may not know the exact
first incident if they were too young to remember but often they
will know what it was yet still have the presenting problem.
For example if someone was stung by a bee as a three year
old that caused a phobia of bees they may not remember the exact
incident and they don’t need to remember it to be helped. Even if
they do remember it they will still have the phobia. They will know
that it is irrational but that won’t stop them having it. The reason is
because phobias are emotional responses to a stimulus. The person
responds emotionally before they consciously think about what is
scaring them. It is the unconscious process that maintains the
phobia that needs to be changed not an understanding of the initial
incident.
Often problems are maintained by the client’s reaction to
it.
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For example:
• Trying to fall asleep makes it harder to do so.
• Trying not to blush makes you blush more.
‘Telling someone to laugh and them trying to laugh is not
the same as saying something that makes them laugh. This is how
indirect therapy works’ Stephen Brooks
When problems seem too difficult to deal with then solving
them can seem impossible. This is often what happens to clients by
the time they come to therapy. Sometime they can come in
believing that as it is impossible not even you will be able to help
them. You will then need to demonstrate success to them. Just
telling them you can help them won’t work, they may
unconsciously sabotage the therapy to prove that they you can’t.
Sometimes just helping them to learn to relax can be enough for
them to gain confidence in you and then accept treatment.
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If a problem seems too large then the client can become
overwhelmed, depressed or more anxious. So it is useful to help
them to relax first. When someone is relaxed they see their problem
more clearly. This will help them to discuss how and when the
problem occurs which will give you the structure to work with to
help them.
When you work with the client you need to frame the
problem so that the client feels they are overcoming the problem
using their own resources and that you are just a guide helping
them along. If they leave therapy believing they can help
themselves then they will be more able to cope in the future as they
are less likely to become reliant on a therapist. This also makes the
therapy work faster and more effective.
Help clients to access their resources like times when they
expected to have the problem but didn’t or times when they felt
motivated. People often have abilities that can help to get through
their problems that they already use or have used in the past in
different contexts. Sometimes it may be necessary to break the
problem down in to smaller chunks. For example if someone wants
to lose weight but feels it is an insurmountable task then you could
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create stages to this outcome. As each stage gets met the client
would know they are getting closer to achieving what they want. If
you didn’t break it down they may decide they are no closer to
what they want because they have no markers along the way.
Always remember; start where you can make a difference
quickest. This way you gain their confidence in your abilities to
help them. It could be that you immediately help them to relax or
get rid of a phobia or de-traumatise memories in the first session.
Therapy becomes so much easier and quicker once the client feels
confident in your abilities. By noticing the structures of their
problems you to see where you can make the fastest difference.
All psychological difficulties are trance states.
A trance state involves a narrowing focus of attention.
When a client comes to you with a problem they don’t see multiple
perspectives. All problem structures involve some level of trance.
In a trance you get a bias of perception. A depressed
person looks at reality negatively and past oriented etc…
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Most of the techniques and skills are designed to break
trances and create multiple perspectives.
Sometimes it can be best to encourage the problem rather
than fight it. This can help to maintain and build rapport and can
also misdirect the client from recognising that what you are
suggesting is actually going to be what creates the solution.
For example you can say “you can continue smoking for
now but…” the ‘but’ part is the therapeutic part. The great
psychiatrist Milton H. Erickson once told a client they could
continue to suck their thumb but they had to also suck each other
finger individually each time they sucked their thumb. Making the
problem too much of a chore which led to the person becoming
sick of sucking their thumb and each finger and so wanting to stop
the behaviour completely.
The main reasons for problems are:
• Emotional needs not being met
• Damaging or unrealistic expectations
• Traumatised or faulty pattern matching
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• Feeling overwhelmed or worrying
• Developing a problem behaviour pattern
• Being unable to break out of a trance state
Most problems involve people getting themselves into
double binds (damned if you do, damned if you don’t), or lacking
certain abilities or skills (to relax or to build rapport etc)
Problems involve splitting and linking
Splitting is where you have the part of you that doesn’t
want to carry out the problem behaviour and the part of you that
carries it out anyway.
For example:
• Blushing - don’t want to blush but blush anyway
• Addiction - don’t want to smoke but I smoke
anyway
Linking is where you attach a stimulus and a response.
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For example:
• Doing a presentation and feeling terrified
• Feeling stressed and wanting a cigarette
Look for solutions
When you are paying attention to a client’s problem
structure; look for solutions that the client overlooks. Things
like, when a client went for a period of time problem free, or
something that once worked for them that they perhaps thought
was a one off. For example many people smoke but make long
plane journeys without having a cigarette.
Notice black and white thinking that may be maintaining a
problem. Break it. Make it grey. Notice people using the word
‘should’ and challenge this in a skilful way to see if it really is a
‘should’. Do the same with terms like ‘have to’, ‘I’ve got to’, ‘I
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must’, ‘I need to’. All of these terms can restrict someone’s views
and help to maintain bad patterns.
Notice when people have an illusion of control, either too
much or too little. Because again these crop up in many problem
structures helping to keep the problem in place. Challenge the
illusion; ask questions like ‘what would happen if you let someone
else do that instead?’ or ‘what would happen if you said no?’
Use double binds, splitting, linking and evoking abilities and
skills in your solutions when you help the client to create a new
pattern or adjust the old pattern. Not only can double binds,
splitting and linking be involved in the problem formation, later on
you can see how to use these therapeutically.
Some interventions can be:
• Making conscious unconscious responses,
interrupting the pattern, and getting them to think in detail
about the steps of their problem.
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• Doing less of what’s not working
• Advertise the problem rather than concealing it.
Or you can create tasks to alter the problem behaviour
and disrupt the pattern:
Alter the pattern of the complaint
- Change the frequency
- Change the timing of performance
- Change the location of the performance
- Change the duration of the performance
- Change the sequence of elements/events in
the complaint
- Break the complaint into smaller chunks
- Link the complaint to the performance of a
boring or difficult task
- Add a new element to the pattern
Alter the context surrounding the pattern
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Or if working with couples or families set tasks for them to
do that will gather information and teach them something new.
‘Do a few things that will surprise your parents/child.
Don’t tell them what those things are or when you are doing them.
The other person’s job is to see if you can tell what it is that the
other person was doing. Don’t compare notes; we will do that next
session’
If parent wants something suggest ‘Keep track of what you
are doing this week that gives you/makes you/etc…(pleasure,
happy, etc)’
As problems often arise to meet unmet emotional needs it
is useful to have awareness of what these needs are and to keep
them in your mind when you are working with clients to notice if
any seem not to be getting met appropriately. It could be that the
presenting problem doesn’t seem to be meeting any needs but on
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listening to the client you find that a need isn’t being met in
everyday life. This could mean that the problem in some way is
meeting that need.
Different parts of the brain function in different ways.
Being aware of which functions are associated with which brain
hemispheres can help to understand what is going on in the clients
mind. You can also then understand how emotions affect the brain
helping to maintain or break problems.
Generally the left hemisphere is for processing information
in sequential, logical, rational ways and with small, detailed
movements and the right hemisphere is for ‘contextualising’
patterns, pattern matching and emotions and with large
movements. In some people (often left-handed) this can be
reversed.
One of the most primitive parts of the brain is the
emotional mind (limbic system). This part of the brain is
responsible for maintaining your survival.
During times of high emotion the limbic system takes
control. This causes an IQ drop as the higher parts of the brain get
shut down and the mind goes into ‘safety’ mode. At this time all
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that is important is survival. The person will be in a highly focused
state of mind where they will want to run, fight or freeze. The run
and freeze responses are the feelings of anxiety and fear, the fight
response is a feeling of anger.
By knowing about how the emotional mind can take over
in times of high emotional arousal it is possible to disrupt this
process by asking the person to challenge their own thoughts or to
grade the intensity of their emotion as the emotion begins to take
effect. Both these interventions require a person to use their logical,
rational part of the brain, which reduces the intensity of the
emotion.
Another approach can be to chew gum as this causes the
digestive system to be activated. One of the systems that gets shut
down in times of high emotional arousal is the digestive systems, so
if you start chewing you prevent the digestive system from closing
down and the emotional system from being able to take over so
easily. This works because if you are chewing and thinking about
food then the presented threat that caused the emotional arousal
can’t be that severe or you would be more concerned with your
own instant survival.
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When the emotional part of the brain takes control it shuts
down all systems not essential for short term survival from
digestion to sex drive. These are important for long term survival
but not so important when you need to fight or run away to
maintain your immediate safety. Many problems can arise due to
prolonged emotional arousal to do with these systems being made
to not work correctly like irritable bowel syndrome, impotence, and
ulcers.
The role of trance in human behaviour and problematic
states.
As I have mentioned previously people go in and out of
trance from moment to moment, gluing new learning in place. This
happens whether it is beneficial learning or a learning that causes a
problem. This is why using trance to help people is so important.
As a therapist you want to be able to help people to spot and
control their own trance states. You can teach a client to ‘step out’
of an emotional trance as it begins. This can be practised in therapy
helping the clients to make that psychological shift.
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‘Imagination keeps belief patterns and emotional
patterns in place’
‘Your body can’t tell the difference between reality and
imagined’
The observing self is the part of you that observes what is
happening at that moment in the mind or behaviourally. You can’t
observe the observing self it is a point that you observe from. It is
emotionless. Most forms of therapies use the observing self
whether it is to see how you are thinking, or to see how you react
with a different emotional reaction etc…
This is a place where you get to look at the problem from a
different viewpoint separating the problem from your core identity.
Many of the techniques and skills that you will learn to help people
with problems use the observing self. They have the person view
themselves calmly watching the problem behaviour or a new
improved behaviour or reaction.
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Telling stories helps prepare and use the observing self.
When you listen to a story you notice patterns, plots, characters
behaviours etc… Stories are laced with patterns. These patterns can
be observed for the first time from a different point of view.
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Utilisation
Remember utilisation! Use what the client gives you. If the client shows resistance, use it.
Use client’s interests and what they say to you
Any of the client’s opinions can be used. If the client starts
to tell you about the weather and how nice it is outside you can use
this to elicit pleasant feelings or to encourage them to think about a
holiday that can be used to relax them.
To utilise feelings that the client mentions it is important to
feedback what they say in a way that gets them more absorbed in
those feelings in the present.
For example if a client was talking about a time they felt
good about an achievement, as you talk to them you can begin to
re-evoke those feelings in the present and begin to associate them
with solving the problem.
To do this you need to feedback what they say into present
tense. Use it whether it is anger or resistance or lack of motivation
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or positive things like having a supportive family, being confident
at playing a musical instrument, running a marathon each year, or a
pleasant experience, whatever it happens to be.
For example:
Client: I went out for a walk in the country the other day.
It was so relaxing.
Therapist: What was it that you found so relaxing?
Client: All the different colours, the cool breeze, the feeling
of the warm sun on my face.
Therapist: Seeing all the different colours, feeling that
cool breeze and the warm sun on your face.
Client: Yes.
You can do anchoring to link a resource with solving their
problem, or you can get them to rehearse hypnotically utilising
resources. Rehearsing hypnotically doesn’t mean putting the client
into a formal hypnotic trance, it means creating an experience in
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the mind of the client that is focused on what you want them to
focus on.
With practice utilisation becomes easier, and resources
begin to stand out as if they are marked with neon markers.
Use resistance, everything the client says and does is
right for getting them cured. When I am doing therapy I
constantly use all the client does to get them to where they want
to go. I regularly tell them ‘that’s right’ or go ‘mmm’ or do
something that is acknowledging to them that they are doing the
right thing to go into a trance or to quit smoking or whatever it
happens to be.
For example if someone comes to me for therapy and
says ‘I’m too stressed to be able to relax and go into a trance.’
I’ll tell them ‘That’s excellent. All the best work is done with the
clients that have some tension there. What I need you to do is
just hold on to some of that tension for a while as we do this.’
If a client says ‘You won’t be able to hypnotise me
because I’m too strong willed.’ I’ll tell them ‘Your right I won’t
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be able to hypnotise you, all I can do is guide you into a state of
mind that gives you greater control over the inner workings of
your mind and body. A state of mind that allows you to control
your heart rate, your blood pressure, your breathing and many
other processes, but it takes a strong willed person to enter that
state fully and completely.’
Utilisation exercise
In pairs have one person (1) being the client while the other
person (2) is the therapist. Person one talks about a pleasurable
experience. Person two listens to what person one says and utilises
all that they can to help person one deepen their experience. Spend
five minutes each way and do this three times each, so that you
have experienced being a client three times and a therapist three
times. Enjoy yourself you do better when you are having fun.
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Re-framing
One of the key skills to effective therapy is the ability to do
skilful re-framing. Think about your client’s focus of attention. If
they are being argued with or perceive disagreement then they will
be focused on their point of view and will hold firmly to their views
and beliefs.
Re-framing is where you change the meaning of a situation.
Jokes re-frame situations, which is why they make us laugh, because
they give an unexpected outcome. Therapeutically I find re-framing
with humour useful by pointing out the ridiculous things that
people say to each other.
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For example:
You forget your anniversary so on the way home from
work you buy some flowers and give them to your wife and
apologise, and she responds with:
‘You’re only doing that to make me feel better’
Now obviously you did do it to make her feel better. You
wouldn’t do it to make her feel worse? Yet inevitably an argument
is about to occur.
Next will come the stage where you are told that it is too
late now, you forgot the anniversary. As if it is too late to be
allowed to now feel good, now is the time to feel bad and angry!
All this to me I find amusing and ridiculous so I point it out
to clients in a way that makes them see it from my point of view
that the husband was trying to do the right thing, he was showing
his love. The wife was understandably upset but should she decide
that now is the time to be angry or decide to feel good because her
husband loves her.
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Re-framing can happen instantly in situations just because a
new piece of information has appeared that changes the meaning.
For example:
If you were driving along a main road in rush hour traffic
and you have been getting really angry at the slow moving traffic
and people constantly cutting in front of you. You think to yourself
‘if one more person does that I’m going to be livid!’ Just then
another car cuts in front of you. You begin to get angry when you
see the driver turn and wave at you with a cheeky smile and you
notice it is your best friend. Now you smile also and think ‘the
cheeky sod, he’d do anything to get to work on time!’ Now the
situation has been re-framed and you don’t respond with anger,
and in fact you are likely to now remain a little calmer for the rest
of your journey and even call him to joke with him about it when
you get to work.
When I worked in childcare with teenagers with challenging
behaviour there was an incident where a young person became
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aggressive towards staff. The young person needed to be held for
their safety and the safety of others. They still continued to be
aggressive. The incident had been going on for about an hour with
all staff and the young person hot and sweaty and wishing the
situation would just calm down. Just then one of the members of
staff lent over to take over holding the young person when he did a
really loud unexpected fart! The young person immediately started
laughing and so did the staff. The incident remained calm after that
with no recurrence.
Re-framing is necessary to avoid arguing or causing
defensiveness when you are trying to change someone’s mind or
their point of view.
It’s easy to make someone defensive but not necessarily
very productive by saying things like
• Yeah but…
• No, you wrong…
• Well in my opinion…
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Or giving off disapproving body language like crossing your
arms aggressively when they say something you disagree with or
not paying them attention, appearing like you are not interested.
You need to get them interested in what YOU have to say.
Some ways of doing this are:
• So just to check I understand… (then feedback
what they said but in a more productive way)
• I’ve got an idea that may help, I’m just wondering
what you think?
• Ask a question
• Agree with them (then follow with what you want
them to hear)
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Disagreeing without seeming to do so (one of my favourite
examples):
Client: ‘but I enjoy smoking’
Therapist: ‘yes! (Agreeing) People can learn to enjoy
anything; people can enjoy the company of a charming but
manipulative psychopath whilst that psychopath works to
undermine them. At least you know what the cigarettes are taking
from you’
From Uncommon Knowledge Training Course
Pre-empting beliefs, if the client doesn’t hold the belief it
doesn’t matter because you are only talking about ‘people’.
For example:
‘I still get some people that come to see me that believed
that they couldn’t be hypnotised that they wouldn’t let someone
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control them. Once they have got an understanding of what
hypnosis really is and they see that it is nothing mysterious and that
they are the ones in full control of how deep they decide to go into
a trance change occurs rapidly’.
Use the resistance when re-framing. This is best done by
agreeing with the resistance then associating it to something else
and giving different meaning to what they are saying, then
following this with a positive new statement or meaning that is
productive.
For example:
If someone says that they won’t do as you say because they
don’t believe it will work so why bother trying. You can link this
opinion with the many things the person genuinely wouldn’t do if
they were asked and then you can start to say things like ‘don’t tell
me anything about the problem until you feel comfortable to do
so’. This implies that they will tell you. It also implies they will feel
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comfortable and if they want to not do as you say then they will
have to tell you now about the problem.
Re-framing exercises
Exercise one
In pairs, person 1 being a client, person 2 being the
therapist, practice re-framing.
Person 1 – You don’t want to relax. You won’t do as you
are told because you don’t want to feel that someone else has
control over you
Person 2 – you have to listen to what they say then re-
frame what they say to work towards relaxing person 1. Remember
it is best to agree first and then lead.
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After spending about five minutes each way doing this then
move onto the next exercise.
Exercise two
Now person 1 as the client, your problem is you can’t say
no and stand up for yourself. Person two as the therapist, you have
to re-frame this to get person 1 saying no and standing up for
themselves. Do this exercise so that both people have been client
and therapist.
Remember to have fun. You learn better when you enjoy yourself.
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Hypnosis
What is hypnosis?
Hypnosis is a trance state. Trance states involve a
narrowing focus of attention.
This could be:
• Outwards like in an emergency.
Or
• Inwards like when daydreaming or worrying.
A trance state is when you access the Rapid Eye Movement
(R.E.M) State. This state is accessed during dreaming and at times
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when the brain doesn’t know what is coming next, like in an
emergency or with a loud noise.
The R.E.M state is the state that you go into to create or
update patterns of behaviour. This is why human babies have the
highest time in an R.E.M state in the three months leading up to
the birth. In this last three months all of the instinctive patterns are
being laid in place for life on the outside. This allows for certain
behaviours to happen without being learnt, like breathing, suckling
and the ability to match facial expressions which allows the baby to
bond by building rapport.
There are a number of behaviours associated with trance
states many of which are useful to be used for rapid healing.
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Trance state behaviours include:
• An increase in suggestibility & responsiveness
• Increased tolerance to pain
• Hallucinations
• Immobility
• Blinking stops
• Ability to change body temperature
• Ability to build muscle using the imagination
• Ability to alter blood pressure
• Ability to change mood
• Ability to rehearse new behaviours until they
become instinctive
• Altering immune system activity
• Accelerated healing
• Amnesia
• Plus much more
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Before learning how to induce a trance in yourself and
others it is important to know what to look out for. If you don’t
know what to look for to tell when someone is in a trance you
wouldn’t know when they are hypnotised. The ability to help
people into an optimum learning state, which is the same state as a
hypnotic trance is one of the most important abilities that you can
learn.
When you know what to look out for you can begin to
utilise what you see as being an indicator that the person is entering
(or is in) a trance.
Trance indicators
• catalepsy
• different voice quality
• shorter sentences and words
• relaxed muscles
• less body movement
• economy of body movement
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• smoother features
• lack of startle reflex
• takes things literally
• slow or no swallowing reflex
• slow or no blinking
• slower pulse
• slower respiration
• pupils change
• head nodding side to side
• facial symmetry
• breathing from stomach
• less facial colour
• eyes roll back
• eyes flutter
• instant hypnotic phenomena
Not all of these indicators happen all of the time.
Sometimes some people may show some indicators but not others
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or there may be a delay before some responses. This delay can
often happen with hypnotic phenomena or tasks that clients are
asked to carry out. This happens because often internal time
distortion occurs sometimes on an unconscious level that can make
the time it takes for a client to carry out a behaviour seem quicker
to the client than it appears to the therapist.
How do you do hypnosis?
To do hypnotic induction’s you need to either recreate
stages leading to dreaming sleep or recreate the state of not
knowing what is happening next causing the reorientation
response.
Recreating stages of sleep could be a relaxation induction
getting the client to relax their body perhaps starting with their feet,
then relaxing their mind by getting them to think of something
pleasant. Or it could be getting them to imagine something
relaxing. Or getting more of their attention focused inwardly in
some other way.
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Recreating a state of not knowing what is happening next
could be done by interrupting a pattern of behaviour, or causing
confusion.
Some types of induction are:
• Conversational (overt & covert)
• Pattern interrupt
• Embedded-meaning/metaphorical
• Confusion
• Directive
Conversational induction’s are induction’s that initially start
with an ordinary conversation. They involve embedding
suggestions and utilising ongoing experiences or events to induce a
trance.
It could be embedding suggestions in a conversation or
feeding back what a client says to deepen their experience.
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An example of a conversational induction:
As you sit back and begin to feel comfortably
relaxed (Embedded command), I would like you to let
those eyes gently close…that’s right…recognising that with
those eyes closed you can go inside very pleasantly, accessing
memories, past experiences or other meaningful events, times gone
by when you felt good… Now, Graham, I’d like you to take two
deep, refreshing breaths and as you release that second
breath you can drift even more deeply into a satisfying a
pleasant state of relaxation…etc
An example of a pattern interrupt induction:
(Interrupting the pattern of a handshake)
Hi, I’m Dan (hand goes out; clients hand comes to meet it.
I take it with my opposite hand, raise it with palm facing clients
face then slowly start it moving to their face)…and as that hand
continues to move closer to your face all by itself you can begin to
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notice the change in your vision…and as the vision changes you
can notice how heavy those eyelids are getting…and you won’t go
all the way into a trance until that hand comfortably touches the
face…etc
An example of a metaphorical induction or embedded-
meaning induction would be to tell a story and use embedded
commands and metaphors for going in to trance…etc
An example used in a staff meeting to get the staff working
together again:
One-day snow white decided that she wanted to go on a
walk, she didn’t often go out far from her home as she was unsure
what she would find in the deep, dark forest. Snow white left on a
path right outside her front door. The path was covered by trees
arching high over head; either side of her was deep, dark forest.
Snow white stuck to the path walking through the shimmering
beams of light that flickered down through the trees above. As she
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continued to…follow this path…she was aware of the
rhythmic beat of her feet on the ground and the sounds of birds in
the trees and the rustling of leaves as the wind blew a breeze. She
continued to wander and at times found her mind wonder about
why she set out on this journey…after walking for a while she
found herself smile as she saw a house in the distance. The house
was in a clearing in the forest that was bright and cheerful. There
were plants of many varieties and many flowers surrounding the
house. As snow white reached the clearing she could feel the calm,
warmth from the sun on her skin. Snow white could hear voices
coming from the house and the closer she got the more she could
tell that the people inside the house were disagreeing with each
other. Snow white approached and asked one of the people what
was wrong. Grumpy explained that they used to all go to work
singing and dancing with enjoyment but now they seem to have
forgotten how to work as a team. Grumpy explained that they
used to push together…pull together…axe together…all
together…but now they found that they couldn’t. When one
pushed another pulled and no work got done. Snow white asked
what they do and was told that they are the team that digs and lays
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the foundations for new buildings. She asked them why they
decided to do that work. She was told that you see buildings
standing and feel proud because you know that they are standing
because you built the foundations well, it makes you proud of all
that hard work you did…snow white decided to tell the little
people a story about a centipede that kept falling over its legs. The
centipede asked a friend how he manages to walk without falling
over. He was told to just…relax…and let all the legs…work
together…not keep thinking about which leg should do what and
when. This made no sense to the dwarves so they decided to forget
what snow white said and just enjoy her company. Before snow
white left she asked who made such a lovely garden. The dwarves
said they all worked at it and that many of the plants have survived
some harsh winters. At the end of the day snow white said good
bye to the dwarves. She got right up and left. As she left she was
amazed by how much happier and healthier they were starting to
become. Something had happened that they were learning from
which looked like it made them healthier and made them work out
their differences, sneezy had stopped sneezing, grumpy was happy,
bashful had clear skin and no hint of red, and all of the others had
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noticed improvements too. This made snow white happy as she
skipped away from the house up the path leaving her adventure
behind like a dream that got more out of reach like a name on the
tip of your tongue as she approached her home pleased with her
mini adventure, then walked through her gate and, finding it was all
a dream she…opened her eyes…
A directive induction is an induction where you tell the
client what to do.
An example of a directive induction:
I’m going to shake your hand three times…the first time
your eyes will get tired…let them…the second time they’ll want to
close…let them…the third time they’ll lock and you wont be able
to open them…want that to happen, and watch it
happen…now…1…2…now close your eyes…now 3…and they’re
locked and you’ll find they just don’t work, no matter how hard
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you try…the harder you try the less they’ll work…test them and
you’ll find they won’t work at all…
An example of a confusion induction (used within a story):
One afternoon a woman set out looking for her friend’s
house. She was feeling rather tired and sleepy, but perked up
halfway there when she realised she’d forgotten the directions. She
decided to check for directions anyway, and holding the wheel with
her right hand she used her left hand to place a can of coke on the
floor right beside her then reaching right across her side with her
left hand to her right coat pocket for the directions she discovered
they weren’t there so she thought maybe they were left in her left
pocket so she checked right there only to discover they weren’t
there either. She then checked both pockets again with alternating
hands as she steadied the car steering wheel with her knees she
remembered that her friend had said that it is two rights and one
left. She took a right and was left with one right and a left. She took
a left and was still left with one left and two rights. She tried two
rights and was left with one left, and after trying just one left alone
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was left with two rights, and still she had not found her friend’s
house, which was starting to get a bit confusing. She decided to try
a bit harder which was hard as she fought off fatigue and the
traffic, and the first thing she did was reverse the right-left order,
which she definitely thought was the right thing to do just then.
Leaving from the corner she took a hard left, leaving two rights
left, and still she was not there. A right and a left, and continuing
with one more right left her not there yet either, and finally in utter
bewilderment and near exasperation, she pulled off the road
deciding the only decision she has left must be right, she sat back
behind the wheel, took one deep breath and said “I might as well
just sleep”
Naturalistic inductions
Probably the easiest way for a beginner to induce a trance
in someone else is to use a naturalistic approach. A naturalistic
approach involves talking about everyday trance states. As you talk
to a client about everyday trance states they will be familiar so will
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rapidly start to enter trance. If you do this utilising hypnotic
language the effects will be even greater.
It can be useful to write out direct scripts then change it to
indirect. Writing what it is that you hope to achieve and how you
will achieve this. Then you can go through the script changing
anything that is too direct and that might not match the client’s
reality to something that will. For example, you may say ‘..as you
approach that old wooden staircase…’ which is direct and may not
match the client’s view of a staircase and change it to ‘..as you
approach that staircase…’ which is more general and so it allows
the client the freedom to fit this into their model of reality.
To focus attention get the client talking about something
that they are interested in. in the old day’s hypnotists would tell the
client what to think and what to focus on. To induce a trance you
need to focus attention but it doesn’t matter what you focus that
attention on. That is one of the beauties of naturalistic induction’s.
Hypnotists used to use swinging watches, stroking, telling the client
to look at a spot or a candle. Modern day hypnotists get clients to
focus on issues, thoughts, comments, or even the process of their
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problem. One quick way to hypnotise a smoker is to ask them to
tell you the process they go through when they smoke.
Utilise naturalistic phenomena. Anything can be used to
achieve your goals. If you want to lead to a trance state you can use
naturalistic phenomena leading to trance, like sleep, day-dreaming,
a leisure activity. If you wanted to evoke a hypnotic phenomena
then you can use examples of times that thy have happened
naturally like numbness – sleeping on an arm or holding snow, or
amnesia – forgetting someone’s name or being interrupted mid-
sentence.
Creating responses this way will then come from client so
they will be more powerful. It is completely different telling
someone to laugh uncontrollably than reminding them of times
they found themselves laughing uncontrollably, like in school in a
classroom when you know you shouldn’t, and the more you try to
stop the laughter the more the laughter builds up, you know that
feeling?
You can get the client to talk about something they enjoy
doing that makes their mind wander and as they talk about it they
will begin to go back into that same state of mind again. When you
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hypnotise someone you want to separate the conscious and
unconscious mind. You can do this by confusing the conscious or
marking out different messages to the conscious and unconscious
mind.
Other useful ways for beginners to induce trance and do
effective therapy are:
• Make someone talk about their problem without
using words relating to the problem then use this to help do
treatment
This can allow you to work completely metaphorically. You
can use the metaphor they give for their problem and then just get
them to play out the metaphor to a positive conclusion in the
clients mind. This can be useful when you don’t have enough
information or time to work in depth with the client.
• Utilise everything don’t think of anything as failure
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If a client doesn’t give the response that you expect then
utilise what they do give you and acknowledge that what they are
doing is what they need to do to achieve the desired goal.
For example:
If a client says that they can’t relax enough to go into a
trance, then say ‘How did you know that you needed to have a little
tension there to be able to do good effective change work?’
• Time your rhythm to rhythm of clients breathing
This is probably one of the easiest ways to increase your
effectiveness at altering someone’s state. If you match their
breathing and talk with the clients out breath you can begin to slow
your breathing down and begin to slow down what you say and
they will begin to relax deeper.
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This is because breathing is such a fundamental part of life
that if you match it you quickly begin to build rapport with the
client on an unconscious level.
• Use fractionation
Fractionation is a technique developed where you take the
client in and out of trance repeatedly which deepens the trance
each time they go inside.
This can be done simply by asking the client to open their
eyes then close their eyes again and go deeper.
Fractionation was created because hypnotists noticed that
each time clients came into a session and were hypnotised they
went deeper than they had done on previous sessions. It was
realised that they didn’t need to have a big gap between sessions,
the same thing occurred if the client was repeatedly hypnotised
during one session.
• Feedback what the client says as suggestions
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For example:
Client: ‘My left hand feels heavier than my right’
Therapist: ‘Your left hand feels heavier than your right!’
By doing this you are telling the client true statements
which helps to deepen their state and you are utilising ongoing
behaviour and comments to lead to the desired outcome.
• Take the client to the future to when they no longer
have the problem and ask ‘what did I do that helped you?’
The psychiatrist Milton H Erickson MD would often take
clients to the future then ask what he did to help them. After he did
this and they told him how he cured them he would bring them
back to the present and do what they said he did to cure them.
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It is a strong belief of all the top therapists in the world that
people have the resources they need to heal themselves they just
need guidance and assistance in accessing that healing power.
Post hypnotic suggestions
Post hypnotic suggestions are probably what hypnosis is
most famous for and probably what causes the most controversy.
Despite popular beliefs it isn’t possible to make someone do
something against their will with hypnosis.
I don’t mean that you can’t make people do things they are
not prepared to do because you can. For example, it is possible to
indirectly make someone stop smoking but if it went against any of
the client’s values or belief then it wouldn’t work. The unconscious
mind is normally willing to do anything that will maintain self
preservation so even if consciously the client wasn’t willing to stop
smoking, unconsciously they can still accept the suggestions. If the
client is consciously not willing to accept the suggestions and the
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client recognises that suggestions are being given then they can
interfere and stop the suggestions from working.
To do post hypnotic suggestions effectively you want to
make sure that you prime them first. By priming the suggestions
with metaphors and explanations about what you are going to do
you prepare the mind for carrying out the behaviour.
After you have primed the suggestions you want to leave it
a little while before you give the actual suggestion. This time is
given to allow the mind to absorb the priming so that it is waiting
in anticipation for the suggestion. This will increase the
effectiveness when it is given.
As you wait before giving the suggestion it can be useful to
deepen the client’s trance and to take them into another level. For
example, you could guide them down a staircase then through a
door, or you could guide them along a country path then to a
clearing, or simply suggest that a part of them can go to a deeper
more responsive state of mind.
When you give the suggestions you want to make sure that
it is worded positively saying what you want not what you don’t
want. So often people know what they don’t want and then say
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that. The problem with this is that the unconscious mind doesn’t
understand negatives. It makes images of what is said, so if you say
‘You won’t have that pain when you sleep at night’. The
unconscious mind will create an image of you being in pain when
you are trying to sleep at night to know what it is not supposed to
think about. The same thing happens if I ask you ‘don’t think of a
pink elephant’. You have to think of a pink elephant to know what
not to think about.
When you give suggestions you want to make sure that they
are easy to follow. The more complicated the post-hypnotic
suggestion the more chance there is that it won’t be followed.
When a suggestion is followed the client will go back into
the same state that they were in when the suggestion was given.
That is why Hypnotherapists often give post-hypnotic suggestions
to re-enter trance with a given word or phrase by the therapist
because this is a quick way to re-hypnotise a client.
Say post-hypnotic suggestions three times at least, after you
have done some priming and using metaphors. This helps to make
sure that the suggestion is embedded in the mind. Use words like
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‘when’ and ‘as’ to set post hypnotic suggestions and to link them to
ongoing behaviour.
Presuppositions (that will be covered later) work like post-
hypnotic suggestions. As you are repeatedly presupposing specific
outcomes you are setting up future responses. If the responses that
are being set up are associated with a behaviour that will definitely
happen then this also increases the likelihood of the suggestion
being followed.
Remember to cancel any post-hypnotic suggestions that are
no longer required or to make them very specific so that they will
only happen at required times.
You don’t want a post-hypnotic suggestion to close the
eyes and go into a trance each time you hear the word NOW to be
active all of the time. You want it to be limited to the right context
and to a specific tonality and only be the therapist.
Remember to use:
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• Embedded commands (messages marked out
within sentences using a change in tonality or a gesture etc)
• Presuppositions (using terms like as, when, after,
before that all imply or presuppose that these things will
happen)
• Illusionary choices (offering choices that lead to the
same outcome, like saying: ‘do you want to sit in this chair or
that chair to go into a trance?’ It doesn’t matter which chair is
chosen the outcome is that you will go into trance)
• Non-verbal behaviour like voice tonality and being
congruent by exhibiting what you are trying to get. For example
saying relax in a relaxing way etc.
All of which will be covered in the next section on language.
Use of language
We all use language to define the world around us. It
conveys our own representation of the world. Each and every one
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of us has a different model or representation of the world. We have
all had different experiences in our lives. These create our own
unique sets of beliefs and values. Our world is viewed through
these beliefs and values.
Language shows externally what is going on internally.
Our models of the world are made up of deletions,
distortions and generalisations.
Generalisations
We generalise to make learning easier. We experience
something a few times, for example opening a door, then create a
general principle. Generalisation is about how we generate rules,
beliefs and principles about what is true, untrue, possible and
impossible.
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Once you have a number of similar experiences you
develop a belief. It is this generalisation that can cause a bad
opinion to spread. For example in everyday life if a customer has
a bad experience, hears about a few other people that have also
had a bad experience. Then whenever they tell anyone they don’t
make it specific they say ‘they always give poor service’. This is
also how many psychological problems get formed and
maintained.
For example:
A phobia can be caused by being exposed to a scary
situation once then due to the high level of emotion the brain
automatically generalises to make it so that you will have the same
response in any similar future situations. This can be useful to
help save your life but most of the time in our modern day world
this generalisation becomes a hindrance.
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Deletions
Your conscious mind can only process seven (+/_2) bits of
information. Because of this all other information that comes into
our senses doesn’t get consciously registered.
It still goes into the unconscious mind where it can be
accessed but consciously it has been deleted and so when you
consciously try to think about this deleted information recalling it is
almost impossible.
Distortions
We all distort reality. For example, if you buy a new house
you may walk into a room and imagine what it would look like with
furniture in it. Now at this point in time there is none of this
furniture in that room, so you have distorted reality to see it.
Examples of distortion are hallucinations and creativity. In
both of these external reality is changed to something else. This is
what distortion is.
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One way to see how we generalise, delete and distort
information is to listen to different people telling you about the
same event. They will all tell you slightly different stories about
what took place even though they were all present at the same
event.
Sensory Language
We also use all of our senses in language to describe the
world around us. When you are doing therapy with others it is
useful to talk the same language. As you talk to the client you
want to notice what sensory language they are using from
moment to moment and communicate back in the same sense.
Also notice how people access the information in their minds
with eye accessing cues.
Usually (as you look at them) up left for visually
constructing information, up right for visually remembering, left
for constructing sounds in their mind, right for remembering
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sounds in their mind, down left for recalling or experiencing
feelings and down right when talking to themselves in their mind.
As shown in the diagram below.
If a client says: ‘I hear what you are saying it just doesn’t
feel right’. And you continue by saying: ‘Look I’ll show you…’.
You are not speaking the same language. You need to be telling
Visually constructed
Auditory constructed
Kinaesthetic
Visually remembered
Auditory remembered
Internal dialog
View above is as if looking at a person. The usual layout of eye accessing cues.
Some people may be different so it is always useful to ask questions to check.
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them not showing them and need to be using auditory words
followed by kinaesthetic words.
Sensory language – Phrases
Visual phrases - I see what you mean
We see eye to eye
Show me
You’ll look back on this and laugh
Auditory phrases - We’re on the same wavelength
They were living in harmony
The place was buzzing
Turn a deaf ear
That rings a bell
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Feeling phrases - I will get in touch with you
I’m surfing the Internet
There was tension in the air
He’s a warm-hearted man
Normally smell and taste sensory words get included in
with feelings.
Questions for eliciting eye accessing cues
What colour is your front door? (Visual recall)
What is it like to bite into a juicy orange? (Gustatory recall)
Can you hear your favourite piece of music in your mind?
(Auditory recall)
What does it feel like to be happy? (Kinaesthetic recall)
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What is it like to feel wool next to the skin? (Kinaesthetic
recall)
Imagine a purple triangle inside a red square? (Visual
constructed)
What would a chainsaw sound like in a corrugated iron
shed? (Auditory constructed)
What would your bedroom look like with pink spotted
walls? (Visual constructed)
When you talk to yourself where does the sound come
from? (Auditory dialog/digital)
Imagine the smell of freshly cut grass? (Smell recall)
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Which of your friends has the longest hair? (Visual recall)
How do you spell your name backwards? (Visual)
What does it feel like to put on wet socks? (Kinaesthetic)
What do onions smell like? (Smell recall)
What do you say to yourself when things go wrong?
(Auditory)
What is it like to settle down in a nice hot bath?
(Kinaesthetic recall)
What is it like to taste a spoonful of something very sour?
(Taste)
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Hypnotic language patterns
One of the most important and powerful tools for you to
use to increase your ability to hypnotise others and to help others
to respond positively to psychological treatment is the language
that you use. Throughout the book there have been examples of
hypnotic language.
Now is time to break the various language patterns down to
learn them in a structured way. By giving examples in context
previously you will already have a level of familiarity with some of
these patterns.
Some of these patterns are more likely to be used than
others. I have included some of the more complex patterns to
allow those dedicated learners out there to have something to play
with and expand on.
Hypnotic language is a way of communicating that leads to
a response in the listener, initially at an unconscious level. Using
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hypnotic language is like using a special language to talk and build
rapport directly with the unconscious mind. That is why they are so
powerful to use for aiding change work.
Many clients of mine would have had to be in therapy for
many more sessions if I tried to help them without the use of
hypnosis and hypnotic language. Even if I know what they need to
do to get better some people just don’t respond or want to make
any effort on their part. They want the therapist to do all of the
work while they sit their unresponsive. It gives these people an
escape route. They can say to others that they ‘tried’ therapy and it
didn’t work.
Using hypnotic language allows you to have a set of skills
that will help you to talk to people’s unconscious minds which
means that you can create change that will seep into the conscious
mind when it has happened. These skills also allow you to know
minimal information about situations and problems yet speak in a
meaningful way that sounds like you know more than you do.
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Yes set
The first language pattern that I will cover is the most basic
– the yes set
With the yes set you want to ask questions you already
know the answer to.
Make sure the answers are always in agreement – yes
Example:
- your sitting in that chair
- you’ve come here today to see me
These statements can only lead to a yes answer if they are
true which means that you are increasing rapport, because rapport
increases with agreement and understanding. It also builds up a
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response potential. It gets harder to disagree when you have been
repeatedly in agreement.
Don’t make all the answers ‘yes’ answers some of them
should be implied yes answers
For example:
‘You look like somebody who wants to get better?’
It is increasingly hard to answer no when you have
answered yes to many questions. One easy way of getting yes’s is to
feedback what the client says. It sounds like you are clarifying but
you are getting yes responses.
For example:
‘So your name is…’
‘..and you live at…’
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Client: ‘I don’t know what’s wrong with me’
Therapist: ‘You don’t know what’s wrong with you…’
Reverse yes set
The reverse yes set is the same as above but always getting
‘no’ answers. By using a mixture of this and the yes set you can
break up the questions. If you ask too many yes-set questions or
reverse yes set questions the client can get suspicious at always
giving the same answer.
The answers are still all agreement
- you’re not standing up
- you didn’t drive here this morning
- you wouldn’t expect to go into trance before you
were ready
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Both said assuming I know they are true statements
(truisms)
Tag questions
With tag questions you say the negative before they do so it
encourages a yes answer.
People normally agree even if they disagree because
the ‘No’ has already been said. It takes away their need to say no
and encourages a yes response because people like things to be
even so if a yes is said people don’t mind saying no, but if a no is
said people are more likely to say yes.
Don’t use it too often or it sounds manipulative.
Use it when you want a definite yes answer.
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- Will, will you not?
- Do, do you not?
- Does, does it not?
- Is, is it not?
- Can, can it not?….etc
Compound suggestion
Compound suggestions are suggestions where you are
pacing and then leading suggestions onto each other, building on
the previous sentence. (Pacing is where you match the client’s
model of reality and state what you know to be true for the client;
leading is where you add on something extra for the client to
follow even if it doesn’t really connect with what is paced.)
This is usually done by starting with pacing observable
truisms then leading towards the response you want. The idea is to
give a statement followed by a suggestion as if they are really linked
together. By giving sentences linked to previous sentences you are
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compounding one suggestion onto the next and so deepening the
effects.
One part compounds onto the next.
Link these suggestions with ‘and’ or a ‘pause’
For example:
‘Look at that spot and I will talk to you’
(Pace and then lead)
For example:
‘While you look at that spot (pacing), I will talk to you
(leading)’
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Use truisms or statements then lead with a
suggestion or further truisms or statements
For example:
‘You can hear my voice (pacing and linked to previous
sentence in the last example), and you can listen to something else
(leading)’
‘Some sounds give us special memories (pacing, linked to
the previous sentence and a truism), you can be interested to
discover what images are associated with those memories (leading)’
Use a number of suggestions together one after the other
linking them all to guide a client from where they are to where you
want them to be.
For example:
- You can look at that spot (p) while I talk to you (l)
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- you can listen (p) and you can begin to get a sense
of how you will know when things start to improve in the
future (l)
- I don’t know which improvements will happen first
(p) you can relax a little deeper as those improvements come to
mind (l)
Contingent suggestion
Makes one part of the suggestion contingent on the other.
One part happens because of the other part of the
suggestion. In reality the two parts don’t have to really link it only
has to sound like it may link. Contingent suggestions often get used
to make up compound suggestions.
You can link unrelated sentences and make them seem
related. You usually link one part to the other with a time related
term like ‘as, during, while, before, after’
For example:
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‘Take a look at this book, as you can think about what you
want’
You can work from conscious to unconscious
Or from observable to non-observable
Or from reality to trance…etc
Or you can simply work from a truism then link with a
statement
An example for problem solving might be:
‘As you see that pack of cigarettes on the dining room
table, you can think about how disgusting and horrible they taste’
As with the compound suggestions you want to pace and
then lead
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‘As you’re sitting there with your legs crossed, I wonder
what you’re thinking’
‘Don’t allow the eyes to close until your unconscious mind
lets you try to lift your hand’
Interspercial technique
Intersperse suggestions.
Mark out suggestions to the client.
Dissociate conscious and unconscious.
Mark out suggestions to one or the other.
You can dissociate or separate what you want.
For example:
- creative mind
- logical mind
- emotional mind
- problems-solutions
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Embedded commands
These are a part of the Interspercial technique. Marking
commands or suggestions as separate from the sentence with either
a tonal shift or maybe by pausing before and after the command or
with a gesture or movement etc… This causes a pattern that the
unconscious mind picks up on and responds to.
For example:
‘Some people find they…relax deeply…in the shower
other people find they…drift into a dreamy state…when they are
in the bath’
‘I don’t know whether...you will discover...that...you relax
deeply...as you listen to my voice...or whether ...you will
discover...that...you become more fully absorbed in your
internal experience with each out breath...’
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Illusory Choices
Binds
A bind is where you offer more than one choice with the
same outcome. For a bind you allow the choice to be chosen. You
give people illusory conscious choice. They can pick which
response they want to follow. They also have the option of
rejecting all choices.
For example:
‘Would you like to sit in the left chair or the right chair to
go into a trance’
(Implication is whichever chair you chose to sit in you agree
to go into a trance)
All the forms of binds are of great use to therapists because
as they appear to offer choice they make the client feel that they are
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in control because they are choosing while the whole time they only
have one outcome.
Double binds
A double bind has a set outcome, you only ask for the
opinion of the client. They may be right or wrong about their
opinion but it doesn’t effect the result. You offer more than one
choice with the same outcome. A double bind can’t be answered
consciously.
‘Do you think that left hand will get warm first or will it be
the right hand’
(Implication is that one hand will get warm then the other.
They can say which hand they ‘think’ will be the first to get warm.
They could be right or wrong. All they are asked is for their
opinion on what response they will give first.)
‘Will you go deeper into trance with the sound of my voice,
or will it be with each out breath that you take’
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(Implication that they will go deeper into a trance; and that
they are already in a trance. They have to wait to discover if it will
be my voice or their breathing that takes them deeper.)
Outcome is to get an unconscious response
Conscious, unconscious double binds
This type of bind dissociates conscious and unconscious.
By dissociating the conscious and unconscious you begin to create
unconscious responses independent of conscious effort. This helps
with creating responses that ‘seem’ to just appear in the mind of
the client which leads to them thinking that they came up with it
themselves.
‘Look at that hand (conscious response to look), do you
think (conscious activity) the right hand will lift or the left hand will
lift (implication one hand will lift, double bind) as you go into a
trance (unconscious response)’
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Double dissociation double binds
A double bind where there is no question asked. The
choices given sound like they maybe different but there is no need
to verbalise an answer, just wait for the unconscious response. It is
a double bind designed to cause dissociation.
All of the options give the desired response. Double
dissociation double binds sound confusing and are difficult to
analyse consciously which is also trance inducing.
For example:
‘You can forget to remember the things you forgot or
remember to forget the things that you remember’ (Amnesia)
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‘You can explore a rigidity without knowing that is there, or
know that it is rigid without knowing how you discovered it’
(Catalepsy)
‘You can see things that are not really here or believe that
they are here without being able to see them’ (Hallucinations)
‘In hypnotic time a whole hour can seem like a minute as in
waking time a whole minute can stretch into an hour’ (Time
distortion)
‘You can slowly return to a pleasant memory and forget the
future as it passes or discover yourself already in the memory
curious about the future’ (Regression)
‘You can be aware of your hand and not know it’s your
hand or you can know you have a hand and not be aware of it’
(Anaesthesia)
From ‘The Art of Indirect Suggestion’, By Stephen Brooks
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Reverse set double bind
Like a double bind there is only one outcome but it sounds
like you have offered choice. These are said as statements and are
useful with ‘resistant’ people. They Sound like you are telling the
client they don’t have to do something yet really presupposing that
they will tell you what you want to hear (or do what you want
done). These sound very permissive while actually only giving a
single outcome.
‘I’m sure you’ve got a lot of things you need to tell me but
I’d like you to hold something back for now’
‘You have secrets that you don’t want to share, so why not
hold some of that back for now and only share what you feel is
appropriate’
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Open ended suggestion
Series of choices all with the same result, any response gets
the desired outcome.
For example:
‘As you go into a trance I don’t know whether your hand
will go up or down or left or right or not move at all’
‘Will your hand go up putting you in a light trance, down
putting you in a deep trance or stay where it is as you go into a
medium trance’
Not doing suggestions
You say what you want by saying they don’t have to…
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This can either give permission to do what is left (below
example is staying still) or guide their attention indirectly to what
you are telling them they don’t have to think about.
‘You don’t have to move your arms, your body or your legs
as you go into a trance’
Metaphors
Telling stories, anecdotes etc, either mirroring the clients
situation or laying down a useful pattern, or seeding something for
future work (like arm levitation being seeded by telling a story
about a child in school compulsively answering questions in class
and raising their hand spontaneously.
You can set up a specific emotion with a metaphor or
perhaps use client’s comments or metaphors for rapport or use
metaphors to lay down patterns unconsciously in the client.
A story about circling a fort held by an evil invader, not
letting food or water get in to the fort and not letting the invaders
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escape. After a short while all the invaders die could be used to
fight warts, verrucas or even cancer.
Multiple tasking
Give people more than one task to do at once
‘As that hand becomes numb your eyelids become heavier,
as your eyelids become heavier you hadn’t thought about those
sensations in that left foot until now, as your attention is directed
to that left foot just notice how that anaesthesia is progressing in
that hand, but don’t let your eyes close until you are aware of how
your breathing is changing so rapidly, I don’t know whether that
breathing will slow down in a trance like way before your eyes close
or after your eyes close and you can be aware of your eyes closing
without knowing that they’re closed or notice that anaesthesia has
developed in a profound way without you realising it’
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‘Whatever you do don’t lose that attention you have now
focused on that clock on the wall and as you look at that what does
it feel like to stand under a warm shower and hear and repeat in
your head as I count backwards 200, 199, 198…and you don’t have
to be aware of that rigidity of the hand I’m holding up’
Multiple task-serial suggestions
One suggestion leads on to the next
Open ended sentences
Leaving the end off of sentences
The client finishes the sentence in their mind
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Implied directive
Do this or this unconsciously, and then wait for the
response
‘Put your hands above your head, if your unconscious mind
wants you to go into a deep trance straight away they will come
together, if your unconscious mind wants you to go into a medium
trance they will move apart’
Mispronounce words
The client will correct them in their mind causing then to
sink in deeper and like embedded commands
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Presuppositions
Presuppositions are where you presuppose an outcome
using terms like when, after, while, during, as, before, etc. They are
useful for making someone think along certain lines and can also be
useful for setting up ideas for the client to think about which builds
up a future of having that outcome. Sometimes immediately
directly presupposing can seem too intrusive or pushy. Sometimes
it can be better to start a sentence in a way that sounds harmless.
Like starting a sentence with the word would or starting it applying
to a third party.
For example:
‘Have you ever been in a trance before?’
‘While your unconscious mind works at creating the
changes that you desire you can begin to relax’
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Nominalisations
Using words that are none specific. They cause the client to
go on an internal search for the meaning. This makes them sound
meaningful to all people as they all find their own meaning. Use
them regularly. They are words that the person has their own fixed
meaning to.
Nominalisations are words with no fixed meaning like:
Curious, wonder, development, relaxing, explore, resources,
pleasure, excitement, enjoyment, discover, fun, relax, meets your
needs, satisfaction, etc…
Using the language of time
Using time in your language is important to place what you
don’t want the client to have in the past and what you do want
them to have in the future.
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Verb tenses
- I dance
- I danced
- I will dance
All on the time line but static
An example of putting a problem in the past:
Client: I don’t like the way I get talked to
Therapist: You don’t like the way you’ve been spoken to?
This re-frames and puts idea in past.
If you add –‘ing’- this make ideas active like a movie
Static = normally problems
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Moving = normally not stuck
When a client is talking about a problem or a reason why
they can’t do something then change what they say when you
feedback to them. Make all negatives specific and in the past.
Client: ‘That’s too difficult’
You: ‘It really did seem it, didn’t it?’ (Uses tag questions and
moves into the past)
You: ‘But if you think about it now, you can begin to see
that in relationship to what you will gain, it’s something you can
start exploring in your mind’
• They say have, you say had
• They say has you say was
Make problems static in the past and solutions or resources
moving to the future.
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Pace and lead problems to the past, and resources to the
present and future.
‘What would it be like’ – not on a timeline
‘When’ – now in the future on a timeline and associated
‘Have had’ – now looking back down timeline
‘Now’ – in the present
‘What would it be like, when you have made those
changes, as you look back and see what it was like to have had that
problem, as you think about it now’
Saying ‘Stop’ is a pattern interrupt. Use it when you want to
stop a client’s train of thought and change it.
For example:
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‘Stop for a moment and think now about what it is that you
would like to have?’
Illustrations of the use of hypnotic language patterns
Arm levitation
You can take some time to relax (embedded
command)… you can let time stand still… like a clock stopping
giving you all the time in the world… a clock can be stuck at
quarter to three (hands at 9 & 3 representing real hands)…
showing on the face with the motor behind being in control of
those hands (metaphor for the mind controlling the
arms)…whether they should be left stuck (embedded
command) or raise right up (embedded command) to the
twelve (clock metaphor for arm to raise all the way up)… your
unconscious (embedded command)…mind gets the right idea
leaving that left behind (vague language, the unconscious mind
will understand what it means)… rising right up honestly and
effortlessly in front of you as that motor moves that right arm
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(embedded command and metaphor to raise the right arm
up)… as the other arm is left stuck right there at the 9
(embedded command & metaphor that the unconscious
mind will understand)… as you can notice yourself walking right
arm up (changing words (on – arm) & embedded command)
to the clock you can become the clock with your unconscious mind
becoming the motor… the right hand can continue moving up to
the 12 even faster… as the wrong hand is left where it is…….
(Notice the various other language patterns like
compound suggestions and presuppositions)
Selection of examples of different types of binds
I don’t know whether you will decide not to stop smoking
until the end of the session or decide to stop smoking before
that…
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It’s easy to forget how easy it was to remember that you
smoked… while finding it hard to forget how easy it is to
remember many happy memories…
I don’t know whether your unconscious mind will keep
your mouth closed if you try to smoke…or if you try to put a
cigarette in to your mouth and discover that it won’t open…
I don’t know whether you will enjoy life more because you
no longer smoke or whether it will be because you have cleaner
lungs…
Will the memory that comes to mind be a motivated one or
will it be a memory of high motivation…
Will you maintain a cleaner and healthier lifestyle to prove
to others how capable you are or will it be to prove it to yourself…
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You may get a temporary craving over the next few days…
wonder whether it will be your extra energy that fills that craving or
will it be that smile that is showing your pleasure you have because
of your success…
Will you decide honestly and unconsciously to show people
that you are proud of who you are or show them that you are
proud of whom you have become…
I wonder whether you think that you will be aware of
making that unconscious choice to permanently stop smoking now
or whether it will just happen without your awareness…
There are times you can remember when you forgot what
you tried to remember.. There are also times you can remember
when you forgot what was in your mind only seconds ago..
Remembering that you forgot to try to remember what it was that
you forgot.. Like now finding that you remember you will forget if
you try to remember but knowing that you have forgotten what
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you didn’t try to remember.. Forgetting why you’re even trying
when you know you will just forget everything that I have said but
knowing it is not forgotten unconsciously…
Confusion induction with arm levitation using complex
language patterns
I don’t know whether your eyes being shut will make your
left hand go numb first or whether it will be the right hand.. It’s
your right to decide which hand will be left right until the last
minute as the hand that is not left can go right into a relaxed state
of numbness leaving what’s left for a little while as the one that’s
numbing goes right on spreading with the other one still left behind
spreading that numbness right down through your body relaxing
you as the one that’s left catches right arm up as it becomes lighter
leaving the other one right where it is with the one that’s left
getting light like a helium balloon left in a room with me right
down with the other one left lifting reaching for the sky wanting to
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fly left just floating there up in the air with the other one still right
where it lays with the one that’s left with a mind of its own left
filling with helium giving it that floating, drifting, flying, relaxing
feeling which is down right uplefting with one right down and the
other left lifting up. As that lightness may spread right down into
the whole body or being left for the body to rapidly catch right on
up as you now drop deeply into a pleasant deep state of honest
unconscious awareness…
And finally a fun use of language patterns being used as
an answer phone message. I think that it is important to practice
these patterns and be creative. Use them in everyday life to turn
them into something that you naturally do instinctively.
Hi thank you for calling…when you leave a message don’t
forget to remember what that message was or…remember to
forget it…just stop a minute and think about how easy it is to get
lost in thought when you hear people rambling on finding that
when you come to talk you forget what was on your mind just a
moment ago…listening and trying to understand what I am saying
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and why I am saying it and how much effort it is to follow, and
questions you ask yourself about when I’m going to shut up and let
you get back to what you were doing before you called…but I
think it would be rude for you to do that before you hear the
beep…so don’t hang up until then just relax and be calm, lost in
thought like losing track of an old dream or a name on the tip of
your tongue that’s easier to…forget it…and relax as you get off the
phone you can always call back and try in vain to leave that
message later if you want to feel better…so for now don’t go until
you hear the beep……
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Psychotherapy
Psychotherapy should be the first choice of cure for
problems like depression, anxiety problems, phobias, PTSD (post-
traumatic stress disorder), or anger problems etc. As most
problems are trance states and happen without conscious control,
an understanding of trance states and how to access and utilise
them is required by the therapist.
Not all Psychotherapy is the same and in the UK most
Psychotherapists and Counsellors are still trained with information
that has continued to be taught for decades despite scientific
advances in brain scanning and our understanding of Neurology,
evolution & human behaviour. The psychotherapy that I was
taught was based on all the latest scientific research and findings.
A study was done to discover the most effective forms of
therapy. What was found was that change, regardless of the therapy
only occurred when the client entered a trance state. Research has
since shown that when you enter a trance you enter the dream-
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state, which you enter each night to integrate all new things that
have been learnt during the day. (That is why babies spend longer
dreaming in the last three months before birth than any other time
in their lives as they are laying down the ‘instinctive patterns’
required for survival like suckling and breathing etc…)
The main schools of Psychotherapy are:
Psychodynamic therapy is an approach started by Sigmund
Freud who believed that most of our behaviour is unconscious and
affected by repressed childhood conflicts. Psychodynamic
therapists believe that you need insight into the reason for the
problem before change can happen. Therapy can take years when
done this way. Furthermore most people know why they have a
problem but it hasn’t made the problem go away. Psychodynamic
therapy often makes people worse as they continually have to think
about all of their problems throughout their life. It also often
makes people reliant on the therapist. To keep people believing
that they should keep attending therapy the therapist would usually
say ‘it’ll get worse before it gets better’.
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Person-centred therapy is an approach started by Carl
Rogers. This therapy mainly involves active listening. Where the
therapist listens to the client and only feeds back the thoughts of
the client without imposing any views or interventions. The belief
was that the client would miraculously find their own answers.
Active listening is a useful tool but clients often get frustrated with
the excessive passiveness of the therapist. This form of therapy
makes conditions like depression worse as it promotes rumination,
which is the process that a depressed person already uses.
Behaviour therapy is an approach started by B.F. Skinner.
The idea is that everything is caused by your behaviour and that
internal processes don’t matter. Behaviour therapy works better
when used with cognitive or interpersonal therapies to work with
internal processes and relationships.
Cognitive therapy is an approach developed by Aaron
Beck. The idea is that all emotion comes from thoughts so if you
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change the thoughts you change the emotion and so get rid of the
problem. Unfortunately the idea is flawed in that emotion is known
to always come before thought. It is still useful as part of therapy
for people to alter their thoughts. Cognitive therapy works better
when used with other therapies like behavioural and interpersonal.
Interpersonal therapy is an approach about the
interactions between people and the importance of this. The idea
is that you can teach someone the skills to interact effectively with
others. By changing interactions you change the problem. This also
works better when used with other therapies.
Human Givens therapy brings behaviour, cognitive &
interpersonal therapies in line with the latest scientific research.
It’s aim is to help people to get their basic emotional needs met
healthily using the essential skills that you are born with to promote
effective change. It also uses Solution-focused therapy to get the
client focusing on goals and solutions to problems rather than
going over the problem repeatedly. The idea is to say “ok, so this is
your problem what needs to happen to be free from that
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problem?” This approach makes therapy time-limited and more
brief and cost effective. And it uses Guided Imagery to allow the
client to mentally rehearse situations whilst in a calm and relaxed
state, which has been found to be an important part of any
therapeutic change work.
Most Psychological problems are Symptomatic Trances
Symptomatic trances happen automatically and
unconsciously so the most effective way to change them is to use
hypnotic therapy or guided imagery with useful effective
psychotherapy. Symptomatic trances are times when you carry out
behaviour without conscious thought.
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Effective Psychotherapy & the structure of therapy sessions
The RIGAAR model is a model created for use in therapy.
It is actually a very useful model to use in many different areas. I
have used the RIGAAR model in areas from structuring meetings,
to dissolving conflicts. Later on I will cover each stage individually.
For now I will give an overview of RIGAAR.
The idea of the RIGAAR model is that it gives a
structure to work from. It is a structure that includes all of the
areas that you will need to cover when you are working with a
client, but not all of the parts have to be done in order. The idea
is that you aim to DO all of the parts to gain the best results.
RIGAAR starts with Rapport building, this is essential
and does have to be done right from the beginning and maintained
until the end. Next comes Information gathering, this again really
will be done throughout because the client’s will always be giving
you information, whether it is about what they like or dislike or
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about an interest or any number of useful bits of information.
Clients will be giving you plenty of information about the structure
or important information about their problem.
As you get used to noticing information and it’s uses it will
become an unconscious process, as will rapport building, both of
which you will do automatically.
The next stage in RIGAAR is Goal setting; this will be
done fairly early on depending on your questioning but will become
clearer and more specific as you gather further information. Then
comes Agreeing a strategy, this may be done with or without the
client’s knowledge. Really it is a stage for clarifying what they want
and how they are going to get it. The next stage is Accessing
resources; again this will take place throughout as the client offers
the different resources to you, and as you discover or notice
resources. Lastly is Rehearsal, this stage is where you help the
client to imagine the future positively with what their desired goals.
This may be done to some extent throughout the whole process.
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R-apport: Build rapport quickly, start getting a ‘yes set’
etc…
I-nformation Gathering: Quickly begin to gather
information (Basic needs, interests, resources, etc…)
G-oal setting: Feedback what the client says they want,
establish what the desired goal is (For example: ‘so you want to be
able to have more energy and be healthier by stopping smoking)
A-gree Strategy: ‘What we are going to do is….’
Get stages (For example: Firstly I’ll teach you a new way to
relax so you don’t have to smoke, then I’ll disrupt the old smoking
pattern…)
A-ccess Resources: Get usable states like a ‘relaxation’ state,
or a ‘motivation’ state, etc…then anchor them
R-ehearse: Future pace, vividly build an experience in their
mind of a great, pleasurable future having achieved their goal and
what they did to get there
Now I will cover the stages of RIGAAR in more depth.
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Rapport
Rapport is like a dance. People in rapport act similar.
Rapport is the quality of a relationship that comes from
mutual trust and responsiveness. You gain rapport by
understanding and respecting the way another person sees the
world. Rapport is essential for good communication. If you have
rapport others will feel acknowledged and immediately be more
responsive.
For effective rapport you need to take a second position
role. When you take second position you show that you are willing
to try to understand the other person from their point of view. This
doesn’t mean that you have to agree with the other person just
show your understanding.
Build rapport first, and then keep that rapport
throughout, testing regularly for being able to lead.
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When you have rapport and are able to lead the client start
nodding before you ask questions that you want positive responses
to. This will give you an idea of how much you are able to lead the
client in their decisions and views. As a therapist you want to know
that you can influence the client gently to follow what you say that
will be important to help them.
Without rapport it is unlikely that you would have much
success at having any ideas and suggestions of yours taken on
board by the client. This is often one of the problems with forms
of counselling and psychotherapy that recommend therapists avoid
being in rapport with their client’s.
If the client shakes their head when you want
agreement start shaking your head also to create
behavioural rapport then merge it into a nod.
Pacing and leading
To build rapport and good relationships you have to begin
by pacing another person. Pacing is when you enter the other
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person’s model of the world on their terms. It is exactly like
walking beside them at their speed. Too fast and they will have to
hurry to keep up with you, too slow and they have to hold
themselves back. Either way they have to make a special effort.
You are the one that should be making the special effort for the
benefit of making the client relaxed and comfortable with you.
Talk at the same rate as the client, because people
process information consciously at the rate that they
speak which means that if you speak too fast or slow
for them then they won’t feel comfortable or
understood (or likely to understand you).
Once you have paced another person, and gained rapport
and shown that you understand where they’re coming from, then
you can lead them. To pace the client you can either do matching,
cross-matching or mirroring depending on the situation and which
feels right for the circumstances. Trust your feelings, they will
usually be right.
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Matching
You use matching for pacing and gaining rapport. Matching
is when you match the other person almost like ‘copying them
respectfully’. One problem people new to rapport skills have is that
they look false when they copy the other person. They don’t do it
looking natural. You want to match their ‘style’ not mimic them in
an obvious way. For example, if they make a specific gesture
associated with a certain type of comment then you can use that
gesture if you make a similar comment. If they change position,
you don’t immediately change position, you wait until you find a
‘natural’ point in the interaction to change positions, like a gesture
with the hand can them go back into this new position rather than
the old one. This can be done at every neurological level.
- Environment
-
You could match:
Work place. Clothing. Personal appearance. Interests
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- Behaviour
Matching:
Breathing, posture, gestures and eye contact, speed of
speech, speech volume, speech rhythm, voice tone, key words and
phrases the other person uses and same sensory language.
- Capabilities
Rapport from sharing skills and interests
- Beliefs and values
Respecting and understanding the beliefs and values of the
other person without asking them to justify those beliefs to you.
- Identity
Accepting the person for who they are as an individual.
Being prepared to share some of your beliefs and values with them.
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Mirroring
Mirroring is a technique for becoming like a mirror image
of the person you are communicating with. In matching if they
move their right arm you move your right arm. In mirroring if they
move their right arm you move your left arm.
Cross-matching
Cross-matching is where you do something different to the
other person but with a similar aspect to it. For example they cross
their arms, you cross your legs. This is good for being more subtle
and making what you are doing less likely to be noticed.
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The ‘yes set’ can help with verbal pacing and leading. If you
get the client to say ‘yes’ a number of times they become more
likely to continue to say ‘yes’ and because the conversation is all
agreeable they feel more understood which paces them and makes
them easier to lead.
The best way to guarantee a ‘yes’ and improved rapport is
to ask what you know to be true as you continue to gain rapport
then lead with an attached statement.
Make the client feel understood.
If a client is angry or complaining ensure that you show
that you recognise the emotional impact from their point of view to
create and maintain rapport.
A therapy example might be:
“It must be really horrible flying when you’re so terrified”
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Not
“Now you do realise only a tiny minority of aeroplanes
actually crash”
Come alongside the client, don’t fight them or argue. When
you join the client’s reality you can then begin to lead them
elsewhere.
Rapport doesn’t mean you have to like the client, it means
to some extent you have to act like the client, matching them and
showing you understand them.
Remember to use all of your verbal and non-verbal
communication to its best effect. About 97% of the
communication that you use and that the client picks up on are
non-verbal or the non-word components to speech like tonality,
and tempo. Now that you have learnt about rapport you have the
ability to use your body language and your speech allowing you to
communicate using some of that 97%. When people naturally go
into a state of rapport they match unconsciously verbally and non-
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verbally. Rather than waiting to find out if you will have rapport
you have the ability to cause it which will make the client feel good
and feel liked and understood.
These skills are skills we use all of the time. Practice
regularly. For example, I sometimes sit in meetings and pick
someone to practice on. I then match their breathing and watch
their pulse in their neck and tap my finger to the beat of their pulse,
and match their posture etc and then test for leading.
Rapport exercise
Split into pairs. Decide who will be person 1 and person 2.
Sit opposite each other. Person one then start talking about
something that you are interested in. person two, you listen and
build rapport with person one. This will involve you building
behavioural rapport, showing an interest by feeding back what they
say and nodding etc. you will also notice commonly used words
and phrases which you also can use to strengthen rapport. Use
sensory language that person one uses. For example if they are
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talking about how good it feels to be sailing, that you can notice
the waves hitting the side of the boat and feel the wind and sea
spray on your face. Then you predominately reply with feeling
phrases.
Spend five minutes doing this then change roles and spend
five minutes again. Then do the same again but this time
purposefully break rapport as you are talking by doing things like
not matching language, looking away, not matching body language
etc. Do this for five minutes each way and notice the difference
between both of these exercises. Notice what it feels like when you
have rapport and when you don’t have rapport. You could also
discuss this as a group afterwards.
Information Gathering
To gather information effectively you need to ask questions
that get the information that you require while at the same time you
want to avoid asking questions that make the client think about
information that you don’t want them to think about.
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The idea of asking the right questions is to guide the client
from where they are to where they want to be. You want to guide
their route through their map of reality. The best way to do this is
to learn to ask questions that you already know the answer to.
You should always expect the best. If you think that you are
unlikely to be able to help the client or that the client is going to be
annoying or difficult you will probably create a self-fulfilling
prophecy by behaving in a way that causes the outcome that you
expect.
Ask questions, which presuppose change. Covering the
areas below:
• How will their life be different?
• What do they think has stopped them getting what
they want so far?
• Who will be the first to notice?
• How will we know when the goal has been reached
and therapy can come to an end?
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• Use the miracle question? Which is a question
designed along the lines of: If I could click my fingers and
make the problem disappear, how would you know it has gone?
The information gathering that you do should be
solution-focused. It should be focused on a specific goal and on
finding the resources that are needed to achieve that goal.
Areas solution-focused questions fall into when gathering
information (also covered in the solution-focused section):
• Exceptions (to break down problems)
• Normalising (to break down problems, making
what they say-normal)
• Scaling (comparing one with another and increasing
how much they like something by asking what would need to
happen to make it better, using 1-10 etc)
• Discovering resources
• Miracle questions
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• Changing the words…minimising any
problem…using time
• Future pace to a time when they have achieved their
goal
When you are gathering information you want to be finding
resources that you can anchor to use later if necessary.
Ask questions covering:
• What
• When
• Where
• How
All of these areas should give you a clear picture of exactly
what you need to do to help the client.
Information gathering takes place all the time to some
extent because you are always being provided with information the
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whole time you are interacting, but you can make a special effort to
specifically gather certain information that you require at a specific
stage that feels right for you.
Information gathering exercise
It is important that you get used to gathering information.
You can practice this in your everyday life. Below is an exercise that
you can pair up with someone to practice.
Get into pairs. One of you will spend five minutes being a
client while the other person is a therapist.
What I want you to do is have the client (think of a minor
problem to work with) then I want the therapist to gather
information using the areas above. Think about what resources or
emotional states would be required that you can ask questions to
evoke (you don’t need to do anchoring here necessarily), think
about using all the different types of questioning and using –what,
when, where, how questions to find out specifically what they want
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and how their lives will be different when they no longer have the
problem.
You can write down what information you have gathered to
see the amount of information it is possible to get. You can also get
used to gathering information from their non-verbal behaviour and
reactions if you want to practice being more advanced. When you
have gathered information you can feedback this information to
build a yes set and to deepen their experience of being problem
free.
Goal Setting
Without setting goals you would have no idea of knowing
when you have reached the time to end therapy. Without setting
goals you also don’t know exactly what the client needs or what to
say to them about what they hope to gain from the therapy.
Goal setting is a vital part of the process of effective
therapy. You need to ask questions that establish what the client
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wants to achieve and how they expect it to impact on their life in
the future.
You need to use the information gathering to build up a
picture of the goals that are required. These goals can then be used
to focus your mind on what you need to do to help the client get
what it is that they want.
You may choose to make some points known to the client
like stating ‘what you want is…’ and telling them what they have
said in a way that confirms the goal. Once you know the client’s
goal you can then work on achieving it. You should begin to
presuppose the goals as definitely going to occur. If the client’s
goals are unrealistic then you should use re-framing to find a
compromise, creating a goal that is more realistic or acceptable.
Goal setting exercise
In pairs, one person take on the role of a client, one
person take on the role of a therapist. The client is one of
these options:
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• Wants to stop smoking
• Wants to stop being depressed
• Wants to get rid of their wasp phobia
The therapist then has to respond to the client and establish
the goals and feed them back to the client.
Do this for five minutes each way.
Accessing Resources
Everybody has natural resources that can be utilised. These
might be events from their lives that have emotions attached, or
talk about friends or family. These resources can be accessed
through good information gathering. Anchoring can then be used
to gain future access to these resources.
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The idea behind accessing resources is that it gives you
something to work with that you can use to get the client to
achieve their goal.
Practice noticing resources in people all of the time and
seeing how you could use those resources to help them get what
they want. By allowing yourself to be more aware of noticing
people’s resources you can begin to notice them automatically.
Almost everything can be used as a resource, from
resistance to the client telling you that they have a loving partner.
Agreeing a strategy
It is important to know what the strategy is to help the
client from where they are to where they would like to be. You
need to create a strategy with each client; it is a set of
checkpoints that you need to get from the client that you can
follow to the desired goal. The strategy is like a number of small
goals that when completed will end with the main goal.
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The agreeing the strategy stage allows you to motivate the
client by saying ‘this is what we are going to do and these are the
stages we will take’
When you are talking to the client, form in your mind the
set of stages that will need to take to achieve the desired goal.
Agreeing a strategy exercise
In pairs with one person as a client the other person as a
therapist, the client wants gain more confidence. The therapist then
listens to the client saying what they want and then writes down a
strategy that leads to those goals. Do this for five minutes then
swap roles.
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Rehearsal
The rehearsal stage in RIGAAR is where you get the client
to mentally rehearse the future they want. It is important in this
stage to make it a positive experience.
Getting the client to rehearse future experiences can take
place throughout the interaction not just at the end. When you do
the rehearsal you want to get the client to imagine how good it is
going to be without their old problem. Get them to imagine the
changes that will occur in the client’s life, what positive things
others will say about them no longer having the old problem. The
more detailed the experience is that you create in the client and the
more absorbed and excited with the idea of having that future you
can make them, the more they are going to crave and feel
compelled to achieve that outcome. The client can get so used to
the idea of having the desired future that if they don’t for whatever
reason there will be an uncomfortableness in the situations that the
outcome should have occurred in. It is like quitting smoking and
getting an urge when you are in a situation that you used to smoke
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in, or exercising regularly and then stopping and feeling like you
should be doing something at the times when you used to exercise.
I use this process often to set up a desired future that
includes the changes the client would like to make. If they choose
not to do what I have suggested they do in therapy then when the
times arrive when they should have carried out those changes they
feel uncomfortable doing what they are doing at those times
because they aren’t doing what their mind thinks they should be
doing.
Even people who are determined that they don’t want to
change, like smokers that are forced by partner to come and see
me, feel uncomfortable and self conscious if they smoke when I
have made them rehearse not smoking. This makes them decide to
cut down, quit on their own or come back and see me because they
want to, not because they are forced to.
With smokers especially I find that if they have been forced
to see me then they normally don’t listen in the session, they decide
they won’t change before they see me and then leave believing that
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they can tell their partners ‘it didn’t work.’ Which they then think
gets them off the hook as they can say they tried therapy and I
didn’t change them. What they don’t realise is that because they
were in the same room as me and could hear me talking I
influenced them more than they could have known.
This rehearsal process utilises a natural process that we all
use. It is often said that you normally get what you think about.
Well that is true. This process is the one that is used for worrying,
and the one used by high achievers to get what they want in life.
Worrying is mentally rehearsing future situations going
wrong. By doing this most of the time those situations happen as
expected because your unconscious mind can’t tell the difference
between real and vividly imagined so it expects that what you think
about is what is supposed to happen so it helps it to happen. The
same applies when you think about how well something is going to
go. Your unconscious mind does all it can to make that come true.
Everyone has had that feeling that they should be
somewhere, or that they should have done something but not
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known what, only to remember later what it was. This again is the
same thing. When you decided to do what it is you forgot you
thought about doing it. By the time you were supposed to have
done it you obviously forgot, but your unconscious mind hadn’t it
knew what you should be doing and made you feel something was
missing. If what is missing when a client feels this is positive
changes then it will fuel the desire to come back to therapy or carry
out the positive changes.
To get the client to mentally rehearse effectively you need
to use various language patterns that are covered in the hypnosis
section. These include presuppositions which presuppose what will
occur, like: ‘when you do this…’, or, ‘while you are …you will need
to…’, or ‘after you …’
You will need to use Nominalisations. These are words that
have no fixed meaning. The meaning is created in the mind of the
listener. Words like: imagine, wonder, needs, stylish, pleasure. All of
these words make the client have to go into a more focused state
internally to make their own sense of what has just been said.
When you notice the client ‘go inside’ adjust your voice to match
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their experience, if they go quieter and more relaxed match this
with your voice. If they start getting more excited then match this
with your voice.
The ideal ‘rehearsal’ state for the client is one where their
attention is focused internally. It could be that you get them
looking at something then start talking to them using ‘hypnotic’
language while they are focused. You could easily do this by saying
something like: ‘take a look at this a moment while you think about
what I’m saying.’ Then going into deepening that sense of focus.
To create a rich and fully absorbing rehearsal state you need
to use sensory rich language. The more senses you get involved the
better. The experience that you create in the mind of the client is
more than just an imagined image; you want it to have sound,
feeling and possibly even smell and taste. Learn to overlap the
senses. This is where you start with one sense then add another
sense and begin to build up the experience.
For example:
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‘Imagine what it would be like to be out in a park, hearing
your favourite tune playing, enjoying the fresh air, feeling relaxed as
you look at all the different colours around you and feel the ground
beneath your feet having a sense of achievement knowing that you
are doing something in the past you could only have dreamt of.’
Rehearsal exercise
In pairs, take it in turns to be a client. Describe an event
you would like to have happen. Then in sensory language and using
some Nominalisations the person being the therapist get the client
to focus on something as you talk to them, then feedback in
sensory specific language the event they said they would like to
have happen. Do this for ten minutes then change roles.
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Introduction to Part Two Therapy, Techniques & Treatments
Previously I gave an overview of the main schools of
therapy. I have also covered how to do hypnosis or guided imagery
and how to structure therapy sessions, and background
information underpinning work as a brief therapist. In this book I
will cover effective psychotherapy, techniques and treatments.
This book will explore effective psychotherapy practices
covering what works most effective with the treatment of a range
of conditions from Depression and Anxiety to Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder and Addictions.
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Psychotherapy
To do effective psychotherapy you will need to be
confident at helping client’s do guided imagery and be able to
follow RIGAAR. It is also useful to teach them how to do self-
hypnosis so that they can use this when they feel the need to do so
to relax and imagine problem free times.
Human givens approach
In ‘Foundations’ we touched on areas of The Human
Givens approach, we’ll just recap and delve a little deeper. The
Human Givens approach focuses on knowing about what we, as
humans have been given to manage life. This includes having an
understanding of how the brain works, what the basic human needs
are, what the essential skills (see essential skills chapter) are that
most humans are born with and how pattern matching works and
the importance of trance.
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The basic human needs are:
• The need to give and receive attention
• The mind body connection
• The need for purpose and goals
• Connection to something bigger than yourself
• The need for stimulation and creativity
• The need to feel understood and connected
• The need to feel a sense of control
Be aware of the different functions of brain hemispheres
and aware of how emotions affect the brain. Left hemisphere is
generally for processing information in sequential, logical, rational
ways and with small, detailed movements. While the right
hemisphere is generally for ‘contextualising’ patterns, pattern
matching and unpleasant emotions such as fear and depression and
is often associated with controlling larger movements.
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The emotional mind (limbic system) functions have a large
effect on memories and on how problems are maintained. During
times of high emotion the limbic system, which is a far more
primitive part of the brain ‘takes over’ causing the IQ to drop. As a
therapist if you know this you can help the client to disrupt this
‘emotional hijacking’ by asking them to challenge their own
thoughts or to grade the intensity of their experience as it is
happening. Both these interventions require a person to use their
‘thinking brain’, to water down the intensity of the negative
emotion. (Do not use these techniques on romantic or pleasant
memories etc because obviously you don’t want these memories or
experiences to get emotionally ‘wiped’!)
People go in and out of trance from moment to moment,
gluing new learning in place. This happens whether it is learning
something useful or learning and strengthening a problem. This is
why using trance to help people is so important. It is important to
help people to notice and control their own trance states. You can
teach a client to distance themselves from the emotional trance as it
begins. This can be practised in therapy helping the clients to make
that psychological shift.
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‘Imagination keeps belief patterns and emotional patterns in
place’
Your body can’t tell the difference between reality and
vividly imagined. This is why the use of guided imagery or hypnosis
is so useful. Many people use this all the time. Hypnosis has often
been given a bad image due to charlatans and bad stage hypnotists.
This has led to a lot of confusion an misunderstanding in this field.
Often I encounter people that I see doing hypnosis that would
deny that that is what they are doing. Some would even get angry
that I suggested it. ALL Counsellors, Psychiatrists, Doctors and
Psychotherapists use hypnosis whether they realise it or not.
For years sports people have improved their performance
with hypnosis. Most of them would call it mental rehearsal. Race
drivers often imagine repeatedly completing perfect laps so that
when they come to do the ‘real’ lap it is ‘as if’ they have already
completed the lap many times before. This is why knowledge of
hypnosis is important, because you can get the client to repeatedly
practice being better. For example, a smoker could rehearse not
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smoking when they answer the phone or when they are socialising
and drinking so that they automatically respond in a specific new
way in those situations.
Use the observing self. This is a place where you look at the
problem from a different viewpoint and separate the problem from
the core identity. We are all born with this ability. When
psychological problems occur often people get stuck in the
problem and once stuck there they struggle to move to the
observing self. You can use techniques like anchoring or the rewind
technique to help the client to be able to ‘step back’ from their
problem.
The observing self is the part of you that observes what is
happening at that moment in the mind or behaviourally. You can’t
observe the observing self. It is a point that you can only observe
from. The observing self position is emotionless. Most forms of
therapies use the observing self to some extent whether it is to see
how you are thinking cognitively, or to see how you react with a
different emotional reaction etc…
Telling stories helps prepare and use the observing self.
When you listen to a story you notice patterns, plots, characters
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behaviours etc… the story can be perceived but you are not in it. If
there are parallels then you can see these patterns for the first time
from a different point of view.
The most successful therapeutic techniques work because
they use the observing self. Anchoring, scrambling, rewind
technique etc work by allowing the person to view the situation
from the point of view of the observing self. Using the observing
self prevents ‘emotional hijacking’.
Humour can use the observing self by making you look at a
situation from a different viewpoint. As a therapist you need to use
the observing self to allow yourself to not get sucked in to the
clients problems and to notice patterns and to prevent giving off
signals that the client may pick up on about personal views you
may hold as a therapist about the client’s situation that could be
judgemental.
Individuals always search for meaning. The meaning they
find can be constructive or harmful. One of the worst things that
can happen is that someone’s life can lack meaning.
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Time-limited therapy
Time-limited therapy is usually therapy that is less than 25
sessions.
There is very good reason to do time-limited therapy. The
average length of time clients spend in therapy is eight. 80%
discontinue within 20 sessions. 40% only attend 1-4 sessions, 40%
attend 5-20 sessions. So if, like many old schools of therapy you
plan on offering an open-ended number of sessions most people
won’t stay long anyway.
With this in mind it is best to treat each session like it’s the
last. Studies have shown that single-session therapy can be
beneficial. As a therapist the change-work rarely occurs within the
actual session, it occurs after the session and between sessions as
the neural pathways generate new and more useful patterns in the
brain based on the work done in the session.
When you work from a Human givens approach, using
solution-focused therapy and a blend of cognitive, behavioural and
interpersonal therapies and guided-imagery/hypnosis most client’s
will be treated within one to five sessions.
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The handbook of counselling psychology 2003 reported:
‘Follow up of clients from single sessions a year later had
the same benefits as clients that had brief therapy and long-term
therapy… Study investigating a total of 2400 patients, 29-38%
improved in 3 sessions, 48-58% improved in 4-7 sessions, 56-68%
improved in 8-16 sessions, 85% improved in 53-100 sessions…
One-year follow up cognitive-behavioural approach appeared more
efficacious than psychodynamic therapy… There is growing
evidence that only a proportion of cases require longer-term work,
and as research develops it would seem that this proportion is
getting smaller…’
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Principles of solution-focused therapy
To be effective therapy needs to stay on track. It is no good
having client’s in therapy with no established goal. If there is no
goal then therapy can carry on for years and may just end up going
round in circles each session.
With solution-focused therapy the aim is to know what the
main goal is and what stages are required to achieve that goal. You
want to know what is expected to be achieved between each
session. This allows you to see the rate of progress and areas that
perhaps need improvement or need to be refined.
Set goals and agree on how you will get there with the
client, how you will monitor the progress and how you will know
when you have achieved the goal and therapy can end.
The first telephone contact with the client is the first
therapeutic opportunity. Many therapists just treat the first phone
call as a client arranging to have therapy. Whoever answers the
phone should be trained to talk therapeutically to start the therapy
process before the client realises that it has begun.
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It could be as simple as saying to the client to notice
between now and the first session what occurs that they would like
to continue occurring. This focuses the client’s attention on
positive outcomes and stops them focusing on their problem. By
the time they come to their first session they are likely to already be
feeling a little better and more positive. Ask client’s to tell you what
improvements they have noticed since making the appointment.
In solution-focused therapy you want to get the client
thinking positively in terms of what they want. You don’t want
them telling you what they don’t want.
For example:
You don’t want the client telling you that they don’t want
to keep arguing with their partner.
You want them to tell you that they want to spend time
getting on with their partner like they used to, that they want to be
able to calmly discuss differences of opinion.
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The first option would involve the client visualising arguing
with their partner to know what they don’t want, whereas the
second option involves the client visualising good times, discussion
and being calm.
Normalise the client’s problem. Tell the client things like
‘many people often think that before they understand what is going
on’
Often people with problems believe that they have the
worst case of their problem that anyone has ever had and that
unlike other people that you have treated they will be untreatable. I
often make client’s problems seem fairly normal and mundane.
I don’t trivialise their problems I just use examples of
similar cases that have been treated successfully and make their
problem sound more common than they realise.
For example:
When I work with alcoholics I often explain to them about
the effects that alcohol has on the body and the panic attack feeling
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that can occur the next day due to the side effects of having not
drunk all night. Many alcoholics assume that they are the worst case
I have seen because of these severe unexplainable panic attacks
they have. When they realise that it is just the alcohol’s side effects
they relax and don’t panic so much if they have any future attacks
because they know that it is because of the drinking they did and
not because they are ‘losing their mind’.
When I work with client’s with phobias they often think
that their phobia is the most ridiculous and worst phobia I have
ever seen. I often start by explaining the survival aspects of the
phobia and then talk about other people that had phobias and use
examples that will sound more ridiculous than the phobia they
have. I make phobias sound common place.
Use time structure in your language. If you don’t use time
in your language therapy is likely to take longer because you
wouldn’t have specified what is past, what is present and what is
wanted in the future. As was covered in the hypnosis section you
want to move problems to the past. You want to start talking about
‘what was…’, ‘when that happened…’. When you talk about
resources and solutions you want to talk using language that links
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what you are saying to the present and the future in as much depth
as possible.
The more you can open up possibilities and close down and
be specific about problems in the past the faster and more effective
therapy will be.
In all of the therapy that you do you always want to expect
the best. You don’t want to be thinking ‘this person is never going
to improve’ sometimes people may not improve. Even the greatest
therapists in the world can’t cure everyone. For one thing not
everyone listens and does as they have been asked to do.
Ask questions, which presuppose change.
• How will your life be different?
• What do you think has stopped you changing so far?
• Who will be the first to notice?
• Do you want this change in all areas of your life?
• How will you know when therapy has successfully finished?
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• How will I, the therapist know?
• Use the miracle question? A question that is asked along the
lines of ‘if you woke up tomorrow and found your problem had
vanished what would be different? How would you know?
How would others know?’
Ask exception questions. These are questions where you are
asking for exceptions to what normally happens or was expected to
happen. Like asking about times when the client thought they
would have had their problem but didn’t.
Establish a clear outcome that both of you would be happy
with. Sometimes therapists think they know what the outcome
should be. It is important that as a therapist you don’t force your
views and beliefs upon a client. Likewise sometimes clients state a
desired outcome that is ridiculous or too non-specific. Like saying
‘I want to be happy’. Between the client and therapist you should
work with each other to establish an appropriate outcome that you
both agree on.
Separate the problem from the core identity. It is important
to remember that the client’s problem isn’t their identity. If you call
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someone a smoker or an alcoholic or label them with any other
problem you are linking the problem and the identity. Some people
that get labelled in this way go on to assume they are there problem
and that they are stuck with it. Like people that have a drink
problem believing that even if they haven’t drunk for years they are
still an alcoholic and always will be.
Having people thinking in this way can be harmful as they
never fully move on they always assume they could go back to their
problem at any moment. When you talk with the client’s you want
to talk about their problem as separate by saying things like ‘how
long have smoked?’ ‘What do you find you have been worrying
about?’ ‘What happens to make you feel you need to have a drink?’
It may sound paradoxical to a solution-focused approach
but it can be useful to ask the client ‘What could go wrong?’ This is
really not as odd as it first sounds because by asking what could go
wrong you are finding out situations that you could need to plan
for which allows you to create solutions for areas that you
previously might not have realised needed covering.
Sometimes you could even set some setbacks in place in the
future so that when they happen the client expects them as part of
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the recovery process. This can work well with client’s that want to
lose weight because then if they have a few incidents of bingeing
this will be expected and even required to achieve the final success
of meeting a desired weight. With some people that want to lose
weight what I have found is that when they have a setback they
immediately assume this means failure so they quit any diets and
continue bingeing. The same is often true with many people with
habits or addictions.
The best way to set some setbacks is to say something like
‘To achieve the best long lasting results you will have some
setbacks for your unconscious mind to learn from. Now I don’t
know if you will have one, two or four setback and I don’t know if
they will happen close to each other or spread out over a long
period of time. each time you get a setback you can accept it
knowing that it means you are closer to achieving what you want to
achieve and move past that setback with a renewed sense of
achievement and motivation knowing that unconsciously and
perhaps consciously you have learnt something useful about how it
was caused and how it can be prevented in the future and you can
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then continue as you were before that setback occurred with the
new learning that you have made.’
When you finish a session you can ask the client to notice
what occurs between sessions that they want more of. This will
give something positive for you to ask about at the next session
and give the client something positive to focus on between
sessions.
Areas solution-focused questions fall into:
• Exceptions (When does the problem not happen when you
expected it would?)
• Normalising (I have many people coming to me with similar
problems)
• Scaling (On a scale of one to ten, with ten being the worst, how
anxious do those old memories make you feel when you think
about them now?)
• Discovering resources (What do you do to relax?)
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• Miracle questions (If you woke up tomorrow and the problem
had gone how would you know?)
• Changing the words (minimising the problem) and using time
(Changing pain for discomfort, changing ‘I’m always in pain.’
To ‘when does the discomfort feel the worst?’)
• Future pace to a time when the problem doesn’t exist (Imagine
drifting to the future after you have overcome the problem and
notice what is different)
Remember you have to BE solution-focused not just use
solution-focused language. Be solution-focused in ALL areas of
your life. Think before you speak so that you talk solution-focused.
Always have a goal in mind when you communicate and talk
solution-focused to aim at that.
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An outline of using solution focused questioning and
structure (Example’s given using helping parents with
difficulties)
Over the phone set task: Between now & when I come to
see you look out for things that are happening that you would like
to continue to happen so that we can talk about them (Ask about
this at first session)
Reinforce ‘ANY’ positive
Start with problem free talk
Feedback resources as they come out from the problem free talk
Ask ‘What would you like?’
Ask ‘What is different about the times when…?’ (What they’d like
is happening)
How do you get that to happen?
How does it make your day go differently? (When that happens)
Who else noticed that…? (The above happened)
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How did you get…to stop/end…? (Eg, Johnny to calm down)
How did you figure out that…(to stop this)…you needed to …(do
this)
(If given a new response on how to handle the situation/or how it
is now just started being handled…praise and set up to maintain)
How is that different from the way you (the old you) might have
handled it (1 week ago, month ago, etc…)
What do you do for fun? What do you do to relax? How do you
give yourself ‘me time’?
What are your hobbies/interests?
Have you ever had this difficulty in the past? (Similar problem with
another child, etc…)
(Yes) How did you resolve it then? What do you need to do to get
that to happen again? (What is stopping you from doing the same
again?)
What will be the very first sign that things are moving in the right
direction? (Or sign that things are continuing in the right
direction?) Then what…?
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What is happening that you would like to continue to have happen?
(Can set a task… ‘Between now and next time look out for things
that are happening that you would like to continue to happen so
that we can talk about them next session’)
Miracle Question – Then expand and build on it ‘making it real’
Tasks
Alter the pattern of the complaint
- Change the frequency
- Change the timing of performance
- Change the location of the performance
- Change the duration of the performance
- Change the sequence of elements/events in the complaint
- Break the complaint into smaller chunks
- Link the complaint to the performance of a boring or
burdensome task
- Add a new element to the pattern
Alter the context surrounding the pattern
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‘Do at least one or two things that will surprise your parents/child.
Don’t tell them what it is. The other person’s job is to see if you
can tell what it is that the other person is doing. Don’t compare
notes; we will do that next session’
If client (parent) wants something suggest ‘Keep track of what you
are doing this week that gives you/makes you/etc…’
Session Two onwards
What has been happening that you want to continue to have
happen?
What did you notice you were doing that gave you more self-
confidence?
What good things have you been doing since our last appointment?
Etc…
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Then Amplify positives and changes
How did you get that to happen?
How did it make your day go differently?
Who else noticed that things went this way?
Etc…
Groups people fall into (Miracle, So-so, Same or worse)
Miracle Group
Talk about changes as long as possible; expand on them, positive
feedback and praise
What do you need to do to keep the changes going?
Is there anything that might happen that might present a challenge
to keeping these good things going?
What would that challenge be?
How will you handle it differently this time?
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Is there anything else that might pop up that might be challenging?
(Repeat above)
So-so group
Get the client talking about the good times and what went well first
Interrupt them if necessary saying ‘we’ll get on to those bits later’
(or similar)
After talking about and expanding on the good bits then move
onto the other stuff
So what were you concerned about?
How did you handle it differently this time?
Scaling
0-10 before support started
0-10 since sessions have started (or between sessions, etc)
0-10 ideal rating you would like to be at for support to end (what
this would look, feel, sound like)
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Scaling task
Notice and keep track of all the (…7 (ideal)…) things you are
doing so that we can discuss this next session
Same or worse Group
Get them to describe what, when, where, how, etc of the problem
as it has been now
Point out changes and positives etc
Could ask ‘is change really necessary or desirable?
Reframe situations to come across as strengths or positives
See how they respond/have responded to tasks
- Carried them out
- Not carried them out
- Done the opposite of what was set
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Identifying limiting beliefs and challenging them therapeutically
People often have limiting beliefs about what they are not
capable of like saying ‘I’m not able to relax’ or ‘I can’t do that’.
People often have unhelpful beliefs or labels for their problems.
They use ideas like:
• Hereditary interpretation: My mother had the same problem
• Biological interpretation: it’s hormonal; I can’t do anything
about it
• Hearsay interpretation: I was told by a friend that people with
my problem are stuck with it.
• Predictive interpretation: I know I’m going to feel depressed
again; whenever I think I’m better it comes back
• Mind reading interpretations: I know what you’re going to
think of me
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• Fatalistic interpretations: I’m stuck with this for life
• Media prompted interpretations: Your just like that woman on
Eastenders
• Mythic interpretations: I need to know why so that I can get
better
• Prescriptive interpretations: ADHD can only be cured with
drugs
Always respect the subjectivity of the client, don’t say
‘you’re wrong!’ Client’s problems often last because they believe
their opinions are fact.
You need to learn to do skilful re-framing. Think about
your client’s focus of attention. If they are being argued with or
perceive disagreement then they will be focused on their point of
view.
You want to get client’s interested in what YOU have to
say.
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Some ways of doing this are:
• Could I just clarify what you are saying? …
• I’ve got an idea that might help can I share it with you?
• Ask a question
• Agree with them
Pre-empting beliefs, if the client doesn’t have the belief that
you pre-empt it doesn’t matter because you were only talking about
‘people’.
‘I still get some people that come to see me that believe that
they couldn’t be hypnotised that they wouldn’t let someone control
them. Once they have got an understanding of what hypnosis really
is and they see that it is nothing mysterious and that they are the
ones in full control of how deep they decide to go into a trance
change occurs rapidly’.
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Psychotherapy in the workplace
With the rise of stress in the workplace I am including a
chapter on the importance of offering therapy to staff. Many
companies are now hiring therapists to help with the stress
management of the workforce.
Until now the needs of staff generally hasn’t been a high
enough priority in many companies. It has been more of an
unnecessary expense. Most companies don’t place much emphasis
on the staff team and their needs. Even when they do the question
is what form of therapy should they use. Most therapy models have
been focused on individual aspects of people rather than on all
aspects of people.
For example;
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• A cognitive approach will work with the thinking processes of
people
• A behavioural approach will work with the behaviour of people
• A psychodynamic approach will try to find the unconscious
processes behind problems and where in the childhood they
originated
Over the last decade a new approach has arisen using all the
latest scientific advances to bring all the scientifically accurate parts
of other approaches in line with what is known about human
evolution and how the human mind works. This approach is the
Human Givens approach. The approach is revolutionising
counselling and psychotherapy and is now being applied to areas
outside of therapy like education and business management.
The turnover of staff in many companies is far higher than
it should be. I used to train staff before they started their first
shifts. What I found was that I could teach eight new staff
members and on average out of these eight, four would be gone in
three months, another two within the first six months and another
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one within the first year. So from eight new staff 75% would be
gone in six months and at best one of them would last over a year.
This high level of staff turnover is all too familiar within
many companies and high stress sectors. If you add to this the
length of time it takes to actually advertise, select, interview,
employ, police check (where necessary), train the staff, then get
them on shift it becomes a costly and timely process. Many
companies seem to end up continually advertising for staff and
holding interviews at least every few months. Finding fewer people
applying with each new batch of applicants.
It seems to me that the cheapest and most time efficient
way to approach this issue is to:
• Refine the interviews and what questions are
being asked
• Provide the staff with appropriate training and
regular chances to talk with an independent
psychotherapist that works on solving current
issues that staff member has
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• Work at creating a culture that facilitates
meeting the needs of the staff.
What happens when staff needs aren’t being met?
When needs aren’t being met appropriately there can be
many undesirable effects on the staff team. The same applies when
anyone’s needs aren’t being met appropriately whether they are
individual members of the public, staff or management.
When needs aren’t met within the team there is a higher
level of:
• Staff turnover
• Sickness
• Addictive behaviour like more staff smoking or staff smoking
more or drug taking
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• Staff drinking more when off shift, possibly some drinking
excessively which can affect the work they do on shift, and
possibly even some drinking in work
• Depression and depression related illnesses
• Anger, staff having a lower tolerance level to getting angry
• Poor concentration, tiredness which can lead to mistakes being
made
• Black and white thinking which leads to an ‘I’m right your
wrong’ attitude with no compromise
• Low motivation and an increase in a ‘don’t care’ attitude,
complaining
• Arguments between staff on different shifts, with staff blaming
problems on other staff
All of these problems and more arise from staff not having
their needs met adequately. They have an impact on the company
financially and on the time of the Managers and Directors, they
also have an impact on the staff team as a whole and on the
customers that the company serves.
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Is it worth the cost?
Financially not meeting the needs of staff can be very
costly. It can be expensive to keep going through the process of
hiring new staff, and the effects of the continual disruption of the
staff turnover, with new staff coming in and other staff leaving all
leading to an unstable atmosphere.
Aside from the financial costs there are the costs to the
time of the Managers constantly dealing with the hiring process.
Then there is the added pressures on the Manager, having to deal
with an unhappy and stressed staff team that are struggling to cope
with being spread thinly because of low staff levels. Having to do
overtime, worrying about all of the disruption, complaining about
poor management and being taken for granted and never being
praised.
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Needs and innate ‘coping’ skills
The basic emotional needs are a set of needs that all human
beings are born with. We all need to have them met appropriately
and healthily. If they aren’t met it causes emotional distress and can
cause greed (where a ‘need’ becomes a ‘want’). This can often be
seen in neglected children. When they haven’t had the need met to
give and receive attention it can lead to attention seeking
behaviour.
Some of the main emotional needs are:
• To give and receive attention
• Keeping a good balance of the mind/body connection (e.g.,
stress can cause physical problems, lack of sleep lowers the
immune system)
• To have purpose and goals
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• To belong to a wider community (e.g., a group co-operating)
• To have a sense of control and independence
• To feel a sense of security
• To have a sense of status within a social group
• To have a sense of competence and achievement
• To feel understood and emotionally connected to others
To help meet these needs we all have innate coping skills
like the ability to relax the ability to tolerate uncertainty, and the
ability to gain mental distance from a problem. These skills and
many others help us to get our needs met and help us to deal with
problems that we face that may prevent those needs from being
met.
All individuals have varying degrees of ability with these
'coping' skills yet all individuals can be taught how to improve
them. It is vital that staff have the opportunity to improve their
coping skills and to take time to see which needs for them aren’t
being met. People are all different. It is the perception that they
have of a specific situation that is important. One person could feel
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a sense of control in a situation while the staff member next to
them may feel that the situation is out of their control.
The main needs that are often poorly met are:
The mind/body connection
Giving and receiving attention
Sense of control
Feeling understood
Sense of purpose
Staff often find themselves tired and not eating properly
due to working through breaks and over doing too much overtime.
They find that they have no one to talk to about problems and
don’t feel they can talk to senior staff. They feel that those making
decisions within the company don’t listen to the staff.
They feel they have no control over staffing decisions or
decisions that go on in their working environment and often face
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situations as part of the job that they feel out of control of due to
lack of experience and guidance.
They often feel that ‘Management’ don’t understand them
and what it is like doing their job. They feel they have no real
purpose or goals that they are just struggling to get through each
day.
Creating a staff friendly culture
Meeting the needs of the staff and improving their ‘coping’
skills are relatively easy; it doesn’t take big changes. For the ‘coping’
skills the most important aspect is to teach staff to relax and to be
able to remain calm in difficult situations. This helps enormously
with the ability of the staff to use their other 'coping' skills because
when people are relaxed they can view situations rationally and
objectively.
Staff need to learn how to deal with and notice the
difference between what is and what isn’t within their control. This
is necessary as worrying about things that are out of your control
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only causes more stress and those things that are in your control
should be problem solved. ALL worry should be turned into
finding a way to directly deal with the situation.
An appropriately trained counsellor or psychotherapist
should be hired to see staff at least every few months in individual
sessions privately and confidentially to discuss how they are getting
on and to help with their 'coping' skills and ensuring their needs are
being met.
The therapist will also be able to work with the staff team
as a group and can help staff deal with the work/life balance as
someone with problems at home that are causing them stress may
struggle with remaining calm at work and concentrating on the job
whilst in work, etc…
The management need to also work at creating a culture
that helps meet the needs of the staff. If the needs of the staff are
met then the customer care will be of the highest quality which will
have an impact on the company as a whole and on the atmosphere
within the workplace.
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Choosing a therapist can be a tricky task. It is so easy for
companies to just choose the cheapest therapist assuming all
therapists are the same. Unfortunately they are not. There are over
400 different forms of counselling and psychotherapy all with
different approaches. Some of these are more effective than others
and some cause more harm than good and the organisations that a
therapist belongs to has no bearing on their skills, abilities or
effectiveness.
An appropriate therapist will:
• Understand psychological conditions and processes from all the
latest scientific findings
• Be able to help immediately with trauma or anxiety problems
• Will give advice if asked without using jargon or ‘psychobabble’
• WON’T dwell unduly on the past
• Be supportive with difficult feelings, but WON’T encourage
people to remain in an emotionally aroused state. WON’T ask
you to ‘keep going through painful emotions’
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• Be able to help with developing social skills and improving
‘coping’ skills
• Help people find their own resources
• Be able to teach deep relaxation
• Help people think about problems in a new, more empowering
way
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Therapeutic tools & techniques for change work
Anchoring
The human mind works through making associations. The
stronger the emotions during these associations or anchors the less
repetitions are required. Anchoring is basically just a term given for
linking a stimulus and a response together.
Anchoring happens all of the time:
• You see a red traffic light – you stop
• If you smoke, maybe you answer the phone and automatically
light up a cigarette
• You hear a song playing that reminds you of your first love
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All of these are natural times when anchoring has occurred.
What has happened is that you have learnt to link one event with
another so closely that if one happens the other one also happens.
If the emotional state is low then it may take many repetitions to
set an anchor unconsciously in place. If the emotional state is high
it may only take one event to anchor the emotional state in place.
This is what happens when a phobia is caused.
For example:
If a spider jumped out of a hole in a wall onto your face
and really terrified you then you may get that same level of terror
every time that you think of spiders or see a spider because the
emotional level was that intense that it only took one event to make
it stick.
The same applies for fetishes. If you are having an intensely
pleasurable experience and you suddenly see a pair of wellington
boots you may link that pleasure with the sight of the boots and so
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re-experience that pleasure just by thinking about boots or seeing a
pair of boots.
Highly emotional experiences cause one off learning.
Advertising uses emotion usually at a low intensity. This
means that it usually needs many repetitions to anchor the advert in
place. Adverts work by creating an emotion then showing you the
product at the end to link the emotion with the product. They also
often use a slogan or catchy tune so that each time you hear that
sentence or tune you think of their product, like ‘just do it’ or ‘I’m
loving it’.
Anchoring can be done with or without the client’s
knowledge.
The process for anchoring is:
1. Relax the client, put them into a comfortable trance
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2. Evoke the resourceful state (watch for its arrival). Tell them to
put their thumb and forefinger together as an anchor when the
state begins to get strong and let it increase as the anchor is
triggered
3. Tell them to release the anchor and notice how they can drift
back into that relaxed comfortable trance state (this teaches
them some control over their resources)
4. Repeat the above stages three or four times suggesting going
further into the resource state each time
5. Say that their unconscious mind can select a time in the future
that the resource would come in useful and when they have
they can give you a signal
6. Get them to set off the anchor and notice the differences with
these resources
7. Give them some silence to integrate these learnings. Suggest
that in the future the anchor can choose to happen
automatically at times when it is appropriate, or they can set it
off consciously or discover that they don’t even need to. Then
count them out of the trance.
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It is not necessary to anchor in the way that is shown
above, although it is a useful process to use on yourself or others
when anchoring useful states.
You can anchor with any touch or movement etc… It
could be something specifically used by you like a gesture or a tone
of voice or a specific way that you sit. Whatever it happens to be,
you have to be able to replicate it exactly each time you want to use
it to set an anchor or to trigger an anchor. You may decide to stack
a number of emotional states onto one anchor or use a different
anchor for each different state.
There are advantages to both of these options. If you
decide to stack all the states on one anchor then by setting off that
one anchor you will trigger all of those emotions in the client at the
same time. It is also easier to remember than having to remember
many different triggers.
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The advantages of setting up a different anchor for each
emotional state are that you then have more control. You can set
off any one state on its own independently of the other states. You
can set them off in whatever order you like rather than only being
able to set them all off at once.
Anchoring is a highly effective tool, especially if you can
elicit a high level of emotion in the client as this increases the
chances of the emotion or resource sticking in place in the future.
Anchoring links a stimulus and a response together so it is
important that when you are using anchoring you use the same
anchor with the same emotion a number of times in the same way.
What is needed is for the unconscious mind of the client to register
that it has noticed the anchor. If the anchor is used subtly (like a
small hand gesture) then the person is unlikely to notice
consciously that an anchor is being used at all.
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If, for example, you were wanting to anchor ‘motivation’
which you later plan on using to create a motivation for exercise
then you may decide that you will use a gesture like turning your
left hand palm up with the fingers spread in a relaxed way as your
anchor. As you talk to the client each time you talk about
motivation you can do that gesture then after a while you will begin
to notice that the client starts behaving in a more motivated way
each time you do the gesture. You can then start talking about
exercising in the future and use the gesture to set off the
motivation feeling and do this a few times with different future
situations.
There are many ways that you can find to do covert
anchoring in real situations. It could be a touch on the arm or a
move of your head to anchor.
Anchoring is used when doing embedded commands that
are commands hidden within sentences. The anchoring that is done
with embedded commands is the same as normal low intensity
anchoring in that it takes many repetitions for the client’s
unconscious mind to recognise the pattern.
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It could be that (if like me you want to be as subtle as
possible) you talk to the client whilst looking into their left eye and
then each time you embed a command you look into the right eye
as you embed it (and perhaps change voice tone subtly) before
looking back to the left eye. This would take many repetitions of
embedding commands in this way and as soon as the unconscious
mind recognises that there is a pattern going on it acts on the
anchor for that pattern.
When the unconscious mind acts on the pattern the
response appears as if from nowhere in the mind of the client as if
they have just thought about it themselves without being pressured
or led in any direction.
When you do anchoring you want to aim to anchor near
the peak of the desired state. If you anchor too early you will not
get much of a response, if you anchor too late the state will be
declining so you will be anchoring the state going. Watch for the
onset of states. With practice you improve at this and it becomes
more natural.
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(See the anchoring chart below)
Duration
1------2-----------3------------4---------------5--------------6--------------7----------8
Emo
t
i
ona
l
I
n
t
en
s
i
t
y
Hi
gh
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Low
Anchoring Chart
Anchor within the highlighted area, releasing the anchor before the emotional intensity reaches its peak.
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Anchoring exercise
Get into pairs. Firstly spend at least 10 minutes each way
with one person (1) helping the other person (2) through the
exercise.
Following the 7 stages of anchoring above person 1 relax
person 2 then use those stages to anchor humour. Get person 2 to
recall times when they have made people laugh, or been humorous,
ask them to see what they saw, hear what they heard, feel what they
felt. Get them to imagine really being back there. Tell them to nod
their head each time they complete what you ask them to do.
Then change round and have person 2 do the same to
person 1. This process will set up a resourceful anchor that can be
accessed by bringing the thumb and first finger together at a time
when it is useful.
The next exercise is for you to practice covert anchoring.
Person 1 has to anchor a state of uncontrollable laughter in person
2. It doesn’t matter too much at this point how successful you are
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because it is difficult when you start out to be used to thinking on
your feet in this way. Then after ten minutes change over having
person 2 anchoring person 1.
Talk slowly to give time to think, touch them on the arm to
do the anchoring, make sure that it is always in the same place and
with the same pressure. Start by asking them about times when
they have laughed uncontrollably, touching their arm, get them
telling you about one of those times, be congruent and laugh a little
yourself. Use what they say by feeding it back to them in the
present tense as commands and touch them each time you do so.
You can make this more effective by making up metaphors
– like saying: it’s like walking slowly into a swimming pool, then
thinking sod it, and diving straight in. Or: it’s like a shaken up
bottle of champagne when the pressure just builds and builds until
it finally just explodes.
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Remember to anchor embedded commands – like: ‘you
know what it is like when you laugh uncontrollably (anchor), you
know where it just build and build up inside of you, that sort of
state where the harder you try not to laugh the more it builds
up, like when you try to fall asleep and find that the harder you try
the harder it is to sleep. I’m sure you can remember one of those
times now…etc
Psychological Realignment Technique
This is a technique that I created based on research in to
Energy therapies and Psychological therapies. I looked at what
worked from these different systems and put together a technique
that can be used to treat a wide range of conditions, from pain, to
phobia & PTSD, to other psychological conditions like depression
and OCD.
This technique has been used with a wide variety of
conditions with successful results. It utilises many principles. It
causes dissociation, it builds new neural pathways of new future
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behaviour, it triggers the reorientation response which stimulates
mental adjustment and it aids relaxation.
The tapping points are shown below and taken from EFT
(Emotional Freedom Technique):
The stages of the Psychological realignment technique are:
1. Rate 1 -10 how you feel
2. 3-5 breathing x 6
Gamut PointKarate Chop Point Points
around the eye
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3. Tap on karate chop point whilst saying ‘even
though I have this problem I honestly & completely
accept myself’ x 6
4. Tap gamut point, keep tapping as you; close eyes,
open eyes, look down right, right, up right, up left,
left, down left, hum nursery rhyme (2 seconds),
count to five, hum nursery rhyme again (2 seconds)
5. Close your eyes, imagine a distant, small black &
white TV screen. Imagine a paused image of
yourself on that screen at a time just before the 1st
or earliest recalled incident that led to your
problem. Have this paused point being at calm time
before the event. The old movie on the screen will
go all the way through to after the event finished
and you were calm.
6. Now follow this sequence:
a. Tap on the inside edge of your eyebrow and
watch that old movie in fast forward all the
way to the calm point at the end taking no
more than 2 seconds.
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b. Tap on outside of eyebrow and watch that
old movie in rewind all the way to the calm
point at the beginning taking no more than
2 seconds.
c. Tap under eye and watch that old movie in
fast forward all the way to the calm end
taking no more than 2 seconds.
d. Tap the Karate chop point as you rewind
the old movie all the way back to the calm
point at the beginning taking no more than
2 seconds.
e. Tap the gamut point as you fast forward the
old movie all the way to the calm point at
the end taking no more than 2 seconds
f. Repeat the sequence only start by rewinding
the old movie. This will mean that you will
have rewound and fast forwarded at all
points.
7. Open your eyes and re rate your problem on a scale
of 1 – 10 again. If it isn’t down to a zero, if there is
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any anxiety etc then re-follow the above steps again
but with the most intense memory (or 2nd most
intense if the most intense memory was the 1st
memory) then re-rate again.
8. If there is still some negative feelings then use the
same sequence (repeated twice as above) but this
time imagine a line of events stretching out in front
of you with the 1st frame being the 1st incident that
led to the problem and each subsequent frames
being every single incident or experience of that
problem in the past. You don’t have to be aware of
what is on each frame. Fast forward and rewind
through these frames, fast forwarding to the present
then rewinding to before the 1st frame. As you go
through each frame imagine them independently
fast forwarding and rewinding as you pass through
them. Take no more than 2 seconds to fast forward
to the end of ALL the frames and 2 seconds to
rewind to before the beginning of ALL the frames.
Open your eyes. Re-rate again.
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9. Close your eyes, Imagine a giant HD widescreen
with surround sound. See yourself in the future
about to be in a situation where the problem
normally would have been. Turn up the volume to
the internal dialog so you can hear what they are
saying to themselves when they respond in a new
way. Watch them going through this that future
situation responding in this new way. Pay attention
to how other people respond to that you behaving
in this new way. Pay attention to what you notice
that lets you know that that you is responding in a
new, favourable way, what internal dialog do they
use that is different, how does that internal dialog
sound that is different. Then watch the screen
change to a new future situation, really challenge
that you on the screen. Notice the same things as
before, watch 5, 6, or more (if necessary) future
situations and see how that you responds in a new
way.
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10. Now go back to the 1st future situation, step into
that you, and as you do touch the knuckle of your
forefinger, keep touching that spot and experience
that 1st future situation, as the feelings of the new
response reaches a peak, then release touching the
point. Move onto the 2nd future experience, touch
that point again and do the same again. Do this
with each of the new positive experiences (seeing
what you would see, hearing what you would hear,
feeling what you would feel)
11. In future situations IF you feel any of that old
feeling coming back start breathing (3-5), then tap
the karate chop point saying ‘despite the remaining
bit of problem, I completely and honestly accept
myself’. Then do the sequence of tapping points
saying ‘remaining problem’ as you touch each point.
Then touch your knuckle and do 3 -5 breathing
again.
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Scrambling
Scrambling is a technique with which you disrupt old
patterns of behaviour and replace with new patterns. Scrambling is
useful to use with addictions to break down patterns, jumbling
them up and replacing them with new improved patterns.
1. Get the stages of the problem
2. (for example with smoking it maybe: a) answer the phone, b)
feel an urge to have a cigarette, c) take out cigarette from
packet, d) light cigarette, e) have puff on cigarette, f) breathe
long breath of smoke out, g) carry on the conversation)
3. Next get a list of desired stages to replace the problem
4. Go through the steps in order closing your eyes to access each
step and opening them between each step. This separates each
step into individual parts
5. Quickly scramble the steps with the client opening their eyes
between each step. (a,c,b,d,c,a,e,c…) Continue until the client
has difficulty accessing the old sequence. As they start having
difficulty accessing the old pattern start adding in stages of the
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new pattern. Then begin to add in more and more of the new
sequence
6. Finish with the desired sequence done completely with the eyes
closed. The eyes need to be closed so that the client gets a
complete run in order of the desired sequence. You don’t want
the desired sequence to be jumbled at the end.
7. After you end with the desired sequence you can carry on with
some future pacing getting the client to experience future
situations using this new improved response.
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Rewind Technique
The rewind technique is one of the most important
techniques in psychotherapy. Any therapist that treats clients for
phobias or post-traumatic stress disorder or traumatic memories
should know how to use this technique. It can be used to treat
phobias, PTSD, traumatic memories, OCD, anxiety. It can be used
to remove emotion from a variety of problems. I have used the
rewind technique for removing anger, cravings and many other
feelings.
Another advantage of using the rewind technique with
trauma removal is that the client doesn’t have to tell the therapist
what the traumatic experience was. That makes it very useful to use
with victims of rape and with traumatised troops. It also makes it
useful to use with children and young people as from my
experience in care many of the children that had severe behaviour
problems were unable to stop thinking about negative past events,
yet at the same time they didn’t feel they could talk to the staff.
Using the rewind technique they can be de-traumatised without
having to talk about their experiences.
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In a study by the European Therapy Studies Institute the
rewind technique was used to treat trauma. The results were
extremely exciting. This technique can usually gain results in a
single session. Forty percent of clients rated the rewind technique
as extremely successful, fifty-three percent rated it as successful and
seven percent rated it as acceptable. There were no ratings of poor
failure. The clients were followed up over time and questioned
about their improvement since the treatment. They had given a
rating of well-being before the treatment to monitor how well the
technique worked. Three to six months later when they were
followed up the results showed an improvement of 167.4% on the
original ratings.
After people receive the rewind technique the main changes
reported are:
• Increased confidence
• No more flashbacks
• More positive mood
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• Ability to speak about the trauma without triggering
alarm or difficulty
• No more fear
As an addition to the rewind technique there is a ‘spinning’
technique that can be done that has been recently created by Dr
Richard Bandler that helps to make the rewind technique even
more effective.
The stages of the rewind technique including the ‘spinning’:
1. Firstly establish on a scale of 1 – 10 with 10 being most
anxiety inducing ask the client what level they would
rate the anxiety at when they just think about that
traumatic experience now.
2. After you have established an initial anxiety rating ask
the client to think of a pleasant place, a safe and special
place. Anchor a feeling of calm and relaxation to a
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touch on the client’s arm so that if they get anxious you
can set this anchor off to relax and calm the client.
3. Ask the client where that feeling of anxiety starts when
they think about the traumatic experience, and how it
moves around the body (often it will start in the
stomach and rise up to the chest then spin forward and
round to the stomach again). Ask them to give it a
colour and ask them for a colour they associate with
relaxation. Tell them to spin that feeling faster and
faster, then to pull it out of their body so that it is in
front of them in the colour they associate with that
anxiety. Tell them to keep it spinning faster and faster
then flip it over so that it is spinning in the opposite
direction and change the colour to the relaxation colour
and keep it spinning faster and faster then push it back
into their body and keep the spinning going in this new
direction and to then notice how those old feeling have
changed.
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4. Ask the client to create a blank screen like a TV screen
in their mind and to see themselves sitting in a chair in
front of the TV.
5. Then imagine drifting and floating off to a position at
the side where they can see themselves sitting in the
chair but they can’t see what is on the TV (get the client
to nod their head after they have completed each
section before you move on to the next stage)
6. Tell them that when you say ‘now’ you want them to
watch that them there in that chair press play and watch
that old memory (of the traumatic event, or the main or
worst phobic event, or worst event if there are multiple
events) through to the end, then pause that movie at an
end scene when they had calmed down and everything
was alright. Then say ‘now’ and watch them as they go
through the process. When they nod their head to
indicate that they have watch themselves watch the old
memory through to the end and paused it move on to
the next stage.
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7. Tell them to imagine floating, drifting in to themselves
in the end of that old paused movie. Drifting and
floating comfortably into the end of that old paused
movie. Wait for the head nod then tell them that when
you say ‘now’ you want them to rewind back to the
beginning, back to before the incident began, back to a
time when they felt calm and relaxed. Tell them to see
what they saw, hear what they heard only all in reverse.
People talk backwards sounding like Mickey Mouse as
they talk backwards fast. Everything moves backwards,
all the way back to the beginning to a time when they
were calm and relaxed. Tell them that when they reach
the beginning to pause the old, old movie and nod the
head. Then say ‘now’ talk them through the experience
fast with a squeaky voice until they nod their head.
8. Then tell them to drift and float through time and space
over to that them sitting in that chair then allow the
head to nod. Then when their head nods tell them that
when you say ‘now’ you want them to watch that old,
old movie in fast forward all the way to the end to that
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point after the incident when they were calm and
relaxed and it was all over. Tell them to do this taking
no more than a few seconds and to pause that old, old
movie when they have watched it to the end. Then tell
them to do that ‘now’
9. When they have done this and nodded their head to say
they have fast forwarded the movie, tell them to again
repeat stage 6 only this time faster than before, drifting,
floating through time and space into the end of that
old, old movie then rewinding again to the beginning.
10. Rewind associated, and fast forward dissociated three
more times getting faster each time until it is just like a
flash or at the speed of a click of the fingers.
11. Then end the process by asking them to be sat there in
front of the TV screen having control of the remote
and to watch that old, old movie comfortably through
at their own rate and speed then to nod their head once
they have done this. Then to clear the screen and to
imagine future situations (if necessary, with many things
like trauma from a road accident it may not be
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necessary to do this part of the process, the goal setting
you will have done will let you know if this is necessary)
with them remaining calm and responding
appropriately. Then carry on with the rest of the
therapy and ask them again to rate levels of anxiety and
if possible and appropriate then test the treatment. For
example if they were scared of spiders then go and find
a spider to hand to them.
Negative belief destroyer
This technique is useful for people that have created
negative beliefs or opinions preventing them from achieving those
things that they want to achieve. It is especially useful with people
that, over time have created beliefs that prevent motivation or
cause a lack of self-confidence, or events that have led to low self-
esteem.
The technique works by metaphorically shattering these
limiting beliefs or opinions. When you do this technique it isn’t
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necessary to know the specific events that formed those beliefs just
to create a fixed location for those events.
The stages of the belief destroyer are:
1. Ask the client to close their eyes and create a positive
image of what they want to be like after the beliefs are
destroyed that have prevented them from already
achieving those things (it could be an image of them
confidently talking in a social situation, etc)
2. Tell them to imagine this on their timeline (a mental
line created in the mind with all past events behind
them and all future events in front of them) just in
front of them at a future point.
3. Tell them to drift up above their timeline floating gently
up so that they can see their timeline and see the past.
4. Then see a number of brittle slides appearing along the
timeline representing every event where a limiting belief
was created that had prevented achieving the desired
goal.
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5. Ask them to nod their head to let you know they have
completed each section. Then ask them to float back to
just before the first brittle slide and to hover just above
it and slightly in behind it.
6. Tell them to begin to create a spinning feeling in their
body that is a powerful feeling of success and
motivation and to give this a strong colour. Tell them
to spin this faster and faster. To really charge up that
strength and to charge up power to generate rapid
speed like a car wheel-spinning before shooting off or
like a bullet about to be fired. Tell them that when you
say ‘now’ you want them to shoot down into the first
slide and then fire along the timeline exploding each
slide as they pass through them. Shattering each slide
into billions of little pieces that fly off in all directions.
And that as this happens you want their unconscious
mind to fill in each newly made space with a positive
beneficial belief and to fill the timeline with that strong
colour that can follow them down the timeline. Tell
them that when they reach the present time on their
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timeline they can stop and experience that colour power
past them and out into the future. Tell them that
perhaps they could hear it rush past like a strong
coloured wind.
7. Then get the client to go to the future to imagine the
improvements and situations in a desired way and to
view what they look like in those situations as if floating
over the situations, then to lower into the situations and
experience them, seeing what they would see and
hearing what they would hear. Get them to enjoy
experiencing many different future situations.
Relationship Enhancer
The relationship enhancer is a technique for re-igniting the
strong feelings that couples have for each other when the first met.
What often happens is that people get overwhelmed with the
events that happen in their lives. Over time they drift apart and
can’t see through all of the issues to see how they used to feel for
each other.
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This technique is to be used along with helping the couple
to resolve any current issues and problems. It just helps to speed
up the process by giving them an experience of what it was like
when they initially fell in love. By giving them this experience they
are more likely to be able to be willing to work together to sort out
any current problems. The technique works in a similar way to
anchoring and can be enhanced by effective use of hypnotic
language.
The stages of the technique are:
1. Sit both people down opposite each other.
2. Ask them both to gently hold each others sides
3. Have them both close their eyes and begin to
breathe slowly and deeply and in time with each
other. Have them breathe with the out breath being
slightly longer than the in breath to trigger off the
relaxation response in them both.
4. As they continue to breathe slowly and in time with
each other ask them to vividly recall what it felt like
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when they fell in love. Ask them to recall a number
of the best memories and to put these memories
together so that as one ends it naturally moves into
the next one, and when it reaches the last memory
have it continue on with the first memory again.
Tell them to continue this process in their minds as
it becomes automatic. Tell them to be associated in
the memories, seeing what they saw, hearing what
they heard, feeling what they felt. Tell them to
unconsciously let changes happen that increase the
intensity of the feeling of love.
5. Ask the couple to notice where the feeling of love
starts in their body and how it moves. Tell them
that when the feeling of love reaches it’s peak drag
it back to the start and attach it to the beginning so
that it forms a circle, then spin that feeling, tell
them to keep spinning that faster and faster,
doubling the intensity of the feeling with each spin.
6. Tell them when they feel the love stronger than
ever before to open their eyes and look straight at
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each other while they keep spinning that feeling. (It
should be possible to see if they are responding well
as they will show signs like perhaps having a flushed
face, or smiling etc)
7. Repeat the process a few times if necessary. As with
anchoring, depending on the strength of the feeling
it will link looking at the partner with the feeling of
love quicker the stronger the emotion is that gets
elicited. If the emotion isn’t as strong then a few
repetitions may be required.
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Behaviour Modifier
The behaviour modifier is a technique that allows you to
help a client to change or modify current behaviour. The technique
makes full use of dissociation, repetition, and the observing self. It
is a useful technique to use with people that have low self-esteem
or that lack confidence, or with people that want to quickly learn
and integrate a new skill or behaviour.
The stages of the technique are:
1. Ask the client to think of a few situations where
they have had the behaviour that they want to
improve on. It could be times they were confident,
or times they were motivated, or times they were ‘in
the zone’ when playing a sport, or exceptionally
creative, etc.
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2. Once they have thought of a few different
situations ask them to stand up, make sure they
have plenty of space around them.
3. Ask them to close their eyes and imagine seeing a
(confident, motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc)
them standing in front of them doing something
that, that them is (confident, motivated, creative, ‘in
the zone’, etc) doing.
4. Ask them to just watch that them carrying out that
behaviour. Then tell them to have that them go
back to the beginning of that behaviour and notice
how they know that they are being (confident,
motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc). How do they
stand, talk, etc…
5. Now ask the client to step into that them and feel
what it feels like to have their (confidence,
motivation, creativity, ‘in the zone’, etc). Hear their
voice in their mind, behave in their (confident,
motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) manner.
Spend sometime in their (confident, motivated,
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creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) situations standing in
their place and with their eyes closed imagining
going through experiences they find they are
(confident, motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) in.
6. Next ask the client to imagine seeing someone they
know does the behaviour they want to do. It could
be a colleague, friend, film or sports star, etc. Tell
them ‘whom ever it is just imagine they are standing
in front of you carrying out that behaviour
perfectly. Watch them and see what you can notice
that makes you think they are carrying out that
behaviour with excellence. Watch them in past
situations that you didn’t feel you carried out that
(confident, motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc)
behaviour well enough in. See what they do
differently and how things go for them when they
go through those situations. Watch them in many
past situations that you didn’t feel (confident,
motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) in.’
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7. Then tell the client to step into that person in front
of them and experience what it is like to be them in
those situations that previously they weren’t
(confident, motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) in.
tell them to see through their eyes, hear what they
would hear and feel what they would feel. Go
through as many past situations as they can think
of, experiencing what it is like to be this person in
those situations. Tell them to notice how things are
different, notice what reaction this person gets in
those situations, notice what changes in those
situations. Tell them to be as observant as they can
and to take their time to do this in depth.
8. Once they have done that go back through the
situations and ask them to imagine as this person,
each situation and what the future consequences
are. What changes occur because this person acts
differently in those old situations. Again ask them
to take their time again to do this fully.
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9. Next tell them to stay where they are, and to see
that person in front of them, and to watch them in
future situations that they would have not been as
(confident, motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) as
they would have liked. Tell them to notice as much
as they can that lets them know that that person is
(confident, motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) in
those situations. Again tell them to take their time
when doing this. Tell them to see that person in as
many anticipated situations as they can think of.
10. Now ask them to step into that person in front of
them and become absorbed in being them. See
what they would see, hear what they would hear
and feel what they would feel. Ask them to go
through all of those anticipated situations as that
person, experience what it is like to be them, notice
how the situations are different to how they would
normally have been expected to go. Tell them to
take their time. Allowing themselves to become
absorbed in the experience. Once they have been
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through as many anticipated future situations as
they can think of, then imagine some of these again,
only this time imagine the future outcomes of
behaving in this new way in those situations. Notice
what benefits there are to being more (confident,
motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc). Tell them to
continue to take their time.
11. Next ask them to imagine seeing themselves in
front of them. Seeing that them as (confident,
motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc). Ask them to
watch that them responding in a new (confident,
motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) way in many
anticipated situations. Ask them to notice what it
feels like to see themselves being so (confident,
motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc). Tell them to
notice how people are responding to this new them.
12. Once they have watched themselves experience
many anticipated situations that they previously
would have not been (confident, motivated,
creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) to step forward into that
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new improved them, that (confident, motivated,
creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) them. Tell them to
experience those anticipated situations as this
(confident, motivated, creative, ‘in the zone’, etc)
person, seeing what they would see, hearing what
they would hear, and feeling what they would feel.
Taking their time to enjoy this experience. Once
they have done this tell them to hold onto this
feeling by clenching their fist gently. Then whilst
holding onto this feeling step back a few paces to
where they were in the present when they first
closed their eyes. Once they are back to the present
position ask them to release the fist and open their
eyes. Then to close their eyes again and close their
fist gently allowing the feeling of (confidence,
motivation, creativity, being ‘in the zone’, etc) to
come back to them. Tell them to spend a few
moments thinking about an up coming situation
where they want this (confident, motivated,
creative, ‘in the zone’, etc) feeling and experience
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having this as they go through that situation, seeing
what they will see, hearing what they will hear and
feeling what they will feel.
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Psychological conditions: symptoms, understanding & treatment
This section is designed to be accessible by practitioners
and those with no previous experience. It can be used as a
reference manual to help yourself or others.
The previous section was predominantly aimed at
practitioners. It was aimed at giving practitioners added knowledge
and skills as therapists. With those skills those practitioners can
read this section to see learn about different psychological
conditions and how best to treat them. To those that have read the
previous section this will be a natural continuation to the learning
process. In this section they will learn how to treat various
conditions. Then they can use their therapeutic skills to best
facilitate the required change work.
For non-practitioners this section can be used as a
reference manual and can be dipped into when necessary. If you
feel that someone is displaying specific behaviour for example, like
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always having a low mood or always talking negatively and
worrying then if you think it sounds a bit like they may be
depressed or showing some signs of depression you can check the
chapter on depression. You can read the symptoms and see how
you can help them. Even if they are not depressed you can get
some ideas about how you can help with the symptoms they do
have.
This section can be used like a self-help manual. For
example, if you have an addiction you can see what you can do to
help yourself. All of the advice and information contained in this
section is some of the most up to date, useful information you are
likely to find anywhere.
Before moving on to the sections on different
psychological conditions there are chapters on the basic needs,
essential skills and what to look for in a therapist. It is important to
ensure that all basic needs are met and all essential skills are used
appropriately. Whenever anyone has a psychological problem they
will find that their basic needs aren’t all being met appropriately or
that certain essential skills are being misused. It is useful to look at
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these lists and think about each basic need and essential skill to see
how they are all being met and used (or not).
The chapter on what to look for in a therapist is a list of
what an appropriate therapist will be like. This list is for you to use
if you are going to be seeing a therapist whether it is a Counsellor,
Psychotherapist, Psychiatrist, Psycho-analyst, Hypnotherapist or
any other form of psychological therapist. When you go to see the
therapist you can check the list with them. If they don’t agree with
what is on the list they are likely to cause more harm than good
when they try to treat you. ALL appropriate therapists will agree
with the list regardless of their profession or training.
Unfortunately many therapists still practice with out-of-date
training and information like holding a belief that you will feel
worse before you get better. This is one of the biggest myths in
therapy, along with the belief that short-term therapy only covers
over the cracks and doesn’t deal with the real problem. Long-term
therapies and psychodynamic or psychoanalytic therapies have
been seen to be counter-productive in the treatment of many
psychological conditions like depression.
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If a therapist says that the form of therapy they do is
psychoanalytic or psychodynamic then there is an increased chance
of the therapy making the problem worse. If you are referred to a
therapist make sure you request to be sent to a therapist that meets
all the criteria on the appropriate therapist list or request for the
Doctor to help you to find a therapist trained with a human givens
approach to counselling and psychotherapy.
‘Follow up of clients from single sessions a year later had
the same benefits as clients that had brief therapy and long-term
therapy…One-year follow up cognitive-behavioural approach
appeared more efficacious than psychodynamic therapy…There is
growing evidence that only a proportion of cases require longer-
term work, and as research develops it would seem that this
proportion is getting smaller…’
The Handbook of Counselling Psychology 2003
If you or anyone you know appears to be suffering from a
psychological problem I recommend that you see a Doctor. You
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can use this book as a guide to the kind of treatment that is likely to
be required and you can put into practice some of the advice and
techniques to help yourself. Some conditions like PTSD (post-
traumatic stress disorder) and phobias are best treated with the help
of an effective therapist.
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Basic Emotional Needs
• To give and receive attention (e.g., socialising)
• The mind body connection (e.g., not sleeping can lower the
immune system)
• To have purpose and goals (e.g., having an aim in life)
• Belonging to a wider community (e.g., joining a group or a
religion)
• The need for stimulation and creativity (e.g., working at
achieving your goals)
• The need to feel understood and emotionally connected to
others (e.g., having a close group of friends, having a loving
partner)
• The need to feel a sense of control & independence (e.g.,
knowing what is in your control & making decisions)
• To feel a sense of security (e.g., financially, within a
relationship)
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• Having a sense of status within a social group (e.g., holding
a specific position in a company)
• Having a sense of competence & achievement (e.g., being
good at your job, meeting your targets/goals)
These are some of the main emotional needs that need to
be met to ensure a healthy balanced life. You can look down the list
and see if these needs are being met adequately in your life. When
any need or essential skill (see essential skills) isn’t being met
adequately that is when problems occur.
For example getting a migraine to gain attention. Or getting
an addiction that tricks you into believing it gives you a sense of
control. Or joining a gang and getting into the gang’s culture to feel
understood and connected.
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Essential Skills
• Tolerating uncertainty
• Using critical thinking to challenge emotional states
• Relaxing
• Using resources
• Managing attention
• Truly envisaging not having the problem
• Gaining distance from the problem (taking a step back in your
mind)
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• Thinking creatively (imagination) and holding multiple
viewpoints
• Learning and remembering
• The ability to communicate effectively
As with the ‘Basic needs’ (see basic needs) there are
essential skills that are useful for having a healthy balanced life. As
a therapist sometimes I need to teach people certain essential skills
just like I sometimes have to help people to get their needs met
appropriately. Everyone is born with these essential skills, but
through our different upbringings some people are naturally more
able to use these skills than others.
Many psychological problems arise out of not using all
these essential skills effectively.
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For example smoking to relax, or getting angry because you
can’t manage your attention effectively or feeling no-one listens to
you (needing to work on communication), or getting more
depressed because you can’t ever believe you will get better, or
worrying (misusing the imagination).
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What to look for in a therapist
An effective therapist will:
• Understand depression and how to lift it
• Understand the processes involved in addiction and how to
overcome them
• Help immediately with anxiety problems including trauma
(PTSD) or other fear related symptoms (should be trained to
remove or dramatically reduce trauma in a single session)
• Be prepared to give advice if needed or asked for
• Not use jargon or ‘psychobabble’
• Not dwell unduly on the past
• Be supportive when difficult feelings emerge, but not
encourage people to remain in an emotionally aroused state
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• Assist individuals in developing social skills, so that their needs
for affection, friendship, pleasure, intimacy, connection etc…
can be better fulfilled
• Help people to draw on their own resources
• Be considerate on the effects of therapy on those close to the
individual concerned
• Induce and teach deep relaxation
• Help people think about their problems in a new and more
empowering way
• Use a wide range of techniques
• Set tasks to be done between sessions
• Take as few sessions as possible
• Increase self-confidence and independence and make sure the
clients feel better after every consultation
Adapted from the list created by the European Therapy Studies Institute
Any effective therapist regardless of their background or
the type of therapy they use will agree with this list. You should
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avoid any therapist that doesn’t agree with this list as they may
cause more harm than good. You should avoid any therapist that
has the opinion ‘you will feel worse before you get better’. Therapy
should make you feel better not worse; it should also be brief
usually a maximum of 20 sessions, very often less than 5. Avoid
anyone that says it will definitely take more than this, as they may
well prolong the problem or make you worse. If you don’t notice
results within a few sessions then you are probably seeing the
wrong therapist and should be re-evaluating the therapy.
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Depression
Research has shown that in almost all cases depression is
not a biological or genetic illness. The biological changes that
occur are the result of the depression not the cause. In some cases
the biological effects are caused by diet. Studies carried out showed
that to quickly lift depression what was needed was a mixture of
cognitive, behavioural and interpersonal therapies. This has now
been improved upon by also utilising a solution-focused approach
and a human givens approach.
When the therapist works with the client to help them
ensure their basic needs are being met and gets their focus of
attention off of worrying and ruminating and onto problem
solving and relaxing the mind, DEPRESSION LIFTS
QUICKLY.
To significantly lift depression now often takes less than
three sessions.
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Depression is caused by worrying.
It could be worrying about a past problem or event, present
problem or event or a future problem or event. This worrying
causes over dreaming at night. When you dream too much it
inhibits the release of serotonin and is almost as active as being
awake. It also reduces the abilities of the immune system. All of
this leads to waking up early as your brain wants to stop you from
dreaming excessively, then often managing to get back to sleep yet
still waking tired and unmotivated. This then starts off the next
days’ cycle of worrying.
When depressed your thinking style changes as you are in a
highly emotional state of mind. It can be like walking around in a
trance. You start thinking that everything has always been bad and
always will be and that if anything good ever happens it wont last.
Because you are in a highly emotional state you can't think
effectively about your problems so they can seem easily
overwhelming.
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To lift depression you can learn to relax. This can be in
many ways. One of the best is to do 7-11 breathing which is where
you breathe in deeply to the count of 7 then out to the count of 11.
By doing this with the out breath longer than the in breath you
trigger the relaxation response. Just 3 or 4 deep 7-11 breaths will
help to relax you and focus your mind.
Next challenge your thinking by thinking about what it is
that you are worrying about and problem solving it. Also spend
time each morning closing your eyes and truly imagining some
good things about the upcoming day. At night or in the evening
also spend a few moments to imagine what it will be like to feel
much better, who will be the first to notice? How will they know?
What will your behaviour be like? Really imagine it and feel it.
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AS SOON AS YOU STOP WORRYING YOUR SLEEP WILL IMPROVE AND THE
DEPRESSION WILL RAPIDLY START TO LIFT.
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Anxiety
Anxiety is the natural survival response to run or fight
being triggered at the wrong time. This response is designed to help
you but in modern times this is often triggered by events from job
interviews to social situations etc…
Anxiety and panic attacks are caused by a misuse of the
imagination. For example worrying about an upcoming
presentation you will be giving. Each time you imagine how bad it
will go you create a template that your mind follows that tells it
how it should feel about that event. Because you have the ability to
use your imagination well enough to effect you, this means if you
imagine it going well and look forward to it then that is the
template that you lay down. This works by really building up the
experience vividly in your mind getting pleasant, desirable feelings
linked to the event.
When you have panic attacks or get anxious it shuts down
the digestive system and all non-essential systems. It prepares your
body to fight, run or freeze (playing dead). These responses could
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save your life in the appropriate situations. Even if it feels like you
are going to die, you won’t. The feelings are because of the
digestive system shutting down and because of the adrenaline
released into the body. Most people say it feels like butterflies in
their stomach, or a churning sensation.
Some people believe they will collapse or faint. Even if you
do pass out your breathing will go back to normal and you will
come round again. If you have a panic attack, rate the anxiety on a
scale out of 10 and you can keep track of how quickly it is going.
The chemicals released into the body that cause the feelings of
anxiety leave the body after only a short while.
Whenever you are feeling stressed or anxious or just
want to relax try 7 – 11 breathing. Breathe in to the count of 7
then out to the count of 11.
If you get anxious or have a panic attack remember
AWARE:
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A = Accept the anxiety, don’t fight it
W= Watch your anxiety, rate it from 1-10 and watch as
that rating changes
A = Act with the anxiety, behave normally & do what you
intended to do, breathe normally or do 7-11 breathing
R = Repeat all of the above steps until it goes down to an
comfortable level
E = Expect the best, what you fear most normally never
happens, mentally rehearse experiences where you thought you
might have felt anxious in the past but surprise yourself when you
don’t.
Close your eyes, relax, vividly imagine watching yourself
remaining calm whilst doing something in the future you would
usually have found caused anxiety. Then imagine being in that
scene and notice how pleasant it feels to have this different
response. Rehearse this regularly.
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During a panic attack control your breathing, if you feel it
coming you could chew some gum or eat a small amount of food
as you can’t be anxious at the same time as having your digestive
system working.
If you know how to do anchoring (see the techniques
section) you can sit down and relax and anchor a relaxation
response. This response can then be fired off when you are in a
situation that makes you feel anxious. You can practice this
anchoring and firing the relaxation response, imagining being in
situations that would normally cause anxiety and using the anchor
to relax yourself. The more you practice this the stronger the
response will be.
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Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) & Phobias
The same process causes all fears, phobias and PTSD.
Phobias and PTSD used to be thought of as different. The
treatment offered for these was also different. The process that
creates these problems is the same.
The process that creates these is designed to protect you
from harm. It can be a form of one time learning. You can
experience an event once (like having a spider, jump on you as a
child) and if the emotion of fear is strong enough that is all it takes
to create a phobia. The same as PTSD – you only have to be
involved in one scary car crash to be traumatised by it for life
(getting flashbacks etc…)
This process works by being very general, linking a highly
emotional event with the environmental stimuli present at the time.
This then allows those stimuli to trigger the same high emotion in
the future. For example if you got bad news whilst at a party you
may have seen balloons at the time so you may get a phobia of
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balloons. Or if a mugger wore a black shirt when they mugged you,
you may get a phobia for black shirts or even for black. The same
process causes fetishes. For example, having sex on the floor by
some wellington boots and the high emotion gets linked to the
sight of the boots then after that you get aroused by the sight of
wellington boots.
To treat this is now very simple and can usually be done
within one session. There is a technique called the rewind
technique that a well-trained therapist can do with you. It involves
viewing the traumatic memory as if on a TV screen from before the
‘scary’ part began and through to after the ‘scary’ part ends. You
start by relaxing, creating a ‘special calm place’ in your mind. Then
watching you sitting in a chair watching the screen as that you
watches the memory through to the end. Then drifting into the
‘you’ in the screen and rewinding through the experience really fast
back to the beginning before the event began, seeing everything
going backwards, hearing everything going backwards. Then
drifting out of the screen to the ‘you’ on the seat, relaxing deeply
into this position and watching the old memory in very fast
forward to the end. Then again drifting and relaxing into the ‘you’
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in the screen at the end of that old memory and experiencing it in
rewind again even faster this time. Then drifting and relaxing back
into the ‘you’ in the chair and watching the memory in even faster
fast forward. This process is repeated until the memory can be
experienced comfortably.
If there is more than one memory that needs this process
then it can be done on all the relevant memories. For example: in
cases of abuse or bullying. Usually it only needs to be done on one
to three memories. After this if necessary you can imagine vividly,
future times when you may be in similar situations and notice how
relaxed you can remain. If it makes it easier you can put this
memory on a scale of 1-10 and then if it starts as a 10 you can track
how quickly it goes down to a 2 or 3. Sometimes it is good not to
completely remove the fear; for example a slight wariness to some
spiders is natural and sensible.
A fear or phobia will not come back or be replaced. Once it
is removed it will stay that way. Some therapists used to believe
that phobias had hidden root causes and that if you didn’t deal with
these then the cure is superficial. This has been proved to be
incorrect.
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Addictions
We are all born with the ability to create habits and with the
process to get addicted. Without these abilities mankind wouldn’t
have lasted as long as we have. There are many things that naturally
turn into habits so that we don’t have to pay all our attention to
them just to do them. Like driving a car, brushing teeth etc…
Sometimes this process gets high-jacked by a negative habit,
like finding yourself smoking before you realise what you are doing.
The process for addiction also serves a useful purpose. The process
gives you a ‘high’ when you do something and causes irritation or
uncomfortableness when you don’t.
This process is required for survival and evolution.
For example when a stone-age man used a stick to break
open a coconut the ‘high’ of that achievement wears off over time
so the stone-age man then turns that stick into an axe with a piece
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of flint. He then gets another ‘high’ from that achievement which
also wears off over time. This process keeps the stone-age man
reaching a point where he needs to do something to get that same
high. Addictions high-jack this process giving a ‘high’ when
carrying out the addictive behaviour and causing
uncomfortableness when fighting to not carry out the behaviour.
Over time you need to do more of the addictive behaviour to get
the same ‘high’.
A useful analogy of addiction and the associated cravings is
one of a company that wants to make positive changes. The ‘boss’
which is the part of you that is saying ‘I want to quit smoking (for
example)’ has good intentions. Beneath the boss is a ‘secretary’ that
monitors incoming messages from the body. The ‘security guard’
monitors levels of various chemicals in the body but doesn’t know
what should or shouldn’t be there, the guard just alerts the
secretary if any of the chemicals begin to go missing or reduce.
When the boss has stopped the intake of nicotine, after a
short while it starts reducing in the blood. The security guard
notices this and so he emails a message to the secretary. This
message is laced with dopamine which is a feel good chemical. The
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secretary checks on the computer and sees that the boss has said
‘no cigarettes’. So the secretary ignores the message. As the nicotine
goes down even further the security guard sends another message
laced with even more dopamine. This time the secretary does a
search on the computer for memories where nicotine has been
taken into the body, and searches for memories that are also laced
in dopamine. What the secretary discovers is that smoking has
made the boss feel good when stressed, when bored, when
socialising, etc… So the secretary sends a message to the boss laced
with even more dopamine for the boss to act on.
The negative addictive behaviour once served a purpose
People start addictive behaviour for many reasons. It could
be many things from peer pressure to experimentation. Often the
behaviour initially is only in one context, like smoking with specific
friends, or drinking with friends. One thing that all addictive
behaviours have in common is that they give you a ‘high’. It could
be a ‘high’ from doing a risky extreme sport, or a ‘high’ from taking
a specific substance.
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To start with this addictive behaviour is in your control.
The bigger the ‘highs’ the sooner the addictive behaviour takes on a
life of it’s own. Due to the way the brain works at some point when
you feel anxious or bored you will want to relieve this feeling. To
do this you turn to the most effective thing you know, which is
often the addictive behaviour. This how you begin to create a habit
for that behaviour. As long as you continue to do the addictive
behaviour your mind will get used to the levels of various
substances in your blood stream, whether these substances are
created by your mind, like endorphins, dopamine, adrenaline etc, or
whether these substances are added to your blood stream like
nicotine.
Once you stop the addictive behaviour it takes a period of
time for the chemicals in your blood to go back to normal. This
period of time can be as little as a few hours for chemicals created
internally, to a few days for chemicals like nicotine and longer for
some stronger drugs. Once the chemicals in the blood have
normalised all that is left is the habit, not the need for the
chemicals.
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The reason for turning to the addictive behaviour when you
feel anxious or bored is that it gives you pleasure, or an instant
feeling of gratification when you carry out the behaviour.
Unfortunately most addictive behaviour quickly follows with a
greater feeling of anxiety or depression as the effects of the
behaviour wear off. This means that you have to do more of the
addictive behaviour to get the same results.
Beating the addiction
To beat the addiction you need to link the addictive
behaviour with the most negative outcomes you can vividly
imagine, and not carrying out the addictive behaviour with the
most positive outcomes that you can vividly imagine. People with
addictions will always have one or more of the basic needs or
essential skills not being met, so check the lists and find
constructive ways to meet these.
Plan for times when you are most likely to give in to the
addiction, finding ways to prevent the old behaviour pattern.
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Don’t be put off by a relapse. Many people have a few
relapses before they finally completely get rid of that addictive
behaviour. When the addiction strikes it is actually only mildly
uncomfortable to ignore the urge for the addictive behaviour but it
tricks you into thinking it is worse. It also only lasts a few minutes.
Try comparing it to other things like would you prefer a nagging
toothache or this brief uncomfortableness for the addictive
behaviour? Relax, this lets you think more objectively and clearly.
To relax you could breathe in to the count of 7 and out to the
count of 11. The longer out breath triggers the relaxation response.
Regularly vividly imagine the negative outcomes had you continued
with the addictive behaviour and vividly imagine the positive
outcomes of not carrying out that behaviour, what will it be like,
what are the benefits, who else benefits, etc…
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Sleep Disorders
Sleep is fundamental to survival. Proper sleep boosts the
immune system, refreshes and revitalises you for the following day.
When you go into dream sleep the brain closes off all unfinished
emotionally aroused patterns from throughout that day. Some
people may think that they never dream or that they never sleep
but all those people do sleep and dream. Sleeping and dreaming is
so fundamental to life that without it people would die. On average
people nowadays sleep for about 20% less time each night than
people did a hundred years ago. This reduction in sleep has a
dramatic effect on health. Sleep deprivation causes many accidents
and increases the risk of psychiatric problems. Without sleep
people find it increasingly difficult to function correctly, they have
poorer memory and co-ordination skills etc…
Insomnia is probably the most common sleep disorder. It is
often caused by excessive worrying. This can make it difficult to
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relax and fall asleep. It also makes you dream too much which then
makes you wake up tired (see depression section). Stopping
worrying during the day will help to lift the insomnia. It will also
help to stop nightmares (it also will help if you reduce anxiety-see
anxiety section). Many sleep problems from night terrors (which
occur in non-dream sleep and the sufferer awakens with no
memory of the incident) to nightmares (bad dreams).
To help improve your sleep it is advisable to make sure that
you don’t have a clock near the bed that you can see as seeing how
long you are awake for can lead to worrying about it which then
makes it harder to sleep. To help you to relax and sleep at night you
can purchase a relaxation CD to focus on as you go to sleep or you
can learn to relax yourself. To relax yourself you can learn to tense
and relax your muscle groups from your head to your feet in time
with your breathing. Tensing up as you breathe in to the count of 7
then letting the muscles relax as you breathe out to the count of 11.
Then pausing briefly to get a sense of that relaxation and beginning
to get an idea of a pleasant ‘special place’ forming in your mind that
can become like a brief waiting room before you pass into sleep.
After pausing you can then move onto the next muscle group (the
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neck for example) again breathing in to the count of 7 as you tense
then out to the count of 11 as you relax, then pausing again. Doing
this each night will retrain your brain to relax when it is time to go
to sleep at night. Currently your brain will have been expecting the
night to involve worrying or distracting thoughts etc… Some
people may find that within a night or two of doing this they are
sleeping properly others may take a week or a little longer before
they regularly sleep well throughout the night.
Some tips to have the best chance of rapidly sleeping well if
you find you’re in bed for a while and still not asleep then get up
and go to a dark, cool room and sit there for 30minutes. Always
wake up early (don’t lie in). If possible don’t do shift work. Don’t
watch TV or use a computer within an hour of going to bed. Don’t
eat or drink too much within 2 hours of going to bed. Avoid
alcohol, cigarettes and other substances within 3 hours of going to
bed. Avoid going to bed drunk. Have a hot bath 30 minutes before
going to bed. Don’t exercise within 2 hours of going to bed.
Another idea you can do is attempt to stay awake for an hour
longer than the time you would’ve normally ended up falling asleep.
Do this experiment to see what happens when you try to stay
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awake later. Many sleep problems are due to excessive worry or
excessive emotional arousal. Learning to relax and be calm will help
improve the quality and quantity of sleep you get.
Drinking alcohol or taking sleeping pills to help you to
sleep is not advisable because they disrupt sleep patterns. They may
help you to get to sleep quicker but they disrupt sleep that goes on
a few hours later. This disruption upsets the balance of rapid eye
movement sleep and deep slow wave sleep. Due to receiving less
rapid eye movement sleep you don’t close off all of the emotional
arousing patterns from the day before so you get a build up of
open patterns requiring more R.E.M sleep the next night and then
more the night after that etc… This makes you feel worse during
the day and be more prone to anxiety problems as your brain is
already overloaded with emotional arousal. You are likely to also
get very emotional very quickly at almost nothing and not know
why. Deep sleep is required for healing. So with reduced deep sleep
you don’t do the required amount of healing on your body that you
need to be doing. The deep sleep is involved in keeping your
immune system charged up and in growth so both of these areas
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will also be affected so you may fall ill more frequently due to
lowered resistance to illnesses.
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Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
OCD is often linked to ritualism and addiction. It is usually
to do with anxiety or insecurity (see anxiety section). The behaviour
is often very ritualistic and if it is not carried out or the obsessive
thought is fought against then it can cause feelings of anxiousness
or uncomfortableness. Normally people with OCD have one or
more of their basic needs (see basic needs section) not being met.
When these get met it will help the OCD lift.
The most common compulsions in adults are:
• Thoughts of contamination (which can lead to
obsessive washing or cleaning)
• Doubt (E.g. Whether you have locked doors or
turned off switches)
• Thoughts of having physical symptoms
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• Symmetry (straightening pictures, lining pens up on
a desk
• Aggressive thoughts
Compulsions are usually carried out to prevent or reduce
anxiety or distress. Often it is believed the compulsive behaviour
will prevent a nasty event occurring. OCD affects not just the
person carrying out the behaviour but also those around them.
When a compulsion is carried out the person enters a trance as the
compulsion takes control. This trance can be triggered by specific
situations, thoughts, feelings or times of the day or by a heightened
level of tiredness.
To help remove the compulsion, imagine watching a screen
with someone calmly NOT carrying out the compulsive behaviour.
Notice what they look like, how relaxed they appear, how you
know they are relaxed. Notice how well everything goes before
during and after they hadn’t carried out the compulsive behaviour.
Notice what else is better for them as they continue to behave
differently. Then take a few moments to relax deeply and gently
into that person in the screen. Seeing through their eyes, hearing
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what they would hear. ‘Try on’ their behaviour and beliefs.
‘Pretend’ what it is like to be them. Enjoy the feelings. Notice how
much calmer you feel. Notice the benefits of being this way. Go to
some old familiar situations where you had carried out the
compulsive behaviour and notice the difference in how you
respond to those situations as this person. Notice how calm you
feel, how unbullied you feel to be going through the situation being
the one in control, calm and relaxed. Then imagine being this
person in some future situations when you would expect to have
carried out that old compulsive behaviour. Notice how pleasurable
it is to respond in this more desirable way. Practice this regularly. If
occasionally you still get the old compulsive feeling which can
happen for a short while as you adjust to not doing that old
behaviour do this experiment – each time you feel the need to carry
out the compulsion treble it. E.g., if you have to check everything is
locked 3 times before you leave the house then check it 9 times.
Stick to this whenever you feel the need to carry out the
compulsive behaviour.
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Anger & Stress related disorders
Anger and stress related conditions are on the increase.
They are damaging to your health. They lower the immune system,
increase the risk of heart problems and the chances of developing
cancer, interrupt sleep patterns affecting the quality and the
quantity of the sleep. They affect relationships and increase the
susceptibility to getting addictions.
Anger is useful when used to defend yourself or loved
ones. It is designed to be used for a short period of time. When
you get the strong emotion of anger or become stressed (which
happens when a situation becomes more than you can deal with)
the emotional part of the brain takes control. This then shuts down
the logical part of the brain lowering your intelligence to that of a
young child whilst at the same time shutting down the digestive
system and releasing adrenaline into the body ready to fight or run
away. The anger comes from feeling threatened and feeling the
need to defend. Situations don’t cause stress; your response to the
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situation causes the stress. The ability to objectively view situations
and see multiple viewpoints is reduced by increased stress. This
black and white/all or nothing thinking increases the likelihood of
getting angry easily. This make you think even the slightest
disagreement or ‘wrong look’ is an attack, which needs defending.
To deal with stress learn to relax. Use relaxation techniques like
guided imagery. Create a pleasant place in your mind that you can
go to whenever you need to relax. To relax get used to breathing in
to the count of 7 & out to the count of 11. This releases chemicals
into your blood that causes relaxation. Take a few moments to
work out what is under your control. If it’s not under your control
there is no point worrying about it as there is nothing you can do.
Learn to problem solve rather than worry. Think ‘what can I do to
resolve this?’ Get used to what your triggers are that caused stress
or anger. Vividly imagine being in those situations and responding
calmly & rationally then practice in your mind responding to similar
and tougher situations in the future. By doing this you train your
mind to respond in this more productive way.
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Low self-esteem, lack of confidence
Low self esteem and self confidence is something that
many people claim to suffer with. Even though many people say
that they lack confidence, really this term is too vague. Everybody
lacks confidence in certain areas of their lives. To be confident you
need to know what you are doing. If you don’t know how to drive
you wouldn’t be confident in your ability to safely drive a car across
town.
When you think about whether you lack confidence, think
about how you know that. What you will find is that you will lack
confidence only in certain areas of your life. You are likely to be
confident that the sun will rise in the morning; you are likely to be
confident that the floor will be beneath you when you get out of
bed in the morning. To have confidence you need to have
competence at what you are doing.
Low self-esteem comes from not feeling good about
yourself. This could be about your image, or about your abilities. It
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is really a judgement made by you about yourself. When someone
has low self-esteem they will often get pushed around and bullied.
They will feel worthless and feel that things are always out of their
control.
To help increase confidence you need to look at what you
know and what you feel you need to learn to make you confident
of your abilities. When someone isn’t confident public speaking,
for example, it is often because they haven’t done it before, or have
only done it a few times in the past. There is a difference between
lacking confidence at public speaking and so feeling anxious and
having a phobia for public speaking. Lacking confidence and
getting too anxious can cause the speaker to develop a phobia but a
phobia and a lack of confidence are two different things.
Ask yourself how you know that you lack confidence, what
areas of your life do you lack confidence and are these areas related
in anyway. For example, it could be that you lack confidence public
speaking and lack confidence when you are at parties and so feel
you couldn’t approach people to talk to. Both of these may be
related by the fact that they both involve talking to strangers. You
could test this by imagining situations to see if this seems plausible.
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By doing this you can work out what you really lack confidence in
rather than thinking that you lack confidence in many areas of your
life.
After you have done this you can think of things you are
confident about. Once you have thought of a few different things,
stand up; make sure you have plenty of space around you. Close
your eyes and imagine seeing a confident you standing in front of
you doing something that, that you is confident doing. It could be
that they are confident they know how to make a cup of tea, or
they are confident they can shower correctly. Just watch them
confidently carrying out that behaviour. Then have them go back
to the beginning of that behaviour and notice how you know that
they are being confident. How do they stand, talk, etc… Now step
into them and feel what it feels like to have their confidence. Hear
their confident voice in your mind, behave in their confident
manner. Spend some time in their confident situations standing in
their place and with your eyes closed imagining going through
experiences they find they are confident in.
Next imagine seeing someone you know is confident in
situations you don’t feel confident in. It could be a colleague,
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friend, film star. Whomever it is just imagine they are standing in
front of you carrying out that behaviour confidently. Watch them
and see what you can notice that makes you think they are so
confident. Watch them in past situations that you didn’t feel
confident in. See what they do differently and how things go for
them when they go through those situations. Watch them in many
past situations that you didn’t feel confident in. Then step into that
person in front of you and experience what it is like to be them in
those situations that previously you weren’t confident in. see
through their eyes, hear what they would hear and feel what they
would feel. Go through as many past situations as you can think of
experiencing what it is like to be this person in those situations.
Notice how things are different, notice what reaction this person
gets in those situations, notice what changes in those situations. Be
as observant as you can. Take your time to do this in depth.
Once you have done that go back through the situations
and imagine as this person, each situation and what the future
consequences are. What changes occur because this person acts
differently in those old situations. Take your time again to do this
fully.
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Now staying as you are, see that person in front of you,
watch them in future situations that you would have lacked
confidence in. notice as much as you can that lets you know that
they are confident in those situations. Again take your time when
doing this. See them in as many anticipated situations as you can
think of.
Now step into that person in front of you and become
absorbed in being them. See what they would see, hear what they
would hear and feel what they would feel. Go through all of those
anticipated situations as that person, experience what it is like to be
them, notice how the situations are different to how they would
normally have been expected to go. Take your time. Allow yourself
to become absorbed in the experience. Once you have been
through as many anticipated future situations as you can think of,
then imagine some of these again, only this time imagine the future
outcomes of behaving in this new way in those situations. Notice
what benefits there are to being more confident. Continue to take
your time.
Now imagine seeing yourself in front of you. Seeing a
confident you. Watch that you responding in a new confident way
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in many anticipated situations. Notice what it feels like to see
yourself being so confident. Notice how people are responding to
this new you. Once you have watched yourself experience many
anticipated situations that you previously would have lacked
confidence step forward into that new improved you, that
confident you. Experience those anticipated situations as this
confident you, seeing what you would see, hearing what you would
hear, and feeling what you would feel. Take your time to enjoy this
experience. Once you have done this hold onto this feeling of
confidence by clenching your fist gently. Now whilst holding onto
this feeling of confidence step back a few paces to where you were
in the present when you first closed your eyes. Once you are back
to the present position release the fist and open your eyes. Now
close your eyes and close your fist gently and allow the feeling of
confidence to come back to you. Spend a few moments thinking
about an upcoming situation where you want this confidence and
experience having this confidence as you go through that situation,
seeing what you will see, hearing what you will hear and feeling
what you will feel.
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It can be useful to have someone with you to help you
through the above confidence building process.
Often people that lack confidence or have low self-esteem
have a voice inside their mind that tells them negative things. This
voice is often not a very pleasant sounding voice. It says things like,
‘you are so ugly’, ‘you’re going to mess everything up’, ‘everyone
hates you’. What you need to do with the voice is to write down the
main things that the voice says in your mind. Then go through each
sentence and hear that voice speaking in a Mickey Mouse voice,
then hear it speaking in a sloooow boooooooring droooone, then
hear it speaking to you in the sexiest, most seductive voice you can
imagine. What you want to do is to take control away from the
voice and know that you are in control. You can make it sound
how you want it to sound. Pick a voice that when you hear it you
can’t take it seriously, perhaps it makes you laugh or it seems
ridiculous. Imagine a volume control in your mind that you can
turn down. Enjoy playing around with the voice, imagine it saying
everything backwards. This will all help to stop that voice having
power in the future.
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To increase self-esteem you need to increase your opinion
about yourself. Ask yourself how you know you have low self-
esteem. Write these reasons down. Now ask yourself how you
would be if you didn’t have low self-esteem, how would you know.
Answer these positively write what would be different not what you
wouldn’t be doing. For example, rather than writing ‘I wouldn’t be
embarrassed in front of people’ write ‘I would stand tall, make eye
contact, smile, etc…’
Your mind achieves what it focuses on. So if you think
about what wouldn’t happen, that is what will happen. For
example, if I said don’t think of a pink elephant, you will think of a
pink elephant. If I said think of a red horse, you would think of a
red horse and so NOT be thinking of a pink elephant.
Now with each point on your list of how you would be
different if you didn’t have low self-esteem and how you would
know, go through the process above that was used for confidence
and use that process for each point on your list. It can help to get
someone to go through the above process with you.
As well as doing the process above write down as many
good points about yourself as possible that are undeniably true.
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Again write these down positively. So rather than writing, ‘I have
got no wrinkles’ write ‘my face has a smooth clear complexion’. Do
this regularly.
Finally for self-esteem, stand up in a room with space
around you. Think of someone that loves you. If you can’t think of
anyone think of someone you know likes or respects you.
Sometimes I get a few clients that will still tell me they can’t think
of anyone. If you still can’t think of anyone then think of someone
from your past that you know loved you. Now imagine standing in
front of that person facing each other. As you look at them, get a
sense of how you know they love you. Now step to the right and
turn to face both you in the position you have stepped from and
the person that loves you. Notice from this position how you know
that the loving person loves you. Now step into the loving person
and see through their eyes looking at you. Feel what they feel
towards you. Notice from this position how you know you love
that person in front of you. Now hold onto that feeling of love and
allow your fist to gently close, take a few relaxing breaths as you
feel the love grow. Then release the fist for a few seconds, then
close the fist again gently and notice the feeling increase, then
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release the fist again. Then step back into that you in the position
you started in. And imagine as you step back into yourself that as
you turn to face the direction you were facing to start with, that a
mirror is facing you so that you see yourself in front of you. Now
as you look at yourself allow the fist to close gently and feel the
love grow and notice how with the power of your breathing gently
and slowly you can release that fist whilst holding onto that feeling
of love for the person in the mirror.
Now open your eyes when you are done and go to a real
mirror and spend time practicing holding onto that love whilst
looking at yourself.
To keep a raised self-esteem it is important to check the
basic needs list to ensure that all the needs are being met healthily.
If any aren’t then work on finding ways to meet those needs. Some
people lack self-esteem or confidence because they have unrealistic
expectations and believe too much is in their control. Check this
out also. Think about what you expect and whether things really are
within your control. If something isn’t in your control then relax
and let the control rest in the appropriate places. One of the most
important essential skills is to accept that the only certainty in life is
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uncertainty. Remember you don’t have to know everything
perfectly before doing things. Not everything is black and white,
notice the greys. If you make mistakes you learn lessons. Every
entrepreneur says that mistakes are vital to success. If babies quit or
didn’t try things for fear of making mistakes then no baby would
ever learn to walk or talk. Babies fall down hundreds of times
before they can finally walk.
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Pain management
There are three different components to pain. There is
future anticipated pain, that is the pain you expect to experience in
the future, there is past remembered pain, when you look back you
remember the pain you have had, and there is the current pain in
the here and now. When you experience pain it gets made worse by
your knowledge of how much it hurt in the past, because you are
thinking about the pain, and worsened by your anticipation for
more pain to come. Some of this pain can be alleviated just by
having a knowledge that the pain will end. This unfortunately
doesn’t happen to those with chronic pain.
It is important that pain is checked out medically. Pain is a
signal. It is there for a reason. It is telling you to protect the part
that hurts. In different circumstances this signal can mean different
things. If you got mugged or attacked and the pain came from that
it will mean, and feel different to if the pain was the result of a life
saving operation.
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To begin to reduce the pain you need to know some
information about it. You need to know when it is worse, and
when it feels more comfortable. You need to know exactly where it
hurts. When people describe pain they often generalise the area that
hurts. It could just hurt on the elbow but they will say it hurts their
arm. This might seem like a trivial point but if the person says that
it hurts their arm then they are likely to experience more pain than
if they narrow down the area to just the elbow, or to the back of
the elbow. Often pain can also carry an emotional component. It
can affect your basic needs. It could be that it stops you from
sleeping through the night. Or it could stop you being able to do
physical activities. It is important to recognise needs that need to
be met because if you begin to feel low or depressed, whether
independently from the pain or because of the pain, serotonin will
be lower in your blood. Serotonin reduces the pain signal, so if you
are depressed pain will hurt far more.
Pain is a trance state. It focuses your full attention onto it
making you very aware of how much it hurts; you then begin to
describe the pain to yourself in words that have painful
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connotations, like sharp, stabbing, and burning. This also increases
the pain.
There are many ways to reduce pain. Everyone has had an
experience where they cut themselves but don’t notice it straight
away because they are busy, and it doesn’t start to hurt until you
notice it. Like when you are chopping vegetables or salad and only
notice you have cut yourself and feel the pain when you see the
blood.
To reduce pain you can start by renaming it perhaps as
discomfort. This helps because it is a softer word and contains the
word comfort which feels nice. All of these techniques and ideas
work well for children as well as adults. You can grade the pain out
of ten. This instantly gives the pain a boundary. You can then
check as that pain lowers. Begin to describe the pain as a separate
entity as if it isn’t a part of you. Saying ‘that pain’ instead of ‘the
pain’.
There are a number of useful techniques involving
dissociation to reduce and remove pain. One good way to
dissociate is to visualise the pain. Visualise where it is and what it
might look like, what colour it would be, what shape, what size.
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Imagine moving that image to another place, then imagine
changing the shape of it, changing its colour to a colour you find
calming, imagine shrinking it down and imagine moving it outside
of your body and watching it move further away and being trapped
somewhere, perhaps in a room or to the floor or falling down a
drain.
Another visualisation technique is to imagine a bright white
light that wraps around the pain and shrinks down to smaller than a
pea, then moves outside of your body, falls to the floor and rolls
away. A useful visualisation technique for migraines is to imagine
the size, shape, colour and texture of the pain. Then imagine
smoothing out that shape and imagine cutting a corner off of the
shape. Then tilt your head so that the liquid inside the shape can
fall out from the cut corner. Once all of the liquid has fallen out
you can imagine rolling the shape up to squeeze out the last of the
liquid like squeezing out the last of the toothpaste in a tube. Then
imagine what is left dissolving and relaxing your muscles in your
head and all the blood vessels.
If the pain is caused from eating ice cream or other cold
food then lick the roof of your mouth with your tongue. The
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reason for this is that when you eat cold food it makes the blood
vessels that run along the roof of your mouth and up to your brain
constrict. This causes a headache. If you lick the roof of your
mouth you warm up the vessels and quickly get pain relief.
Sometimes it is useful to keep a sensation in place of the
pain. It could be a tingling or another sensation. This can be useful
with pain associated with pregnancy when it is important to
maintain awareness for the life growing inside of you. You can use
similar techniques to those described above just replacing the pain
with another sensation. You can use self-hypnosis to practice.
Sometimes it can be useful to use self-hypnosis to practice this if
you want to reduce the actual pain of child birth. If you are doing
this make sure that you tell yourself that if there are any
complications during birth your body can give you a sign by
changing the feeling back to pain. You can also use the self-
hypnosis to mentally rehearse the child birth going comfortably.
My favourite form of pain control is to pretend to take
strong pain killers. This works because your brain operates by
pattern matching. If it has taken pain killers that work well in the
past it will remember how those pain killers work. If you can carry
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out enough of the pattern to trigger the unconscious process it will
give you the same relief as the real tablets. For example, imagine
putting the tablets into your hand. Imagine putting those tablets
into your mouth and swallowing them down with water. Then just
wait for them to start working. The advantages to this approach are
that if you need more relief you can take a few more imaginary
pills. I find this technique easy to do and highly effective. It works
similar to placebos (fake medication the recipient believes is real).
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Self Hypnosis
This section is written for individuals wanting a number of
techniques to be able to do or teach self-hypnosis on themselves or
with clients.
Self-hypnosis is useful for a number of reasons. Many other
books written about psychological problems ignore hypnosis
despite knowing that all psychological problems are faulty pattern
matching and that hypnosis is the only way to quickly and
successfully access the rapid eye movement (R.E.M) state which is
the state of mind that people enter to alter and update patterns in
the brain.
Regardless of the therapy, when a client eventually changes
and no longer has their problem they went into the R.E.M state
and updated their programming. This is the case whether the
person was in therapy for one session or twenty five years. That is
the advantage of hypnosis, because you can help the client to enter
that state in the first session in a controlled way rather than having
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them enter a trance state in an uncontrolled way. People enter
trance every ninety minutes or so continuously both day and night
to update patterns in the brain automatically.
Hypnosis has always been controversial and
misunderstood. Most people don’t realise that everyone is going in
and out of trance states continuously. Most therapists don’t realise
that they continually hypnotise people during therapy sessions
whether they mean to or not.
If a therapist asks a client to think back to a specific event,
the client has to go into a light trance to do that. Many therapists
do ‘bad’ hypnosis. Not on purpose, they just don’t realise the effect
they are having on people. Often these therapists would scoff at
the idea that they do hypnosis. When a therapist asks clients to
think about negative events repeatedly and to talk about these
events the client will be entering a light trance and will be
strengthening the patterns for the problem.
Many therapists and Doctors inadvertently make clients and
patients get worse by giving bad suggestions while the client is in a
light trance state. That is why it is useful to learn self-hypnosis. If
you know self-hypnosis you can have control of your own brain. If
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someone then tries to do ‘bad’ hypnosis on you, you can go into a
trance state and reprogram your own mind how you want it. You
will also be able to increase the speed with which you can be
healed.
With self hypnosis it is possible to train yourself to
accelerate healing, reduce pain, undo habits and addictions like
smoking and drinking, and many more things.
This chapter will include self-hypnosis techniques for you
to learn. It is useful to practice these techniques or those that you
feel most comfortable using often. By using self-hypnosis often you
will begin to be able to reduce stress and increase well-being.
Inductions
3 things
• Focus on spot somewhere in front of you perhaps on a wall
• Notice 3 things you can see, hear and feel and say these things
to yourself, like saying ‘I can see…, I can hear…, I can feel…’
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• Then close your eyes and do the same, saying to yourself 3
things you can see, hear and feel
• Then open your eyes and do the same again
• Continue this until it is too much effort to open your eyes
• When it is then let your eyes remain closed and go to a special
place in your mind
• From this special place you can imagine what changes you want
to occur or what you want to gain from the experience whether
it is just relaxation or imagining seeing through your own eyes,
hearing what you would hear and feeling what you would feel
to be in a position of achieving what you hope to achieve.
Remember to make this positive stating what you want not
what you don’t want.
• Make the experience time-limited by stating to yourself how
long you want to be in trance for and that you want your
unconscious to make all the necessary and appropriate changes
to support you in achieving what it is that you want.
3 things (different)
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• Focus on a spot in front of you
• Notice 3 things you can see, hear and feel
• Then notice 3 different things you can see, hear and feel
• Keep noticing different things for each sense until you feel the
eyes want to shut by themselves
• When they do continue this in your mind until you are in a
pleasant deep trance
• Let your mind wander to somewhere pleasant
• Make the experience time-limited by stating to yourself how
long you want to be in trance for and that you want your
unconscious to make all the necessary and appropriate changes
to support you in achieving what it is that you want.
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Tensing Body Parts
• Notice your body parts as you tense and relax them while your
eyes are closed as you let your mind wander to a special place
• Start by tensing your feet, then relaxing them, then tensing your
calf muscles and relaxing them
• Work up through each body part slowly to your head
• As you work through the body parts breathe slowly and deeply
• Make the experience time-limited by stating to yourself how
long you want to be in trance for and that you want your
unconscious to make all the necessary and appropriate changes
to support you in achieving what it is that you want
Stair case induction
• Imagine walking down a staircase from step 1 to 20
• Time each step with your out breaths
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• Breathe in slowly to the count of 7 then as you breathe out to
the count of 11 step down a step
• Pause briefly then breathe in again and follow the same process
• Going down the steps one breath at a time
• Imagine at the bottom of the steps is a door to a special place
where the change work or relaxation can occur
• Make the experience time-limited by stating to yourself how
long you want to be in trance for and that you want your
unconscious to make all the necessary and appropriate changes
to support you in achieving what it is that you want
Mirror Induction
• Look at yourself in a mirror and hypnotise that mirror you
• Say what you see. Start by saying ‘as you sit there looking at me
just allow your shoulders to relax’
• Then follow your instructions by relaxing your shoulders
• Then give yourself further suggestions until your eyes just want
to shut
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• Suggest that you can go deeper with each breath you take and
with the spaces between the words
• Then as the eyes begin to want to close suggest that you can go
to a special place in your mind where all the necessary changes
can occur at an unconscious level
• Make the experience time-limited by stating to yourself how
long you want to be in trance for and that you want your
unconscious to make all the necessary and appropriate changes
to support you in achieving what it is that you want
Open eyes/close eyes
• Count from 1 to 3 then close your eyes
• Then breathe in deeply
• Then count from 3 to 1 then open eyes
• Then take a long breath out
• Continue this counting from 1 to 3 then closing your eyes, then
breathing in deeply, then counting from 3 to 1 then opening
your eyes, then taking a long breath out, until eyes stay shut
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• Then allow your mind to wander and drift and dream to a
special place
• Make the experience time-limited by stating to yourself how
long you want to be in trance for and that you want your
unconscious to make all the necessary and appropriate changes
to support you in achieving what it is that you want
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Introduction to Part Three Collected Works
The collected works is a set of two books that make up
parts 3 and 4 of my ‘Becoming a Brief Therapist’ Series. The aim of
these books is to give more of an insight into my thinking and how
I personally do therapy. Part one taught an underpinning to doing
effective brief therapy, part two taught the actual ‘doing’ of therapy,
parts three and four go into answering questions that have been
posed to me over the years; questions relating to more fringe based
areas of therapy from the use of energy therapies like Emotional
Freedom Technique to past life regression and future progression,
to delving more into cellular healing and what research and
information is available out there.
Much of the ‘collected works’ is edited from posts over the
years in response to questions on forums and groups on the
internet. Throughout the collected works you will find my answers
to different situations that therapists find themselves in; like how to
treat specific problems and difficult clients.
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It is assumed throughout these collected works that you
have a working knowledge and understanding of terms I use and
techniques described. All of these are covered in the first two
books. The aim here is to expand in a more free-form manner the
information that you already know by giving examples and
situations and ideas for thought.
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The Importance of Keeping the Problem in Mind
I think giving a space where the problem is on the mind
(every time a memory gets recalled it gets altered based on the state
of mind etc that the person is in when they recall that memory) and
then kept in mind as it is altered is a key to effective therapy.
The VK Technique/Rewind Technique involves keeping
the memory in mind as it is being manipulated. I do many
techniques with representations of the memory/problem in mind
being manipulated. Many of the NLP techniques need the problem
to be in mind for them to work.
Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) involves the
memory being kept in mind as the tapping takes place. I think if
someone else is there it can externalise it (creating disassociation)
whilst that person can also influence it whether it is with something
to do with their presence (like a sense of being loved, or supported,
or being made to laugh etc) or to do with what they comment on
and what those comments are (like saying 'that’s right' every time
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the persons mind wanders from pain, or every time an internal
change in state occurs etc).
I think some of the less successful forms of therapy are
where the therapist has a belief (for example that the cause of the
problem isn't what it is) and so they take therapy away from the
actual problem and associations to that problem down a line of
questioning that may sound logical or plausible but really isn't
correct and so the areas on the mind aren't relating to the actual
problem so healing doesn't occur so effectively
To do good therapy you need to access the problem to
work on it. Problems are state-bound so you need to access it so
that it can be worked with. You also want to have a marker for the
end of therapy so you can scale the problem 1-10 at the beginning
when you have evoked the symptom, and then scale 1-10 when you
try to evoke the symptom at the end of the session and the client
finds it isn't there, or it is greatly reduced. If you didn't access it at
the start they wouldn't have a reference point and you wouldn't
have anything to work with.
Evoking a symptom can annoy people so can doing
paradoxical task setting like telling people to stay awake all night if
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they aren't asleep twenty minutes after going to bed. So you need to
give some explanation or exploratory context (with the sleep thing
it could be doing an experiment to learn more about the nature of
the problem etc)
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Gestures and Internal Reality
People describe a lot as if it is all in the world around them.
They will use gestures, they will look at things that aren't there, they
will point at things or mark things out etc...There was an interesting
book by Geoffrey Beattie on gestures based on the first UK Big
Brother show. Due to have 24hr footage for each day they could
check observations of gestures and what was being talked about in
a wider context and they could check back over footage and watch
the footage over the coming weeks (in relation to what was talked
about).
If you watch people’s hands and gestures and physiology
you will notice that they use all of these non-verbal cues acting out
in the real world what is going on internally. These messages can be
watched for congruence. They can be watched to see if they match
what the person is saying or not. If they don’t then this could be
worth investigating further. Many times they convey a metaphor of
what is being discussed, either matching the words or adding extra
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information to compliment the words. For example someone may
say they have to get things in order whilst making a gesture as if
marking out a row of slides one after the other. Or they may talk
about bringing what they have learnt together whilst making a
gesture as if gathering something up with their hands and putting it
all into a ball.
If someone rubs their neck while talking about a partner
that is 'a pain in the neck' the rubbing the neck is a metaphor non
verbally portrayed, as 'pain in the neck' metaphor.
Likewise if someone digs there heals into the ground as you
talk to them about changing people say 'they were digging there
heals in they didn't really want to change' so they non-verbal is
conveying this metaphor...
Working with parents I have watched them talk about their
child whilst doing wringing actions with their hands ('wring his
neck')
There are many such metaphors that can be observed
played out using nonverbal communication
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If you imagine that you are in the clients’ internal reality
then you can interact with it, another technique you can use is
spatial anchoring. I know Richard Bandler likes doing spatial
anchoring. This is where you mark out different anchors in the
space around you. For example if you do this with a group it could
be that every time you say or do something you know will make
people laugh you gesture with the right hand out in front of you at
shoulder height; then when you create a state in the audience of
curiosity you gesture with the right hand at waist height; then
perhaps you talk about learning effectively and you gesture up by
your head, etc...
As long as you know what gesture is for what response you
can then use these gestures to make the person re-enter that state.
So if you want them to access a state of curiosity later in the lecture
you set of the curiosity anchor. If you want them to access humour
you set of this anchor, if you want them to learn something easier
then set off this anchor.
Richard Bandler will also push people's pictures forwards
when talking about associating or getting a closer look, and gesture
moving pictures away when making things more distant or
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disassociating. He often mentions the importance of being in the
clients world and interacting with it congruently. By that I mean
that if you want a client to look at a hallucinated TV screen then
you look at it as well. If you want the client to see something closer
then gesture moving it closer.
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Erickson’s Early Learning Set
One of the main reasons that Milton Erickson used the
early learning set is because it triggers state dependant memory
learning and behaviour. In therapy he would want to have the client
in a state of mind where they can learn effectively to implement the
therapy.
Research has shown that if someone is asked to think about
old people they move slower, think about young people they move
faster, think about depression they feel move down, think about
happiness they feel more happy. If a therapist talks about family
relationships the client thinks about their own family relationships.
Erickson would often discuss learning, how you don't
remember how you learnt but you have the results so obviously
you did learn, he would go into detail (demonstrating how much
was actually learnt) and he would want to provoke this mental set
in the client. If this gets provoked then the client will be in a mental
set where mistakes are a part of learning (like falling over hundreds
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of times before finally walking correctly), where complex tasks can
be integrated into who they are and can become something that
goes on outside of awareness once learnt, the person will only really
be aware of the results.
I think often it is a metaphor but at the same time a part of
the mind would understand what is being said as what it would
have gone through to get to where it is and talk of an experience
could trigger an understanding of many other times learning in a
similar way occurred, so they would still access a learning set. If it is
for later learning’s like tying shoe laces then they may get age
regression as they are likely to have actual structured memories of
this (structured in the sense that they are likely to have formed a
sense of time, of past, present and future).
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Hypnosis & Trance
I am fascinated with 'designer trances' that all emotional
states are trance states and that as everything has a level of emotion
in it everything has a level of trance involved. I believe that you can
mix different trance states to create new states (like mixing jelly
belly beans to get different flavours, or mixing cocktails). I use
musical rhythms etc to create altered states and by starting one
trance then adding another I create designer trances. This is what I
do in many of my audio tracks with music (I'll even put in nursery
rhymes etc as these cause trance states). Because everything has a
trance element the problem is the easiest thing to use to hypnotise
someone. I remember being told on a course many years ago that if
you want to hypnotise a smoker ask them to describe smoking and
they will enter a 'smoking trance'.
My view on hypnosis is also that hypnosis is actually the art
of inducing different trance states not the induction of one state.
And that hypnosis is just the term given to the advanced
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communication skills used for doing this. My opinion is that the
classical 'hypnotic' trance state is actually where a person has been
guided into a 'peak learning state' where they are able to learn new
information (updating old patterns) or learn greater control over
themselves (like over unconscious processes etc). Hypnotic
techniques can also be used to induce relaxation, anger, confusion,
fear, pain, love, sadness, desire, etc...
Because you can induce all of these different states having
the 'state vs. non state' argument to me seems nonexistent as it
seems like an argument over something that is in effect nothing but
a collection of advanced communication skills techniques on the
part of the therapist (or in the case of self hypnosis someone being
skilled enough to induce a desired state of mind without external
intervention). I think when it is induced indirectly it is hard to think
of the induced state and any hypnotic behaviours as being 'acted' if
the person didn't know they were being hypnotised or what is
being expected of them. Whereas when it is induced directly and
they are told what to do some people may fake it really well.
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The brain is essentially a pattern matching machine for
survival. These patterns can be added to and updated all of the
time.
This process happens all of the time, if you have a phobia
you see something which sets off a feeling of fear (often making
you run or freeze before you think what you are doing) then you
start to think.
ALL hypnotic language patterns (I'll call all things that can
be done or used to induce hypnosis in that definition verbal and
non-verbal) are recognised by the brain unconsciously and the
pattern is understood leading to a response (If the pattern isn't
understood there is no response) So in effect you are able to create
responses with the person essentially in any state, not confined to a
'hypnotic' state. But unlike most arguments for the non state idea
the person has no idea why the response happened, it wasn't
expected of them so they had no idea to play along consciously...it
just happened.
I believe that trance states exist. My definition of a trance
state is a fixed state of attention on a stimulus that defines your
behaviour in a way that will aim to maintain that state (I also
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believe that a complete lack of attention like in meditation is also a
trance state because (if it makes sense) they are focusing on having
no fixed attention)
You get many natural trances (including what could be
termed a hypnotic trance) Anger is a trance state, so is love or
relaxation etc... I believe that the stronger the emotion generated
the deeper (as it were) the trance is because it is harder to break
free from it and overcome it. Recent research (for more
information visit www.humangivens.com) shows that a 'hypnotic'
trance is an accessing of the REM state. This is the state of mind
we enter to update patterns of behaviour. This doesn't mean it is
necessary to put someone in that state to get phenomena though, it
is just the state we update patterns and learn in.
ALL 'inductions' use processes that cause this state of
mind. Shock or confusion trigger the re-orientation response which
is the REM state to lock on and learn how it should respond to this
unknown situation, Relaxation, guided imagery etc are all parts of
going into the REM state. As is getting the eyes to move side to
side.
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I see it as a selection of natural processes that are being
utilised. The hypnotic state is good for updating patterns of
behaviour so it is a state, but recognising patterns and responding
to them is non state specific.
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Emotional Trance States
From studying Cults:
One of the main influences I see is 'anchoring' of emotional
trance states that are 'deepened' over time. The activating agent
being the church (or whatever it happens to be), pattern matching
to a powerful emotion that all decisions are made from (the
thoughts). It happens with love (strong trance state, sometimes bad
or at least biased decisions), Anger (one sided biased often bad
decisions), Depression (again a specific thinking style leading to
specific decisions and views).
I believe that different emotional states/trance states have
different thought processes, different levels of
association/disassociation and different levels of
conscious/unconscious involvement. And obviously the
conscious/unconscious 'speak' different languages so the level of
involvement can be altered by talking in a way that is aimed more at
one than the other increasing its dominance. My description of
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hypnosis being advanced communication skills is that it is using
skills known to communicate purposefully with both parts of a
person not just haphazardly or only to the conscious mind. This
allows us to alter states easier than someone without hypnosis
skills. I remember Steve Brooks once saying 'Telling someone to
laugh and having them try to laugh isn't the same as making them
laugh...'
Emotional states are trance states and many problems have
trance components that fix attention and keep it locked in place. As
soon as you ask someone to describe their problem or have them
experience it at all they are in a trance. What you want is to be a
part of the experience to the extent that you want them to respond
to you not just be in their own world excluding all reality including
the therapist. If you alter your voice etc as they 'go inside' then you
can be more in the background but still there and allow them to go
into their experience. There are times you may not want them in
their experience, so you want to be involved to guide them
comfortably out of it if necessary.
As you get used to recognising what someone in a trance
looks like you will have to do less work to induce it because you
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will see when it spontaneously develops. I remember someone
telling me many years ago that if I want to put a smoker (for
example) in a trance just ask them to tell me about smoking and
they will go inside and recall the unconscious habit and go into the
same state as when they smoke (a bit like people go back into the
same state of trance when they carry out post hypnotic behaviour)
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Psychoneuroimmunology & the work of Dr Ernest Rossi
I really like Rossi's approach. Many hypnotherapists use
ideo-motor responses as signals to let them know what is going on.
Rossi has just gone one stage further and uses ideo-motor
responses and observation skills to track what the client is doing.
He trusts that the client has the relevant resources in most cases to
heal themselves. If after doing this process or a version of it if the
person needed to do some talking then he would have them talk
and would often suggest they can tell him what he needs to know
to help them further.
There is considerable research referenced in Rossi's work
about the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system and
cellular healing, and about research into gene expression and
healing at the genetic level.
Ernest Rossi's work is all about information transduction
and State Dependant Memory Learning and Behaviour (SDMLB).
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His way of working based on his research into the subject is
to recall the problem and be very specific in this so that you will be
dealing with as pure a form of that memory as possible.
Memory is fluid so every time you recall memories you alter
them even if you don't me to.
Ernest Rossi would ask if the clients unconscious is willing
to work on the problem and would make this question contingent
on something observable happening (arms moving, eyes closing
etc) if it is willing. He would then let whatever comes up come up
and would just respond acknowledging minimal cues that he
observes; this could be the client working through difficult
memories that have led to their immune system working less
efficiently than normal etc. Then when the work is done another
signal is given, it could be that all signals stop or a feeling the client
gets or opening the eyes etc.
He will grade the problem at the start of a session and at
the end so that the client can notice the difference in score pre and
post therapy.
His work into information transduction builds on work of
others that have gone before him and others that are currently
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carrying out research in this area. The idea is that information
transforms as it passes from place to place, rather than energy
being passed from place to place. For example: Electrical impulses
in the brain (that carry certain meaning) pass this on to creating
chemical processes (knowing exactly which chemicals to create)
and this could pass on to create hormonal processes and on to alter
cells, creating cellular changes, then in the cells those changes can
lead to specific genetic changes etc.
Ernest is working considerably on finding out how the
placebo response or natural healing response can be triggered on
purpose and demonstrated scientifically without necessarily
requiring a set of beliefs or Doctors having to trick patients.
There are many cases of people believing so strongly in a
treatment that even if it is a useless treatment it has still worked.
In The Psychobiology of Mind Body Healing by Rossi
there is a story of a man that begged his Doctor to let him go on a
drug trial. He didn't meet the criteria because the criteria included
the person being expected to live at least three months. This person
was given days at most. The Doctor gave in and decided that as he
will be dead in days someone else can carry on from him when he
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dies and he won't have had too many of the drugs allocated for the
trial. This man was on a respirator, was bed bound and was
untreatable. The Doctor gave him the first pill on the Friday
afternoon and came back in on the Monday morning to find the
patient walking around all happy and cheerful; his cancer had
reduced by around 50%. Within a few weeks he was discharged
from hospital. A few months later it was in the news that the drug
didn't work.
The patient suddenly went very downhill and his cancer
came back more aggressively and quickly that it had gone. The
Doctor noticed what had happened and so decided to lie to the
patient and told him that a stronger strain of treatment is being
shipped in which has gone the problems ironed out, he said it was
due-in in a few days (building expectancy). When he gave the
patient this 'new' drug (just a placebo) the patient got better twice
as quickly as previously. Many months later it was in the news that
the drug trials had finished and the findings had been collated and
the drug has been found to not work at all. The patient fell ill again
and died within 48hrs of this news.
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Other research Ernest is looking into is that despite the
problem and the cause the underlying physiological response is the
same whether it is stress, depression, anxiety, cancer, aids etc. This
was called the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS). It was first
noticed and researched in the 1940's and 1950's. Research still
continues and theories have been updated to include things like
how messenger molecules work and State Dependant Memory
Learning and Behaviour (SDMLB).
As well as Psychoneuroimmunology there is also the field
of Psychoneuroendocrinology
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychoneuroendocrinology) that
people could look at as the two fields are related and useful to
know about.
I have been fascinated by Ernest's work for some time; he
has done and continues to do considerable work in this area and in
looking at how people can access a self healing state themselves.
A really good starting article into his work can be found at:
http://www.ernestrossi.com/Yucel.htm
That should give good grounding and ideas in and around
this fascinating subject.
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If you are doing trance work or want a greater
understanding of spontaneous trance state, knowing about
ultradian rhythms is useful.
Releasing past stressful experiences to aid cellular healing.
Experiences are encoded in the brain through state
dependant memory learning and behaviour (SDMLB) when you
have stressful experiences that gets encoded in the mind and body.
Stress affects each cell in the body and brain. If it is intense stress
or prolonged stress is can have a lasting effect. As it is
programmed-in in a state dependant way to remove its effects you
need to access the actual state again and re-process it in a more
useful manner.
It could be high stress memories that need to be re-
accessed and dealt with or memories that gave poor hypnotic
suggestions (like a parent telling the child they are always sick etc).
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My opinion is that in the same way our upbringing clearly
influences who we are as a person psychologically, I believe it also
influences our mind-body in the same way.
For example; a person can be depressed and you can see
they are depressed. If the person was amnesic for the stresses that
could have led to being depressed and they seemed fine on the
surface the unconscious would still know about those things and
may well still have them sitting there needing dealing with (they
would be out of conscious awareness until the person is in the
same state the memories where laid down in).
I believe you are giving the unconscious a chance to take
each relevant memory, sort them out and place them back in a
more appropriate location.
As stress reduces the ability of the immune system then
dealing with stress will allow the immune system to get back to its
correct potential.
Here is a link to some information on state dependant
learning:
http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O87-statedependentmemory.html
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Follow the link then read down the page and check out the other
links also as they are useful to.
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Understanding Energy Therapies
EFT has a long history including acupuncture, acupressure
and TFT (Thought Field Therapy).
Recent research seems to point at it triggering the reorientation
response and the REM state where twitches occur naturally. Joe
Griffin (founder of The Human Givens Approach) found that the
same results could be achieved by twitching fingers or by tapping
on different points whilst thinking about the problem (which then
also causes dissociation, so all together causes the memory to now
be remembered in a new way).
The thinking was if something seems to work let’s find out
how. The same was done with the Fast Phobia Cure, which was
researched and adapted based on the findings to create what
became the Rewind Technique in the Human Givens Approach
(main difference is that you don't go up into a projection booth you
go off to beside the screen, this way you can't see the screen even
accidently as you are not in the right place to be able to do so. If
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you were in the projection booth you may accidently glance up and
notice the screen and then may re-associate with what is on the
screen)
Regarding EFT, a couple of years ago I read early research
by the European therapies studies institute that showed that EFT
and TFT tapping triggered the reorientation response (as does
hypnosis and it is also in dreaming etc), the techniques also
involved dissociation. It didn't matter what tapping was done or
where, and if the tapping was just imagined it was like a hypnotic
visualisation induction.
The techniques worked by triggering the learning state that
is also triggered by hypnosis and is entered in dreaming as a way of
updating patterns, then the dissociation at the same time recodes
the memory reducing the problem by taking out the emotional
content as the memory gets altered.
Memories aren't fixed, each time they are recalled they
change slightly depending on the recall, what part of the memory is
recalled and how; which is good to know when doing therapy as it
means things can change.
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Energy Therapies and Guided Imagery
I’ve had over fifteen years of experience with guided
imagery, ten years with acupressure, and around seven years
experience studying EFT. Over the years these ancient arts have
evolved and adapted to changes in culture and in the needs of the
users. Over the thousands of years that guided imagery and energy
therapies have been around they have gradually drifted apart.
Recently they have started to reunite.
Recent research has shown that the mind can control the
flow of energy around the body
There are many energy therapies around today all with
common ancestry and similar theoretical background. These
therapies all have many points in common; the main one being that
the idea is to re-balance the flow of energy around the body.
The most common of the ancient energy therapies is
Acupuncture, where needles are used to unblock energy paths to
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relieve psychological and physiological ailments. More recently
there was Acupressure then over the last 25 or so years Thought
Field Therapy (TFT) and Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT)
have come about.
All of these energy therapies involve touching the client,
with acupuncture involving putting needles into the skin at certain
points, then acupressure involving applying pressure to specific
acupuncture points, then TFT and EFT involving tapping a
number of times on acupuncture points in specific sequences for
different ailments.
All of these have shown a level of success when used and in
many cases they have shown rapid and long lasting results. The
interesting thing is that there is no need to tap or touch the body at
all. A number of therapists over the last few years have had clients
that for one reason or another couldn’t be touched. For example
because of previous abuse so they didn’t feel comfortable being
touched until they were cured, or in cases with clients that have
burns or other injuries in the location required for tapping.
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These therapists still wanted to help their clients so a
number of them decided to experiment with getting their clients to
imagine tapping on the relevant points. To the surprise of the
therapists the results were equally as good as with real tapping.
The mind and body and the energy systems of the body are
all intrinsically connected. For example; if you think of something
amusing you can find yourself begin to laugh, so your thoughts
caused a physical response. The same seems to apply with the
energy flow around your body, as you think about tapping on
specific relevant points on your body you create a physical change
as if you really were tapping on those points.
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Working with Ideo-Dynamics
You get a range of different classes of Ideo-dynamic
responses
• Ideo-sensory: A sensation that can be noticed by the client
• Ideo-cognitions: Thoughts or images coming to the clients
mind
• Ideo-affective: The client experiencing feelings
• Ideo-motor: The client experiencing an automatic
movement
If I want to notice a response in a client but also want to
give the client wider choice I'll ask for clear signals I can notice and
then pay attention. Or if I want to offer even greater freedom I will
ask the client to tell me when the unconscious give a signal for yes
and to tell me what it is, and the same with no.
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This way the client is a bit more involved and so it isn't
appropriate for all situations but some clients will happily say it’s a
feeling in their stomach, or a shiver, or a warmth in a hand or foot
(ideo-sensory) or a voice in their mind or a word or an image in
their mind etc (ideo-cognitions), or a feeling of comfort, anger,
sadness, happiness etc (ideo-affective), or a movement in the toe,
finger, twitch in the face, twitch in the leg etc (ideo-motor)
When using parts for therapeutic interventions often
feelings can be used, where you can ask for different parts to be
there and establish with the client what those parts are and how
they are expressing themselves (I'm a strong believer in allowing
self expression) and have people notice the sensations as the parts
integrate into the new learning/understanding/resolution etc...And
they can tell you when this is done.
Ideo-motor movement could be done in a similar way with
(for example) a hand representing the problem, and a hand
representing the clients resources and have them move (self
expression again) until resolution is found and the problem and
resources have integrated into something new.
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The above is using these responses in an open way rather
than yes/no.
When I have asked people to notice a signal that means yes
and a signal that means no and to let me know what they are it
works in the same way as finger signals except if it is something
you can't see you wait for the client to get the answer from their
unconscious then they give you the answer verbally.
Often when you are being observant they don't need to
give you the answer verbally as you will notice the ideo-motor
movement of the head nodding or shaking as the thought begins to
seep through just before they answer.
So in effect you will still be reading ideo-motor signals but
you have set up (in a way that suits the client) a yes/no signal set
that the signal will come from. If for example it was warmth in the
left hand for yes and right hand for no when the answer comes
through you will notice a hand getting slightly more red, then you
notice a fraction of a second later a slight movement of the head
yes or no, then movements associated with being about to speak,
then they tell you.
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Hopefully all of this will be congruent, but if it isn't the
chances are the bit that isn't would be the conscious verbal answer.
Over the years I've not really noticed any one type of
response to be better than any other except that sometimes people
do things too consciously and seem too consciously involved and if
you are time limited it is easier to have a yes signal without saying
what it is to be and watch for it and the same with the no, so that
they don't just lift the finger consciously because you were setting
up finger signals and they knew that and so thought that would be
what you would want.
I like minimal input in words, just getting agreement from
the unconscious and observing signals as the unconscious does the
work (videos of Ernest Rossi doing this are very good and
informative), then a signal to say the work is either finished or is
now at a point it can continue all by itself.
There are many techniques and schools of therapy that use
these other responses, like various 'parts' techniques and therapies
where the client may be ask to call up a part and wait for the
response and the say what that response is/where that part is - like
a feeling in the stomach, or tingling in an arm etc...
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Subliminal Auditory Stimulation
What is it?
Milton Erickson discovered that he could influence people
by matching then leading people's breathing patterns. He called this
Subliminal Auditory Stimulation. From his studies into this he
developed this as an important part of the way he worked...
It is interesting how using this once rapport has been built
you can create thoughts and words in others that they think they
came up with themselves.
I have often wondered how many apparent psychic
examples can be attributed to this process, either done with intent
or done without the operators knowledge.
It is a two-way process.
If you go with it you can let messages come through from
the other person, especially if you allow a trance to develop first. So
what you would be doing is effectively having the client breathe
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what is in their mind and you begin to breathe the same, rather
than you initiating it by breathing something for them to pick up
on.
Back in the 1960’s Erickson wrote a report on experiments
he carried out on influencing people just by breathing.
He termed this ‘Subliminal Auditory Stimulation’
Milton Erickson would sit next to, or in view of the person
he wanted to manipulate. He would then breathe the same as them
for a while before changing his breathing. This change in breathing
would then also happen in the subject. He tested this by triggering
stuttering, yawning and humming or singing songs.
Over the years Milton Erickson refined his ability to
influence people with his breathing technique. He would use it to
hypnotise people, to make people fall asleep and to influence what
thoughts people have.
Since the 1990’s when I found out about the work of
Milton Erickson I have used ‘Subliminal Auditory Stimulation’ to
influence others. I have used it in Business Meetings to get others
thinking what I want them to say, I have used it in meetings and on
public situations to make people fall asleep, I have used it in
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childcare to get children to sleep, in therapy to influence my clients
decisions and I have used it regularly to induce a hypnotic trance in
people.
So far, despite having success on many occasions at using
this technique I don’t know of anyone that has carried out a proper
study on the subject. Without carrying out a full scale study there is
no evidence to support the claim that you can influence people by
breathing in specific ways.
As well as demonstrating that it is possible to influence
people consciously in this way, it may also lead to explaining some
claims of psychic abilities. For example: when one partner is
thinking about wanting a cup of tea and the other partner gets up
and offers to make one, or when you get those moments where a
friend says something and you discover that you were thinking the
same. It may also explain why some people feel they are psychic,
because they naturally have an ability to unconsciously pick up on
the breathing patterns of clients.
What I hope to do is to have as many people as possible
carrying out the experiment in real situations. These people will
choose a target; sit next to, or in sight of the target. They will then
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spend a few minutes matching the targets breathing before
changing their own breathing to breathing a tune. This is a tune
that should be recognisable to most people. They will ‘breathe’ this
tune for a few minutes, before recording the results.
What they will be looking for is how long they spent
matching the targets breathing before they were able to lead the
breathing. Then how long they spent ‘breathing’ the tune. Then
how many people responded by humming or singing that tune.
Also people to use it in daily life like matching breathing
then asking in your mind for a cup of tea, or for someone to say a
specific sentence.
Anyone reading this that decides to give this a go I would
be curious to hear your feedback.
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The Unconscious Mind
A reason for using the term unconscious is because it refers
to all of the bits that are not in conscious awareness. So it isn't a
static description in a sense because there is always different
information that you are consciously aware of.
You may not be aware of glasses resting on your nose (so it
is unconscious) but once mentioned you become aware of it so it is
now conscious.
Erickson used to describe it as everything you are currently
not aware of, this includes all the processes, thoughts, memories,
information etc.
Other therapists like Carl Rogers used the term non-
conscious to meant not of the conscious mind. He would talk
about how sometimes ideas and questions to ask would suddenly
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appear in his consciousness that came from the non-conscious part
of him that was wiser and knew more than he did.
Steve Brooks also often prefers the term non-conscious.
One reason is due to associations people hold regarding various
terms. Subconscious implies lower than or less important than
conscious. Unconscious people associate with not being conscious
- like being knocked out etc...Any of these terms really are
nominalisations that different people give different meaning to. I
have always liked Erickson's meaning as it is empowering...
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Therapeutic Dowsing
One of the subjects I have studied in great detail over the
last fifteen years is dowsing. When I was younger I was fascinated
by the results that I obtained with the use of dowsing so I began to
use it more and more to test the limits of what it can be used for.
One discovery that I made was that you can use dowsing
therapeutically. Dowsing has the ability to answer questions for you
in a very visual manner. The downside is that you can only ask
questions with yes, no, or maybe answers. I teach people to use
dowsing as a form of self-help therapy. My aim is always to
empower the people I work with so that they can go away from
sessions with me with skills to help themselves in the future rather
than rely on a therapist/healer or anyone else.
Firstly you will need to find a pendulum, this works best if
it has some personal significance, for example; using a wedding ring
hanging on a chain as the pendulum. After you have a pendulum
hold the end of the chain between your thumb and forefinger (or
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whatever you are using) with the weight (ring etc) hanging down,
then close your eyes a moment. Take a few deep relaxing breaths,
make each out breath slightly longer than each in breath (this
stimulates a relaxed altered state of mind). Say to yourself “please
allow me to receive clear and accurate answers from within”.
Next open your eyes and look at the pendulum, hold it
steady, rest your elbow on a table if you want so that your arm
remains still. Now say to the pendulum “please show me the
movement for a yes answer”. Wait for the pendulum to move, if
the movement isn’t very noticeable then ask “please can you make
the signal clearer”. Remember to show respect and to always be
polite, so you always ask with a please, and say thank you when you
have received the answer. Then ask the pendulum (like above) to
show you the movement for a ‘no’ answer, then wait (then say
thank you), then ask for the movement for an ‘I don’t know’
answer, then wait (then say thank you).
After you have established the signals (often left to right for
one answer, back and forth for another answer, and round in a
circle for the third answer) you can then ask questions. The
answers come from a place of great intelligence, wisdom and
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knowledge. The answers are rarely wrong. Remember; everything
happens for a reason.
For the answers to be most accurate you need to focus fully
on what the question is that you want to ask, you want the question
to be clear and concise, you don’t want the question to be
ambiguous (for example a question that could have many answers
or many meanings). You are also unlikely to get a straight or honest
answer if by acting on the answer you are likely to effect someone
else’s wishes (for example if two people want to be the sole winners
of the lottery both of their wishes would conflict so neither would
happen.
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Learning to Notice Minimal Cues
Over the years I have studied many martial arts, one of my
favourite 'party tricks' used to be grabbing a coin from someone’s
hand before they close their hand. I would do this by watching for
the first minute movements to indicate that the arm will be moving
and the hand will be closing. The same with noticing punches etc...
The interesting thing about sticky hands is it is easier blindfolded as
all of your attention is on what you feel with fewer distractions.
The best way to practice is to make this part of your life.
Practice observing people when you are out anywhere other people
are. It could be watching people in restaurants, or it could be on a
bus or in a park. Even on TV and watching programmes like Big
Brother.
It is useful to limit what you are looking for rather than
attempting to see everything all at once. Or limiting to watching a
specific area - like the eyes, or the mouth etc...
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As you watch people look for patterns.
You can also practice with friends. Get with friends in pairs
and you can do some of these exercises:
1. Sit opposite each other, ask the other person to think of
something they really like, then change the subject a few moments,
then ask them to think of something they don't like.
Watch them and ask them to think of one then the other
slowly a few times, then to randomly think of one or the other and
you tell which they are thinking of. Do this a number of times and
notice what you are noticing that lets you know.
Then do the same again but this time sit back to back and
have them count 1-10 while they are thinking of one then the other
and then have them randomly think of one or the other and you
work out which from their voice.
Then do the same again with your eyes closed and the palm
of one of your hands touching the palm of one of their hands.
Have them go through thinking of one then the other then
randomly thinking of one or the other. You work out which they
are thinking about from the kinaesthetics.
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2. Have a friend sit opposite you and think of 2 truths and a
lie. Notice what is different about the lie
3. Have a selection of different coins, practice noticing
subtle differences by hearing (with eyes closed or back turned)
different coins being dropped one at a time and say which coin is
being dropped (on a table is best)
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Hypnotic Language Patterns, Skills and Ideas for Working with People
Open-ended Suggestions
As you look at your hands I wonder whether you will
notice the movement that will occur as you enter into hypnosis?
Will the movement be small twitches or larger movements... or will
it be a lifting or sliding... or pushing down... or will it seem to go
unnoticed... and seem to be incredibly still... and will that
movement be in the left hand... or the right hand... or both
hands...and I wonder whether it will start in a finger... or in the
palm of a hand... or perhaps in the back of a hand...or if the
movement will start from elsewhere in an arm to create that
movement...you can be curious to discover how your unconscious
expresses your own unique way of entering into a state of
hypnosis...etc...
Open ended suggestion allows many options (almost
anything can happen) yet there is only one outcome making them
similar to the various forms of binds...
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Nominalisations
Utilising Negative Nominalisations
Negative nominalisations can be used as a way of
describing the problem even if you don't know all the details, if you
use the term anxiety the client will know what you are talking about
even though you may not really know what it means to them.
If you then talk whilst leaning to look behind the client
whilst mentioning anxiety (for example) and put it in past tense you
can place the problem in the past, you can mention 'back there'
etc...
You can also alter the meaning of a nominalisation, so you
could start with 'anxiety' and their meaning and begin to reframe
and alter the meaning of the nominalisation so that when they
think of 'anxiety' it has a different meaning to them...
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A Collection of Positive Nominalisations
Express the true you
Discover the qualities that make up who you are
See yourself as if through the eyes of someone that loves
you dearly and discover what comes to mind
Voyage of self discovery
Discovering your sense of purpose and meaning in life
Following your heart
Self realisation
Self discovery
Authority
Manipulation (not really a positive nominalisation!)
You can use your leadership skills...
...Feels like to become top dog...
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...Display your management qualities...
...Get a sense of what it feels like to be the leader of the
pack...
...notice how things can go your own way, even turning
bumps in the road into opportunities for success and
achievement...
...Use your strengths to achieve success...
Charm & charisma
Discovering a feeling of respect from others
A feeling of love and friendship
Connection with people you meet
Feel that special feeling inside that lets you know those
around you care
Part of the community
Feeling of togetherness
Meaningful relationships with friends and family
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A binding sense of unity
Using Guided Imagery Journeys
Hypnotic journeys can be used with adults and children
alike. Most people enjoy a journey or adventure. With a guided
journey each change of scene create a new depth of trance so for
example; if someone walks along a beach then walks into a beach
house they will now be in a second level of trance, if they then
settle down in a comfy chair and relax and drift into a dream they
will now be in a third depth of trance.
To bring the person out again you need to reverse the route
they took. This sandwiches the deepest part and each subsequent
layer so that on coming out of trance the client will normally have
considerable amnesia for the deeper parts.
Some examples of journeys:
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Walking through fields towards some woods in the
distance...then walking through the woods following a stream up
towards some distant mountains, then climbing the mountains to
find a cave...and in the cave you start a small fire and look at the
cave paintings that appear to flicker and dance to the light of the
fire...getting a sense of becoming the spirit of an Eagle leaving the
cave and flying over the land below, over the route you have just
taken, getting a whole new perspective, noticing how everything
can seem so still from up here...etc...
Or one of my favourite journeys to use for inductions
(when I use more structured inductions) is to guide someone
through a woods to the edge of a vast ocean (as a land animal),
then under the water becoming a whale or similar, then swimming
down to a cave entrance deep under the sea that gets followed and
comes out in a secret land that is like it has been set inside a
mountain, with a forest and a house in the middle of that land, and
that house containing unknown knowledge...(spend sometime in
the house before reversing the journey)
Or I talk about a prince that looks out from his castle to
see people suffering, wondering why he should get what he wants
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and never suffer yet all these people seem to suffer so much, he
gets in disguise and goes out to see what it beyond the castle walls.
He walks through fields, meets peasants that teach him, he goes
throughout his land and eventually settles under a tree to meditate
on what he has learnt, he goes on that mental journey before
making his learning’s then heading back through his land to the
castle to share and use what he has discovered...
Embedded Commands
Stephen Brooks Insertive Eye Technique
I love using this technique and use it as a part of who I am
and how I communicate. This technique was developed by Stephen
Brooks (www.british-hypnosis-research.com) as a way of being
more subtle when embedding commands. Milton Erickson used to
use head movements to embed commands. He may have done
more subtle techniques like this one but to my knowledge no-one
has documented any cases of this.
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Many people question whether being left or right handed
has a relevance to which eye you look into when talking to the
unconscious or conscious mind.
I don't believe that being left or right handed has any
relevance on the effectiveness of the technique purely because I
believe that the unconscious is picking up on the pattern and
noticing the pattern is what lets it know it is being communicated
with rather than because a specific part of the mind is being looked
at. I think that creating a pattern separate from the overall
conversation is enough to make it realise it is being spoken to as
this is it's language. Whereas the conscious mind is understanding
what it believes it is hearing.
When I first started learning this technique I got hung up
on left/right brain stuff and then was doing the technique different
with left/right handed people and would have to figure this out
first, then there are people that have been forced to right wrong
which means I was left confused on many occasions...
I got into a habit of doing it one way with everyone (right
eye for unconscious, left eye for conscious). I have found this to be
effective and easy to remember. I also found that if anyone is
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watching me talk they also will understand this communication as it
is communicating the same as I do with them...so even though they
are watching me talk in a specific way to one person they are
noticing and picking up the pattern. This wouldn't be the case if
how I was talking to one person was incongruent with how I talk
with the person that is currently observing...
Embedded commands are used positively and negatively in
everyday situations
For example:
Doctors or dentists telling you 'this will hurt'
People telling children 'you're never going to amount to
anything' , 'you're rubbish at maths' , 'one of these days you're
going to get hurt doing that' etc...
Doctors telling you 'the problem will last for three to six
weeks'
To children 'you're going to be so successful when you
grow up'
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Using Ambiguous Language, Mispronounced Words
and Confusion
Don't let a trance state develop until I have counted all the
way down from five... and you can respond to any form of
counting... and notice how it develops in stages... with each count
from five... and before (four) you three (free) yourself... and
allow yourself to (two) go all the way in trance... you can discover
what it means being at one now... with your thoughts and feelings
and a deep sense of relaxation... as you notice that developing in its
own special way... wondering as you wander comfortably... drifting
and relaxing... whether you will go deeper with the words that I say
or the spaces between the words...(then at the end of the
induction)...and as you drift back to a sense of oneness you
can rise up to (two) an awakeful state with each count...feeling a
sense of threedom (freedom) and before (four) you come all the
way back you can let go of the experience on a conscious level and
end the counting on five...then opening your eyes...
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As you wander along wondering where the wandering will
take you, you can wonder what else you will discover as I talk to
...your unconscious (a command to be unconscious/in
trance)...mind, it is your right to decide whether your right (correct
or right) hand will lift up or your left hand will lift up, and you
know which hand is right (correct or right) and the right (correct or
right) hand can lift while the wrong hand will be left ...(left hand is
wrong/wrong hand will stay where it is) where it is, and you came
here today and noticed that it is a nice day for a change (good
outside, good day to change)...not like the other day where the
weather just makes you wonder whether ...it is worth the change
(command that it is worth changing and money change) ... you
spend on tents (tense) when it takes all that effort to put them up
and tents (tense) come down so easily and effortlessly, and you can
take the tents (tense) down in so many ways it's impossible not to
be able to take the tents (tense) down...and as you glisten (listen -
Commonly used by Bandler) up to each word I say and be calm
(become) aware of what it is like to wear something different and
try on something new and wonder where you'll wear that...in what
situations and what contexts...and in a minute you can take an
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(on) hour (our) ... discussion and the meaning and discoveries you
have made and discoveries you don't know that you have made
and wander (wonder) through what's new and realise that 70% of
discomfort is made up of comfort (discomfort = 10 letters,
comfort = 7 letters) and I wonder what that will mean to you the
next time someone is mean to you and you take their meaning and
pick up what they mean in a new way a way you didn't know you
knew...dismissing the dis (common youth term - dissing you -
meaning putting you down or being mean to you) and discovering
(diss covering - hiding it) the comfort in yourself...
I enjoy mispronouncing words that most people seem to
overlook or not notice
'You can take every trance (chance) you get to really relax'
'I don't know if that movement will be in the lift (left) hand
or the right hand'
'I don't know which hand will lift right arm (on) up into the
air'
No more/know more
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insecurity/in security
Nowhere/Know where
Tents/Tense
Wonder/Wander
Stairs/Stares
In trance/Entrance
Heal/Heel
Changing state, or going from state to state etc... (Driving
down USA for example - changing states of mind)
Breathing and Minimal Cues for Deep Rapport
Building
I match the breathing from the start of the session and
keep it matching. I won't match bad breathing patterns like
coughing or an asthma attack etc, but normal breathing I match.
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I will talk on the out breaths, unless I am going for an arm
levitation when I give suggestions on the in breath. If someone is
breathing too fast for me to be comfortable with I match every two
breaths so that I do one whole in and out breath to every two of
theirs.
I believe matching breathing is one of the most important
things to match as it is such a fundamental process and it builds a
really deep connection.
After matching breathing for some time I lead by
deepening my breathing and lowering it down to my stomach as
they now follow my lead.
I rarely stop matching the breathing (there are occasions I
do but not often), I'll talk in time with their breathing, breathe in
time with their talking, and breathe in time with their breathing.
It can be practiced in any situation where people are
present. Go to public places and you can practice matching
breathing of people there and also even more usefully you can
practice noticing peoples breathing. With people that breathe really
slowly it can be difficult to notice at first so practicing on hundreds
of people every day really helps. You can then put people in
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different states just from matching (pacing) then leading their
breathing...This can be fun to do with people in libraries, on
benches, on buses or train journeys etc...
I remember an experience many years ago when a
hypnotherapist said he couldn't enjoy being hypnotised by indirect
hypnosis as his knowledge was such that he would notice what was
going on and so his experience wasn't like the experience of trance
spontaneously appearing to develop out of nowhere like his clients
would have and like he used to have when he started out. He didn't
believe it would be possible to experience that again.
I took this as a challenge. We sat discussing what he was
saying and then carried on into 'ordinary conversation'.
As we were talking I kept asking questions I knew would
make him go inside his mind, but in context with what we were
discussing. I could see his pulse in the side of his neck so I matched
this with the movement of one of my feet. I matched his blinking
with one of my fingers whilst matching (on the surface) his general
body posture and hand positions etc...so to him I would have
appeared to be matching him and it was the subtle information I
was cross matching (of which he was unaware). Just like when you
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pat your head and rub your belly, to do this I aligned myself with
one thing at a time, moving on to add more once I was
comfortable with what I had got.
I matched his breathing normally just matching it with my
breathing, I matched his external/internal focus with my overall
body posture (sitting taller when he was looking at me and talking
to me, relaxing my muscles and slumping when he went inside his
mind)
It didn't take long for him to be at a point where he clearly
wanted to close his eyes and go into a trance but as we weren't in a
context where we were doing hypnosis he would have been closing
his eyes in the middle of what was appearing to be an ordinary
conversation. He clearly was waiting to have permission to close his
eyes. I gave him this permission, he went very deeply into a trance
and when he came out of the trance he said that it was the deepest
trance he thinks he has been into.
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How to Match and Mirror Successfully
I remember reading something Derren Brown said once, if
you want to match and mirror people properly before you meet
them get in the mindset that you like them as much as your best
friend. Then when you actually meet keep hold of that feeling that
you have known them for years like a long term best friend and you
will fall into rapport with them naturally which then won't look
faked.
I tried this a few times and found that for planned meetings
it worked well (times when you can get into state first). I found that
from videoing dozens of interactions with people (me with others)
when matching and mirroring was natural overt movements had
more of a delay than subtle movements. Things like shifting in the
seat would take a second or two, gestures would only match if the
context was the same (so my gesture would hold the same
meaning), things like angle of the head, leaning etc matched pretty
quick, matching the types of words and sentence structures and
tonality etc seemed immediate (next thing that was said) unless it
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didn't fit with what was being said (like if telling story or putting
on a voice etc) Breathing seemed to match rapidly as well and so
did heart rate (either seen in the neck or if the legs are crossed, seen
in the movement of the foot that is off the ground, or in the wrist
by the thumb etc). My assumption was that to fake it I had to apply
this and match more minimal cues quicker than more overt cues
and that I had to make sure what I was doing also match meaning
(so if someone gestures throwing a problem over their shoulder I
can use the same gesture when describing getting rid of the
problem so that it shows a deeper understanding rather than just
copying a movement, likewise if someone demonstrates a churning
motion with their hands when they talk about their problem and
how it feels I don't just copy it I use it in context when talking
about that feeling).
Some ways I have practiced matching and mirroring is
using it whilst sitting on buses and trains, matching other
passengers and then leading them into a trance state.
I think matching breathing is one of the best ways to
deepen rapport. Many courses teach to match body posture,
gestures, clear movements etc, what often happens is that people
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look like they are copying the person and it can make the person
feel uncomfortable. Whereas breathing often goes unnoticed. My
view is that the more obvious something is the more careful you
have to be in matching or mirroring it. I think that the best way to
do it with more obvious movements is to make the movement or
change when it is appropriate to do so. So if someone is sat with
their legs apart then crosses their legs I wouldn't immediately copy
this, I would wait until it is appropriate to do so in context with
what I am doing and saying. I also wouldn't do any movement that
was unnatural or uncomfortable for me to do, in these cases I may
do cross matching, so if they cross their arms I'd cross my legs.
Using matching and mirroring is a good way to get people
to talk with you. For example if you see someone you like before
you talk with them (say in a bar) you can match them, they will pick
up on this and begin to feel a connection to you even if they aren't
directly paying attention to you, they will feel like they know you or
like you but won't know why or where from.
In therapy situations by becoming as similar to the client as
possible you can begin to get a sense of what they feel which can
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help your understanding of their problem on a deeper level, rather
than just what they are saying.
Problem Free Talk
Some of the best questions to ask surround problem free
talk, it is in the problem free areas you find most of the resources
to help the client. It also relaxes them and helps build rapport, and
it can give you ideas to use for treatment and for any induction
etc...
My Friend John Technique
The My Friend John technique is a way of hypnotising
somebody whilst appearing to be talking about hypnotising
someone else. There is an example of Erickson doing this to a
reporter:
The reporter asks (as you never should to a hypnotist)
'How do you hypnotise someone?'
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Erickson replies with (can't remember the exact wording
but I'm sure you'll get the point):
'Well firstly I look at them like this...and I say "I would like
to have you pay attention to the words that I am saying...and as you
pay attention to the words that I'm saying you can notice how your
breathing is slowing down comfortably...how your blink reflex is
slowing down, how that immobility is setting in all by its
self"...etc......
Watching the reporter nodding in agreement as he drops
deeper into a trance without even knowing what is happening is
great.
Giving a Clause for Continued Positive Improvement
I find on top of all that has been said giving a clause can
help: ...that change can continue and evolve in any way that is
appropriate and acceptable to yourself (client) and others and only
that which will enhance and enrich your life and the lives of those
around you...
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Hypnotising Deaf People
The issue of how to hypnotise a deaf person has come up a
few times over the years. People often wonder how you do the
therapy part of hypnotherapy when the person is going to be in a
trance with their eyes closed.
They know that an ambiguous touch induction could be
done but had this belief the person would shut their eyes to go
inside their mind.
I explained that there is no rule that says trance is
contingent on the eyes being closed and that the person could keep
her eyes open.
A deaf person I hypnotised could lip read, so I did hypnosis
inducing an eyes open trance. I felt they were probably even lip
reading better once in a trance as they were responding well...
I spoke like I do with other subjects, not for their benefit
because my voice obviously gets quieter etc...but to remain
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congruent, if I had just mimed the words or just spoke with one
tonality throughout then my physiology would reflect this. To be
congruent I had to alter my voice in the same way so that my body
would do the correct thing.
Crystal Gazing Induction
Walt Disney’s creativity strategy was similar to the Crystal
Balls technique. He would have all of the scenes floating in space
and feel drawn to them, would pull them down, look at them, put
them back, edit them, scrap some etc. He would do this through
three different filters - Dreamer, Realist and Critic.
He would be able to see them as a collection of slides
expressing the main scenes, or moving together like a finished
programme etc...
Read (or watch) Robert Dilts Strategies of Genius for
further and detailed information.
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Dilts discusses taking on this strategy for creativity using
three different spatial locations on the floor (one for each
perceptual position) and a forth for being outside the stages.
For the purposes of Future Improvement and Performance
Enhancement I created a technique based on the similarities of
being in a hypnotic trance and Quantum Physics that is a form of
the crystal gazing technique.
In hypnosis you can experience many paradoxical things,
you can be a part of and apart from simultaneously, likewise you
can be an observer and the observed, you can be old and young
etc... In quantum physics you get similar features (schrodinger's cat
etc). There is also the multiverse idea
I created a technique where resources were gathered up
from the past and then multiple 'nows' appear where the person
goes and practices what they want to learn (so that they are learning
parallel rather than linear). They can't do this consciously; they can
only observe this happening, noticing all of those parallel presents.
Each 'present' involves an instructor or guide, they learn in each
one, then at the end of the technique all the 'presents' integrate into
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one and then I move into spreading that into the future and make
sure they are associated fully with all those parts that just got the
practice...
I recently did this technique for someone for singing, it was
like them having lots of singing lessons at the same time rather
than one a week for many weeks. The downside was their throat
ached as if they had been singing for ages, but after a day or so they
were singing notes they had never been able to hit (higher and
lower), they were more flexible with their voice and could move
between notes easier, they could really notice the difference.
Putting Yourself in an Externally Focused Trance
In one of the Erickson/Rossi books; Erickson is asked
about the state he goes into when he is working with clients.
He explains that if he thinks he is likely to miss something
important he will begin to pay very close attention to minimal cues,
first starting with one cue (say movements around the eyes) then
adding another cue (say pulse rate in the temple or corner of the
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eyes) then after a short while add in another minimal cue (say
colouring of the cheeks and cheek muscle tonus) then would add in
another minimal cue (say lips - blood flow to and from them etc)
etc...
He said that as he does this his attention becomes
increasingly focused on the client and he enters an externally
focused trance state where his conscious is like an observer and his
unconscious is doing the work. His unconscious is noticing the
minimal cues and patterns and using them without conscious
interference.
I have found this an excellent way of inducing an externally
focused trance state to enhance therapeutic ability and from
noticing patterns whilst keeping track of what is being said you
begin to notice almost like a second dialogue that is running paralell
to the conscious dialogue that is based on ideas, concepts,
patterns and unconscious self-expression.
I used to do this when playing pool, I would become aware
of my breathing, my heart beating, the feeling of the weight of my
arms, of my hands, of the balls moving, the sound of contact, then
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when it was my turn I would continue this to include the feeling of
the steps around the table, the movement of the cue etc...and 'it'
would play, 'I' would observe...
Using Bineural Beats to Induce a Trance
Many of my tracks use bineural beats, sending different
beats to different ears so that the brain picks up on the difference.
For example if one ear heard 30 Hz and the other ear heard 37 Hz
then the brain picks up on 7 Hz. I did a lot of studying on trance
and trance induction and how it is induced in different cultures. I
was interested in how different trance states can be created.
On my Deep Trance track for example I use drum beats
that are different to both ears to create one state, I also have
recurring patterns of birds, thunder etc that are over a longer
period so they are not so consciously obvious, I also have the start
of common nursery rhymes etc, when a familiar pattern is started
the person finishes it in their own mind creating a mini trance.
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I have also created Light sound videos with flashing
coloured lights (R,G,B) at about 8 Hz and bineural audio beats and
the audio 'hypnosis/meditation' track. These tracks work the same
way as the light sound machines. Using light with the eyes closed
visualisation happens much quicker even in people that struggle to
visualise.
Creating Amnesia
Using a sneeze or saying ‘excuse me a minute would break
someone’s flow and induce amnesia (a pattern interrupt). If you
follow this up with either continuing to imply forgetting, or you
could talk about subjects that lay down the pattern for
forgetfulness. Like having a name on the tip of your tongue etc...
Another way is while they are in this state of having forgotten go
back to an earlier conversation, this sandwiches the now forgotten
bit.
So for example; if you were talking about the weather, then
talking about something you later want the person to forget, you
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can interrupt them then once interrupted go back to talking about
the weather so that it is as if none of the rest of the conversation
happened.
There is a brief example of inducing amnesia at the
beginning of this video
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=cOkqIEiYYtM
Recently an idea came to me to induce amnesia. It appeared
to be effective. I gave an example of how a child can be eating all
of their sweets, engrossed in that and then they reach the end of
the pack of sweets and they look up to the parent and hold out the
bag and say 'It's.....' (I never finished the sentence).
I expected the unconscious to know all likely endings to
that sentence in that situation. What I wanted was to narrow down
to just one likely meaning (It's all gone). I planned on doing this by
saying something else with the same messages so that the
unconscious can pick up on what is similar about both messages.
Next I said 'You know that the roman numeral for 4 is iv,
and you know how you can see something and read it in different
ways and with different meanings, and you know what it would
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look like to see the Roman Numeral for 4 in front of you with the
number 4 next to it, with the number 10 at the end and the word
'got' just before that...' (iv 4 got 10)
The unconscious did appear to pick up on these together
from the response I got...
Other ways are using distraction, or changing subject. In
childcare I used to do this a lot, a young person would be beating
someone up and I would say I thought I heard someone at the
door. They would immediately stop and go and check, by the time
they got there I would be already talking with them about
something else to keep them active and get their train of thought as
far from where it was as possible.
I used to practice doing distraction indirectly, like looking at
something, or at them (like their nose) until they want to know
what I am looking at. Especially with looking over somewhere
people often lose their train of thought and look, before they
realise why they are looking. Or you can sneeze or something that
will equally stop them, or just say 'excuse me a minute' any
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interruption often works brilliantly especially when you follow it up
with implication that they have forgotten.
In hypnosis I like to guide people into experiences (like
along a beach for example) then have them settle down and drift
off into a daydream (about walking in the woods for example) then
find somewhere else to rest (like sitting under a tree) and drift off
again (like looking up at clouds and wondering what it would be
like to be on another world looking up at clouds on that world)
then I do the work with them and sandwich it by reversing the
process so that what is in the middle becomes the most difficult to
remember.
I think one of the best ways to create amnesia is not to ask
about the experience (like not asking about a dream someone has
just had when they wake up). If they don't get asked and then go
home and maybe later on that day or the next day they get asked
they often don't seem to remember (or not much if they do),
almost like if you waited a day to ask someone about a dream they
had, they probably wouldn't recall much of it.
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Self Hypnosis
Many years ago I was having difficulty doing self-hypnosis
without a tape. It was annoying me because I wanted to have
experiences like the people I hypnotised. I thought if I can
hypnotise others why can't I hypnotise myself. I then thought how
can I hypnotise myself as if I am a client.
I came up with the idea of sitting in front of a full length
mirror and treating that 'me' as a client and do a utilisation
induction on them (it is the weirdest experience, it is brilliant).
So I sit looking at that me in the mirror and do what I
would do if they were a client sat in front of me. If they blink I say
that's right, if their breathing changes I comment on it, if their
shoulders slump I comment on this also...An advantage is I am
already in sync with their breathing, pulse rate and blinking, and
posture etc...we have rapport...The induction is often very quick
and you give relevant suggestions to doing whatever work when the
eyes close and to open them when the work is done (or make time
limited etc). About half way into the induction you get a strange
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feeling of not knowing which you is the real you - the one doing
the induction or the client (One aspect of trance logic is duality,
how you can be apart of and apart from at the same time, you can
be here and there at the same time).
Peripheral Vision
Peripheral vision is far more capable at detecting movement
so if it is used in observing people you notice micro movements
easier.
It is also the vision you use to do photo reading or rapid
observation when you want to detect movement and take in more
information rather than colour and fine detail. If you watch
someone with peripheral vision you can be looking at their face and
see movement of the hands or legs and breathing, and easier to
notice the pulse in the neck or ankle or wrist etc whilst noticing
colour changing and overt movements and responses as you are
close enough to notice these. You can also notice other people if
you have a group around you even though it appears you are not
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paying attention to others around you. And likewise if you are
talking to others you can keep an eye on the subject (or targeted
person if in a meeting or social situation, like dating when you want
to watch someone’s reaction and responses)
Not Doing to Create Change
I remember a session of Milton Erickson's where he
hypnotises a client and then leaves the room. Later he comes back
and brings the person round.
The person says: (not word for word but you'll get the idea)
'I don't remember you saying or doing anything?'
Erickson: 'You don't remember me saying or doing
anything'
Client: 'No, but you must have done something'
Erickson: 'I know, I must have done something'
Client: 'If you did I don't remember what you did'
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Erickson: 'You don't remember what I did'
Nothing was done but the person changed, they knew how
to and what was needed.
I have done this once on someone that if I verbalised
anything they had a 'but' for it, or a counter argument, even if I was
only saying what they had said. They were very extreme in this
behaviour. The idea came to me that I could gather information
opening relevant and useful patterns and associations in the clients
mind related to resolving and reframing the problem, their
unconscious would hopefully notice what I am doing. I then
explained that during hypnosis some people hear what is going on
others go so deeply into a trance that they don't hear anything. I
explained that all relevant ideas and suggestions that will lead to
healing will go unheard and that his unconscious will understand
and know all that is needed from this whole session...(obviously I
said more than just this and then did the induction) after a while
and also doing the suggestion 'I don't know if it will be the words
or the spaces between my words that will help you to go deeper
and deeper into a comfortable stable relaxed trance state'. I spoke
less and less and what I said was not full sentences to try to mimic
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(for the client) occasionally rising out of trance a little hearing a
random bit then lowering, then I shut up (didn't have the
confidence to risk leaving the room, my plan was if he opened his
eyes I would respond as if I had just counted him out). After about
20 minutes I started talking again (initially with fragmented
sentences) and brought him out of trance mentioning that his
unconscious can use all of the information gathered throughout the
session to help the client, and then I gave illusory time frames as a
double bind. Then I just utilised his responses playing on the
apparent amnesia he thought he had and he left the therapy centre
and I saw him in town a few months later much happier and more
engaging in life than he had been. Yet I had done almost nothing,
he did all the work and I don't even know what that work was.
The ‘Just Being There’ Trance Induction
The 'Just being there' trance induction is something that I
believe can be done, in my experience it isn't that you are doing
'nothing' , you will always be doing something or the client will
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have some expectation. I now walk into situations and people will
have said I can hypnotise people just by them being around me as
if I emanate a 'hypnotic force'. I can just walk up to someone and
they will 'expect' to go into trance and so do.
When you are intensely focused on someone and
matching/cross matching breathing, body posture, pulse rate,
blinking etc, and then you lead them into a trance it can look like
you were doing nothing yet you were...
Doing nothing can also apply to sports and other activities
if the 'doing nothing' is consciously doing nothing. If you try to
play a musical instrument you do better when you stop thinking
about it, if you try to play pool or snooker you do better when you
don't think about your stance, the movement of the back arm,
whether it is straight and relaxed etc..., same with most sports..even
walking, everyone has probably experienced suddenly thinking
about your walking and suddenly feeling uncomfortable when
trying to walk...My view on this is that all these things once learnt
(even me typing this now) are done much faster and more
efficiently when done unconsciously than when you are trying to
focus on doing everything at once consciously, so letting go
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improves your abilities. Just like letting go improves the ability to
visualise rather than trying to visualise or your ability to have more
productive thoughts, or your ability to relax etc...
Working with Smokers
A common technique for working with smokers is
scrambling. I have also done aversion in some cases, just focusing
on the positive in some cases, used the VK on the craving with
some people, scrambling.
I think also if someone says they don't want to quit just cut
down then you can simply do a technique where you never
mention quitting (like taking the feeling out of the craving and
scrambling the old pattern) and you haven't said you will stop them
but it might lead to them stopping. At the same time the reasons
behind them not wanting to stop presumably will also have been
addressed on some level, so if they stop it will be because they feel
they can.
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Time Line Processes
I sometimes get people up and moving around. I find it can
be very effective and different to what the client has done in other
sessions (good if they have seen lots of different therapists and
'failed', unless one of the failures is similar to this!)
One way I have used is to have them see the event in the
future a number of steps in front, see it going how they ideally
want it to go, then walk to that event and experience it going that
way, if this is how they like it then good, they can look back and be
aware of the stages they took starting with the immediate previous
step and working back to the present. It can help to work on sub
modalities at this point also to get the experience 'just right'. The
person can then step off of the experience and walk alongside the
line of steps back to the present and then step back on at the
present point and walk through the line of steps getting a sense of
each major step, what it feels like to do it and achieve it and to let
you (therapist) know when they are ready to move to the next step,
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etc...this sort of involvement seems to build up like a string of self
fulfilling prophecies as each stage at some level has been rehearsed.
Another way I have found (by accident when looking into
future progression many years ago before knowing much about
Erickson's work, etc...) works well is having the client go to the
future when they have achieved what they want and in present
tense talk to them about what is happening, what it feels like to
have achieved what they have achieved, what others think, how it
has effected others, how they got where they are (achieved their
goal), what it was like (all they went through to get where they are),
whether they had any setbacks or times when they had to struggle
to stay motivated and how they achieved this (may sound like
negative questioning but you are talking to them from a point of
view of them already having overcome these issues if they mention
any), etc...
How I approach it is as if I am an interviewer on a chat
show and I am really curious to hear their story about what they
went through to get where they are and that I am really nosey and
want to know all about it... I especially want to know about the
actual end goal in detail. An example of one of the 'future
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progression' experiments I did involved taking someone to a
random date in the future and asking them about what the date and
time was and what they were doing in detail. I then noted this
down and on that date and time contacted them...what they said
under hypnosis is EXACTLY what happened, even to the point
that had I not phoned to check if what they had said happened it
wouldn't have happened because me phoning and checking had
become an integral part of the future situation (which I didn't know
until I called, checked and found out I was the disturbance that
caused the person to drop the papers he was holding that he had
just printed off (because of me phoning him))
I worked with someone that was doing a drama degree and
had to do a piece of acting in front of a number of assessors. He
was really nervous and believed he couldn't do it.
I had him go into a trance, stand up and visualise the
entrance to the room he was going to perform in about 6 steps in
front of him with the present where he was standing. I told him
that he can access the state he wanted (a state where he was
confidently and congruently acting out the scene whilst being
disassociated so that he could calmly watch his performance take
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place) when he walks through that door to that room. I had him
walk to the door and through it, and experience getting that feeling,
doing his performance, then coming out of that state as he leaves
the door.
On the day he gave his presentation he walked through the
door and accessed the state. He said afterwards it was odd, he was
nervous as he walked up to the door and thought it hadn't worked
and that he was going to panic and forget his lines. As soon as he
entered his mind went clear, he started and was just an observer in
his body. He has since used this technique of giving a suggestion
associated with the walking into a situation with triggers to set off
the suggestion as a way of performing well (in all walks of life
where he may be nervous or overly stressed or anxious), triggers
include seeing a specific person, or entering a specific location,
etc...
We all have a wide variety of concepts of time depending
on what is being perceived. I also find I am rarely associated in any
of the representations of time.
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I found it interesting to experiment with 'trying on'
different perceptions of time for different situations. I often
perceive time in loops with the past below me and the future above
me with the near past and near future behind and in front of me as
it spirals around me.
I found that as I experimented with altering perception of
time I could change it quite quickly to try ideas out and hold a
perception that is useful for the situation. Many versions seem to
hold their own states as well.
If I want to be in the moment I associate into the time line,
if I want to see order I stretch it out so that I can see the whole
thing, if I want to scroll through stages of experiences then a spiral
timeline seems to help.
You can flip problem symptoms around to create
solutions. For example; If someone had a problem of a nervous
laugh when they felt uncomfortable and believed they had a lack of
a sense of humour, sticking with the process rather than getting
into the content which has too many variables and which makes
things more complex I would want to switch the nervous laugh and
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the lack of sense of humour around. Have the person not find
nervous situations 'funny' and find other (appropriate) situations
funny. Using either 'problem' as the opposites 'solution'.
This could be done using two timelines, one for the feeling
of laughing and one for the feeling of not finding something funny
and having a feeling of relaxed indifference (if this is an acceptable
description of lack of humour) and have these converge and cross
so that the laughing in the future is associated with appropriate
humour situations (they don't have to know what) and the other
feeling associates with future previously anxious situations.
I would have them experience taking their time to follow
each timeline separately off into the distant future integrating the
'feeling' into 'experiences' along the timeline, then to go deeper
before following the other timeline integrating the other 'feeling'
and 'experiences' then back to present for a third trip along the
timeline with both lines integrating and merging and have them
experience taking time to go along this timeline off into the future
as they go deeper, experiencing 'nervous' situations with the lack of
humour and the 'lack of humour' situations with the laughter.
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The same thing could be done with anchoring.
When I want to work with time lines I sometimes mention
something about memories being stored in the mind in a particular
way and give examples of like brushing your teeth today, yesterday,
a week ago, a month ago or a week from now, month from now
etc...
I would say this isn't necessary, you could just as
easily follow the feelings of the issue (For example in the case of
anxiety etc) back into the past and perhaps talk of a guiding
light you can follow back, or a thread, or anything else that can link
now with that point you want to work on.
It does seem that a few people created their own set
versions of time line therapy (or time lining) and specific
techniques and then (just like what happened in NLP) they get very
possessive saying that mental process for storing time belongs to
them and no-one can use it or the wording without permission...
I read many years ago that dyslexic people have
their perception of time around the wrong way (if there is such a
thing). That they have their future either behind them or off to
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the left. Apparently for skills like writing and reading this causes
problems (in societies that read and write left to right). I knew
someone that was dyslexic and watched him talking about things
with reference to time and all of his gestures were with his past off
to the right his future off to the left. I wanted to test this
idea before mentioning it so I decided to linguistically alter
his perception of time and anchor it with a touch on his
shoulder. During the conversation I worked us round to the
sentence I wanted to say so that it would sound in context with
what we were discussing. I hadn't pre-planned doing this just took
the opportunity having read what I had read, to give it a go...
The sentence I wanted to anchor was '...have your future
right out in front of you, and your past left behind you...' I said this
sentence and anchored it as I said it, I only did it once, the context
I had this in was achieving dreams and being a success.
I then (in the same context) had him read something in a
book I had with me on making goals real, and to write down his
goals and stages to achieving them. (As I fired the anchor)
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He commented (I hadn't told him what I was doing)
that 'It's weird reading that was different, it was easier and made
more sense' he said similar about writing. I then told him what i
had done and he was intrigued, after experimenting a bit he decided
he didn't want it as a permanent part of who he is, he likes many
traits that go with him being dyslexic, so he wanted to be able to
recall what it felt like to be able to read and write better so that he
could then recall this at times when it is necessary for him to do
these tasks (which he now gets more enjoyment out of)
I don't know how accurate the information was that I read
but it did apply to this person and altering it did seem to make a
dramatic improvement, and he wasn't aware consciously that I was
doing anything so he wasn't just playing along or believing he
should now find reading or writing easier.
Eye Accessing Cues
I decided to see if anyone has done any research I could
find on the subject of eye movements and brain processes. My
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personal opinion is that eye movements are linked to how signals
are sent around the brain. Also I feel that humans are so used to
sensory information being out in the real world that they recreate
their internal world using the space around them, so they will hear a
voice (or voices) talking to them (internal dialogue), it make sense
for this to be below ear level as that is where the mouth is, it makes
sense to have feelings below the ear level as feelings (emotional)
manifest themselves in your body (like feeling happy or sad, or
depressed, or scared etc), it makes sense for auditory information
to be at ear level, it makes sense for visual information to be at eye
level or higher. Vision is so important to our survival (from an
evolutionary point of view) and it is developed in a way that you
look at (focus on) what is going on from moment to moment
constantly assessing the world around us. It makes sense (to me at
least) that you would continue this process with internal sensory
information. We have a built in orientation response (pons-
geniculate occipital spike - after the areas of the brain the signal
travels through) this occurs to stimuli constantly changing and
updating your focus of attention, it also happens during dreaming
and hypnosis and it happens when thinking. My opinion is maybe it
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happens when thinking because we are thinking with our senses so
it treats it as a stimulus. And just like you look to what you are
focusing on (or even when you try not to look you feel a
compulsion to look) you look to what you are focusing on even if
you are unconsciously creating that stimulus.
I had a root around. I found some information that
discussed eye movement, not exactly as wanted but it explains:
'It seems that now scientific evidence can demonstrate that
there is a connection between how your eyes move and what you
are thinking. Those tiny muscles that control the eyes’ movements
are controlled in the brain by mechanisms associated with emotions
and memory. In particular the Lateral Geniculate Nucleus (LGN), a
structure connected to the emotional limbic system.'
Visit the site for more detail:
http://powerstates.com/?p=138
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Mental Processes
My opinion would be that we are born with the ability to
process information through all the senses and to express
information through all the senses. I think that as with much of our
behaviour as we grow up we take on similar thinking and speech
styles to those of our parents. We process information in similar
ways also as our parents.
Some of these ways of thinking and behaving can be
limiting or cause problems. This doesn't mean that a person can't
learn to do things differently.
If someone seems to communicate using the predicates of
one sense almost exclusively then I believe that they probably
process information predominantly through this sense or at least
use this sense as their main lead representational system. They will
still use the other senses but may not have such good conscious
access to them.
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This may cause problems when for example someone uses
many kinaesthetic words and seems to be processing information
through feelings but seems unable to use the visual system, they
may get stuck in the problem by always accessing the feelings each
time they talk about something yet struggle to access images
enough to 'look' at the problem from a disassociated perspective.
There are times (in the example above) when this way of
processing information may bring them pleasure like being very 'in
touch' with feelings when thinking about people they love, it may
make them very prone to emotional problems but also very
passionate...
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Managing Relapses
Sometimes prescribing relapses helps if you expect them to
perhaps have them, it also helps when you have someone that may
try and sabotage the work. If you suggest that you wonder whether
they will 1, 2, or 4 relapses before they completely stop smoking
(for example). If they try to sabotage the work and you have
suggested what they are likely to do to sabotage it as part of the
therapy then to not do as you suggested they would have to do
what you haven't suggested which is to not have the problem or to
relapse 3 times.
On the cycle of change relapse is just a part of the process,
it doesn't always happen but on occasion things happen and people
respond in an old way reverting back to their old patterns. For
example if someone smokes and they stop smoking, if they smoke
due to stress and generally now manage stress in a new way they
may have an event that is unexpected that they respond to using
their old coping pattern of smoking.
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Thinking Styles
Thinking Style of Depression
When someone is depressed their thinking style when thinking
about problems is:
• Internal - I, me
• Global - everything, generalising
• Stable - always, problem will never go away
When someone is depressed and thinking about positives:
• External - you, something else
• Specific - was a one-off
• Unstable - probably won't happen again
When someone is not depressed this is reversed, so they
will internalise, globalise and stabilise positives. When they think
about negative they will externalise, make specific and unstable...
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Often people aren't as fixed as shown above and may for
example think positives are 'usually' rather than always because they
will understand there is a level of realism in there that problems
occasionally do happen (and do this 'adding reality' to each thing)
Often the thinking style influences the language used so
you can look out for words that match one style of thinking or
another. It can also help to watch for when the thinking style
begins to shift.
It is similar to when you go to job interviews and listen out
for when the interviewers start talking about 'when' and 'before' etc
rather than 'if' etc... If you have a panel interview you can figure out
who is conveying that they would employ you and who wouldn't
and utilise this information...
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Altering Problem Patterns
By taking time to go through in detail the stages of a fear or
a habit it makes the problem very conscious. It can be done by
asking the client to go through each stage themselves by asking
'then what happens?' or 'what happens next?' etc...
It can even be gone through by the therapist after you have
established it from the client and so technically you are guiding
them through it a second time in fine detail (ideally putting it in
past tense - so you used to ... or so the stages of that problem when
it happened were...). You can even then guide them through the
experience of the problem making 'mistakes' that alter the pattern,
for example by getting pieces in the wrong places or adding or
changing small pieces.
Often doing this a little later in a session where you have
already had them go through it letting you know the whole process
(and them becoming more conscious of it) then you have gone
through it with them with you saying the whole process, then later
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you go through it with alterations it scrambles the process making
it difficult to recall in its original way, and what is left is very
conscious if it takes place in the real world and loses much of its
potency.
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Reframing and Accessing Resources
Everybody has natural resources that can be utilised. These
might be events from their lives that have emotions attached, or
talk about friends or family etc... These resources can be accessed
through good information gathering. Anchoring can then be used
to gain future access to these resources.
The idea behind accessing resources is that it gives you
something to work with that you can use to help the client to
achieve their goal.
Even negative beliefs and opinions can be utilised as
resources, whether by anchoring the ‘state’ or reframing the belief.
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Some negative beliefs that can be used could be:
• A client saying they are too tense to relax (reframed
as needing to be tense to have material to work with
to achieve a more profound hypnotic state...so keep
hold of some of that tension...)
• A client saying they can't be hypnotised because
they are too strong willed (reframed as needing to
be strong willed to be able to enter a deep hypnotic
state comfortably and completely)
• A client could say they aren't strong willed enough
to quit smoking (reframe as how strong willed they
must have been to fight the disgusting flavour,
coughing etc and the knowledge of what it does to
you...telling yourself I really want to start
smoking..reduce my life span and make myself look
old before my time etc...often leads to laughter...you
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can get three resources in one...strong willed
anchor, weak willed anchor and humour anchor)
• With parents I have often reframed their perceived
failure when they tell me nothing works, they have
tried everything and it all fails...I ask what happens
then? Many of them say I just walk off annoyed that
nothing has worked and I failed...Then what
happens? After about 15 minutes they appear to
have calmed down and I'm annoyed because it
means they have won again which is why they have
calmed down...(often they repeatedly describe this
pattern of successfully walking away to resolve
situations, which can be used in the future)
• A client believing they can't be hypnotised because
they always have to be in control (reframe into
explaining how to go into hypnosis they have to
control their own experience and make all of the
decisions etc...)
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Expectation and Duration of Therapy
I think there is also the issue of expectation, how long do
clients expect to be in therapy. If I advertised as a counsellor most
people expect therapy to take months. Advertising as a
Hypnotherapist people expect treatment to be in a single session.
Many people seem to place a mystical aura around hypnosis and
how effective it can be. Obviously many issues are dealt with in a
single session, but some need more.
I always want to establish in sensory specific terms the
outcome and stages. This lets us know when the last therapy stage
happens. I so far have only ever had one paying person that didn't
want to change so that she could continue the sessions. In the end
(after about 4 sessions) I did similar to Claire, I gave a double bind.
She seems to still be doing well, and not seeing me.
I like Bandler and Grinders idea of paying for the change. It
makes the therapist work to do as few sessions as possible. It could
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lead to some people staying in therapy not changing and knowing
they don't have to pay any more money. Also when you charge per
treatment if you work quickly and successfully some people don't
want to pay you as they think they have paid too much for your
time (yet they would pay you the same over 3 sessions!).
Likewise I knew someone that went to a therapist charging
£10 less per session for spider phobia treatment, they had 6
sessions and still had their phobia then went to CBT and had 12
sessions of this, (Free on NHS) then gave up and had a session
with me (about 8 months later by this time) and we went and found
some friendly little spiders towards the end of the session.
So in the area I live the perception of the cost is a strong
influence on how long a client will be prepared to stay in therapy.
Paying clients need weaning less than if I do free sessions or very
low costing sessions. These people seem more inclined to want to
come back again and again.
I think it depends on the case and the motivation of the
client. If they want to stay in therapy (perhaps they have a need for
attention and you're supplying it) then they may use what is said as
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a learning tool on how to remain in therapy and if they come across
as wanting to change you may not notice immediately.
I think it is useful knowing what has stopped them so far
and what might have stopped them in the future. It can be a useful
process preparing them for what might crop up for example some
people may want to lose weight and then eat a biscuit feel guilty
and go back to old habits because they assume they have blown it
now even though it was one biscuit, if they see it as something that
might happen and how to overcome it or 'get back on the bike'
then they may have a blip or they may avoid it or it may never
happen but they have a greater chance of success. Likewise many
smokers would say that everyone would continue to offer them
cigarettes (and alcoholics offered alcohol) and they would say 'go
on 1 won't hurt you' and they would give in. Planning or preparing
for this can be helpful to identify it and then look at how it can be
handled or avoided or if it happens how the person can make it a
one-off isolated incident not a sign to carry-on smoking or drinking
(just a blip)
Sometimes I have set the sabotage as part of the process of
getting over the problem if I think either there is a high chance of
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sabotage or if they have strongly suggested what I would see as
blips as failure (so I want them, if they occur to be experienced as
part of the process they are supposed to go through). That way
they can sabotage and so be on track for getting over the problem,
or not sabotage and so get over the problem. (like suggesting 'I
don't know whether you will go 1 week before you have your 1st
biscuit that you think you shouldn't have or if it will be 2 weeks,
but I'm sure it will be by week three and I don't know whether the
2nd time you have a biscuit that you think you shouldn't have it will
be a 2 weeks after the first time or 3 weeks after the first time but
I'm sure it will be within a month and will you only have two blips
or will it be 3 or 4 that you have before you finally settle into your
new lifestyle, and will you get all those blips out of the way in the
first year or will some of them hold on until future years when you
just want to have a one off treat?....etc'
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Client Expectation and How You Communicate
Verbally and Non-Verbally Utilising Their Expectations
I would say between matching the expectation and
matching the patient’s actual voice isn't a cut and dry black and
white issue. I think when feeding back or expressing what the client
is expressing it is best to match with their voice (like when
gathering information), whereas when being the 'therapist' it is
often better to give them what they expect (unless what they expect
is unhelpful - like them expecting another professional that will
portray in their voice disbelief in their issue etc)
I think that also modelling the desired voice is also useful,
like if they talk of wanting to be more assertive then you can model
this (by first creating an appropriate context or in a
story/metaphor, then using the assertive voice, so that they
indirectly learn it). Also the voice isn't in isolation; there is body
language that goes with how something is said. Sometimes there
can be a mismatch that can be noticed and explored further. From
a therapist point of view generally it is best to have the body
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language and voice conveying the same message. There is an
example of Erickson acting more laid back and calm to portray this
message rather than match the client or even their expectations.
Sometimes you can create confusion by not matching the client or
being what they expect to break them out of their mental set and
create a new pattern.
If someone comes in and says 'I need to be told to stop
smoking and I know I'll stop...you're a hypnotist if you tell me I
know I'll stop' then I should tell them firmly with confidence and
conviction to stop even if they are meek and mild (so I'm clearly
not matching them) and even if my normal approach may be to be
more gentle and indirect
One person came to see me to quit smoking, he had the
opinion that I was always doing hypnosis and that what I said
happened...He loved to go out drinking and smoking and 'on the
pull'...He had mentioned side effects of smoking so I reiterated
them and made emphasis on smoking and impotence and how he
can always keep in mind that smoking makes you impotent...he
took this as a direct hypnotic suggestion and refused to smoke for
fear of becoming impotent...he believed that if I said things firmly
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and hypnotically he would be powerless to them...I don't know if
he really would have been impotent but his belief meant he didn't
want to risk it...so I spoke to him how he expected me to and did
what he expected me to do...he did need a second session and had
smoked cigars believing it made him exempt from my suggestions
(so I covered ALL types of smoking in that session and he
stopped)...He smoked due to an unforeseen incident so we factored
these in for the future also...
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Motivation
Recent research showed motivation to avoid loss is greater
than motivation to gain something. The research had people in
fMRI machines and showed what was happening in the brain and
that given the same choices if they are worded/written in a way
that implies a loss (actually they would GET the same) they have a
stronger emotional response to move away from that option, than
they do to move towards the option where they gain something.
For example many people become millionaires because they want
to 'never be poor again' rather than wanting to be rich.
One difficulty with away from motivation is that once you
get far enough away from what motivated you the motivation
begins to drop off so you need to have a towards motivation there
also so that as one is dwindling the other one is gaining strength
and increasing to the goal.
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I think that using both forms of motivation in some way is
useful, obviously each person is different, some people respond
really well to seeing an achievement others may only think about
getting out of their situation, then once they have done that move
on to what they want in its place.
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Creating Change or Changing Perceptions
Very often most of the situations I work with the person
that appears to be the problem (normally a child) isn't present and
has no desire (expressed) to change, they often like things the way
they are. The parent(s) want all the answers on how I can tell them
to make their child behave and do exactly as (s)he is told.
I listen to the patterns that occur, pay attention to any
needs being met inappropriately or not being met at all (for all
involved - child, parents, other siblings) and gather much
information.
Often I can feedback something (normally very simple) that
will have a change on the family situation. For me it is important to
get the parents to the point where they are talking about what part
they play in the problem. Sometimes people don't want to accept
any responsibility and want the child to carry all responsibility on
their shoulders.
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If by the second session their appears to be no change -
often because the parents have continued to do the same thing
rather than do something different - then I work on the perception
of the problem more (obviously this is worked on in the previous
session but not the focus of the session).
I don't tell them I am altering their perception I just let it
develop so they change on a different level. The behaviour stays
the same (although after the perception changes often the
behaviour changes also) but the perception alters so that the
problem isn't seen as that bad, or is seen through a different filter -
I recall on a video of Stephen Brooks he told a client a story about
someone driving along in a car (like a ford or something) and
another car hitting it and the driver getting angry and having ago at
the other driver, then another situation with driver in a porche
driving along and being hit by a Mercedes and the drivers getting
out and laughing (neither accident was serious in the sense of harm
or major damage)...The difference was the second situation was a
brother and sister - the brother had bought the sister her car. This
relationship changed the perception of the accident
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I think generally change is preferable to improvement as in
some cases people can slip back, like a smoker cutting down then
deciding not to stick in therapy but then gradually creeping the
number of cigarettes smoked back up again over time.
As with the example above if there appears to be a way to
achieve a change to the desired future then I will often go with this
first (each case is obviously different though). If in the next session
for whatever reason there was no or very little change then I will go
for an improvement that hopefully will be more immediate. This
often make the people say the time between the sessions has been
better than it used to be even though nothing may be different
apart from perception which in many cases keeps people in therapy
as there has been a demonstration something has happened and
often then they will more readily take on steps towards actual
change.
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Creating Your Image & Whether You Should
Specialise
So far for me as my background was in residential childcare
(and before that residential mental health) and then supporting
parents that require parenting support nearly all clients of mine
were either teenagers against their will or parents of teenagers that
wanted me to 'tell them how to sort their kid out'. For me it got
irritating having other skills or areas I liked helping people with
over looked just because it was known I was good at helping with
teenagers and getting around 'resistance' and making changes with
where ever the motivation was (change one part of a system and
the whole system changes).
I think there are a number of advantages and disadvantages
to specialising, there is also the option of saying you specialise as a
way of generating more business.
If you specialise and focus on knowing all you can about
working with one specific area you limit your knowledge and how
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some problems can be interlinked. You also may get bored of
always treating the same thing. An advantage is that you are more
likely to be chosen for being a specialist because people would
expect you to know more. Being a specialist can then generate
further business like radio or newspaper interviews on your subject.
Likewise you could just say you are a specialist in a specific
area to differentiate from the pack, like if everyone else is
advertising saying use hypnosis to quit smoking or lose weight and
you know it works very well with Phobias or anxiety or depression
you may advertise this which would make you stand out. All of you
may do the same thing but people with problems searching the
headlines of the ads will notice yours which stands out.
The issue of being someone’s long term therapist can
generate you an income long term and it may even seem like easy
money. Again it would be restrictive to you and may seem to get
too repetitive. It also could have a negative effect on the client,
disempowering them and making them believe they always have to
call their therapist with each small issue rather than use their own
strengths and resources to overcome issues and problems.
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With regards to sports performance or any other form of
performance issue, I can see benefits of using hypnosis but again I
would want to empower people to be able to go it alone, rather
than believe only I can help and if I'm not around then they'll fail.
You could get the unlucky job of working with the England
football team to get focus, clarity, to increase observation and
awareness on the pitch etc and mental rehearsal, even help the
players to notice minimal cues more in the opposition (like a goal
keeper knowing where a player plans on planting the ball before
they have kicked it).
But if you lose you would probably be blamed and if you
win you will be wanted to carry on doing the same almost like a
good luck charm and probably attributed with the reason the team
won. This would make it difficult because, again you will be relied
upon and you will be expected to hold all the responsibility which
is disempowering to the players. You want to help them in a way
that allows them to continue the work in some way themselves.
I can fully understand saying you specialise because it
focuses people more (or at least saying 'get treatment for 'X' here)
and if what you are highlighting is different to everyone else you
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stand out. I know that when I first started I didn't want to miss
anyone out, I wanted to let everyone know that whatever their
problem (psychological and within reason) that I could help,
unfortunately a list can be endless of areas you can help with and
this is too defocused so people don't pay attention to it.
My experience was that people would think you obviously
know a little about a lot because how could you really have learnt in
depth about helping people with such a wide range of problems.
When I started emphasising Depression and Anxiety (everyone else
has ads saying Quit Smoking) I had a higher rate of success getting
clients, I still mention the other stuff but it is mentioned more low
key.
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Beliefs and Values
I think an interesting issue with beliefs and values is how
even if we try not to impose our own on a client we do by the
responses we give, by the questions we ask, etc...
Two therapists could have the same client and within a few
questions they would be asking different questions and getting
completely different answers...
Who is correct? The choice of questions comes down to
past experience, what you as a therapist believes is the important
information to gather, what you as a therapist believe about what
treatment should be offered, for example if you believed it is
important for the client to understand why they have the problem
you will get communicate this to them, if you believe it isn't
important to know why but it is important to break the current
exhibited pattern in some way then you will communicate this and
will ask questions about the pattern or structure of the problem...
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How can you do therapy without imposing your beliefs and
values? I don't think you can, I think that the closest you can come
to this is to have a belief that the patient will know how to heal
themselves in some way and that you know how to facilitate this
and make sure the soil is just right for the seeds to grow...
As well as your beliefs your values impact how you do
therapy. If you are doing it for money or material gain then your
motivation and focus on the client will be different to if you do it
out of a desire or compassion and love of helping someone to
enhance their life and future...
I believe that generally values are higher up the chain than
beliefs, I also believe that they can have an independence, and
conflict. You could believe that putting others first is right and
strongly hold that belief but go against it when there is a chance of
high financial gain that can lead to a value you hold that you should
provide for your family as best you can. Likewise you could believe
you are a failure (based on continued past experience for example)
but value success (which could keep you motivated as you strive to
achieve it).
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Be Creative – Absorb the Principles and Create Your
Own Therapy Style and Techniques
Many years ago I was on an NLP course. We were doing a
time line technique for changing limiting beliefs, it involved drifting
back floating above the time line to just before the limiting belief
occurred then generating a feeling that would be more positive and
a belief that would be more positive and lowering down into the
event dissolving it and then travelling back to the present with that
new feeling and belief, then going into the future etc...
It didn't seem right for the person I was paired up with,
they couldn't get a powerful enough feeling (they wanted a strong
feeling to use) and when they had tried lowering into the timeline it
(the belief) just appeared back in place behind them after they
passed it by and so nothing changed.
At the second attempt I did it my way (and got told off) I
had him generate a powerful feeling, having it spinning, I made
sound effects of whirring and crackling and whooshing like a
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powerful spinning motor. I hyped him up being congruent about
how it gets faster and faster and more powerful etc...Then I told
him that when I say now he can fire down into that old limiting
belief and shatter it into millions of pieces with so much force
those pieces just keep spreading out for ever as if they are in space
with no gravity, and as if they are as brittle as a sheet of ice. Not yet
I told him, I explained how the positive colour that will fill his time
line to the present and out into the future will shoot off in front of
him filling every possible future path like flowing up a tree trunk
and filling the branches. I had him do this; he found it a profound
powerful experience and couldn't get back the old limiting belief
only the feeling of motivation and empowerment. I was told that
the technique isn't done like that and if it was meant to be different
it would have been created differently. That the techniques are how
they are and that is how they should stay.
With regards to creating a technique, I once created a
technique having read about Erickson leaving a phobia in a chair. I
would have a client stand up and stand in a location they wouldn't
normally stand. While they are standing I would lift their arm and
use catalepsy as the induction then ask them to carefully describe
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the size and shape and colour etc of the problem in as much detail
as possible, then I would tell them that in a moment I will ask them
to take a step forwards so that they can turn around to see what
that problem looks like there and to check that it is definitely the
right size and shape and colour etc, then I would ask them to do
this, then ask them to 'be sure' we'll take another step so that you
can see it more clearly and how it is held in place, is it floating,
vibrating, undulating etc...then take another step until we are at the
chairs discussing that problem stuck over in the corner...
I used this a few times for fun more than anything just
because I wanted to try to do what Erickson did, but didn't want to
take the risk of asking people to stand leaving a phobia in a chair so
I thought of doing it my way so I am talking about getting a better
look...to me it felt like it reduced the chances of failure as I wasn't
asking for any success just the person to get more distance then sit
down. If they couldn't do it (which never happened) then I would
have just gone on to what would it look like if it was still in that
location and frame the comments in this way until seated, and gone
onto something else if there still wasn't any results and used the
idea of it being in that location during the rest of the therapy...
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Everyone seemed to be able to carry this out and many
people got good results with it.
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Investigations into Past-Life Regression
Back at the end of the 90's and beginning of 00's I wanted
to experiment, looking into past lives. I also wondered about future
progression
Past life experiments:
This is an example of one of my experiment sessions. I
used indirect hypnosis and arm levitation in the induction and
deepener. The subject was in his early 20's. I wanted to make this as
safe as possible. I didn't want the subject to experience anything
unpleasant and obviously implicit in past lives would be death
events (as well as other unpleasant life experiences). I had the
subject drift back to a pleasant experience from a month ago and
when they had settled into it to describe it to me, then 6 months
ago, then a year before that, then five years all the way back into
early childhood, then I asked them to drift into the very first
pleasant experience they remember.
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At this point the subject said 'blue' I asked for more detail,
they told me that they were wrapped up in a blue blanket, they felt
so comfortable and warm, they were in a wicker basket. I asked
them to go back to the last pleasant memory before that, they said
they were a girl standing under a large tree, it is a sunny day, they
are on a crossroad of paths on a university campus that is in
America. They get a ring box out and look at it in their hand and
open it up and look at the ring feeling happy, waiting for their
boyfriend to arrive (the year he said it was 1972). I questioned a
little further about this then asked again to go back to the last
pleasant experience in a life before that one. When they settled on
one they described that they were drunk, lying collapsed on a
cobbled ground, children were laughing at him but he didn't mind.
He described the location and said the year was 1842. After we had
gone through a few past life experiences in this way we came all the
way back to the present then to the future then back to the present
before he came out of hypnosis.
A few years ago there was a series of TV programmes on
ITV called 'have I been here before'. I had a specific reason for
recording and watching the programmes. Each one would have a
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celebrity talking about their views and expectations, then they
would be hypnotised and would reveal events from a past life.
After the session they would show footage of a historian that
checked out their story for accuracy and then feedback and
discussion with the celebrity again.
I had learnt of Joe Griffins theory of dreaming
(www.humangivens.com), I wanted to see if the revealed past lives
could be metaphorical fitting Joe's theory of dreaming. I watched
the first parts of the shows then at the point the hypnosis happens
I paused it wrote down what I think they would experience based
on expectancy, patterns that had been started and not closed,
beliefs they seemed to hold. What I wrote down wasn't exact
events it was the patterns I felt would arise, the themes I thought
would occur. Then I watched the hypnosis part and in each case
what I suspected was what happened.
This led me to think perhaps the memories of past lives (at
least in the sessions shown) were not genuine but creations from
the unconscious. The question is how much did I (in this situation
and the above situation) influence or interpret things to fit my
expectations?
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I like to keep an open mind and still do. Over the years I
have had mixed results of this and future progression. Some very
accurate some way off the mark. Often the way off results seem to
occur when the subject or myself is trying too hard to get a result.
I also wonder how much people want to believe in past
lives to try to give this life more meaning. People often seem to say
'there has got to be more to life than just this'. It can be comforting
to think that when a loved one dies they live on in some way and
past lives can help with this.
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Introduction to Part Four Further Collected Works
The collected works is a set of two books that make up
parts 3 and 4 of my ‘Becoming a Brief Therapist’ Series. The aim of
these books is to give more of an insight into my thinking and how
I personally do therapy. Part one taught an underpinning to doing
effective brief therapy, part two taught the actual ‘doing’ of therapy,
parts three and four go into answering questions that have been
posed to me over the years; questions relating to more fringe based
areas of therapy from the use of energy therapies like Emotional
Freedom Technique (EFT) to past life regression and future
progression, to delving more into cellular healing and what research
and information is available out there.
Much of the ‘collected works’ is edited from posts over the
years in response to questions on forums and groups on the
internet. Throughout the collected works you will find my answers
to different situations that therapists find themselves in; like how to
treat specific problems and difficult clients.
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It is assumed throughout these collected works that you
have a working knowledge and understanding of terms I use and
techniques described. All of these are covered in the first two
books. The aim here is to expand in a more free-form manner the
information that you already know by giving examples and
situations and ideas for thought.
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Motivation and Paradoxical Interventions
My view is to always work where the motivation is, for
example if someone is always being a ‘class clown’ what is the
process and pattern. Often it is to avoid looking stupid, like having
it noticed that you are not very good at something so you take
control over the situation before you look stupid at not knowing
something by looking stupid on purpose (although this on purpose
may happen unconsciously)
I probably wouldn't use a paradoxical intervention I would
want to know what the child feels they get out of their behaviour,
what they would like to get out of their behaviour, whether they
got what they wanted out of their behaviour, what alternatives they
can think of in the future to get what they want etc...It's difficult to
describe exactly what I would be asking as they may say they want
to cause problems and they did so I would chunk up until I got to
something acceptable (like fitting in or being happy) and work on
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that level. I wouldn't ask, suggest or say anything they could
disagree with or resist so I probably would hardly mention the
actual problem behaviour.
I would linguistically imply things and seed ideas and alter
the future to the point that they think they have just decided to take
a specific course of action...
Sometimes paradoxical interventions can be used even
when there are family members etc...
If, for example, someone isn't sleeping then prescribing
more of the same makes no real difference to others in the
relationship as the person is up anyway. If anything the person will
be getting up and going elsewhere so not being so restless in bed
which can let the partner sleep.
Obviously there are cases where a paradoxical intervention
may not be appropriate as it may have a negative impact on the
family system.
With Children, when I worked in residential childcare with
children with severe challenging behaviour if you tell them to stop
swearing it wouldn't work, they would do it more, so often I would
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tell them to swear at me more and would encourage it and get them
to try to think of more examples etc...they would get annoyed at
doing as I want them to do and get irritated with having to swear at
me more so they would stop...Obviously this would be done
skilfully and respectfully so as not to increase aggression.
You need to think through the likely effect and
consequences of the intervention. You don't want someone losing
a job because of your intervention. With a child you are more likely
to work with the parents as they are going to be the ones that want
the behaviour to stop and so are likely to be more motivated. If in a
therapy session you told a child to swear more for example the
parents would probably be annoyed with this, what you want is the
parents to be the ones encouraging the swearing (they will be
contextualising it and making it very conscious and deliberate). The
other option is if you have explained to the parents what you have
asked of the child (like if you ask them to intentionally wet the bed
- if they are a bed wetter).
Sub modalities are a useful thing to know about. It isn't that
you would create an unrealistic image of the future etc...changing
sub modalities alters the memory (real or future etc).
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If for example someone has to do something in the future
but they are not motivated you can ask them whether they are
associated or disassociated, then try on the opposite and ask what
happens (increase or decrease motivation), then ask them to turn
up the brightness and turn down the brightness and see what
difference this makes. Do this for many sub modalities and
remember which changes increased the motivation then use these
so that the thought of doing that task is motivating.
Sub modality use is at the heart of many techniques, swish,
VK, etc...Generally if something is brighter, more vivid, associated,
in colour, HQ surround sound etc it has a stronger emotional
content (not always, for example I have known people assaulted or
raped etc in the dark that having the brightness reduced increases
the fear), generally the opposite will reduce emotion, you only really
know by testing or asking and paying attention to language. For
example someone may say 'I just want to get some distance from
my problem...' So you know they need to disassociate, or at least
move further away.
Some examples of using paradoxical interventions
successfully...
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I worked with an alcoholic, his pattern was to go to buy
three bottles of vodka, take them home to his flat and drink them
there until he passed out, then repeat the process when he has
sobered up enough to go to the shop to get more (normally the
next day)
I had two sessions with him where he took no notice of
anything, he had no intentions of changing yet his father had asked
me to help him as he didn't know what to do...the man didn't ask
for help himself.
It is easier to make someone that doesn't want to stop
doing something agree to do more of it so this is what I suggested.
I said he obviously want to keep drinking and wants to keep seeing
me but I'm not going to waste my time seeing him if he isn't
prepared to work with me. I said I don't want his father to think
that this is a waste of time also so would he agree to do some
drinking that will let him explore his issues with drinking and learn
something and at the same time he can tell his father that I told
him to do it as an experiment.
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He agreed. I told him what I wanted him to do was when
he feels he needs a drink, go to the pub, order 3 pints of beer, line
them up in front of him and gulp back the first one then say
'f**king therapist making me drink this beer', then gulp back the
second and third pints doing the same, then go home. If he still
wants to drink more he is to go back to the pub to do the same.
He did this and stopped drinking on his own a few weeks
later...(this type of intervention I have done on a few occasions
with alcoholics that drink alone at home and that don't drink beer)
I worked with a smoker that was referred to me by the
NHS smoking clinic. He came in and said 'I'm going to tell you
what I told the lady that ran the clinic, I will have you smoking 50 a
day before you can stop me smoking 50 a day'
He didn't come across as very motivated to quit, he knew
all the reasons he had been told he should quit but said he didn't
want to but he will see me and then he can tell everyone how he
has tried everything.
I saw him for a first session, by the second session he stuck
to his word of ignoring everything and wanting to stay smoking, so
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again I told him I want him to try an experiment just so I know a
bit more about his habit, and that it will involve him continuing to
smoke. He agreed he would do what I asked.
One of his patterns that happened every few days was that
he drove to Tesco to get food shopping. He didn't go to the
nearest supermarket because he had to have a fixed number of
cigarettes. He would have one when he gets in the car, two on the
journey and two in the car park (because he knows he can't smoke
in Tesco so he has to have extra before going in there). I told him
what I want him to do is to wait until he gets into the car park then
smoke all five cigarettes and one more because he had to wait so
long before having any. He enthusiastically agreed to do this
thinking it sounded easy.
He cancelled his next appointment and I bumped into him
in town a few months later. He said he was really angry with me.
He did as I asked but he found that sitting in the car when he had
shopping to do and having to smoke 6 cigarettes really annoyed him,
all he wanted to do was get into the shop and get his food and go,
but he was stuck outside the shop still smoking, he was resenting
the cigarettes. He ended up deciding not to smoke in his car
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because of this. This then spread to forgetting to smoke after he
was home out of his car and over a few weeks he was regularly
forgetting to smoke and so quit.
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Memories and Sensory Thinking
About what is going on in the mind...you have thoughts as
a sensory experience as this is how the mind works, some
memories will be dull others vivid etc...how the memories are
coded in the brain influences the emotion of the memories, the
memories will also be organised in your own learnt way of
representing time...often in a line either left to right or behind you
and out in front of you, you will often either be associated in this
structure of time or disassociated, this also changes depending on
the situation.
When for example the VK technique is done memories get
recoded with altered sub modalities so that they are no longer
traumatic. When Swish gets done memories get recoded with
altered sub modalities.
Another use is for learning other people's strategies to take
on for yourself, like if you wanted to think like Walt Disney and
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learn his creativity strategy you can take on his mental processes
and the sub modality coding. Like when he was disassociated and
associated, when he gets distance and closeness, when images are
brought into focus and defocused, when they are bright and
dimmer, when the volume level is changed and where the sound
comes from etc..
Likewise if someone has a voice in their mind that says
things like 'you're useless, you'll never manage that'...etc you can
have them change the voice so that it makes them laugh when they
hear it or so it evokes some other emotion that is more
productive...
Another use with sub modalities is in pain control, turning
the Kinaesthetic into other representational systems, like visual etc
and then making the changes like increasing or decreasing light,
changing the colour, shape etc...
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Learning the Process and Structure Behind Techniques to Create Your Own
I am always promoting with people to learn structures and
processes behind techniques so that you can understand what
makes it work and then do your own in a way that suits the client
not a way that you know how to do it...
Like learning about redirecting force in Aikido and about
how this process is created in the various techniques so that you
can respond in a situation with a technique you create in that
situation utilising the processes rather than trying to think of a
technique that might work...
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Relaxation; Trance and Trance Signs
Soldiers go into a trance marching and are completely not
relaxed.
I have worked with people with things like phobias in the
situation they are having the phobia where there is no way of
relaxing them or doing formal hypnosis of any sort, because the
person could be at the top of a tower about to abseil or about to
hang onto a death slide; so they need to be helped in minutes.
Often people are deeper than they first seem, and when you
watch them you notice the trance indicators even though they seem
alert and awake...
An induction I like using is to guide people deeper into a
trance by using a painting in an art gallery in their mind; or a room
with a TV or Cinema screen they can step into followed by other
paintings or screens in those paintings or screen that can take them
deeper and more fully absorbed.
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Another induction that is less structured word wise and
offers more freedom for creativity for the therapist with the
sensory language input is to use a journey or adventure with
multiple routes to take. You could use a holodeck or the
adventures of Alice in wonderland with doors and rabbit holes,
twists and turns etc all leading to new discoveries. I have used
people settling in a situation like by a flickering fire and drifting
into a meditation where they can find themselves in an experience
where they see themselves meditating under a tree perhaps, then
they can lower into that them and discover where that them is
meditating about etc...I think it is useful noticing processes not just
taking a technique and using it as it has been learnt.
I feel the more out of the process the therapist keeps the
better, so unless a client mentioned holodeck or star trek I wouldn't
do that, I wouldn't tell them where they are meditating etc...
In my experience you don't need the person to appear to be
in a deep trance to have effective therapeutic work take place. I
have had people either too hot or too cold or uncomfortable and
they have moved or opened their eyes and got sorted out etc
without any real negative effect on the trance or the work done.
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People go in and out of trance with each sense system. At
one point they may hear a noise so their hearing comes out of
trance whilst the rest of the person stays in trance, then when they
are comfortable with the noise their hearing goes back into a trance
again, then if they need to open their eyes their eyes come out of
trance yet their hearing and feelings are still in trance, then they go
back again when ready. Likewise if they are uncomfortable how
they are sitting they may come out of trance to shift position then
back into trance again.
I have experienced this in many situations, even when
people have had to get up completely because they hadn't turned
off their phone and it has rung so they have come round, answered
it and then afterwards sat back down and as soon as I have
continued talking in the same hypnotic way they re-enter trance
almost instantly.
When I started out I used to worry that people had been
asleep, not hypnotised. I had regularly been reassured that it is
incredibly rare and that in the rare occasion that it happens it
usually mean the person needs the sleep more than the therapy on
offer. Nearly every person I hypnotised told me they were asleep
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because they don't remember anything. I learnt that they weren't
because they always opened their eyes on cue.
It became apparent that these people's unconscious was
listening and that the conscious had gone off somewhere else...The
unconscious always responded in a way that let me know it was
listening. I used to test if I was unsure by getting the client blushing
on one side of their face (as a visual cue not easy to fake that if they
are sleeping they are unlikely to spontaneously do)
I used to get hung up on having to get people in a deep
trance. Now I am so unconcerned as I know the unconscious mind
is always listening, most of what I do probably doesn't resemble
hypnosis. This is something Steve Gilligan said when talking about
doing Deep Trance Identification as Milton Erickson, he said that
one thing he learnt was that everybody’s unconscious was listening
and that everybody was already in a trance.
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Polarity Responders
My experience with polarity responders is that they are
everywhere. Children and Teenagers especially seem to be polarity
responders, you tell them to tidy up and they make more mess, you
tell them to be quiet and they turn up the music etc..
I think it is situational in many cases, they won't respond
well to authority in one situation but may do in another
situation...like bad with the police, but good with peers...
Everyone probably is in some situations where if someone
tells you to do something you will do the opposite...Some people
are more this way than others...When this happens with the
therapist it could be that the therapist represents something (like an
authority, or a person from the past or a father etc...) or they are
annoyed with the situation, they may also be desperate to comply
yet respond this way...
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Generally I've not had problems with polarity responders, it
is more difficult with people that completely ignore all options as
you have to think in detail to make sure you have covered all
options leaving them with something that wasn't an option that is
what you want them to do but that if they decide to try to catch
you out and go with one of your options these will also lead to the
outcome... I think this 'non cooperative' person isn't a polarity
responder as they don't respond opposite they do their own thing
instead.
A true polarity responder will respond with the opposite
response. To your question 'which hand they feel is heaviest?' A
polarity responder will say they feel light as saying either hand will
agree with the question. By saying a light hand they are agreeing
one is heavy, if they say both are light then you would have to
utilise this.
By saying what you don't want or saying negatives you can
get round the polarity responder.
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The Classic Staircase Induction
One issue with the staircase induction is matching people's
internal reality. When you are timing steps with each out-breath it
relies on the client also going at that speed. Even when you say that
it can be one step with each out-breath people sometimes find this
too slow as they are walking down the steps and they are already at
the bottom as you are counting.
Other people follow it well and go at the speed of their
breathing.
If people seem to be rushing to the bottom of the steps
some things that I have found useful in slowing them down is
things like having them wonder what is around them, pictures on
the walls, views out of the windows as they walk down the stairs.
Or just wondering whether they will get distracted as they reach the
6th step 7th step or 9th step and wonder what will distract
them...etc
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Alternatively I separate the counting and the steps so they
can walk down a flight of steps and it will take them until the count
of 20 to reach the bottom.
I'm one of those people that wants to go at the speed a
hypnotherapist is saying but am often at the bottom waiting for the
counting to catch up, or I'm running up and down the steps as I
wait...
Another way is to say something like 'I wonder whether it
will be walking down the step or the counting down that takes you
deeper into a trance or if it will be the breathing out with each
number that helps you to become more fully absorbed'
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Why Do People Have a Built-in Process For Getting
Phobias and How Can You Help Them?
The feelings are required for survival purposes so the
memories can be repressed but the feelings and the response to
future situations has to come through.
If you were attacked by a sabre tooth cat (in prehistoric
times) you may get scared enough to cause a phobia. In the future
under similar conditions something may happen that evokes the
fear response to save your life because it could be a threat. You
don't have to know what the initial incident was only that in future
situations you will instinctively know to be afraid and run or fight.
This process has saved people for thousands of years.
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Treating Phobias
Use Scaling: The difference for the client is more noticeable
between scaling before treatment and after treatment. Phobic
clients go into a trance easier. There is more to work with. Trauma
memories are stored as survival memories so the more phobic
someone is the more pure the memory. You want to change the
memory to being stored like a normal memory. If they can't access
it so easily it gets harder to work with.
Use the rewind technique or a variation of this: The reason
for rewinding the memory is to scramble the pattern having it run
from after everything has calmed down to before anything
happened, these are also two safe points
I usually do it about 3 times, it could be less sometimes,
sometimes it maybe a couple of times more, not often though...
You can ask them to re scale after the work has been done
to notice the new reaction...
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My view is that if after treating one memory if there is still a
bit of a reaction there then I go for a second memory and
occasionally a third...
It is called Rewind because that is a part of the technique
that is done, it is called Fast phobia cure because it can be used to
cure phobias fast. Although obviously it isn't exclusively able to
treat phobias, it can treat PTSD, OCD, etc...
The Cinema metaphor is just one metaphor for the
process...
As an example I was sat on the plane back from Dubai and
the person next to me was nervous about flying. I picked up the in-
flight duty free magazine and flicked through it finding an image of
a child playing with a children’s airport play mat and big fat comicy
looking aeroplanes. I got all excited about playing with the plane,
flying it all around the air and the airport etc...
The person found they got excited about the flight and
enjoyed the flight...
I used principles of the VK Technique but used the image
of the child playing with the plane and airport and changing their
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representation of flying. I used language to link what I was using
with them. It took about two minutes and they could think of
flying with enjoyment rather than fear...
With these techniques it is about learning the process. Once
you know that you can improvise your own treatments.
Once the memory goes into the higher parts of the brain
future situations will be processed more appropriately, rather than
through a strong emotional filter. It doesn't stop the person being
able to have the fight or flight response to certain related stimulus
just makes it so that it is appropriate. For example; having the fight
or flight response in a future car accident is appropriate, having it
every time you see a car because it reminds you of a previous
accident. Or having a fight or flight response in a situation where
someone is trying to rape the person is appropriate, having it when
seeing any man or any specific colour just because it reminds them
of a past incident isn't appropriate (for example I worked with
someone that had been attacked and raped by someone wearing
black in an alleyway. The person developed a fear for black clothes,
alleyways and men behaving in certain ways. This incident was de-
traumatised so that none of these things triggered fear, if someone
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attacked her again she would still respond appropriately for her
own survival).
By survival memories I mean fight or flight response
memories. They are stored in the more primitive parts of the brain
that deal with emotions predominantly (Amygdala). By taking the
emotion from the memory(ies) yet keeping the content it gets
stored with a lower emotional level of arousal and so gets stored in
higher parts of the brain.
This isn't just fight or flight emotions, it is all strong
emotions. Fetishes are also stored in the same way as are other very
strong emotions. That is why if you do the VK Technique on
someone’s fetish it reduces the strength of the fetish, and why you
shouldn't use the technique on a pleasant strong emotion like love.
I worked with an agoraphobic a while ago, she said she had
been agoraphobic for many years and that it hadn't been a problem
because she just stayed indoors, didn't go out, had the internet to
do shopping, had people round etc... It had been a problem until
she decided not to try going out anymore.
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Her problem started with walking down a pavement when a
cyclist knocked her over, she got knocked out, hospitalised and
nervous on pavements because the same thing could happen again.
A few weeks out of hospital and she was in her car when another
car hit it. Again she got traumatised and felt if it can happen on one
road at one time it can happen on any road anytime. A few more
minor bits happened just so that she could confirm and maintain
her belief before deciding it was safest indoors. Her opinion on
'safest indoors' was that there was no problem when she was
indoors so it was like she had no problem (just like someone scared
of spiders has no problem in a confirmed spider free zone so they
could become complacent and almost believe the problem doesn't
exist)
I spent some of the first session de-traumatising her past
experiences and doing other bits and pieces, then we went for a
walk down the beach and had an ice-cream and just chatted. She
had not been able to go outside in her garden or out the front. The
only thing that made her 'remember' she had a problem, or realise
the problem was that her son was in hospital and she wanted to
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visit him and wanted to be able to bring him back to hers to look
after him and found she couldn't leave the house when she tried.
I had a few subsequent sessions to get her driving again
comfortably...
I have used the Rewind Technique in hundreds of
situations effectively. What happens is that the person is double
dissociated at first (so there is virtually no connection with the
feelings), they watch them watching the movie of the old incident,
then they experience it rapidly in rewind, this scrambles the pattern
as they experience it in a new and different way (everything running
backwards, often sounding stupid because all audio and voices are
fast and backwards), then they dissociate again and watch it in fast
forward (again they are watching it in a new way which scrambles
the pattern again), this process happens a few more times before
they watch it at normal speed again. This is a case of using time
distortion and dissociation to turn the old traumatic memory into a
normal memory. Traumatic memories are accessed differently
(because they are for survival) to normal memories.
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How Do You Get To The Root Of What A Client
Really Wants From Therapy?
Often the easiest way is to ask 'if you were to see yourself
on a tv screen once the problem is gone how will you know? What
will you see, hear, feel? What will others notice...etc' all of this gets
information about what will be achieved rather than what will be
gone.
It is often difficult for people to know what they want
rather than what they don't want (like with smoking etc) by asking
them for a description of what it will be like instead of just asking
them what they want people often find it easier to answer and it
gives you information to use in the session.
I rarely write during a session. It often just seems like a
chat; my aim is to keep the therapy relaxed and conversational. The
questions I ask would be What, Where, When, Who, How
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questions. You would want to get sensory specific information, one
of the easiest ways to get this is to ask what would be seen if you
were watching it on a TV screen. People say things like 'I walked
out on stage and the panic hit' this doesn't give information on
what happened physically, linguistically or internally (internal
dialogue, body feelings). It would be useful to know at what point
did the panic hit? How did they know they were panicking not just
excited? What lead up to the panic (obviously you would not want
to use the word panic as often as I am here!)(Did they spend weeks
worrying about panicking practicing for the real event?) Who else is
involved (does the group have to be over a certain size, made up of
certain people etc) the other option is to ask 'If I were to give you a
day off and I'll do the panic for you, how would you teach me to be
able to do a good panic, up to your standards? (Then they can tell
you to worry for weeks, through to the actual event and then how
they calm down afterwards)
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Creating Dissociation, Metaphors and Age Regression
My view is that a metaphor is a form of dissociation. The
metaphor maybe used to give the client a pattern for the necessary
association, for example if I told someone about streams running
to a river then the river running to an ocean it would lay down a
pattern for association or integration, the result of the metaphor
would be association. Likewise if I told a story about a cat that lost
its kitten and blamed herself so couldn't cry or express emotion and
spoke about the cat's experience of getting in touch with the
feelings, that would be laying down a pattern and would be
dissociated from the person and their actual situation, hopefully
getting in touch with those feelings would happen as a result of the
metaphor.
Likewise with smokers I would often discuss paths in
forests and cutting through a new path that once cut through
sufficiently is easier, quicker and more pleasurable to follow. Or
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about someone moving from a smog filled city, with all the
congestion on the roads etc...to moving to the country with open
space, fresh air etc...
Even metaphorical tasks have the person dissociated as
they are experiencing a pattern (like going into a field to find two
identical blades of grass) that will be of use to solving the problem,
they aren't actually experiencing the problem itself, or the solution
itself.
Using the multiple mirror technique.
I had a client I used this technique with; again rather than
the standard version I created my own version based on the
principles. This technique is based on Erickson’s Crystal Ball
Technique.
I started by talking about how the sun is 8 minutes away
and how what you are actually seeing is what the sun looked like in
the past and how you can't see what is happening now. I then
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mentioned other planets and stars and how each of these is also
being viewed at different times in the past, that when you look at
the night sky you can see many stars and planets and the moon
simultaneously yet the moon is what it was like seconds ago, the
planets are what they were like minutes ago, the stars are what they
were like years ago...
I then moved on to talking about how as a child you get so
engrossed and focused on cutting exactly around the shape of a
person on folded up paper, and that the more you cut the more
careful you are to make sure you cut it really well, and you focus
completely on that paper and on that cutting...you can't wait to see
what it will look like...you're excited to find out...when you have cut
out the shape of a person completely you then slowly and carefully
open up the paper to have it look like lots of people all holding
hands...
I then mentioned how each person can carefully be
coloured in so that each one looks slightly different from the next,
with a youngest one on the left and the oldest one on the
right...and how each one can be coloured in to represent a relevant
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part of how the issue we discussed (it was smoking) was able to
form, formed and had been able to be maintained up until now...
Then I spoke about how many great works of art have
many layers where they have been changed, updated and corrected
until the artist feels that the picture is right, and that they will take
all the time they need to make it just right...
I told them they can continue to slowly and carefully colour
in each person until each person feels just right...and how they can
get a sense of how colouring in one person can influence how the
others need to be coloured in and altered...
I had them do this until they were proud of their work and
could step back and admire the end result (head nod to let me
know this was done), then I had them carefully fold back together
the paper noticing how it can become more 3D as each part is
stuck back in place with the newly painted images integrating in
their own unique way...
I moved on to some more stories before moving back to
talking about space, stars and planets then the sun, and then
allowing them to open their eyes when they have fully reintegrated
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in anyway necessary and made all the changes needed to allow
progress to be automatic and to take effect at an appropriate rate
and speed...
Another way for inducing age regression can be to use
Double Dissociation Double Binds:
'You can drift into a pleasant memory and wonder what the
future will hold, or discover yourself already in the memory curious
about the future'
'You can experience a pleasant memory with no awareness
of the future, or be absorbed in a memory looking forward to the
future'
'That memory can take you back to a previous pleasant
experience before the future happened, or that memory can take
you deeper into the past curious to discover the future'
When I was out in Dubai recently I found that, being from
the UK, I wasn't used to all of the heat. I would be beside the pool,
lying in the sun and after a while I would get used to it even though
at times it was uncomfortably hot. When it got uncomfortably hot I
would go to the pool and go to walk in. The temperature difference
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between being out of the pool and being in the pool made the pool
seem much colder than it really was. It made it difficult to enter as
it felt too cold and uncomfortable. I had to decide whether I want
to be hot and uncomfortable or cold and uncomfortable. I knew
that staying out of the pool would get hotter and hotter as the day
went on, and more and more uncomfortable, yet also knew that
once I was in the pool I would be fine, it was just taking the steps
to get in the pool that was the challenge. In the end I decided 'sod
it' and just jump in, and quickly got used to the water and feeling
comfortable...
I told this story (not exactly the same, I tailored it to the
client) to a client the other day. They were depressed, they seemed
proud of how many Psychiatrists, Psychotherapists and
Counsellors they had been to and that they had spent time in the
priory and yet they were still depressed. They explained how they
will 'always' be depressed so they 'have to get used to it' and that
they were told they should see me just to 'talk it over'. They said
they are uncomfortable with change and have tried CBT with no
luck because they know what they should be doing and saying and
they know that what they stop doing when they are depressed are
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the things that will stop them being depressed but they can't put all
that into practice once the depression starts. They knew I had just
got back from Dubai and so asked me how it was, what it was like
(which is why that story came to mind)
The following week the client was much happier and
cheerful (still has bits to work on) and she was using terms I used
in my story to describe how she has been (like 'I decided 'sod it I'm
just going to go for it' and feel uncomfortable mixing with people
when I'm down because I know that will make me feel better')
The metaphor I used above is one I chose to use because it
is a true event from my life that I can tell in conversation without it
seeming like a metaphor, I'm just talking about my holiday
experience. I find that the most important thing is to have a thread
running through the stories you tell. So if you wanted trance you
may talk about interests and as you talk about your own and the
trance aspects of them (without mentioning trance if you want to
be indirect), then you may talk about science (if you or they show
an interest in that) and fascination with Newton under the apple
tree and Einstein day dreaming travelling on a beam of light, you
may then end up on the subject of holidays and so talk of trance
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aspects relating to holidays, etc...All these stories will make sense in
context (EG; discussing interests, holidays etc) with what is being
discussed, also they are being discussed in a wider context of the
overall discussion about the perceived problem so they will
unconsciously make sense in relation to the problem. As each story
has a same pattern in it (that of people entering trances
spontaneously and effortlessly and positively etc...) the unconscious
mind can spot this same repeated pattern as it is in each story. The
same with hypnotic phenomena or patterns for resolving problems
etc.
You can also be more vague with patterns in stories
especially when someone is in a trance, like stories of nature,
seasons, animals, fairytales, etc...
The unconscious mind is very good at working with
patterns, so if you created a metaphor that laid down a pattern it
can use that pattern in a different context (the problem context).
I worked with a French girl once that barely spoke any
English and would have struggled to understand the words I was
using if I used complex language patterns and may not know half
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the words, she wanted to quit smoking, she could speak some
English so we could establish like and don't like. This was enough
to start working with, the rest was images, holidays, demonstrating
deep breathing in and filling lungs, not liked places, not liked
images, shallow breathing and coughing and suggesting she should
visit Arundel (a local countryside town), go to the top of a hill and
breathe in some of that fresh air and wonder what it can mean in
the context of being healthy. She stopped a few weeks later after
doing all this and we had just enough language to get by...
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Hypnosis, Trance Induction & Utilisation
One quick way to induce a trance is to have a person recall
their problem (it is often likely to be trance inducing), like getting a
smoker to recall smoking (or getting a craving), or a person in pain
to focus on the pain (only this time in a non-attached way be
focusing on its colour, shape, size, etc), or a person that has OCD
to discuss their OCD process, or someone with a spider phobia to
recall the phobia, etc...
The higher the level of emotion the deeper the trance the
person will naturally go into when they recall it.
You’re always working with the trances you get, some
people are just more responsive than others and so better hypnotic
subjects.
Everybody is different, some people you can just look at
them and say sleep and they will (if they know you do hypnosis and
expect it to happen). Others would not respond in this way.
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A good hypnotic subject is likely to be able to perform
hypnotic phenomena and respond to therapy easily.
As Erickson has mentioned, in some cases he had to train
people for some time to help them to be good hypnotic subjects. It
is useful to know when someone is at that stage, so that you can
move on to hypnotic therapy using different phenomena and so
that you know they will be more responsive to what you say,
whether this is when you first meet them or after you have trained
them for some time. Generally though people don’t need to be
brilliant trance subjects to do good therapy, the therapist just needs
to be able to utilise whatever the client brings to the therapy.
I naturally take fairly unnoticeable long slow breaths and
people think I'm mucking around and holding my breath, this is
often (not always) more pronounced when I enter trance. If I am
hypnotising someone it is my responsibility to make the effort to
match the clients breathing.
The trick to breathing quicker (but slow for the person your
matching) is to just drag in and push out the air at a faster rate
rather than do half of your normal breath then breath out (always
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leaving half your lungs full of stationary air because you never
empty your lungs properly) as not emptying your lungs properly
and filling them properly is bad for you. It is a bit like scuba diving
and having to learn to control your breathing, then after a short
while you can do it automatically.
If someone is breathing too fast or in a way that would be
awkward then don't copy it exactly, you could do 3 of their breaths
to one of yours (or any other comfortable option). And you could
make emphasis to the out-breath and may be do your in-breath to 3
of theirs, then your out-breath to 4 of theirs.
There can be so many contexts when you want to notice as
people enter mini trances so that they will be taking on what you
are saying (assuming the trance includes you) or they could be in a
trance to integrate what you have just taught (like doodling or
staring into space) so you would want to give them a brief bit of
time to finish. Or if you want to demonstrate and have as few
problems as possible then someone very responsive is likely to
carry out what you say best (which can also act as a convincer to
the less engaged)
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If you ask someone about the stages of their problem they
have to enter trance to tell you. If you ask them about a leisure
activity they enjoy they will enter trance. If you ask them what
colour their front door is they will enter trance. Ask them how they
will know when they are better and they will have to enter trance...
It would be difficult not to have them enter trance. Even if
you sat doing nothing they will go inside to ask themselves what is
going on, so they will have entered trance.
These are all small and can be built on and used for a bigger
future trance, or any of these can be deepened as they appear.
When you ask someone 'have you ever been in a hypnotic
trance before?' what you are doing is a double bind. This is because
you have added the word before. If you ask have you ever been in a
trance? They can say yes or no, if you ask 'before' it means before
what? Before the one you are in? Before the one you are about to
go into? So whether they answer yes or no they are accepting they
will go into or are in a trance.
If they answer yes and it is a good experience then
gathering information will quickly drop them into a trance again yet
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it will appear like you were just enquiring about that previous
trance. If you want to still follow this line of questioning to induce
trance when they have said no you can just explain what it will be
like (using your hypnotic language skills)
Either way they are likely to enter a hypnotic state rapidly
and be well on their way before they know what is happening.
I just wanted to share my experiences of stopping using
scripts.
When I first trained everything was direct and all about
using scripts. I even contacted every therapist in my area to learn
from them, get their opinions and views on their success etc and all
the feedback was to buy lots of scripts and when a client tells you
what their problem is, use a script for that, find out which
induction script they want and use that and use a script for ending
the therapy. I had a collection of over 500 scripts! Imagine sitting
with a client and trying to remember which script I should use!! I
also felt it was wrong to just read in a monotonous voice from a
sheet of paper and get paid for it and claim I know what I was
doing. They could buy a book of scripts, choose the ones that suit
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them best, talk to a tape machine and do it themselves for much
cheaper.
When I found out about Ericksonian Hypnosis I realised
what Stephen was doing and Richard Bandler and that it wasn't that
they had memorised inductions and therapy scripts and were
reciting them, but that they were tailoring the therapy to the client.
I attended a two day course on Ericksonian Hypnosis and
on the course we had to sit opposite someone and (like
catchphrase) 'say what you see'. This was fine and I was
comfortable with this in the safety of a course where at least I
know I could do hypnosis, there were beginners that couldn't. I had
also by this point started 'ad-libbing' self-help tracks because I
couldn't find tracks or scripts for what I wanted to explore. I had
also listened by this point to many of Stephen Brooks’ Audio
courses and seen numerous videos and so had a greater grasp of
language patterns, tonality, etc...I still used scripts with client
because I thought I would not know what to say.
After the course I met up with a friend that was willing to
be a guinea pig, I said confidently that I can now do hypnosis
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without a script. I decided I would do a leisure induction with him
and utilise his interests and times his mind has naturally wandered,
and utilise ongoing behaviours that I can observe.
I asked him 'in an ideal world where you could do anything,
what would you do that would make your mind wander, that would
make you lose track of time and really enjoy yourself?'
His response was 'I would go back to Thunder Mountain
(apparently some water-ride in a water park in America?)'
I thought well I said I would use anything...so I did, and he
said it was the deepest trance he had ever been in and we got
numerous hypnotic phenomenon and great success.
I was nervous when he didn't say a nice warm beach or
something like all the course participants had said, but I am glad, I
have never looked back and now can't imagine using a script.
The thing I learnt is you can't be wrong because you are
given your script moment by moment by paying attention. And if
you expect them to go into a trance and so let your voice and
breathing guide them it doesn't matter if you don't yet know all of
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the language patterns. You learn best by being uncertain at first
rather than knowing it all then deciding to try it out.
There have been a few occasions where I have worked with
people that need to know the side effects of everything. You talk to
them and they tell you all about all the different tablets they take
and how they always get most of the side effects. With these people
on many occasions I have got them to be agreeing that when they
receive treatments they have the side effects. I then give them side
effects for the treatment they receive from me. These side effects
are obviously positive though.
I do this when working with some people with Obsessive
Compulsive Disorder also. I will give them a daily treatment plan
that sounds specific but isn't, like between 1830 & 1945 you will
have fun with your children, the plan gets followed obsessively, I
have symptoms created of what happens if the plan isn't followed
(positive of course) that gets the person trapped in a double bind.
Doing the re-framing and getting agreement initially is the trick,
once they are willing to follow the plan they also tie themselves into
following the consequences of not following the plan...
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Describing your own experience to induce a trance
You know one of my interests is going on walks through
the nearby woods. I'll spend hours just wandering along in my own
little world...feeling the breeze on my skin...I...begin to notice the
sound of each footstep...time seems to just... slow right down...and
I seem to be able to ...notice the smoothness of the movement of
my breathing, of each regular step, of individual sounds from the
birds, the rustling of the leaves...noticing the shimmering rays of
light...the warmth of the sun on my face...and as I continue walking
I...notice how the breathing begins to relax and deepen all by
itself...often I find my...muscles relaxing...around my shoulders,
arms, neck and face...and before long it already seems like time to
go home...
I find when I talk hypnotically about an interest I have the
client often finds it a familiar experience and so gets guided
indirectly by listening to my description. I did this for one person (a
hypnotherapist) where I challenged myself to see if I could
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hypnotise a hypnotist without them noticing. Part of what I did was
said 'you know I've always wanted to drive down America, see how
things change on a journey through the States' I went into detail
about this imaginary journey in conversation and he was in a trance
in no time at all.
Regarding therapist entering trance as well as client, I agree
it is best when it happens. The difference is in the trance. The
client enters a trance focused internally and the therapist (at least in
my case) goes into a trance focused intensely on the client, paying
full attention to the client. So the therapists trance is an externally
focused trance, the clients internally focused.
Sometimes the therapist may not know all they need to
know or they may not have time but want to get as much done as
possible or they may have been presented with a number of issues
and only worked on the one they could make change the fastest.
Nominalisations can be used to aid the client’s unconscious
mind to begin to spread change to other areas. I have recently
posted a video on a site of mine where I work with a woman that
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over the phone said she wanted to quit smoking then came to me
and said she wanted to lose weight and stop drinking cola and quit
smoking. I asked which one of these was most important to her.
Quitting drinking cola was what she expected o find hardest and
was most important to her. I helped her with this issue whilst
dropping in nominalisations and non-specific ideas for change in
other areas to also occur. So far (three months later) she has lost
about a stone and a half, cut down on smoking and had no
problem stopping drinking cola with no side effects. She wants to
now work exclusively on smoking in a follow up session. My aim
was to promote a way for her unconscious mind to have
permission and an understanding to spread change. Asking things
like 'You can be curious to discover what other changes occur' A
sentence with no specific meaning other than the one the listener
places on it and it doesn't give any direction or content as to what
is expected other than change. Given in a context where all change
that is happening is positive the expected change is also likely to be
positive.
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In one session I couldn't cover all three issues but could
indirectly begin to get movement on the issues I appear not to be
working on.
Arm Levitation and Catalepsy
Just lifting an arm in an ambiguous way would induce
catalepsy without asking for it (the movement would imply it).
Saying 'In a moment I'm going to lift your arm and I'm not
going to tell you to put it down' Implies you are going to want the
arm to be cataleptic but doesn't say this.
Telling a story about being in a cinema and your hand
stopping in the air as something interesting happens on the screen
implies catalepsy.
Saying 'and when I lift your arm you don't have to move it
up, or down or left or right or in any other direction, you can just
enjoy the relaxation' (implies it will stay still)
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Talking about animals that lie in wait for hours on end
without moving implies catalepsy.
The stories or metaphors above would be useful for
seeding in advance, giving time for it to sink in then when you lift
the arm the unconscious mind recognises the pattern and activates
what was seeded earlier.
Another way could be to lift the arm so gently they client
doesn't know if you are holding it or not so it gets confused and
stays where it is.
Time levitation instructions/suggestions/commands with
the clients in breaths...
It is a good relatively easy form or ratification keeping the
arm in catalepsy when the person awakes from trance. I think it all
depends on the person and the situation and what you want to
achieve with it...
That is catalepsy, catalepsy is happening all the time
somewhere in your body (like the neck staying in position to keep
your head still). Catalepsy is not rigid like an iron bar (although this
is often used as a metaphor) it is more like a waxy immobility that
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is comfortable, it is difficult to describe but your description is
correct.
I have done full body catalepsy in un-hypnotised people by
having them stand and then tapped on their shoulders in different
directions causing confusion (like the tapping on the arm) and on
the upper body and catalepsy sets in.
At the same time it makes the areas reduce in ability to feel
sensation, they also stick where they are placed (if you lift a
cataleptic leg it will stay where you let go of it, for example). It is
good for initiating pain control or for operations.
In catalepsy there is no muscular forcefulness/tension, for
example if the eyes are cataleptic it isn't like they are being held
shut like when you tightly shut them, it is more like they just don't
work.
I worked with one person that needed to believe he had
been in a trance and I was videoing the session and I asked what
would make him believe, he said if he could see on the video that
he was in a trance, so I had him do catalepsy for the whole
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hour...He was convinced because he knew this was impossible
normally, his arm would have wavered or lowered.
Other times I see that someone’s arm is getting tired etc so
I will suggest faster lowering, sometimes slower lowering,
sometimes if they believe 'I have the power' and I need to be a bit
more direct I wait until the arm is halfway down then I push it
down to their leg as I link it to something internal almost like a
shock/surprise induction being done with the person already in
trance.
Other times I use it as a metaphor for something so it
could be that I can lower the arm, then they can lower the arm (like
lowering a resistance etc)(with the arm placed between me and
them)
Hallucinations
Suggestions can still be given indirectly, or priming/seeding
can be done indirectly etc...
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If someone doesn't see what you want them to see then you
can reply with something like 'that’s right, you really don't see it,
and I wonder what else is there that you really can't see...'
The other way round it is to presuppose what you want
them to hallucinate without saying it, like asking 'what breed do you
think my dog is?' Whilst slowly gazing down towards the floor
where you want them to hallucinate the dog. Or what do you think
of my new picture? Whilst looking at a blank wall. If they say they
don't know they can't see it cause confusion by implying not seeing
it means being deeper in trance, and praise them for their ability to
go so deep, and then deepen their trance etc...
If it was auditory hallucination you can mention how you
can hear music in the background and ask if it is a piece they are
familiar with, and then ask them to really focus on that music.
With hallucinations in most positive hallucinations is a
negative element and vice versa, for example, if you hallucinate a
chair in front of you; you have to hallucinate out parts of the
background, if you don't see a chair that is there you have to
hallucinate in parts of the background.
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I once decided to do an experiment involving creating
artificial auras. I hypnotised myself to see different colours around
people for different modes. My logic was that there is so much
information to take in (non-verbal signals, verbal cues, words, etc)
that I thought my unconscious mind is probably noticing all of this
stuff, can it just process it for me and give me a cue that I can
notice that sums up the information. What I thought was the best
thing for this would be to see auras that I can observe changing
and can work with (for example if I wanted a specific depth of
trance, once the client is there the aura would be a dark blue, I this
gets lighter they are coming up so I need to acknowledge then
deepen, if it gets tinges of red there is some anxiety so I need to
acknowledge this and deal with it etc)
Over time the auras faded and I just started saying what
came to mind whether it made sense or not.
I used a similar thing when I first started out doing
hypnosis when I was about 14. I was envious of people with
synaesthesia (probably spelt wrong?) I thought ‘if only I could see
sounds, how useful would that be for playing man-hunt in the
woods at night’. So this is what I did. I made it so that sounds
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would make light and so if someone stepped on a twig for example
I would see a flash and know where they were. It is easier to judge
where something comes from when you see it rather than when
you just hear it. This is something that frustratingly I've not been so
capable of as I've grown up, don't know why?
Surprise and Confusion
Surprise or confusion can be used indirectly, just telling a
joke can surprise. A handshake being slightly different is barely
noticeable or paid attention to but it causes confusion and a trance,
moving your head as you talk to the client (or looking into a
different eye for conscious/unconscious etc) causes some
confusion as two messages are being conveyed with different
meaning, one of them to the unconscious to go into a trance,
overloading the client with information causes confusion, like
asking them to do something then before they have time to get it
done ask for more and more until they need to take on some of the
tasks unconsciously. making purposeful mistakes can cause
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confusion like saying I'm going to reach over and lift up your left
hand' and lifting the right one, or saying different to what you are
doing 'I can lift your hand up, down left right etc (doing as you are
saying) then after a few rounds of being congruent move the arm
different to what you are saying (up, move hand down, down move
hand up, left, move hand right etc)
When I tell confusing stories changing terms with one
meaning into characters people seem to think it is a challenge to
do. The trick is to turn each term into a character then just tell a
story, it isn't confusing to me saying it (unless I rattle it off too fast)
because it is just a story and characters.
Left/right confusion etc is all something you go into a
trance to do. I normally do small doses not long reams although I
don't have a great problem with this. It has to be right for the client
and context.
Client says left hand feels heavier than right, I might say so
your left hand resting right there is heavier than the right land left
right here is that right? Etc...
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Compound Suggestions
Compound suggestions can overlap. Generally it is a truism
followed by a suggestion, this can be from observable to non-
observable, out of trance to in trance, etc...
For example:
You can sit there, and read this writing
You can read this writing, and let thoughts come to mind
Those thoughts can come to mind, and some can be of
pleasurable experiences
You can be aware of those pleasurable experiences, and
become more absorbed and relaxed
One thing I did when initially learning this and all of the
other language patterns and structures etc was to listen to
conversations (in real life and on TV etc) and look out for specific
patterns.
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In work lots of times people would say things like 'Your
shift doesn't finish for another hour, does it? Can you go get the
paperwork up to date' Implying because the shift doesn't finish the
person can do the paperwork although there is no real link between
the two.
In ordinary conversation people don't often work from
observable to non-observable, or from not in trance to in trance.
(some good communicators do) Normally it is just truism-
suggestion, sometimes they can be linked but most people don't
realise they are doing it so just use single sentences.
Another one could be
'You know where Johnny is? Can you call him for tea'
In sales
'Look at this phone, it meets all of your needs'
'You look like someone that likes making good decisions,
this is the TV for you'
'You want the Big Mac Meal, and you’re going large with
that' (Question said as a statement)
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On TV
'The question is shown on the screen, phone in if you know
the answer'
'It's the end of the show, enter this competition to win
£5000'
Contingent Suggestions
Some examples of contingent suggestions you may hear in
everyday situations:
You don't have to brush your teeth until you're about to go
to bed
When you go to the shop remember to get some milk
Wash your hands before you eat dinner
I'll read you a story when you're in bed
You can have chocolate fudge cake after you have finished
your dinner
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Contingent suggestions make one part of a sentence
contingent on the other. The way to word them is to have the
contingent part an unconscious process. If it is unconscious the
client can't say 'no' when the behaviour it is linked to is true and
happening
'As you blink in that special way you can become more
absorbed'
'As you breathe out you can relax deeper'
'As you look at me, you can also be aware of certain
thoughts that come to mind...as you become aware of those
thoughts you can wonder what is happening in those hands...as you
wonder what is happening in those hands you can notice that one
hand feels different from the other...'
All pacing and leading and all starting with a truism. The
contingent parts are all out of conscious control. Becoming
absorbed, relaxing deeper, having thoughts, wondering what is
happening in the hands, hands feeling different from each other.
Nominalisations obviously help here with the leading parts.
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When are people in a trance naturally?
I would say when people lose car keys that are right under
their nose they are in a trance state. In the same way that when you
get catalepsy in a cinema you are in a trance, when you forget a
name at a party that you know you know and the harder you try to
recall the name the more elusive it becomes, you are in a trance
state.
I think it all comes down to how you are defining trance. If
you get into a state of uncontrollable laughter you are in a trance
state, same with problems like depression, smoking, anxiety, etc
they all involve going into a trance and at the time you are in that
state you see the world through that trance. Change trances and
you see the world differently.
With the key example assuming they are in view and
somewhere you have looked and not seen them often people find it
is when they need the keys, they focus all their attention on 'where
are the keys', then when they can't find them focus on how they
can't find them and begin to narrow their attention on the issue of
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keys missing and as heightened emotion also induces deep trances
(like phobias, fetishes etc) they are now getting emotional (stressed,
anxious etc) because they can't find the keys so the trance gets
deeper and more powerful and it cycles round as a self fulfilling
prophecy. The answer (as with the name example etc) is to stop,
and think about something completely different to break the cycle.
One thing that gave me confidence at inducing a trance was
seeing that everyone was going in and out of trances all by
themselves all the time (also see Rossi; The 20 minute break - a
book about Ultradian Rhythms). Leisure activities induce trance,
reading, listening to music, daydreaming. Most trances people go
into are self induced and most people wouldn't notice that
someone is in a trance because they wouldn't be looking for it.
Driving involves trance (sometimes deeper than other times) you
have to do many tasks simultaneously without thought, same as
tying shoe laces, doodling, all automatic behaviours involve mini
trances (handshakes, etc) A hypnotherapist can interrupt these
trances and extend them and become a focal part of them to take
control of the trance.
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Binds, Double Binds & Implication
If you use things like a double bind you presuppose one
direction whilst they think they are always making the choices
which you are then responding to.
I remember watching Erickson say to a client 'look at my
dog, what breed do you think it is?' The client wasn't asked if a dog
was there only the breed.
If you are stating truisms people are not necessarily going
to notice you are using a technique, and they can't really find holes
in it. Also if you ask questions with implied responses but not
actually asking for verbal responses or questions they would seem
stupid o answer no to (like 'so your name's Steph?', or clarifying age
etc...) it can just seem like you are clarifying rather than trying some
technique.
Implied responses could be
'So you're sitting in that chair, and you can notice me and
hear my voice and you don't expect to go into a trance yet' (Four
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implied agreements that don't ask for a response so are unlikely to
face resistance etc...)
Post Hypnotic Suggestions (PHS)
Whenever anyone carries out a post hypnotic suggestion
they go back into a trance like they were in when the suggestion
was created to carry out the suggestion. If this trance is interrupted
before finishing the PHS then you can expand on it and utilise it.
If someone has constant pain and it is ok to remove or alter
the pain then you may want a client to hallucinate numbness or a
different sensation for a long period of time (perhaps with
conditions that if the signal is required it will come through)
You may not want to tell them it is only an hallucination
and you may want them to be stuck in the hallucination to the
extent that the pain control lasts a while. And that a trigger like
opening the eyes in the morning could be used as a PHS for the
hallucination to begin each morning.
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At the end of therapy you would end everything you don't
want them leaving therapy with so that they are completely
reoriented back to 'reality' before going home. You may say 'you
can wake up totally and completely' or 'wake up all over'
Nominalisations
Another area with therapeutic nominalisations is building
your own context through the links between the nominalisations. If
Development was used with talk of business the meaning of
development to the listener is more likely to be in the context of
business and it could be good or bad. If development was used in
the context of 'what is happening now' then it is more likely to
bring up meaning in this context.
The context the nominalisation is given in effects the
meaning of the nominalisation.
'New developments are happening in the business, there
will be organisational changes taking place'
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'New developments are happening inside your mind, and
you can wonder how those organisational changes and
improvements will take place'
Fractionation
Fractionation is where you put someone in a trance and out
of trance repeatedly. Each new trance induction deepens the trance.
Erickson noticed each time he hypnotised patients they would go
deeper than the previous time. He would spend weeks (sometimes
many months) hypnotising clients. Then he wondered if he did the
same number of inductions in a session rather than over many
sessions would it have the same effect and he found out it did. To
make it more effective it is useful to not bring the person 'out'
between inductions. Just distract them (if they have their eyes open)
or ask them to open their eyes (and not ask them to wake up etc)
and talk and then do another induction (all can be indirect or it
could be overt and asking them to 'close their eyes')
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Inducing trance with music
You can induce trance with music. Many cultures have used
music and no words to induce altered states (trance states). Many
tribal cultures use flickering lights of the flames of a fire and drum
beats to induce the trance state. Sometimes this beating can be fast,
other times it could be slow. The trance states are different
depending on the speed of the beat but it can all be used. I often
use drum beats and other sounds to induce trance on my mp3
tracks and use bineural beats (different frequency of beats to each
ear to create an illusion of a beat out of the difference between the
two beats that often leads to the frequency of the brain matching
these beats)
This all happens in music, especially modern music that can
be listened to in stereo (or 5.1 Surround Sound) that allows
musicians to create tracks that allow for deeper absorption from
the listener. So any music can probably be used to induce a trance.
I've known a number of teenagers I've worked with that would use
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Eminem or a gangsta rap group...If anything (especially with this
age group) it shows respect to them that what they like and are into
isn't being dismissed. I feel the times I've used these
musicians/types of music that if I dismissed it and used something
else it may have appeared disrespectful. I appear to show a keen
interest if I ask for more detail and use it. You don't even have to
know much about what you are discussing because you can be
vague with your language and use nominalisations so it sounds
meaningful to them.
Richard Bandlers Neurosonics hypnosis tracks use Blues
and jazz to help induce a trance...I have used marching as a trance
induction (ex soldier), I have used dance music (trance music) and
even rollercoaster’s, through to diving, hang gliding, etc...almost
anything can be used...
Every day Trance Phenomena
what is commonly thought of as deep trance phenomena
can occur in a lighter trance, like catalepsy occurring when
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watching a film in the cinema, or someone hallucinating that they
thought they heard someone say their name, or hallucinating that
they saw something out of the corner of their eye after watching a
scary film (obviously these examples of naturally occurring times
and so aren't as dramatic as when under hypnosis, but they are still
occurring). I have had arm catalepsy in people in seconds while
they are in a light trance. Noticing multiple deep trance phenomena
or signs is more likely to mean deep trance is present than just
noticing one (same as trance indicators like REM, fluttering eye
lids, etc).
Rapid inductions
To do them the main thing is confidence. It is about
interrupting a pattern or causing confusion. I rarely use rapid
inductions. I rarely in private practice use anything that resembles a
formal induction. At best I often ask people to close their eyes and
I begin to talk to them and observe them closely, slowing down my
breathing and speech, lowering my voice and tonality, and I
mention talking to the unconscious part of them and just do it.
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Really the inductions I do don't exist. For example if I am
treating a phobia I just say something like 'OK just close your eyes
a minute and we'll try something' then I go into the technique and
make sure that all of my non verbal behaviour is implying trance
induction and deepening while they focus on the words and
following any instructions (which is also trance inducing).
Watching Bandler, or some of Milton Erickson’s footage
can help. Also reading ‘The deep trance training manual’ by Igor
Ledochowski and ‘Training Trances’ by Overdurf & Silverthorn is
useful. These have info about rapid inductions and handshake
inductions.
I do handshake inductions similar to how Erickson did
them as they are less dramatic, or I will tell someone that 'in a
moment I’m going to reach over and lift up your right arm...and
I'm not going to tell you to put it down (implying levitation)...any
faster than...your unconscious (embedded command)...allows you
to go deeply and comfortably into a trance while the conscious part
of you can drift off and think of pleasant memories or hopes and
dreams...etc...' Then I reach over lift the arm very gently so I am
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hardly touching it and once it is levitating I say that’s it or that’s
right, as it starts lowering I suggest it can take its time etc... The
person will already be in a trance, and as the arm lowers they will
go deeper.
Or I do the fingers coming together induction. This
induction is rapid and the client can then recreate it (if this is
suggested) as a self hypnosis induction in the future...
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Observation Skills
When I first learnt about congruency between conscious
and unconscious messages I wanted to know how I could practice
this and refine it as a skill
The best way I have found is to watch people, watch them
in pubs, clubs, restaurants, anywhere where you get to observe
people interacting. By doing this you can listen to conversations at
the same time as objectively watching non-verbal behaviour.
Another place to watch this is on reality TV shows like Big Brother
and on programmes like 'the Jeremy Kyle show'. I used to record
one of these shows a week and watch interactions and see what I
could figure out about people based on mismatching
communication. With programmes like Big Brother you can test
your ideas about your observations over a period of time.
You can watch people talking and look for patterns. Doing
this you don't get to ask the questions but you can pay your full
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attention because you aren't involved. Anyone that has knowledge
of magic and watches a magician knows that if the magician is
captivating enough you miss what they do even though you know it
happened right under your nose. This the same when starting out
doing therapy, you know lots of stuff but miss it when you are in a
real situation because you have too much to take in.
As you watch people you may work by initially just getting a
sense of something or you may actively look for patterns that you
could tell someone else (like change in facial colour, change in lips,
body posture, eye contact, etc)
The best way to learn to recognise minimal cues is to focus
on one at a time while you learn.
What you do with the observations depends on what you
are observing for (it could be to look for congruence, or it could be
for a specific state, etc) If it is for a state then you can suggest back
the minimal cues, so if you wanted to induce a deep trance
comment on the minimal cues (overtly or indirectly) each time you
see a trance based minimal cue. You could link it to going deeper
for example by saying 'as you continue to blink in that special way
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you can drift deeper.' Or 'That’s Right' (said on each blink, or sign
of ideo-motor movement etc)
The easiest way of noticing minimal cues is to be in a
trance, letting your unconscious notice for you.
To switch the trance focus (from internal to external or
external to internal) you can start by matching the experience then
guiding it to where it is wanted.
'You can be aware of the ticking clock, of the traffic
outside, of the sound of my breathing AND you can notice what
those hands feel like resting on your lap WHILE you wonder what
will happen next...and BEFORE you discover what will happen
next you can notice which hand feels the heaviest and wonder
which one will lift...' (Getting more internal)
To do this the other way reverse the process and match
ongoing internal experience then you can ask them to remain in
this state while they open their eyes and pay their full attention
honestly and completely (a statement they should take literally) to ...
(whatever the external thing is - reading, practicing an instrument
etc)
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With leisure activities you can have an external focus
activity and guide it internally (even by saying 'I sense you can feel
some of that now').
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Six-Step Reframing
I remember Richard Bandler saying he created the six step
reframing technique as a way of getting people to do hypnosis
(when he couldn't use terms like hypnosis) and talk with the clients
unconscious mind (or have the client talk with their own
unconscious mind) to allow the unconscious to hold multiple views
(positive intention of the problem, how to find a better way of
meeting that intention - like smoking to relax, self hypnosis to relax
- and to allow the unconscious mind to take control of integrating
these ideas) He has said he doesn't use this technique as a
technique now because there isn't such stigma about using
hypnosis and just doing this directly like lifting an arm and saying
not to lower any faster than you make these changes (while the
person is in trance). The six step reframing was designed as a trance
induction and therapy script all in one technique, 'go inside, thank
your unconscious for its solution (the problem), ask the
unconscious to find a variety of better options that fulfil the same
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need or requirements, check this is OK (look to the future etc) -
EG - Smoking to relax, deep breathing to relax or self hypnosis to
relax or time management to relax etc, healthier and fitter in the
future and some positive side effects may be happier at work or
home etc) then give a signal when this is done (arm lowering, finger
signal, feeling in the body, eyes opening etc)
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Cause, Symptoms, Problem Perception & Solutions
Having cause and symptom both different views of the
same thing is like a fish’s view of an iceberg and a bird’s eye view of
the iceberg. The therapist and client may only be aware of the
bird’s eye view, by knowing that what you can observe is part of
what is hidden not something different from what is hidden, you
can look at what is keeping the top of the iceberg in place.
It maybe that the cause no longer exists but something is
still keeping the iceberg tip in place, this could be an unconscious
belief that the habit is still required as it served a purpose, which
would mean there is still a linked cause (the belief it is needed - like
a form of self therapy, the cause being the therapy, needed or not -
like insomnia because 40 yrs ago light sleeping was required and the
pattern has stuck, or smoking to manage stress etc).
The similarities with particle physics are useful ideas and
interesting to wonder how truly linked these things are. In quantum
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theory something is in every possible outcome until it is observed,
then it settles on one outcome...the observation create the
outcome. The position of the observer and what is observed also
affects the outcome. This is the same in therapy, observation
affects the perceived problem.
Also creating a change in one place creates an instant
change in all related areas. So if someone that has an acne problem
forgets they have and forgets to pay attention to it, it disappears
quickly. Or if someone stops worrying, they stop being depressed,
if someone tries to stay awake instead of doing their usual
behaviour of trying to fall asleep they fall asleep. So changing one
part of a pattern alters the whole pattern, leading to a different
outcome.
This was a large part of Erickson’s work. He wouldn't
know what was going to happen, only where he could help make a
change. He would trust the client to make it positively and in
context with finding a solution to their problem.
For example when he knew a man could move one of his
fingers, he got the man doing this, he didn't know exactly what the
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outcome would be only that when the man noticed he could move
one finger and the finger next to it moves a little he'll know that
means he can move a second finger, which moves a third finger
slightly etc...
On Sunday I was in a car getting a lift back to Bognor Regis
from Roehampton...It was raining quite heavy...we took a wrong
turning...The driver asked if we should perhaps get out the satnav
or hope we find our way or if we have got lost for a reason we
don't yet know?
I told a story about a farmer that had a prize stallion that
escaped from his field...the villagers say 'that was unlucky' the
farmer says maybe, the stallion comes back with some healthy wild
horses...the villagers say 'that was lucky' the farmer says maybe, the
farmer's son gets on one of the new horses and gets thrown off
breaking his leg...the villager's say 'that was unlucky' the farmer says
maybe, the army come to town to recruit soldiers and the farmer's
son can't be recruited because of his broken leg...the villagers say
'that was lucky' and the farmer says maybe...
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A couple of minutes after telling this story when we were
about 2 seconds from a petrol station (literally) the engine cut out
and we drifted comfortably onto the forecourt in front of the
correct pump to try filling up the car (it didn't need more petrol),
we called the RAC and it turned out there was an RAC van less
than 10 minutes away from where we were...no -one needed to use
the pump we were at and the RAC man knew what the problem
was and how to sort it out quickly and we got back to Bognor fine.
Had we not taken the wrong turning and just gone with it,
we wouldn't have been in the right place at the right time...instead
we would have broken down on a motorway in the rain and dark
rather than under cover in a service station with a shop and just
down the road from an RAC van.
The unconscious is very good at working in ideas, concepts
and metaphors..For example I have seen a video of Erickson lift up
a resistant clients arm palm facing them then putting it down again,
then getting them lifting their own arm to the same position and
putting it down again (to take down their own barrier between
them - that is where the arm was placed)
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Setting tasks does a similar thing like the example of
Erickson having a client hunt for two identical blades of grass, or
giving out African violets.
You only need to ignite the change not do it for the client.
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Time Distortion
I once hypnotised someone to experience a whole lifetime
in a world they created in the space of 10 minutes...They spent
hours recounting what they got up to over their lifetime...
It happens when you dream, if you get asked about it
straight away you can recall loads of information about the dream
and can claim it was hours even if you know you only nodded off
for a few minutes
Anaesthesia using time distortion is like taking different
drugs. Some drugs may work on just the discomfort, other drugs
may make the whole area numb, other drugs may make you
unconscious (so having no awareness of pain). Pain is made worse
than it needs to be because you do remember what the pain felt
like, you think about how painful it will be in the future (both of
which will bring back to some level the feelings associated with the
pain, just like a leisure trance induction brings back to some extent
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the feelings associated with the activity) and you have the pain you
are currently experiencing.
You could make the area of the pain numb (for example a
pain in the wrist could have the WHOLE wrist made numb) or you
could make JUST the pain numb (so that if you touched the wrist
you would feel the touch because only the pain is numbed), you
could give amnesia for past pain and have the person forget they
may have future pain (reducing the pain by 2/3), you could change
the sensation of the pain (so that it feels like a warmth or tingling
etc - pain is a signal saying 'look after me' so sometimes getting rid
of it completely will not work because it is important that you have
some awareness of it) or you could speed up the passing of the pain
(again respecting that it is there as a signal rather than just making it
go away). Technically if the pain (headache for example) would
have been there for an hour and it is gone in one minute then what
is happening for the other 59 minutes? It must be anaesthetised
because it isn't there when it would have been.
In the past I have asked people to experience entire
artificial life times, almost like giving them the chance to live
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through a fantasy (like in the land of lord or the rings, or star wars,
or on the star ship enterprise) and to take a minute of my time to
do this. They experience the highs and lows of that life (I add bits
to how I suggest it so that they don't have anything like being killed
in their 'dream' and clarify what they want). It has been really
interesting talking for hours with people when they come out of a
trance and tell you their WHOLE life story, all the adventures etc
as they grew old. People have told about living to 70, 80, 90 etc and
recall memories from all of it. So I think the mind can distort time
to an incredible range effortlessly.
Regarding Time Slowing Down, when I worked in
incredibly violent and aggressive situations time would slow down
to what seemed like a snail’s pace. I would become so aware that
for a five minute incident I could write pages of information about
every little detail (in my job at the time I could write the events of a
24hr period in a single page and think I had covered everything).
The same thing occurred when I was ran over, time slowed right
down, all I felt was peace and relaxation. I was so aware of
everything around me. Time changing like this in emergencies is a
natural survival response to give you more chance of effectively
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managing the situation (if you are attacked and go into this state
you are hyper aware so time appears to run slowly).
This type of time distortion is different to comparing
spaces between events, which is why as you get older time appears
to speed up (a year for a ten year old is 10% of his life, a year for a
hundred year old is 1% of his life) so time appears to get faster.
Also amnesia between events makes time seem faster.
Generally time distortion will usually happen whether it is
asked for or not. The best way to elicit time distortion is through
stories, metaphors and examples of naturally occurring time
distortion. Creating a situation conducive of time distortion, like
getting the client very engrossed or focused on one thing so they
exclude all else, or language patterns. It could be directly suggested
with some people but that doesn't work with many others. The use
of language patterns to induce time distortion fascinates me, you
could say something like 'in hypnotic time you can discover a
whole hour seems like a minute, as in waking time a whole minute
can stretch to an hour' or another variation maybe 'You can be
curious to discover whether an hour of your time will seem like a
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minute of waking time or whether a minute of my time will seem
like an hour of hypnotic time?'
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Analogue Marking
With the issue of analogue marking or embedded
commands, I use it all the time throughout whole sessions. It is like
allowing your communication to be multi layered. The conscious
mind will be phasing in and out.
I think it is important to be continually allowing
communication to both the conscious part and the unconscious
part. Analogue marking allows the conscious part to listen into an
apparent conversation whilst the unconscious part is aware of the
marked out sections.
Because the unconscious part notices these sections and the
conscious part doesn't the conscious and unconscious receive two
different messages. I often do this telling stories/metaphors etc
that the conscious mind just listens to while the unconscious part
responds to the patterns in what I am saying and also to any
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sections that get marked out (a form of analogue marking is
embedded commands/suggestions).
The 'my friend john' technique is a good example of this
used in trance induction. It also happens in everyday life, you get
people that say 'I told him...I'm really annoyed at the lack of respect
you show me...' As you here someone talking directly at you like
this it can feel like it is aimed at you, it creates feelings in your body
as it affects you on a deeper level even though logically and
consciously you know they are not talking about you.
If ideas and suggestions are given indirectly (via analogue
marking for example) then the conscious mind is highly unlikely to
notice so it will only be received unconsciously, if the suggestions
were given directly then the conscious mind may become aware
and may in the future sabotage the work because it remembers bits
and pieces.
When I want to educate someone in therapy and feel that
they probably don't see that they don't know what they don't know
I do it indirectly. Often by telling them I'm not going to tell them.
because I am there as a therapist and they have come to me for
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help there is a high chance that they expect me to know what I'm
talking about so if I don't give them reason to challenge me then
often what I say gets accepted.
As an example in smoking, some people think they know
the risks of smoking but don't really, they only know the common
few things that get plastered over the media. I want them to have
an understanding of some of the other issues but I don't want to
lecture them or to have them defend why it won't be them etc (I
don't always feel this is necessary, it is client dependant).
I will often say 'I know you know all the effects of smoking,
so I don't need to tell you that 50% of all smokers die of a smoking
related illness'...then I tell them what I said I wasn't going to tell
them.
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Rapport
Over the years I have found that many people
misunderstand what they should be doing when building rapport
and matching or mirroring body language etc. People seem to think
they should be copying but this really annoys people. The idea is to
join the person in their reality respectfully. Look for patterns. If
they do a specific gesture when saying or talking about a specific
thing (like making a brushing motion when talking about getting rid
of a habit) then if you talk about the same you can make the same
motion. You don't just do it because they did.
I match breathing and often match heart rate with the
movement of my head or a finger or my foot, often match blinking
(either with my blinking or with a finger etc), I match general body
posture and certain words and phrases used. I don't match things
that would be unnatural for me (I had a client that had a bad arm
and she kept it in an awkward position. I could copy it but it would
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have been uncomfortable and would have looked like I was taking
the piss).
If you are matching how someone is sitting and they
change positions, don't immediately change how you are sitting,
wait until a time when it would be natural for you to decide to
change positions.
The idea is to respond in the same way they would, not to
copy them. I pace then test then lead people into trance
without placing any importance on the words I am saying just by
using breathing, body posture, heart rate, blinking etc so that when
they are responding to me I gradually put myself in trance and they
follow.
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Working with Problems
You should allow the client enough time to talk about the
depression (or their problem as they see it) it would seem very
disrespectful if it was ignored or brushed under the carpet. I
probably didn't word what I wrote very well. Just like you can use
questions and asking for more detail to induce a positive trance,
you can do the same to induce a negative trance, so if you ask them
questions about all of their problems and make your focus on their
problems they'll give you the answers whilst at the same time they'll
often begin to deepen their depression because your eliciting proof
that they have had a lifetime of depression (which backs up the
depressive thinking style).
If you listen to their story and focus in on the islands of
hope and resiliency whilst at the same time acknowledging 'that
must have been a difficult period in your life, no wonder you got
depressed, I'd be surprised if anyone could go through a situation
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like that and not need to take some mental time out to get your
head round it before being able to move on' (or whatever
wording/comment/etc would feel right for the client in front of
you)
It's not that the therapist shouldn't talk about the
presenting problem (depression), It's that I don't believe the
therapist needs to talk about all the depressing things that have
happened to the person in their life on top of that problem (as
some therapists I've had to observe have done, and many clients I
have had have been the result of feeling suicidal after seeing
counsellors that have done this leading to them believing they were
justified to think their life was a failure and worthless) I like people
to leave a session optimistic and with a sense of hope and
expectancy for positive change
Smoking is a trance state, the craving focuses attention and
negates everything else, I've known people that have said when a
craving happens they would kill for a cigarette, people have said to
me that they turn into a different person if they try to ignore the
craving, they 'see the world through the filer of the craving', when
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they smoke the process happens automatically, they don't think
about what they are doing.
Often in therapy I ask them if they enjoy every cigarette?
and if they remember each cigarette? The answers are always that
they just need a cigarette and find themselves smoking. If they
make roll ups then they do this whilst talking, etc with no
conscious thought, they get on with chatting as they get a cigarette
out and light it, they instinctively light up a cigarette when they
have a coffee, or when they answer the phone, or when they get
out of a no smoking area (or whatever it happens to be for them).
What I do often is (especially with people that don't want
to quit but have been told they are seeing me to quit) is make it so
that it becomes so conscious as a process they don't enjoy it. I
don't do this by working with the conscious part of them directly,
so I don't tell them what I want them to do. I do things like
scrambling their usual pattern of how their smoking habit works,
by having (instinctively) the negatives coming to mind when they
think about smoking or go to smoke, and positives coming to mind
when they think about being healthy and when they decline offers
of cigarettes etc. Because this is coming to mind for them they are
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very conscious of the act of smoking (not because I have asked
them to be but because it is what comes through from their mind
when they try). I, at the same time presuppose when they will
finally decide 'enough is enough' for themselves and offer choices
about that date, etc...
I also often make it conscious by suggesting tasks, for
example a man saw me (referred by the NHS stop smoking clinic).
The first thing he said was 'I will tell you the same as I told the
nurse at the clinic, I will have you smoking 40 a day before you
would be able to stop me smoking 40 a day' he knew why he
should stop and was not there because he had any intention to
stop.
One of his regular patterns was to smoke a specific number
of cigarettes on his set journey (like to the supermarket) he had a
reason for doing this. For example to the supermarket he had to
smoke 6 cigarettes, he would have 4 on the journey (15 minute
journey) and 2 in the car park. This was because once he's in the
shop he can't smoke until he comes out. He agreed he can go 15
minutes without a cigarette (does longer in the supermarket) he
agreed he won't cut down or stop, he also agreed that he was
587
willing to try my idea of really making the most of those cigarettes
and smoking them all when he is in the car park or when he has
arrived at his destination, if he isn't driving he can really focus on
enjoying those cigarettes.
I told him but I don't want you to cheat, you must smoke
all the cigarettes that you normally would have smoked. He found
it such a chore to be sat consciously smoking each cigarette when
he was at his destination and felt he was wasting his time because
he wanted to be doing what he was there for not just sitting in his
car smoking. He saw me a week later and said he had tried to do as
I asked but found himself cheating sometimes and not smoking as
many as he was supposed to be smoking.
He then cancelled the next appointment and quit on his
own without help so that he could take credit for it (my assumption
was that he probably felt he would lose face if he quit because of a
therapist when he told all therapist none of them could stop him)
Months later I saw him and he had lost weight, not smoked and
looked healthier and was proud he did it on his own.
588
All psychological problems involve a trance element...this is
one reason why hypnotherapy is so useful for treating them. Each
trances has different characteristics, a depression trance offers a
specific view of the world that is different to a happiness trance for
example.
Addictions and eating disorders and OCD, phobias, PTSD
all involve a trance element. An easy way to hypnotise a smoker for
example is to ask them to talk about how they smoke, what feelings
are associated with it etc. Even the trances therapists guide people
into can be different. It is possible to create 'designer trances'
where you create a desired trance then use fractionation to add a
different trance onto that one and have different combinations of
trance.
I saw someone the other day that had one type of trance
experience with me a week earlier and told me what he liked and
what could make the previous experience better so I helped him
experience this new type of trance. To get it I had to do different
things. Different rhythms and frequencies create different trance
states. I made an altered states mp3 that involved using drum beats
589
(and different drums and spatial locations when listened to in
stereo) to create an interesting trance state.
Obviously it is beneficial to use something enjoyable and
positive as the induction but it is also useful to know that the
problem is a trance state and a unique one at that and so any
alteration made to that trance state will change the resulting trance
experience or break it completely and make the unconscious
processes leading to the trance conscious. (Like making a smoker
aware of every step of smoking by altering an element of it so that
it is no longer an unconscious habit but more a conscious chore or
something that suddenly they feel self-conscious about because
they are now aware they are doing it)
In my experience with people with over drinking problems
I've found that often it is their medication, they drink to self
medicate against something. it could be that they get too stressed
and so drink to forget what is causing them stress, or they have a
drink and know when they go home they will be late and will end
up in an argument so they drink more and don't go home yet to
face the music, which leads to more problems when they do go
home. Very often they desperately want to quit but as long as they
590
don't know of a better more productive way of dealing with what
they are using the drink to deal with then the pattern continues.
People may drink when they socialise and believe that they
won't be able to socialise if they stop drinking, or when they drink
they get attention and looked after the next time they are sober,
etc... Normally in my experience if there is a secondary gain then it
stands out.
I have often asked people 'so what do you get out of
drinking/smoking etc?'
Or asking about relationships (friends and family and work
colleagues), normally as you take a history and cover all aspects of
their life surrounding the problem you observe certain things that
could be secondary gains (like a wife looking after the husband
when he has sobered up, or special treatment from work
colleagues)
I've worked with children through to adults with mental
health issues and I don't mind if they are talkative or not talkative
at all or highly educated or don't understand most things most
people would understand. I find that if I utilise whatever they
591
present and if I talk in a way they can understand. I feel that the
therapist should be flexible and adaptable and change their
approach , words and actions to suit the client. Sometimes I may
use child type metaphors like stories and fairy tales other times
more grown up examples perhaps of daily situations. I wouldn't
want them to shut off so to keep them happy I want them to feel
I'm understanding and respecting what they know. I may not use so
many complex language patterns, not because I don't think their
unconscious can understand, but because it may sound complex
and break rapport. I'm more likely to stick to embedded
commands. The same for gathering information about the patients’
history I would want to do this in a way that suits the person I'm
working with.
The patterns I look for are more the structure of the
problem. The content of the problem is often very important to
the client; this is what they have often come in with and what they
feel the therapist needs to hear. It is important to respect the client
and to acknowledge their feelings and circumstances and to feed
back in an accepting manner that you listened and that times
perhaps were not easy. If there are exceptions these can be fed
592
back and islands of hope and success can be feedback. Also if they
mention positive up and coming things these can be feedback. It's
more a case of positively directing the clients attention whilst
respecting what is also important to them and showing this respect.
You will only be feeding back truisms (statements of fact) so
anything you say is unlikely to be challenged or seem disrespectful.
With parents they often say they reached the end of their tether and
just walked away and then the child calmed down. I often feedback
when summarising '...and how did you know that walking away was
the right option for getting Joe Blogs to stop shouting and
swearing?
As all of the summarising is truisms the yes set created will
often aid continued rapport and often your summarising makes
them feel better and more hopeful (which helps rapport to)
I think often an outcome a therapist comes up with is not
the therapist’s outcome but an observed outcome that the client
hadn't made the connection to. I believe that therapists should be
humble enough to respect a client’s view on what they want treated
and what they currently don't want treated. I knew someone that
wanted to stop being depressed and they smoked. I helped them
593
stop being depressed but didn't try to MAKE them stop smoking.
Another therapist was horrified that I sent them on their way
'imperfect'; their training had been that a client stays in therapy
until they have no more problems. My question was by whose
definition and standards? And what is a template of a normal
problem free person that everyone should leave therapy fitting?
This depressed person had two sessions and was happy with the
results (and actually cut down on smoking as a side effect of
managing stress more effectively, and managing boredom more
effectively)
Some of the most important information is gathered from
asking about when the problem doesn't occur, especially from
when the problem doesn't occur but was expected to...(for
example; if a smoker HAS to smoke every hour and then goes on a
7hr flight to Dubai and doesn't even think about wanting a
cigarette).
This information can be talked about and expanded. Also
for example if someone is ALWAYS depressed and you ask them
about the times they feel less depressed (if asking about times when
they weren't depressed is too much of a leap) you can find patterns
594
associated with the non-depression, or happier times (at this point
they may not accept that they were happy or having fun at the time
but being less depressed is a start).
Asking about exceptions builds hope and expectancy as
you guide the client’s attention to solutions and problem free times.
If they think they always have the problem (like pain or depression
etc) and now they have examples of times without the problem it
begins to break it down.
I remember hearing about a lawyer doing this...Someone
took the stand with pain, they were trying to get compensation for
an injury, and the interaction went something like this;
Lawyer 'where is the pain worst?'
Person 'in my right arm'
'Where in the right arm is the pain worse?' 'in the lower part
of my arm' 'so the top part of your arm is more comfortable?' 'Yes'
where in that lower part of your arm has the least discomfort?' 'My
elbow and down my forearm' 'so your elbow and forearm are more
comfortable, is the feeling more in your wrist or your hand?' 'More
in my hand' 'so your wrist is more comfortable than your hand?'
595
'Yes' 'which parts of your hand feels most comfortable, your palm
or your fingers?' 'my palm' 'your palm feels more comfortable than
your fingers' 'yes' 'which of your fingers feels most comfortable?'
(And the questioning continued down to the thumb) '...and when
does the discomfort affect you least, day times or night time?' 'Day
time is better than at night' 'does it bother you while you sleep?' 'no'
'do you feel more comfortable when you wake up or when you fall
asleep' 'when I wake up' (at this point recapping is done) 'so you've
got some pain, its better during the day, it doesn't really bother you
while you sleep or when you wake up, and it is worse in your right
thumb just when you are falling asleep and more comfortable in the
rest of your hand and arm...'
The person taking the stand apparently was more pain free
and appeared happier but didn't get much compensation...
Every day I use my mind to control discomfort. Time
distortion and perception fascinates me. The uses are varied. When
you are in pain you are naturally in a trance so a trained Doctor
could utilise this by building a yes set around the feeling then
wondering curiously how long it will last and what it will feel like as
596
it disappears and whether it will disappear from the arm up or the
neck down, or from the centre out dispersing or maybe round the
edges first or maybe in a random fashion... It is interesting to offer
a client more time in a short space of time to do some work by
talking about natural times time distortion happens. Like when you
are doing something exciting and time flies by, or when you read a
good book and notice you've nearly finished and been sat there for
hours but it seems like only a few minutes, the same when
watching a good film..And I'm sure you can think of more?
Another use for summarising is reframing. It gives you a
chance to offer a slightly altered interpretation that is more
beneficial. Like changing pain to discomfort (which hypnotically
has the added bonus of being 70% made up of comfort). You can
phrase the feedback as 'correct me if I'm wrong....'
I really do value and appreciate the use of questions. If you
ask the right questions, you guide the client through a more
productive route on their map of reality. It is like they have been
walking through a dark and misty moor unable to see the safe route
through so they keep getting stuck. If you ask the right questions
597
it’s like you’re helping to guide them along the safe path to where
they want to go.
Even though they may not realise it your questions can
focus them on what they should focus on. If you have a depressed
client and you ask to be told about all the bad things that have
happened in their life they will tell you and may get more
depressed. If you ask them for the exceptions, for when things
have gone well, etc... You are more likely to focus them positively
and give them hope, same as if you make their problem seem more
normal.
The same when setting tasks, you can ask them to notice
what happens between now and the next session that they would
like to continue to have happen.
I work with many clients; the questioning is a very
therapeutic tool as it gathers information that is useful directing a
client around their map in a way they may not have taken before.
For example; I work a lot with parents that have children with
behavioural problems. Often I meet the parents or parent and they
598
have 'rehearsed' what they think they need to say to me and what
they think I need to know.
I often start a session talking about irrelevant seeming
things like how 'it's a nice day for a change' (one of my favourite
ambiguous comments to start a session), I try to notice something
about them that I can talk with them about, I ask them what has
been happening since they made the appointment that they would
like to continue to happen, or I may ask them what has been going
well, etc...I'll try to begin to focus on successes. I let them tell their
story for a while, but often feed key bits back.
For example; Parents often say when describing the
problem that they reach a point where they have had enough and
they just walk away. I often ask what happens next? The response
is usually that they calm down. I then often comment 'How did you
know that to make him calm down and to end the situation you
walk away?' I don't mind whether they accept my interpretation or
not at this point, I just want to get across an alternative view for
their behaviour as a success not a failure.
599
So I think skilful questioning and responding to responses
is therapeutic. On average in an hour session I probably spend
about 15-20 minutes gathering information/history about the
problem, the process, how the problem starts and ends, a few
examples (so that I can hear them describing it), the context,
whether they have solved the problem in the past (For example;
perhaps they want to quit smoking and they did for 5 years 10 years
ago, then I can find out what is stopping them doing the same
again and what made them restart), etc... but with some people they
have a need to talk for longer and feel listened to and other people
give what you probably need really quickly (I help someone with a
phobia once in less than 10 minutes because the situation only
allowed this and they needed the phobia removed, I gave
suggestions at the end of the work to the unconscious to use day
dreams and night dreams to make any other necessary adjustments
to make the change comfortable and lasting whilst maintaining any
necessary learning that the old incident had taught)
What I have observed is that it isn't always necessary to
know where the problem came from to treat it, the cause may have
long gone, I often give a few metaphors/stories about change and
600
work with what information I have, often if the person can really
get a sense of the future without the problem (if they struggle to
accept the possibility of change and describing a future without the
problem I sometimes say 'what would it be like if...' or 'Imagine you
wake up tomorrow and what bought you here today has stopped,
how would you know...etc') then they rarely need to go back and
find why it was there or deal with any past issue, it may have burnt
itself out or passed its sell by date and no longer be relevant.
What I often find is that if the first session doesn't get
significant results then I may have to dig a little deeper or even use
ideo-motor responses and ask for the unconscious to work things
out and signal yes when it is done.
601
Looking for Patterns
There are many examples, people shaking their head while
they say yes (or nodding and saying no) this movement will often
be slow and fairly minimal, crossing arms (or legs) whilst trying to
appear like they don't have a problem with what you are saying (or
pretending to agree), people acting interested with their feet
pointing at the door (or someone they would rather be talking
with), micro movements (brief glimmers from the unconscious to
what has just been said or happened moments before the conscious
mind responds) like slight scowls followed by a smile or part of the
face giving a response like eye brows lifting like fear or startle as
the person tries to smile and not look surprised. Metaphorical
behaviours seem to be very common, people having an aching neck
or digging heals in, or using hand gestures to push a problem away
or to move something closer or to put things in place.
602
In my experience it is about looking for patterns. For
example someone may cross their arms because they are cold or
because they disagree with something you have said. My advice
would be to be observant. If you think you have noticed a pattern
(someone crosses their arms while you say something) then change
subject (they may then uncross their arms or may not if they are
cold) then a few minutes later go back to the subject again and see
if they carry out the behaviour again. Same with rubbing the neck.
It could be a genuine pain in the neck or it could be a husband
being a pain in the neck. If they rub their neck when the husband is
mentioned and then you change topic and come back to it and
again they rub their neck it may well be a sign. I have known of
many courses that teach about body language and non-verbal
behaviour wrong (in my opinion) they say 'this means this' in a very
rigid way. I had an interview where the interview panel all
interpreted me shifting on my seat and crossing my arms as being
very uncomfortable talking about my past (I had just been ran over
and so had to cross my arms to support my bad arm and had to
shift in my seat for the same reason. Over a prolonged interview it
was inevitable (to me) that I would begin to get very fidgety)
603
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610
611
Index
‘ ‘I must’, 51 ‘I need to’, 51 ‘I’ve got to’, 51
3 3 things, 333, 334 3 things (different), 334
7 7-11 breathing, 285, 289
A A directive induction is an
induction where you tell the client what to do., 84
Aaron Beck, 145 Accelerated healing, 75 A-ccess Resources, 151 acne, 568 Activating agent, 21 Acupressure, 371, 373, 374 addiction, 268, 274, 279, 295,
296, 299, 300, 307 Addiction, 50, 607 addictions, 196, 243, 299, 311,
333 addictive behaviour pattern, 49 Aggressive thoughts, 308 Aids, 367 alcoholic, 491 alter blood pressure, 75 Ambiguous Language, 404 amnesia, 26, 88 Amnesia, 75, 123, 399, 422, 423,
425, 430 An effective therapist will:, 279 An example dream I recently
interpreted, 31
An example of a pattern interrupt induction:, 80
anaesthesia, 127 Anaesthesia, 27, 124 anchor, 28, 151, 164, 226, 227,
228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 234, 236, 248, 290
anchoring, 60, 165, 185, 226, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232, 234, 235, 256, 258, 290
Anchoring, 168, 186, 225, 227, 230, 231, 234, 349, 359
anger, 24, 55, 59, 65, 143, 245, 311
Anger, 356, 359 angry, 24, 64, 65, 158, 184, 215,
277, 312 anxiety, 15, 25, 55, 143, 222,
240, 245, 247, 248, 252, 279, 288, 289, 290, 299, 302, 304, 307, 308
Anxiety, 287, 367, 396, 439, 472, 607
APET, 21, 28, 36 Arm levitation, 135 Association, 359 attempted solutions, 41 attention, 20, 23, 50, 63, 67, 79,
87, 126, 127, 128, 174, 490, 533, 536, 544, 550, 562, 563, 568, 586, 592, 594, 596
Autonomic nervous system, 363 AWARE, 288
B B.F. Skinner, 145 Bandler, 247, 605, 606, 607 Bandler Richard, Time for a
Change, Meta Publications, 1993, 606
Bandler Richard, Your Own Personal Genius, CD's, McKenna Training, 2001, 606
basic needs, 268, 276, 283, 299, 307, 322, 326
612
Beating the addiction, 299 Behaviour, 145, 156, 259 Behaviour Modifier, 259 behavioural, 146, 153, 160, 187,
188, 212, 270, 283 behavioural problems, 599 Beliefs, 156, 365, 453, 454, 475,
476, 477, 483 Binds, 120 bineural beats, 556 Bineural Beats, 421 blinking, 75, 77 Blushing, 49 body language, 67, 159, 161 brain, 11, 17, 20, 26, 35, 37, 54,
55, 56, 74, 99, 143 Brain, 355, 365, 368, 402, 421,
441, 442, 443, 465 breathing, 505, 506, 525, 528,
529, 533, 535, 558, 563, 566, 583, 584
Breathing, 381, 382, 383, 384, 407, 408, 409, 410, 412, 413, 415, 420, 426, 427, 431
build muscle, 75 By, 23
C Cancer, 366, 367 Capabilities, 156 Carl Rogers, 145 catalepsy, 22, 26, 76 Catalepsy, 123 Cellular healing, 341, 363, 368 challenging behaviour, 65 change mood, 75 childcare, 65 Children, 488, 503 Class clown, 487 Tap gamut point, keep tapping
as you, 238 cognitive, 145, 146, 187, 188,
212, 270, 283 communication, 152, 159, 277 Compound suggestion, 113 Compound Suggestions, 546 confidence, 45, 47, 170, 202,
252, 259, 260, 265, 280, 313, 314, 315, 317, 318, 319, 320, 322
confusion, 79 Confusion, 79, 139, 404, 544 confusion induction, 85 Conscious, 359, 360, 369, 380,
385, 386, 402, 404, 420, 445, 451, 452, 489, 502, 544, 549, 559, 561, 579, 580, 587, 588, 591, 603
consciously, 44, 93, 99, 121, 123, 154, 196, 229, 231
Contingent suggestion, 116 Contingent Suggestions, 548 Conversational (overt &
covert), 79 conversational induction, 80 counselling, 13, 153, 188, 212,
222, 270 Counsellor, 269 Cross-matching, 157 Crystal Gazing Induction, 417
D Damaging or unrealistic
expectations, 49 deep relaxation, 280 deep sleep, 20, 304 Deep Trance Identification, 502 Deepening rhythmic breathing
(part of the process for sleep)., 24
Deletions, 99 depression, 15, 20, 143, 145, 182,
207, 215, 236, 268, 269, 279, 283, 299, 302, 523, 550, 585, 586, 590, 596 depressed, 19, 20, 24, 46, 48,
145, 168 Depression, 351, 359, 367, 369,
442, 449, 472, 474 DEPRESSION, 283, 286 Derren Brown, 411 diet, 283 digestive system, 55, 287, 290,
311 Directive, 79 directive induction, 84 Disassociation, 343, 359 Discovering resources, 163, 197 Discovering resources (What do
you do to relax?), 197
613
dissociation, 122, 123, 236, 259, 327
Distortions, 100 Distraction, 424 Doing less of what’s not
working, 52 double bind, 121, 122, 124 double binds, 49, 51, 122, 123 Double binds, 121 Doubt (E.g. Whether you have
locked doors or turned off switches), 307
Dowsing, 387 dream, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 22,
23, 27, 29, 31, 32, 34, 84, 141, 143
Dream Interpretation, 19 Dream., 31 dreaming, 16, 18, 20, 26, 29, 73,
78, 88, 144, 284, 301 Dreaming, 15, 372, 442, 483
E effective therapist, 271, 279, 280 effective therapy, 13, 15, 63, 89,
166 embedded commands, 81,
231, 236, 579, 593 Embedded commands, 97, 119,
403 Embedded-
meaning/metaphorical, 79 embedding commands, 232 emotion, 21, 28, 29, 55, 99, 127,
145 Emotion, 21 emotional arousal, 55, 56, 304 Emotional Freedom Technique
EFT, 341, 343, 371, 372, 373, 374
emotional mind, 55, 182 emotional needs, 53, 146 Emotional needs not being
met, 48 emotional responses, 44 emotional state, 226, 230, 284 emotional states, 165, 229, 275 Endocrine system, 363 Ernest Rossi, 363, 364, 365, 380,
419
essential skills, 146, 181, 268, 274, 276, 299, 322
European Therapy Studies Institute, 246, 280
evoking abilities, 51 Exceptions, 163, 197 exercise, 70, 71, 160, 165, 167,
170, 171 extreme emotion, 55 eye accessing cues, 101, 104 eyes flutter, 77
F Family, 488, 592 Fast Phobia Cure, 371 fear, 55, 182, 279, 289, 291, 293,
323 feedback, 59, 67, 110, 133, 166,
176 Feedback, 91, 151 fetishes, 226, 292 Fetishes, 511 fight or flight, 510, 511 flashbacks, 246, 291 focus your mind, 167, 285 For example:, 64 fractionation, 91 Fractionation, 91, 555 Future pace, 151, 164, 198 Future progression, 341, 434,
435, 481, 484
G Gene expression, 363 General Adaptation Syndrome
(GAS), 367 Generalisations, 98 Gestures, 347, 349, 411, 412, 440
gesture, 348, 349, 350, 411, 412
Give people more than one task to do at once, 127
Goal Setting, 166 Griffin Joe, Hospital Trauma
Cure, Video, Lawrence Enterprises, 1995, 607
guided imagery, 147, 179, 184, 312
614
Guided imagery, 356, 373 Guided Imagery, 147 guided-imagery, 187
H habit, 41, 42 Hallucination, 75 Hallucinations, 123, 541
' 'have to', 51
H headache, 42 healing, 74, 93 Healing, 344, 363, 365, 367, 429 healthy alternative, 42 human givens, 270, 283 Human givens, 181, 187 Human Givens, 146, 212, 371,
607 Human givens approach, 181 hypnosis, 15, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26,
27, 29, 33, 68, 73, 78, 93, 108, 173, 179, 181, 184, 187, 192, 210, 329, 331, 332, 333, 499, 502, 527, 532, 543, 557, 558, 560, 565, 606, 607
Hypnosis, 22, 23, 26, 29, 73, 184, 331, 332, 353, 354, 355, 360, 372, 395, 401, 409, 410, 416, 418, 422, 425, 426, 429, 435, 442, 455, 457, 462, 472, 473, 481, 482, 483 Induction, 353, 372, 404, 414,
416, 421, 426, 427, 429, 430, 478, 481
Hypnotherapist, 25, 269 Hypnotherapists, 26, 95 hypnotic induction’s, 78 Hypnotic journeys, 399 Hypnotic language patterns,
107 Hypnotising Deaf People, 416
I Identifying limiting beliefs and
challenging them therapeutically, 207
Identity, 156 Ideo-dynamic responses, 377 Ideo-Dynamic Responses
Ideo-affective, 377 Ideo-cognitions, 377 Ideo-motor, 377, 378 Ideo-sensory, 377
Ideo-motor, 363, 378, 379 illusion of control, 51 imagination, 75 immune system, 75, 217, 284,
301, 304, 311 Immune system, 364, 369 implication, 122 Implication, 552 Implied directive, 129 Increased confidence, 246 Information Gathering, 161 Information transduction, 363,
364 Insomnia, 301 instinctive, 74, 75, 144 interpersonal, 145, 146, 187, 283 Interspercial technique, 118,
119 Intervention, 489, 492 interventions, 51, 55, 145
J Joe Griffin, 371 John Grinder, 457 Joseph Griffin, 16
L Language shows externally
what is going on internally., 98
Learning, 349, 351, 352, 354, 368, 369, 372, 378, 401, 402, 418, 459
left hemisphere, 54 leisure, 530, 533, 564, 573 lift depression, 283, 285
615
limbic system, 54, 55, 182 listening, 54, 141, 145 Look for solutions, 50
M Managing attention, 275 Martin Paul, The Sickening
Mind, Flamingo, 1997, 608 Matching, 155, 156 Matching and mirroring, 411,
412, 413 Matching:, 156 memories, 495, 507, 508, 511,
513, 559, 575 Memory, 343, 351, 364, 368, 369,
371, 372, 443, 482, 489, 508, 509, 510, 511, 513, 521
metaphor, 509, 517, 523, 524, 539, 541
Metaphor, 347, 348, 352, 461 metaphorical tasks, 518 metaphors, 31, 81, 94, 95, 127 Metaphors, 126 Micro movements, 427 Milton Erickson, 351, 381, 382,
385, 386, 401, 414, 415, 419, 428, 429, 434, 462, 478, 479
Milton H Erickson, 92 Milton H. Erickson, 48, 608, 610 mind, 16, 21, 22, 27, 28, 29, 31,
35, 53, 54, 55, 57, 61, 62, 66, 78, 82, 88, 89, 93, 94, 95, 99, 101, 104, 108, 112, 116, 117, 119, 122, 129, 130, 131, 133, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 151, 170, 171, 173, 174, 175, 182, 185, 187, 191, 196, 198, 212, 217, 219, 225, 228, 230, 232, 249, 253, 254, 260, 273, 275, 283, 284, 287, 292, 298, 302, 312, 315, 319, 320, 331, 333, 334, 335, 336, 338, 339, 495, 496, 502, 523, 524, 533, 536, 539, 543, 546, 549, 555, 565, 575, 579, 580, 587, 592, 597, 600, 603
minimal cues, 562, 563 Minimal cues, 364, 412, 419, 420,
473 Minimal Cues, 391, 407
miracle question, 163, 193 Miracle Question, 200 Miracle questions, 163, 197 Mirror Induction, 337 Mirroring, 157 misdirect, 48 Mispronounce words, 130 Mispronounced Words, 404 misuse of the imagination, 287 motivation, 20, 59, 138, 151, 196,
231, 252, 254, 260, 265 Motivation, 458, 465, 466, 471,
476, 478, 487, 490 multiple perspectives, 47, 48 Multiple tasking, 127 Multiple task-serial suggestions,
128 music, 503, 542, 551, 556, 557,
591 My Friend John Technique, 414
N narrowing focus of attention,
47, 73 naturalistic induction, 87 Naturalistic induction’s, 86 Needs and innate ‘coping’
skills, 217 Negative belief destroyer, 252 Neurolinguistic Programming
NLP, 343, 439, 477 Neuro-linguistic Programming
NLP, 11 Neuro-linguistic-Programming
NLP, 11, 15, 28, 29, 34 Nominalisations, 131, 174, 175,
386, 396 Non-verbal behaviour, 97 Normalising, 163, 197 Normalising (I have many
people coming to me with similar problems), 197
Not, 126 Not Doing, 428 Not doing suggestions, 126
616
O observing self, 57, 58, 185, 186,
259 Obsessive Compulsive Disorder,
307, 608 OCD, 236, 245, 307, 308
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, 509, 527, 590
one off learning, 227 Open ended sentences, 129 Open ended suggestion, 125 Open eyes/close eyes, 338 optimum learning state, 76 Or, 200 Our models of the world are
made up of deletions, distortions and generalisations., 98
Outwards like in an emergency., 73
P Pacing and leading, 153 Pain management, 325 panic attack, 191, 288, 290 Paradoxical intervention, 487,
488 Parents, 489, 594, 599 particle physics, 567 Past-Life Regression, 481 Pattern, 487, 491, 508, 513, 517,
518, 524, 539, 558, 567, 568, 587, 592, 604
Pattern interrupt, 23, 79, 422 Pattern interruption, (like
handshake induction’s) these fire the reorientation response as the correct pattern isn’t happening so they take their cue on what to do next from the hypnotist., 23
Pattern matching, 15, 21, 35, 36, 37
Pattern Matching, 35, 355, 359 Pattern-matching, 17 Patterns, 354, 355, 356, 357, 372,
381, 383, 392, 407, 420, 421, 429, 447, 467, 483
patterns of behaviour, 74 Pavlov’s dogs, 28 Pendulum, 387, 388 Peripheral Vision, 427 permissive, 124 phobia, 21, 28, 44, 99, 192, 208,
226, 236, 291, 293, 314, 499, 507, 509, 527, 559, 601
Phobia, 355, 458, 478, 479 phobias, 12, 15, 39, 44, 47, 143 Photo reading, 427 Placebo, 365, 366 polarity responders, 503, 504 Post hypnotic suggestions, 93 Post Hypnotic Suggestions
(PHS), 553 post traumatic stress disorder,
15 post-hypnotic suggestion, 95, 96 post-hypnotic suggestions, 95,
96 Prescribing more of the same,
488 Presuppositions, 96, 97, 130 priming, 94, 95 Principles of solution-focused
therapy, 188 Problem Free Talk, 414 problem structure, 13, 15, 50 Process, 487, 491, 497, 500, 507,
509, 510, 513, 527, 543, 549, 563, 587, 601
Psychiatrist, 269 Psychic, 381, 383 Psycho-analyst, 269 psychoanalytic, 269, 270 psychodynamic therapy, 188,
270 psychological problems, 15, 29,
36, 42, 99, 185, 276, 331 Psychological realignment
Technique, 236 Psychoneuroendocrinology,
367 Psychoneuroimmunology, 363,
367 Psychotherapist, 269 psychotherapy, 13, 29, 143, 147,
153, 179, 212, 222, 245, 270 Psychotherapy, 143, 149, 211
617
PTSD, 15, 28, 143, 236, 245, 271, 279, 291, 509, 590
Q Quantum Physics, 418 quantum theory, 568
R R.E.M, 73, 74, 304, 331 rapid eye movement, 304, 331 Rapid inductions, 558 rapport, 38, 48, 49, 74, 91, 108,
109, 127, 150, 151, 152, 153, 154, 155, 158, 159, 160, 161, 606, 610
Rapport, 149, 152, 156, 159, 160, 407
Reality., 32 re-evoke, 59 Reframing, 453 Re-framing, 63, 65, 66, 70 Re-framing exercises, 70 Regression, 124 Rehearsal, 150, 170, 175 Rehearsal exercise, 175 Rehearsing hypnotically, 60 relationship, 19, 133, 152, 255 Relationship, 488 Relationship Enhancer, 255 relationships, 145, 153, 311 relax, 24, 37, 42, 45, 46, 47, 49,
59, 61, 70, 78, 83, 90, 97, 116, 119, 131, 135, 141, 151, 181, 191, 197, 200, 207, 218, 220, 234, 248, 277, 285, 288, 289, 290, 300, 302, 304, 308, 312, 322, 336, 337
relaxation response, 37, 256, 285, 290, 300
Relaxing, 24, 275 REM state
Rapid Eye Movement, 356, 371
reorientation response, 20, 22, 23, 78, 237
Reorientation response, 371, 372
resistance, 59, 61, 69, 169
resistant, 124 resources, 38, 46, 60, 61, 93, 131,
134, 150, 151, 163, 164, 165, 168, 169, 192, 199, 228, 275, 280
Resources, 363, 378, 414, 418, 453, 455, 472
Reverse set double bind, 124 Reverse yes set, 111 rewind technique, 185, 186, 245,
246, 247, 292 Rewind Technique, 509 Richard Bandler, 11, 349, 405,
457 RIGAAR, 149, 150, 151, 170, 181 right hemisphere, 54 Robert Dilts, 417 Rossi Ernest, Cheek David,
Mindbody Therapy, W. W. Norton & Co. 1988, 610
Rossi Ernest, Ryan Margaret, Sharp Florence, The Seminars, Workshops & Lectures of Milton H. Erickson Vol 1-4, Free Association Books, 1998, 610
run, fight or freeze, 55
S sabotage, 45 Sabotage, 447, 459, 460 Scaling, 163, 197, 204 Scaling (On a scale of one to
ten, with ten being the worst, how anxious do those old memories make you feel when you think about them now?), 197
Scrambling, 243 Self Hypnosis, 426 self-esteem, 252, 259, 313, 319,
320, 321, 322 Sensory Language, 101 Sigmund Freud, 144 single session, 15 sleep, 16, 20, 22, 24, 42, 78, 86,
88, 95, 217, 236, 284, 301, 302, 304, 311
Sleep, 345, 383, 488, 501, 527, 597
618
Sleep Disorders, 301 slow wave sleep, 304 smoking, 37, 42, 48, 61, 68, 93,
137, 138, 151, 168, 171, 172, 492, 493, 515, 520, 525, 527, 537, 550, 565, 567, 581, 587, 588, 591, 592, 595, 601
Smoking, 353, 361, 432, 447, 454, 459, 462, 463, 472, 566, 586
solution-focused, 163, 187, 188, 189, 190, 195, 197, 198, 283
Solution-focused, 146 splitting and linking, 49, 51 Stair case induction, 336 Staircase Induction, 505 State Dependant Memory
Learning and Behaviour, 363, 367 SDMLB, 363, 367, 368
Stephen Brooks, 45, 124, 401, 468
Steve Gilligan, 502 stories, 58, 100, 126, 185 Stories, 58 story, 58, 81, 83, 85, 127 Strategies of Genius, 417 strategy, 150, 169, 170 stress, 15, 143, 211, 213, 217, 221,
245, 271, 311, 333 Stress, 367, 368, 369, 447 structure, 15, 38, 46, 149, 150,
495, 593 structure of therapy sessions,
149 Sub modalities, 489 Subconscious, 386 Subliminal Auditory Stimulation,
381, 382 suggestion, 23, 94, 95, 96, 113,
114, 116, 128 Surprise, 544 survival, 18, 21, 54, 55, 56, 144 survival response, 287 swallowing reflex, 77 Symmetry (straightening
pictures, lining pens up on a desk, 308
Symptomatic trances, 147
T Tag questions, 112 task, 52, 127, 128, 198, 200, 201,
204, 222 tasks, 52, 53, 78, 205, 280, 544,
551, 571, 588, 599 Tasks, 200 teenagers, 65 Telling stories helps prepare and
use the observing self. 58 Telling stories, anecdotes etc…,
127 Tensing Body Parts, 336 The, 256, 291 The Psychobiology of Mind
Body Healing, 365 The same process causes all
fears, phobias and PTSD. Phobias and PTSD used to be thought of as different. The treatment offered for these was also different. The process that creates these problems is the same., 291
Then as the eyes begin to want to close suggest that you can go to a special place in your mind where all the necessary changes can occur at an unconscious level, 338
therapist, 25, 29, 30, 31, 38, 46, 62, 70, 71, 78, 95, 96, 108, 143, 144, 145, 153, 162, 165, 167, 168, 170, 175
therapy, 11, 12, 18, 28, 30, 35, 37, 43, 45, 46, 57, 61, 101, 108, 143, 144, 145, 146, 147, 149, 158, 166, 171, 172, 173, 485, 489, 501, 528, 531, 532, 554, 562, 565, 567, 568, 580, 587, 595
Therapy, 47, 144, 246, 280, 281, 608, 610
Thought, 21 Thought Field Therapy
TFT, 371, 372, 374 Thoughts of contamination
(which can lead to obsessive washing or cleaning), 307
619
Thoughts of having physical symptoms, 307
time, 12, 16, 18, 19, 20, 22, 24, 25, 27, 32, 33, 37, 38, 42, 43, 45, 48, 50, 55, 58, 59, 64, 65, 74, 78, 84, 89, 91, 94, 96, 99, 100, 107, 116, 120, 124, 132, 135, 144, 147, 160, 161, 164, 166, 169, 173
Time distortion, 124 Time Line Processes, 433 Time-limited therapy, 187 To feel understood and
emotionally connected to others, 218
To have a sense of competence and achievement, 218
tolerance to pain, 75 trance, 15, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27,
28, 29, 30, 47, 48, 49, 56, 61, 69, 73, 74, 76, 79, 81, 86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 94, 95, 96, 97, 111, 117, 120, 122, 123, 125, 126, 128, 129, 131, 143, 181, 183, 210, 228, 229, 284, 308, 326, 332, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 499, 500, 501, 502, 506, 508, 523, 524, 527, 528, 529, 530, 533, 536, 539, 540, 541, 542, 543, 544, 545, 546, 547, 550, 551, 552, 553, 555, 556, 557, 559, 562, 563, 565, 573, 575, 580, 584, 585, 586, 590, 591, 597
Trance, 15, 73, 75, 76, 353, 354, 355, 356, 359, 360, 361, 368, 381, 383, 399, 404, 405, 406, 407, 409, 410, 412, 415, 416, 418, 420, 421, 427, 429, 430, 431, 435 Inwards, 73 Outwards, 73
Trance indicators, 76 Trance Induction, 527 trauma, 222, 245, 246, 251, 279 traumatic memories, 245 Traumatised or faulty pattern
matching, 49 triggers, 37, 230, 237, 300, 312 truisms, 111, 113, 114
U Ultradian Rhythm, 27 Ultradian rhythms, 368 unconscious, 52, 78, 89, 91, 93,
95, 99, 107, 108, 117, 118, 119, 121, 122, 123, 129, 131, 136, 137, 138, 140, 144, 150, 173, 196, 212, 228, 230, 232, 254, 330, 334, 335, 336, 337, 338, 339, 487, 502, 524, 536, 539, 543, 544, 549, 558, 559, 561, 563, 565, 567, 570, 573, 579, 580, 591, 593, 601, 602, 603
Unconscious, 354, 359, 361, 364, 369, 377, 379, 380, 385, 395, 402, 405, 420, 423, 424, 429, 430, 431, 443, 483
unconscious mind, 89, 95, 99, 129, 136, 173, 232
unconscious process, 44 utilisation, 59, 61 Utilisation, 59, 62, 527 Utilisation exercise, 62 Utilise everything, 89 utilise feelings, 59 utilising on going behaviour, 92
V values, 93, 98, 156 Verb tenses, 132 Visualisation, 372, 422 VK Technique
Rewind Technique, Fast Phobia Cure, 343, 371
W Walt Disney, 417, 495 What, 61, 73, 279, 297 What is hypnosis?, 73 What to look for in a therapist,
279 When, 88, 170, 187, 300, 308,
314 worrying, 20, 24, 33, 73, 172,
195, 216, 220, 268, 277, 283, 284, 285, 287, 301, 302, 312, 516, 568
620
Y yes set, 109, 111, 151, 158, 166 Yes set, 109
621
622
623