• No results found

The fourth step is the positive consequence of quitting

In document The Art of Indirect Hypnosis (Page 83-86)

Chapter 9 - Trance Phenomenon Non-conscious signalling

4. The fourth step is the positive consequence of quitting

Your patient is asked to see and feel the benefits of having said “no” to the negative consequences of smoking. For example they may see themselves happily playing with their children or even grandchildren.

This implies that they have lived long enough for this to happen.

If you use this approach with a younger person they may have difficulty accessing an aversion related to death or poor health. The loss of income or savings caused by an expensive smoking habit may be more

appropriate. You should really ask your patient what they feel would make them think seriously about quitting. If they cannot think of anything then a different approach may be more appropriate.

In general it is a bad idea to suggest that a particular patient should be scared of dying unless you know that is how they already feel. Some patients are not afraid of death but do fear poor health. Some do not worry about either but are afraid for others who might suffer as a

consequence. Patients should be encouraged to be unafraid of death and see it instead as a natural, inevitable process and possibly the start of a new spiritual journey. By asking your patient to think of the effect their death will have on others you are avoiding suggesting that they should personally feel afraid of dying.

Naturally they may also wish that others have the same perspective and also be unafraid of death. In this case focus more on the loss of social contact they may have if they kept smoking, or the smell on their clothing and hair or the loss of self - esteem they might suffer if they were unable quit.

Summary – Anchoring

- Anchoring is an everyday occurrence.

- Anchoring should be precise.

- Anchoring should be informal.

- An anchor should be reinforced until a response develops.

- Resources should be stacked.

Abreaction and Trauma

Abreactions are sometimes produced deliberately or they may occur spontaneously. They usually involve a total re-experiencing of an early life trauma in great detail which can often be dramatic and frightening -not only for the patient but also for the therapist. Some people are aware of early traumatic events while others have forgotten them. Amnesia usually exists when the trauma is so severe that the child blocks out the experience as a way of surviving. This is particularly true in the case of multiple personality. Multiple personality, often caused by abuse, is the experiencing of many sub-personalities caused by continual abuse

followed by dissociation from the traumatic experience. The child learns to dissociate from the memory and create an amnesia for the experience.

When the child is subsequently abused he follows the same pattern until a number of personalities exist, each with their own unique experience and their own personality. These personalities usually have no knowledge of each other at a conscious level. Once an abreaction has occurred patients usually remember the event although sometimes a spontaneous amnesia

occurs as well.

In therapy we can work with the raw materials and emotion - which can be provided by an abreaction - is the rawest material of all. If an

abreaction starts to occur spontaneously the therapist should allow it to develop. If the abreaction is prevented from occurring it is usually very difficult to access at a later date. The reason for this is that the patient now has an awareness of a hidden traumatic experience. The patient is aware that at any time these feelings could overwhelm. Any attempt to evoke the abreaction will usually result in intense resistance to any efforts by the therapist. Once an abreaction does occur it should not be

terminated halfway through. This would only leave the work half done.

Abreaction should be carried through to the very end. By going through the whole cycle of experience the patient is able to express the feelings fully. Usually when this is complete the patient experiences a release of feelings, intense exhaustion, and extreme stress.

As well as being terrifying for the patient abreactions can be frightening for the inexperienced therapist. Sometimes patients may even become violent. This is especially true when the patient identifies the therapist as a participant in the traumatic experience. If a transference occurs so that the patient imagines the therapist to be an active participant in the early life memory he can become aggressive towards the therapist. In these cases, both the therapist and the patient should be protected.. Whenever possible the therapist should remain calm and detached from the

experience whilst maintaining control of the situation and support for the patient as they abreact.

After a patient has abreacted they will often have new information about the cause of their problem. However knowing why a problem exists does not usually solve it. When patients abreact they release energy which was previously used to repress the traumatic memory. This new release of energy can be applied and directed into future positive outcomes.

However the release of energy is not itself a cure. At the end of an abreaction the therapist should start to consider various options for healing the patient. At this time more than any other the patient feels vulnerable. It is very important for the therapist to utilise the patient's experience at that moment and reframe it in some way so that the patient leaves therapy with new beliefs.

Usually traumatic memories have a cast of characters. In the case of abuse it may be one person. In the case of humiliation, for example a child at school being laughed at, it may be a number of characters. The patient will usually have intense feelings towards the characters in the

trauma. These feelings may be anger, resentment, and possibly even revenge. The feelings that the patient has are usually negative and

aggressive in some way. Patients are quite justified in feeling like this as they have probably carried around the symptoms of this event for most of their life. Sometimes it is positive to allow the patient to keep these

feelings. Usually it is more therapeutic to reframe these feelings in some way.

For example a child abused by a parent will feel very angry and resentful yet at the same time want to be loved. The needing to be loved is an important element in Reframing the patient's beliefs about and attitudes towards the parent. The parent may be alive or dead but the patient's feelings of anger may still be the same. One approach might be for the therapist to suggest that the parent had a reason for abusing. Usually the patient has information about the parent received non-consciously in childhood. The patient may even be able to give valid reasons why the parent abused. Bearing in mind that the patient wishes to be loved he may be willing to look at ways of understanding why the parent abused.

Possibly the patient has an awareness that the parent was abused as a child which might help explain his behaviour. Leading on from this the therapist can suggest that the patient consider forgiving the parent. If the patient wants to be loved and would like to change the negative feelings they have towards the parent then it may be possible to convert the hatred into forgiveness. The patient would then leave the therapy session having had the emotions evoked by the abreaction, and dealt with positively by the therapist.

Summary –Abreactions

- An abreaction is the reliving of traumatic early life experience.

- These traumas have often been repressed and amnesia for the traumas may exist prior to the abreaction.

- An abreaction should be carried through to the end.

- An abreaction can be dramatic and the therapist should stay calm throughout.

- An abreaction can sometimes lead to realisation but rarely resolution.

- Patients often feel vulnerable after an abreaction - this is when therapy should occur.

- Where the abuser is no longer alive, the guilty parties / negative experiences / events can be reframed to "heal the memory".

Chapter 10 - Multiple mirrors

In document The Art of Indirect Hypnosis (Page 83-86)