Age Regression Hypnosis for Healing the Wounds of Incest
Brigitte E. Lifschitz. LCSW
President and Co-director of Training at NYSEPH
Submitted March, 2011
Case: A young 20 year old woman from Central America came in for hypnosis in order to handle symptoms of PTSD, depression and lack of sexual desire. She was working with a psychotherapist who felt that the therapy was getting stuck and neither of them could move forward. The therapist suggested to her client that perhaps hypnosis would access some memories that would be helpful in advancing the treatment. The client felt that she could only handle a limited number of sessions financially, so we decided that 10 sessions would be the right number. Establishing a time limit can be very helpful in motivating the client to work in a concentrated way.
Hypnotic Work: Age regression was accomplished using the metaphor of a train trip back to the past. In each regression, the client imagined herself going back safely in time to an age that her unconscious chose. As she regressed to the earlier experience, the scenery changed with the passing sign posts showing her descending age. At first, she went alone, and then she brought trusted people from her life to join her on the trip back.
In each session, the client met her child self at different ages. At first, she had no empathy at all for her young self, disliking her intensely. She believed that this child was bad and responsible for the sexual abuse she had experienced. The hypnosis work was about reframing the false beliefs of the child part. She needed to know that what had happened to her was NOT her fault. The child self needed to understand that it was the responsibility of the adults around her to protect her and keep her safe. Unfortunately, this had not been the case. As the client began to understand her experience from a different perspective, both the child self and the adult came to believe that she had been an innocent child and not responsible for the abuse. In each successive regression, the client became more admiring of her younger self, acknowledging the child’s strengths, her young and innocent sexuality as well as her innate wisdom. By the end of the last session, the child and adult parts had reconnected and returned on the train from the past into the present feeling healed and reunited.
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Seminar on Weight Loss and Management
Judith Grosz, LCSW, (Co-Director of Training)
On 4/3/11, Judith Grosz, LSCSW, presented a seminar on Utilizing Hypnosis with Weight Control. We learned how important it was to get a thorough diet and weight history from the client before beginning the trance work. It is always important to understand why the client is coming to us at this time. Often the motivating factors can be incorporated into the trance work. Frequently people will make a concerted effort to lose weight before getting married or after receiving a diagnosis of diabetes or high cholesterol. Or it may be seasonal—summer clothing is more revealing than the sweaters and jackets we wear in the winter and spring. We want to know a client’s eating behavior as well as their activity level. The goal of the therapy is to help the client develop normal and healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime. In part, we can do this by learning to listen to our bodies for cues of hunger and fullness.
Hypnosis is a powerful therapeutic tool that can be used to enhance weight management. Hypnotherapy bypasses the intellect so that any and all suggestions become more powerful. The client is in a receptive state during trance and is therefore more able to absorb and utilize whatever helpful information is presented. Different hypnotic techniques were demonstrated and explained.
The seminar ended with an experiential group trance for the attendees.
The presentation will be offered again in the fall for those who were not able to attend in April.
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Weight Loss Hypnosis
By Giulio M Bianco
Hypnosis can help to shed a few extra pounds when it is used along with a good weight-loss diet and exercise. There is enough solid scientific evidence about weight-loss hypnosis to recommend it.
Hypnosis is an altered state of consciousness, customarily achieved with the help of a well experienced and trained hypnotherapist using Ericksonian hypnosis. When the subject is under the hypnotic trance, her attention is highly focused and she is more responsive to direct and indirect suggestions, including behavior changes that may definitely help to assist the subject in losing the unwanted weight. After a proper induction, the therapist can give the subject very specific instructions or indirect suggestions that guide the client along a new path that can change her behavior. The therapist can also teach the subject self-hypnosis for weight loss. Weight-loss hypnosis is often combined with cognitive behavioral therapy.
Over time, there have been many case studies that have seriously evaluated the positive use and results of weight-loss hypnosis. Most studies found positive results with hypnosis even though at the beginning, subjects may only experience modest weight-loss results. Many people in the studies had an average loss of about 6 pounds (2.72 kilograms). These good quality studies have demonstrated that weight-loss hypnosis is an effective method to change undesirable behavior.
People who have tried to lose weight through diet and exercise but are still struggling to meet a good weight-loss goal, may want to experience weight-loss hypnosis. There are no immediate guaranteed results, but there are significant results that vary from case to case.
Milton Erickson was unique and very creative with his hypnotic methods and therapies. At times, Erickson suggested that the patient 'gain to lose', as stated in the book by Dr. Sidney Rosen about Milton Erickson, “My Voice Will Go with You”. Through both direct and indirect suggestions, Milton Erickson demonstrated that hypnosis can be a very valuable tool in helping people handle the challenges of weight loss.
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Treating Nightmares with Ericksonian Hypnosis
Robert Kupferman, LCSW
Faculty and Board Member
Over the years I have treated many patients suffering with trauma related nightmares. Some have been treated at St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan where I was staff hypnotherapist for eight years specializing in trauma while others have been treated in my private practice where I continue to treat nightmares using hypnosis. The treatment I describe here is effective for symptom relief allowing an uninterrupted sleep. Further treatment then occurs in the context of the therapeutic session(s).
Bypassing the sleep interruption of nightmares:
A nightmare is how the unconscious mind processes, files and makes meaning of distressing material usually the product of a past or current trauma. It occurs during REM cycles when the unconscious mind is most active. Typically the patient awakens at the moment of a life threatening crisis. Sometimes the embedded nightmare is repeated for years.
I use the following Ericksonian methods to achieve a high degree of success: metaphor, pacing and leading, utilization of patient resources, and post-hypnotic suggestion.
The nightmare is the first act of an unfinished play. The awakening is the intermission and the unwritten final act is where resolution occurs. (metaphor). The existing first act exists and the newly created final act of resolution is added (pacing and leading). I invite the patient to create a plot for the final act. (utilization of patient resource). I explain that logic is a minimized component of the unconscious mind’s process. Discard logic. In dreams pigs fly, flowers sing and there are pots of gold at the end of rainbows. We will splice a more pleasant, more tolerable final act (without the awakening intermission) to the play. And we will play with this. In the conscious state where logic prevails, we discuss familiar parallel experiences to enhance the expectancy that this is plausible. For example: We click the remote control to change the channel from an unpleasant program to one that is more enjoyable. We jump to a more desirable music track on our audio players. (metaphor). For example: Just as the fire eating dragon is about to gobble up the patient, the patient suddenly finds herself on a mountain side singing the title song to The Sound of Music. (Change the channel). Once the patient has described the plot, colors, characters, sound track of the final act in session, I embed it into their unconscious mind through trance. I record the trance and provide the patient with a CD in the next session. I invite them to rehearse the second act with or without the assistance of the CD recording at bedtime (post-hypnotic suggestion). Repetition is an effective way to embed material into the unconscious mind. The splice is made, the play is completed and the tragedy of act one smoothly transitions to the desired fantasy of the final act. It works!
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DETERMINATION
by
John Thomsen
(with some Embedded Suggestions used for Smoking Cessation)
Mullen was one of my favorite pets of all time. I had him when I lived in the Hollywood Hills many years ago. He would walk with me and friends on short hikes up toward the famous Hollywood sign which was near my home. He’d never run off on these walks but just enjoyed the human companionship. After I’d lived in Hollywood for a few years, I realized I needed to get more nature back into my life and less smog, so I made a Firm Decision to move to Washington State because I had spent time there before and really loved it. I was totally determined to make this happen, so before long I went on an expedition to find the right property, bought 10 acres of forest with some open land for having a huge vegetable garden and came back to Hollywood to sell my car and buy a pickup. I built a fairly high makeshift covering over the bed of the pickup out of plywood, and covered it with a type of water-resistant fabric. Then I began to pack up my belongings, which took almost two weeks. Since, like most cats, Mullen didn't like traveling in a vehicle, I built a special, large, very strong cardboard box for him with some fluffy pillows and enough small air holes so he would have plenty of fresh air to breathe. Anyway, the day arrived that we needed to head for Washington but he was nowhere to be found. I looked for a couple of hours and it seemed that even the old food can tricks to get his attention didn't work to make him come running. Finally I spotted him when he poked his head up from an ivy patch across the street where he was hiding.
In some mysterious way he knew it was moving day that very day and he knew he didn’t want to go……but I of course, wasn’t about ready to leave my wonderful cat behind, so I retrieved Mullen from the ivy and put him carefully, with some resistance from him of course, into the strong box I’d built, put the box into the bed of the pickup and off toward Washington we went. I hated having him in the back but I thought he’d travel more comfortably that way.
A few minutes later I turned onto one of the many freeways around LA rolled down the passenger side window about a third of the way to get some air in as I buzzed along the highway at 70 miles an hour or so….Then I turned on some music and started dreaming about the house that I’d made the Decision to build on my new property…I’d never built a house before so the idea was a little scary, but I knew somehow if I learned some basic skills I would be able to build it. And I did.
Anyway, I’d probably gone about 10 miles dreaming about this house, when suddenly like a bat out of hell, something came flying through the small opening in the passenger side window! What in the world was that!? I could hardly believe my eyes. It was Mullen! How in the heck did he do that? I quickly pulled over to the side of the Freeway and looked in the back to find a big whole torn out of that strong box. Somehow my wonderfully determined cat had gotten out of the box, climbed to the top of the covering I had built for the pickup and crawled along the waterproof fabric the entire length of the pickup. That was amazing enough at the fast speed the pickup was moving. But I was amazed that Mullen was able to then jump from the pickup cover, through that little opening in the window and sail safely as you please, into the passenger’s seat where he rode for the rest of the trip purring happily. And THAT’S HOW I KNOW THAT IF SOMETHING IS WANTED BADLY ENOUGH, IF IT’S IMPORTANT ENOUGH, YOU DO WHAT IT TAKES TO MAKE IT HAPPEN.
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SECRET GARDEN INDUCTION
Submitted 6/23/09 by Brigitte Lifschitz, LCSW
This is an example of an induction can be used to promote safety and ego strengthening.
Let me tell you about a secret garden that you may not even know that you know about. It is a very secret, private, and safe place surrounded by high walls that protect everything that grows inside. There is an entrance that is visible only to you…..because YOU HAVE the key that opens the door to this very special place…You can be curious about what this garden contains. All you need to do is reach for the key…open the door…and enter …into this beautiful and rich garden. The walls are high enough to keep you safe and secure within them….but not so high that the sun cannot shine onto every part of the garden. As you enter through the secret door, you can be curious……. and even have a feeling of anticipation…. for what you will find growing in your garden. As you step inside and look around…….you can notice just how calm and relaxed you feel, as you look at the rich yellows……the reds, and white……..the deep blues of the flowers that grow there. Notice…..as you walk along the garden path…….a sweet fragrance wafting through the air…How good it feels to take in a deep, relaxing breath of fresh air……..noticing how all the tensions and concerns of the day….simply float away as you exhale. And you can feel so relaxed and comfortable ……. safe and secure in this lovely and special place, can’t you?
You can even sit down on a garden chair…….enjoying that feeling of letting go…….as you take in a deep breath….noticing just how comfortable and relaxed your whole body is feeling. You can see that the high walls keep you safe and protected, can’t you? This is your special garden……..where all kinds of plants can grow and flourish.
Here and there…....you can become aware that some weeds have grown in……..There are leaves and branches that have fallen into the garden from the winter rains and storms. In your own time……and in your own way…….you can begin to clear the garden of the weeds, leaves and branches……….so that you can discover the rich and fertile soil underneath. Notice just how fertile and rich the soil is…… It is ready for you to plant the seeds of future flowers, shrubs, and trees. And there are so many different kinds of plants to choose from… so many possibilities, aren't there? Some seeds sprout very quickly and the flowers bloom in early spring…….others take longer to germinate…and flower later…….in the middle of the summer. They are beautiful in their own special way. There are also some plants that mature and flower even later ……..in the early fall……. These late blooming flowers are just as beautiful and worthwhile as the early bloomers……..with their the fall colors of yellow, orange, and red.
Sometimes there are storms…and when the rains come down, the plants bend under the weight of the raindrops. Sometimes the wind blows the plants this way and that way…but the storms pass and the water that washes down on the plants brings nourishment to their roots. Every time the plants pass through a storm…they grow stronger and taller.
This is a garden that is so safe and secure…a place where you can plant the seeds of anything you wish to have there. You can continue to grow those plants that you want to keep in your garden and discard any that you no longer need to hold on to.
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The Case of Jennifer
Submitted 4/5/04 by Judith Grosz, LCSW
Jennifer, a twelve-year-old girl I am treating, came to see me for help with intrusive thoughts, anger and depression. When Jennifer was five, her mother suffered an initial breakdown and her parents divorced. Since then, Jennifer has lived with her father and her older sister. For years, Jennifer had little contact with her mother, but one year ago her mother, who by then had a diagnosis of schizophrenia with major depression and several suicide attempts, tentatively initiated visits with Jennifer and her sister. During these visits, Jennifer noticed the scars on her mother's wrists. Jennifer continues to think about her mother cutting herself and is preoccupied with fear of her mother killing herself. She alternates between longing for emotional connection with her mother and feeling angry and distant from her. Her mother is unable to be empathic or emotionally available. Recently, Jennifer sang a solo with the school chorus. She was hoping that her mother would attend the performance. Her mother did come but left before it was over and Jennifer did not see her in the audience. During our session, Jennifer sat in my seat and suggested that she be the therapist and I be her. She began to ask me questions about my life in a very good imitation of me. Then, she decided to put me in trance (as we had previously done in our work) and asked me to see her mother in the audience during her performance. She asked me to describe her mother. I described her as smiling and clapping for Jennifer. She then asked me to see her mother cutting herself and asked me to describe what I saw . . . which I did. Next Jennifer wanted me to see the two images of her mother side by side on a double screen and to imagine the smiling mother tell the cutting mother to go away. She had me describe the cutting mother refusing to go away or stop cutting. Then she asked me to have the smiling mother tell the cutting mother to smile and be happy for her daughter. When the cutting mother wouldn't, Jennifer wanted me to make the cutting mother go away and leave her alone. But when I described the cutting mother's departure, Jennifer told me that she could not see it. All she could see was the cutting mother pushing both her and the smiling mother away.
Jennifer had difficulty retaining a positive image in her mind. My work with her focused on helping her use her creativity to envision other possibilities with her mother. I had Jennifer banish the cutting mother; I had her make the cutting mother become smaller and smaller. I also talked about how in my mind, I could make the mothers do anything I wanted them to do. For instance, one could be a caterpillar and the other the beautiful butterfly the first turned into. I demonstrated how I had my own internal video screen and could see any scenario I wanted. I could see myself getting a little bit bigger, for example, and as I grew older, my singing voice became stronger and more magnificent and I could smile with all of my friends, my sister, father, and grandparents. At the end of the session, Jennifer told me that she had a lot to think about.
Written by Judith Grosz, CSW, board member and instructor for NYSEPH.
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NYSEPH CASE: Urinary Incontinence
Therapist: Suzanne Little, Ph.D.
Director, Mind/Body Program
Continuum Center for Health and Healing at Beth Israel Medical Center
Problem & Background:
Urinary incontinence is fairly rare in young women. Natalia, a tense, anxiously depressed woman of 27, reported urinary frequency (12-15 episodes daily) and urge incontinence worsening over 2 years. Even though genitourinary abnormality was ruled out and she believed her problem was anatomical, Natalia tried hard to comply with her urologist’s injunction to "resist the urge." No intervention – medication, homeopathy, acupuncture (for ‘quick bladder’) – completely helped. Natalia, who wore dark clothes to conceal the leaking, usually had the urge to void during stressful presentations. She would hold it in for the meeting’s duration, then "sprint" down a corridor to the office bathroom: "I can feel it dripping out in little spurts." Her "accidents" occurred mostly at work or on the subway. Our treatment was brief and symptom-focused (she had a therapist), but took into account exacerbating factors such as low self-esteem, performance anxiety, mood dysregulation, and a turbulent relationship with a domineering, older man whom she supported financially.
Hypnotic Interventions:
Hypnosis seemed an ideal approach, not only because it would help calm Natalia – she once told me, "I never ever feel completely relaxed" -- but because it could counteract the urologist’s recommendation to resist the urge, which, as a behavioral strategy, I felt, had undermined her confidence and efforts at self-control.
1. Conversational Trance – Initiating hypnosis; seeding for success
Confusional wordplay was used to induce a mildly dissociative state. The words – press/push (physical act associated with urination), pressure (emotional state), and impress/impressive (ideal state) – helped seed for successful transformation:
Th: I imagine you feel pressed at times to do things you don’t feel like doing.
Pt: What do you mean?
Th: Like pushing yourself to perform at work …
Pt: I do resent it, especially last minute presentations . . . [irritably] They just expect me to drop everything! [Pause] It isn’t any pressure I don’t already put on myself.
Th: I wonder if you can consider feeling less pushed to press yourself, is that possible? ... You can even impress yourself about the ways you can function without pressure, can you not?... And if there were less pressure you might flow …more freely…more comfortably...and that would be impressive .
Pt: [Musingly] I used to run after work. It calmed me. Maybe I should get back into that.
2. Storytelling – Setting the Pace
I built on the jogging theme by telling a story about a long distance runner–a woman marathoner -- famed for running laps to build special qualities of endurance. Each lap represented a "milestone" (e.g., inner resource) to help her gain her stride: This is a lap for strength . . . this is a lap for stamina…(uttered in a monotone to which she responded with a slight rocking) . . this is a lap for patience . . . The running culminated in a "victory lap," where she, as winner, could enjoy the feeling of a "runner’s high" -- a pleasing kind of mind/body flow .
3. Juxtaposition of Urge and Urgency – Gaining Control
Natalia’s tension and anxiety remained a stumbling block. One day she was very upset about a fight with her boyfriend, and wondered if fighting aggravated her urinary problem. She asked why she always felt "in crisis." Her urgency became a useful device to help reframe her inner state:
And .. Natalia … perhaps you can see a window of time… a wide open space...in your future mind … opening ... you… to the possibility… that… in a way known only to you can separate the urge…and the urgency… since they are not the same… there is all the space… time… distance… in the world between them… that's how far apart they are.
Therapeutic Outcome:
The hypnosis took about 8 sessions. By the 4th visit, she noticed a difference – fewer urinary episodes, increased assertiveness with her boyfriend. She had responded to a previous posthypnotic suggestion: If you hold back less, you can let go more. She bought herself a cream-colored suit "to wear when I’m better," and sat through an entire movie going to bathroom only once. In the next visit she made a major presentation to her corporate group without experiencing strain, and maintained her composure when the projector malfunctioned and she had to ad lib without slides. Afterwards she went to the bathroom without rushing: She took her time. Shortly after that, she reported over 80% reduction in symptoms and, a few visits later, said her problem was almost completely resolved.
Submitted: 2/14/03
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