A Hypnotherapist’s Casebook. No 1. Hypnotherapy For Healing.

These articles were originally first published as a column in
L.A. Health Magazine. Titled, A Hypnotherapist’s Casebook. No 1.

Hypnotherapy for Healing.

A little over ten years ago I was between jobs. I had been working in Psychiatric Hospitals and other Institutions, as an Admissions Counselor, Chemical Dependency Counselor, Case manager and Discharge Planner. I was attending some college courses, hoping eventually to obtain a Psychology degree, when a friend of mine suggested, "Why don't you study hypnotism, you could help people stop smoking and make some money." It seemed like a good idea, so I ended up attending classes at the world-renowned Gil Boyne Hypnotism Training Institute, in Glendale.

As soon as I saw on the first video what Mr. Boyne was able to achieve with hypnosis I exclaimed to him, "You are getting people to give you information in a few minutes that would take six months to a year in therapy, because consciously they don't know these things!" I knew I had encountered something I had always wanted, a means to make my work as a counselor more effective and economical in terms of both time and money. As yet I was not aware of the possible depth, speed and range of change available through hypnosis and hypnotherapy.

I have since discovered that hypnotherapy can be divided into two aspects. 1). "Putting in the good stuff," or suggestion therapy. To most people this is the most familiar, planting suggestions in a clients mind of a beneficial nature, such as, "You will act on the powerful desire you discover today to stop smoking for good." etc., while a person is in a hypnotic trance. The other aspect could be described as, 2). “Taking out the bad stuff," by altering and/or releasing historical sources of difficulties. This trance-pires by entering the subconscious mind, the other seven eighths of our mind we have little awareness of, and relieving difficulties in hypnotic trance. Of course, both aspects may well be implemented concurrently, (at least by me), with any client.

The effectiveness can be astonishing. One client returned after the first session and stated. "I stopped drinking coffee, eating “comfort food”, watching soap operas, and have emerged from a low grade depression of many years duration." As a bonus, this man had a thyroid condition, which caused his eyes to be permanently popped out, so he looked angry or scared all the time. It was now only barely visible around one eye. In addition, three quarters of the anxiety, regarding supervisory duties at work, which initiated his visit, had vanished. Later he lost eighty pounds! Though hypnotherapy is not always so dramatically effective as this, I inform prospective clients that eighty percent of those I work with usually see major positive changes within four sessions. I have seen the client's blood pressure go down from regular use of one of my self-hypnosis tapes. Persons have obtained rapid healing with little pain from invasive medical procedures and surgeries. Young persons, (around fourteen to twenty one years,) if willing, can often gain astonishing progress, due to being so open, and mentally fluid.

My process produces all kinds of general positive change, then I also work on the specifics. I help a person gain access to inner resources and increased self-esteem, while removing blocks that are keeping them stuck, so they can resume personal growth without me. Naturally, the amount of time and work necessary to obtain relief from any difficulty is related to its prior nature, duration, intensity and severity, and the availability of inner and outer resources.

What kind of problems is hypnotherapy useful for? Traditionally it has been successful, with habit control, smoking, weight, bedwetting, nail biting, stuttering, and so forth. For increasing self-confidence, motivation, memory, concentration, creativity, productivity and self-esteem. For reducing anxiety, releasing fears, phobias, headaches and nightmares. Sexual problems of both sexes may be amenable to hypnotic methods. The rapid release of grief is often very easy to facilitate, and unresolved grief from past losses is a significant contributor to more difficulties than is generally known. I have found that even the death of a beloved animal can leave a person in a state of frozen mourning. I use Hypnosis as an adjunct to treating drug and alcohol problems.. I receive referrals from Psychiatrists, Doctors, Psychotherapists, Chiropractors, Osteopaths and Alternative/ Complementary Medicine practitioners, to assist clients who may be stuck in some way, or have a problem, such as mental and physical tension, that the referring party does not treat.

Correction of many obstinate physical/mental/emotional situations can be initiated. In fact, the holistic hypnotherapeutic process is as unlimited as the boundless Shaman's Imagination of the practitioner, and to the extent that he can utilize his Wizard Words to conjure up Magical Image Processes that heal, as becomes the Charm-ing Mage. Hypnosis then works in the I of the mind, as an Alchemical Philosopher's Stone, trance-muting the unknown into the golden healing known. Now I will close with the words of Tiny Tim, from a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, "God bless us all, each and every one."

Till the next time, c. Brian Green. 2007. http://www.mindmagic123.com