Explaining Hypnoanalysis

 

A type of Hypnotherapy that deals with the cause of anxiety and emotional problems rather than simply treating the symptoms

Whenever people come to see me, with nervous twitches, stutters, depressions, anxieties, inferiority complexes, sexual problems, phobias and the like, I am never quite sure what treatment they expect, but I do know that the treatment they get is not what they expected.

I think many people have a vague idea that the Hypnosis part of the therapy will be all-important and that they will somehow be induced into a trance like state where it will be put into their mind that they will…talk without a stutter…no longer be depressed…no longer be afraid of enclosed spaces…e.t.c. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. 

Far from putting something in your mind, in fact, something is released from your mind, the subconscious something which had been at the root cause of the problem. 

Now, I know you have probably seen stage shows, or heard of people who have had something put into their mind, if only you wanted to stop smoking I’d do that myself right now, I’d simply induce you into Hypnosis, which is a very pleasant relaxed feeling, and plant post-hypnotic suggestions in your mind that you were going to stop smoking easily and it would most likely happen for you just as simple as that.

Suppose, however, that you had consulted me with Agoraphobia, that’s the fear of going out, and just suppose I applied a similar technique. Say, I planted hypnotic suggestions that instead of being afraid of the big open spaces, it all looked welcoming and reassuring.

Rather like that smoker who was surprised to find he had stopped smoking, so too, the Agoraphobic would be surprised to find he was no longer afraid of going out, that those open spaces did look welcoming and reassuring.

Cross question that ex-Agoraphobic a bit more and you may discover something rather alarming. For instance, he may no longer go in motor cars, on buses or to the cinema…he has become afraid of going into enclosed spaces, or alternatively, he was covered from head to toe in a nerve rash the Doctor has been unable to treat successfully. 

I’m sure you can see that because the subconscious cause of the problem remained, it had simply found its way out in another direction. I’m also sure you can see now, why I do not plant suggestions in people’s minds to remove what are clearly symptoms, instead, I find the cause and remove the subconscious cause, or rather, they find and remove the subconscious cause themselves, I just show them how. 

Seems very straightforward, right?

We could agree that you have ‘something inside yourself but outside your own control’ and you are seeking removal of it. Compare that for a moment with going to the Dentist and saying: “I have a bad tooth, will you pull it out please?”. The Dentist says: “Yes, of course, open wide please…” But every instinct in you pulls away, you think that perhaps it’s not all that bad after all, and you want to resist the forceps.

It may sound strange but, exactly the same thing is going to happen in therapy. You are going to resist releasing that thing inside yourself every step of the way. You won’t mean to, and intellectually you won’t want to, and most of the time you won’t even know you are doing it, but believe me, it will happen. There will come a point when you will likely feel it almost like a physical thing, like a wall of resistance that you are not sure you want to go over.

Be reassured that you can go through that wall, and the other side isn’t awful, in fact it’s fantastic, it’s a moment of surprising and liberating, enlightenment, and I aim to make sure you reach it.

Surprising, because it comes as a complete surprise to you. You will perhaps say: “I would never have believed that was in my mind.”

Liberating, speaks for itself. It sets you free, not only from your problem but other things too that you had only thought of as part of your behaviour pattern.

Enlightenment, because you understand. You realise where your problem really came from with that realisation is a resolution of your problem.

It’s not going to be easy, but there again, nor is it going to be difficult. One thing you can be sure of …it’s different.

What happens in therapy and how long does the process take?

I know that when I am explaining to people at the commencement of Therapy what we intend to do, I am only too well aware that it sounds impossible; that we intend to find something inside their mind they do not know is there. However, as far as technicalities of it are concerned, don’t worry about it. I know exactly what I am doing, and I do it day in day out, week in week out. I already know, within certain broad guidelines, exactly how you are going t to react during Therapy, but that is merely because you are a human being and not an android. 

The process we use to uncover the subconscious problem is called Analysis, and we carry it out with you in the Hypnotic State. The Hypnotic State is rather ordinary and certainly non-magical. Most people would say, during and after the Hypnotic experience, that it hadn’t worked for them, that they hadn't ‘gone under’. It is unlikely that you will feel differently. It would be a good start to accept that the whole process will feel rather ordinary.

I expect us to take between six and eight sessions, each session approximately an hour in duration and at approximately weekly intervals.

From the second session on, however, I will continually be asking you to tell me whatever comes into your thoughts. You are going to find that things do come into your thoughts and things you already know about, and disappointingly, somewhat trivial. Instead of major catastrophes in your life, you will find instead that a typical recollection is as follows:

 “I’m only recalling when I was about thirteen, I was standing with my mum at the bus stop and I stamped in a puddle. It splashed her legs and shouted at me, I felt very foolish because my friends were watching.” 

You’ll find that I appear pleased with your recollection of that tiny incident and we move on to another recollection. 

By the time we get to session four, you will find that you have passed over to me approximately a hundred of such apparently disconnected, recollections of the past, and most of them will have come from your forming years, teenage and younger. Regretfully it is rather unlikely that you will be feeling any better regards your problem. In fact, you may be feeling rather anxious, no longer about your problem but about coming to sessions.

You may possibly get an anxious feeling, as though there was something you did not want to face. Most people can fight that feeling sufficient to make sure that they do get here, and then at session four or five, you will perhaps find that an apparent abstract comes into your mind. Instead of a trivial recollection, you will get a thought or an impression in your thoughts, which, to you, does not seem to be real…more like imagination.

At session six or seven, your emotions will tell you that that thought or incident is in fact real, that it had happened and that it had concealed within your own mind. At that point, you are going to be emotional but you will find it subsides quickly, that what you have realised is already becoming a matter of total indifference to you which by the next day, or thereabouts, it will have become so… and you have reached your moment of surprising and liberating enlightenment.

Initial Consultation

Come along for an initial consultation (no obligation or charge) so that we can discuss how Hypnoanalysis may be able to help you. 

Find out more and book a consultation at www.ketteringhypnotherapy.com or call David on 01536 350328