The Systems Approach in Hypnotherapy

 

                The basic idea or premise of the Systems Approach is that every part of the social/emotional system will affect the entire system. In other words, you cannot separate one component of the system from the sub-total or entire system. It doesn’t matter whether one spouse returns to college and completes the Bachelor of Arts degree she abandoned long ago to have children or whether her husband loses weight to improve his health and suddenly attracts a bevy of female admirers. The changes in behavior can affect the basic structure of the relationship or system and create resistance within it. The ultimate goal of the Systems Approach is to bring the System back into balance.

                For example, if a man comes in for hypnotherapy his “presenting issue” is marital discord, and the hypnotherapist is working only with the man (husband). However, if the hypnotherapist doesn’t keep the client’s wife in mind during the therapy, she is liable to walk out of the marriage because she has not been taken into account within the “system.” Ideally, both spouses would come in for hypnotherapy to work on their marital issues. If this is not possible or the spouse refuses to come in, the hypnotherapist could work just with the client to specifically teach him how to deal with her.

                According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., no matter what the client’s problem or issue happens to be, the systems approach infiltrates all areas of therapy. Even if only one member of the family or one spouse or partner in a relationship is seeking therapy, that issue must be dealt with within the context of the client’s own system. Therefore, the hypnotherapist must address components in the person’s work, relationships, family past, the hypnotherapy he or she is receiving, plus aspects of the entire social system or relationship. If these other issues aren’t taken into account, the therapy won’t be successful and only the issue being addressed in therapy will be “treated” (improved or eliminated) per the client’s goal, Dr. Kappas warned.

 

 Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014

 

People Live Everywhere

Photo courtesy of Fotolia

 

                One of my grandmothers used to say, “People live everywhere!” She would emphasize the “every,” but not the “where.” We used to laugh when she said that; the trill in her voice reminded me of the sensation of being tickled. This expression typically followed her observation about something that someone did which she had never seen or heard of before. When I was little, I had no idea what she might have meant by this; of course people live everywhere, I thought. At the time, I didn’t get that she wasn’t referring solely to geography. She was including her observations about how similar people were, despite the differences in their behaviors. In all honesty, I have only recently begun to truly appreciate what Mama Lil was talking about in the context of my hypnotherapy practice.

                No matter where you live or what beliefs you hold, you are a product of the social environment and culture in which you were born and raised. Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D. held that we all begin to write our mental script from the moment we are born. Our subconscious mind categorizes each one of our early experiences as a positive (pleasure) or negative (pain) “known.” Family, friends and peers may continue to influence our behaviors to various degrees during our lifetimes. Each one of us may become more or less open than our peers to tolerate or accept other belief systems even while, deep down, we will probably always hold that our way of doing something is “better” than anyone else’s. (Until proved otherwise, that is.)

                No matter whom you are or where you are from, your beliefs, perceptions and experiences are valid. They are yours—but, they are also products of your environment and what you know or have learned. As you live your life, you will have dreams, set goals and follow a path that you set—a path that is not only made for you, but one that you (your SCM) designed. Meanwhile, remember that somewhere along the way, you will encounter or hear about other people that live very near or very far away, who happen to share similar interests and have similar aspirations. Like you, they will be more or less amenable to changing their behavior or adopting a new belief system in relation to their suggestibility and whether their subconscious mind will accept that new known.

                Wherever you go and whatever you do as you fulfill your life script, you are likely to meet someone who shares your interests. You are equally likely to discover that you have absolutely nothing in common with that person. Just remember: you are still sharing the same planet with other people, even if you don’t live in the same metaphoric world. When you meet, they may also marvel, “People live everywhere!”

 

 Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014

Compliance and Motivation

Photo courtesy of PresentationPro

Hypnotherapy can be and is a marvelous adjunct and complement to medical
treatments and other psychological therapies.  

                Imagine you have been taking antibiotics to treat a bad sinus infection. The symptoms have gone away, but you still have three days’ worth of medication left to take. Not only have you lost some of your motivation to take the meds now that you feel better, but you find it very inconvenient to make sure to eat something first, to prevent getting an upset stomach. Since your physical discomfort has gone away, you (your conscious mind) may wonder why you need to finish the prescription, at all. Your SCM might even try to solve that problem for you when you “forget” to take the next dose.

                It can be even tougher to follow through with a treatment plan when there is no end in sight. Even if you don’t consciously object to doing something—you know that you need to keep taking insulin to control your diabetes—your subconscious mind might not be so willing to go along with the program. Indeed, sometimes the “remedy” feels or may actually be more uncomfortable than the disease you are trying to fight. Between the discomfort and/or pain that you experience from the illness and the perceived inconvenience of all the things you must do to get better, sometimes the temptation to let everything slide for a day or two may be incredible. However, hypnotherapy can help you to follow “doctor’s orders” and provide some physical, emotional and mental comfort, as well.

When I work with someone to facilitate a medically-related, health-related behavior change, the first thing I do is obtain a referral from the licensed medical practitioner or psychotherapist who is treating that individual (Business and Professions Code 2908). I use my client’s own words or expressions to create the hypnotic script that will motivate him or her to follow the medical or mental-health expert’s treatment regimen or advice. Each suggestion that I give to this client will reflect the person’s physical or emotional suggestibility, which will enable the person’s subconscious mind to easily understand and accept the suggestions to easily and comfortably facilitate achieving the stated compliance objectives.

Some other examples of when hypnotherapy can facilitate compliance with a recommended medical, health or addiction-recovery protocol include:

·         Following Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous, etc. guidelines during rehabilitation from a substance addiction;

·         Observing a prescribed physical-fitness or exercise program to facilitate physical therapy;

·         Adhering to a medically-recommended diet to control noninsulin-dependent diabetes.

                Remember: Hypnosis is not and should never be provided as a substitute for medical, psychotherapeutic or addiction-recovery care from a licensed practitioner. (I also require clients who have a substance-addiction to currently participate in a 12-step program while I work with them, because these programs are the most effective tool to help them recover from their addiction.) However, hypnosis can be and is a marvelous adjunct and complement to these therapies because the hypnotherapeutic script will gently and effectively reinforce the client’s specific motivations and desires to comply with the referring doctor or psychologist’s treatment recommendations.

               

               

 Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014

Breath Exchange Revisited

(This blog was originally posted on February 4, 2014.)

Slow, deep breathing is an important component of my hypnotherapy work. Breathing this way not only relaxes the physical body; it also provides them a tangible example of their ability to control a specific, physical behavior. Breathing is also a relevant metaphor for the idea of releasing old habits or beliefs and replacing them with the new, desired behaviors and mental scripts that they believe will improve their lives in some way. Following is a simple imagery exercise that you can do at the end of the day to help you relax and let go of any negative emotion or tension in your body before going to bed:

Start by taking a slow, deep breath through your nose. Visualize or imagine that you are drawing cool, clean air all the way into the bottom of your lungs. Hold this breath for the count of four, three, two, one… This air that you have inhaled is filled with tiny molecules of relaxation, calm, comfort and confidence that travels from your lungs and moves throughout your body. 

On zero, release the breath slowly through your mouth. Visualize and imagine that you are releasing with this breath any tightness or tension that you have been carrying around in your body; you are releasing any negative emotion (e.g., anger, frustration, etc.) that you no longer want or need to carry inside of you. Just let go of all of those negative emotions and physical tensions, allow them to dissipate in the atmosphere where they can no longer affect you or anyone else.

Repeat this exercise several times as needed until you feel completely relaxed and start drifting into sleep.

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014

 

Knowns

(This blog was originally posted on December 25, 2013.)

 

For many of us, doing something new or unfamiliar can be very scary. But, you know what? After you do that thing just one time it loses that essence of being scary. It becomes “known” to your subconscious mind and is integrated with your repertoire of behaviors. Your subconscious mind will file away the memory of that sensation, experience, or associated emotion for future reference for future behaviors the rest of your life—even if you never repeat the specific behavior. (Advanced calculus, anyone?)

John G. Kappas, Ph.D., and Alex G. Kappas Ph.D., revolutionized the practice of hypnotherapy based on their findings that not everyone receives hypnotic suggestions the same way (suggestibility). Suggestibility refers to how you learn, and it influences how you interpret every experience. In Kappasinian Hypnotherapy there are two categories of “known” (learned) experiences:

·         Pain: Anything new or unfamiliar (unknown). It may also refer to a physically or emotionally painful experience. 

·          Pleasure: An experience that is known and familiar, although it may not necessarily be pleasurable. “Pleasure” can be a positive or a negative emotional/physical experience.

When you first learned how to walk, the first step or two was probably wobbly. You probably held onto a parent’s hand for dear life for the first attempts; it may have taken a week before you could make it across a room without stumbling and falling down (Pain). Fast-forward a week, a year, 20 years to today. Now you are able to skip, jump and run without even thinking about it (Pleasure) because these activities are familiar and comfortable.

Just imagine all of the New Year’s Resolutions you will achieve when your subconscious mind recognizes and accepts that these new behaviors are now “knowns” and they are here to stay!

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

Avoidance Behavior

 

                It’s 10 p.m., and your presentation for work is still not complete. This is your last chance to make a positive impression on your employers since your last two projects were abject failures and lost the company money. But rather than doing a final edit of your work or even double-checking the facts you plan to discuss, you are cleaning the break room. Or, you spend time and even money you don’t have to prepare and bringing meals to a friend who has recently lost his job while one of your siblings is also out of work and would also appreciate your help. And my favorite, albeit most extreme, example on this theme: Anthony Hopkins’ character in The Remains of the Day (1993) continued to work, serving a fancy meal at a manor while his father is dying nearby. Each of these scenarios is an example of the lengths to which people are willing to go to avoid or even completely remove ourselves from a distressing situation or emotions.

According to John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind, each person is subconsciously motivated to maintain and/or restore a known physical and emotional status of comfort and security. From the moment we are born, we start to accumulate and associate experiences in the context of two types of knowns: positive (pleasure) or negative (pain). The SCM is motivated or even programmed to seek the pleasure stimuli; not only do these experiences and stimuli not hurt (pain), this absence of pain also comes to represent comfort and security (pleasure). Even when a person’s “usual” behavior or belief system does not produce a “pleasurable: feeling or association, his or her SCM will seek stimuli (environmental, physical body) that reinforce the positive known or association. Even when this known causes physical and/or emotional discomfort, this is the status to which a person will return because this is where the SCM is most comfortable.

                Each of the behaviors described in the above scenarios are examples of the ways in which the subconscious mind does whatever it can to help a person remain comfortable. It will even employ avoidance behaviors such as procrastination, projection identification and emotional withdrawal to avoid experiencing emotional, physical and/or spiritual discomfort (pain) associated with the circumstances. Maybe you are cleaning the break room because this is a task you are confident you can do well, while there are no guarantees that the new project will even get off the ground. Also, it is possible that since your previous projects have failed, your SCM has created known associations with this status (failure) and it is trying to maintain this known for you. In the second example, you feel more comfortable supporting your friend because you worry that you could easily be in your sibling’s position (out of a job), and you want to distance yourself from that situation (projection identification). This association could be even more uncomfortable for you if you are highly motivated to succeed. Finally, Anthony Hopkins’ character literally withdrew from the emotional pain of his father’s death by focusing on his job to the extent that he could physically be “removed” from his father when the other man died. If the men did not share an emotionally close relationship, we can see how Hopkins’ SCM was simply following an already-established mental script; any behavior changes at this stage of his life would be painful.

                These types of avoidance behaviors all share the following characteristics: They are unconscious, self-deceptive, contain elements of denial, and distort reality/thoughts/actions. Hypnotherapy can help people work through these behaviors and associated belief systems.

               

 

 

 Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014

 

When Respect Equals Love, Part 2

 

                Over the centuries, humans have shared a very complicated relationship with horses. On the one hand, these animals have served us as beasts of burden, mechanisms of war and even sources of food. On the other, horses are revered as symbols of freedom, excitement and nobility. Some people make their living working with and on the back of a horse; others say that just having horses in their lives makes life that much better. Many equestrians consider their horse(s) to be their equine partners, but this metaphor works only when people understand that our horses first perceive us as the predator that sits on and directs their movement. Whenever we handle horses on the ground or on their back, it doesn’t matter how much we love them if they don’t respect us; but we need to respect them, too.

                I discussed the components of a successful relationship in my February 14, 2014 blog, “Keys to a Successful Relationship.” You will have noticed that “love” is not on that list, at all; but “respect” is. We can show our respect to someone in various ways, from listening without interruption to what the other person is saying, to deferring to the advice of someone who has more experience than we do. We show respect by celebrating the ways a person is similar and different to ourselves without trying to force that individual to change or adopt our beliefs or opinions when we disagree. We are suggestible to our partner’s beliefs, attitudes and behaviors; but that partner is also suggestible to us. So, what does all that mean when your partner weighs 1,000 pounds and can run 25 to 40 miles per hour? It should mean: a lot.

                Horses have survived through the millennia because they know how to adapt to their environment and make their circumstances work for them. They rely on their herd-mates to help defend from danger, especially, the horse in the leadership or “alpha” role. Horses know that a good alpha is one that not only protects the herd from outside threats but also treats each member with fairness. The alpha tells the rest of the herd where and when to go or stop. The other horses will follow this animal, but only so long as that lead horse continues to deserve their respect. They treat their human leader the same way.

                Following are some practical techniques to help you earn and reinforce a respectful relationship with your horse. Before you use or practice these suggestions, please consult with a professional horse trainer and/or your riding instructor to ensure that they will be effective and safe for you to do.

·         Protect your personal space. Clinton Anderson of Downunder Horsemanship® advises his students to imagine that they are standing in the middle of a hula hoop, and their horse cannot get any closer to them than the perimeter of that hoop. If the horse tries to move in on you, correct this intrusion right away by sending him or her further away again. Remember that when you are leading your horse, the safest position for you is beside your horse, with his head/nose at your shoulder. Horses cannot see what is directly in front or behind them, and you are at risk of being run over if your horse is following directly behind you.

·         Be in charge. Clinton Anderson warns, “Whoever moves his feet first, loses.” If your horse is dancing around on the cross-ties and you have to constantly adjust your position to avoid him stepping on you, he is in control. Practice groundwork exercises to keep your horse moving when and in the direction you want him or her to go. Work your horse on a lunge-line and make the animal practice up and down transitions through each of the gaits. The purpose of these exercises is to teach your horse that you are in control of where, when and how fast his feet are going to move.

·         Be consistent. Reward good behavior and correct misbehavior every time it happens. Rewards don’t have to be treats; they can be a pat on the neck or shoulder with copious verbal praise, releasing tension in the reins so the horse can drop its head and stretch, etc. A correction for misbehavior might be a verbal reprimand and making the training session last longer and/or more intensive. Repeat these actions every time your horse does what you ask to create an association in the animal’s mind that you say what you mean and mean what you say (physical suggestibility). The more times you consistently reinforce this association, the more your horse will trust you because it will know what kind of reaction to expect from you in response to his or her behavior.

·         Be fair. If your horse seems to be having a tough time understanding what you want and/or are asking him or her to do, do a quick mental check to make sure you are correctly asking for what you want. It is too easy to blame our horse when something goes wrong in our training, but the mistake is often “pilot” (rider) error. You may discover that your equine partner is actually doing exactly what you are asking for, but you are not asking what you wanted to know. If your horse is having trouble understanding or doing what you are asking, consider asking for that movement in a different way. Work on another technique that your horse already knows how to do and practice that to increase his or her confidence and then try the movement again. You will probably find that you and your horse will benefit from doing something else for a little while and the new work will make more sense to both of you.

·         Be generous. Horseman Chris Cox regularly gives his horses a few minutes to stand still and “soak in” or think about a lesson or instruction that they had just been working on. In so doing, the horse gets a short break from its work (a reward) and can associate the release in pressure from the reins and legs with doing a good job. When your horse has performed a movement well or you have had a good schooling session, reward him with praise, a walk break or even stopping the day’s training session a little earlier than you planned.

                I am not a riding instructor, and I encourage everyone to consult with a trainer or instructor to resolve riding and horse-related issues. For more information about my hypnotherapy work with equestrians, please contact me via my website at www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com.

 

 

 Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014