The Red Box

(This blog was originally posted on November 16, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

Queen Victoria is known for many things. Until very recently, her reign was the longest of any British monarch. During that time there were considerable industrial and scientific advances, including growth of the railroad and building the London Underground, and development of Charles Darwin’s theory of evolutionary development. Her strong work ethic and public persona of prim behavior and proper etiquette became legendary. But when I think about this queen, what comes first to my mind is the Red Box.

The queen reportedly kept a red box on her desk in which urgent documents and communications were supposed to be placed until she could deal with the issue. As it turned out, less important papers such as generic requests for an audience (appointment) with the queen also found their way into that box. Of course, over time the box got very full. The monarch became frustrated and more than a little stressed out about all those things she had to “do.” Finally, her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, looked inside the box and pointed out that a lot of the material inside didn’t belong there at all. Queen Victoria could lighten her work load by addressing only the most urgent matters and postponing or even delegating the rest to him and/or her ministers, secretaries, etc. to handle. Long story short, the queen took his advice and adopted a new and more efficient strategy for managing her monarchy. 

Whether she vocally resisted (argued) adopting the new system or immediately accepted her husband’s suggestion to reorganize the contents of that box is probably unknown. However, it is likely that the queen initially found this task daunting and even annoying. Suddenly, she had to change a familiar, relatively simple behavior of putting documents in one place and take more time separating and classifying each item based on specific criteria. Once she got the hang of it this process would prove simpler and more efficient, but she would have to get used to it, first.

Call it what you will, but Queen Victoria’s new and even the intention of her original organizational system sounds an awful lot like the Neurolinguistic Programming technique of “chunking it down.”

If aspects of this tale sounds familiar in your own life that is the point I am trying to make. From time to time, a lot of us—including monarchs!—need help prioritizing assignments, jobs, projects and even relationships to be more efficient and productive in other areas of our lives. We are used to doing things a particular way, and every time we repeat that behavior (“way”) we reinforce it. However, it becomes easier to adopt a new process as we practice doing it for a while—i.e., incorporating these new actions (“knowns”) into the behavioral repertoire to create your new subconscious mental script. It is also easier to make a change when someone we respect or admire (hypno-modality) encourages/helps/teaches us what we need to do to implement the behavior/belief system, as Prince Albert did for his wife in this instance.

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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/.

© 2019

Exposing a Defense Mechanism

(This blog was previously posted on December 13, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., even though the behaviors are manifested consciously, defense mechanisms only operate on a subconscious level. These subconscious devices are designed to “protect” a person from the basic concepts, morals or other things that individual has learned and deemed undesirable. An important feature of a defense mechanism is that it interferes with, prevents or inhibits the person from functioning normally.

Types of defense mechanisms include: compensation, conversion, denial, displacement, dissociation, fantasy, negativism, projection, intellectualization/rationalization, reaction formation, repression, sublimation and undoing. Society even rewards some defense mechanisms such as working hard (but sacrificing family time) to have a career.

The most effective way to deal with a defense mechanism is on the subconscious level: i.e., in hypnosis, Dr. Kappas advised. The hypnotherapist must keep in mind that repression will already be in place as it is an essential component for all defense mechanisms to function. Therefore, it is important to work with the client’s subconscious mind to recognize, acknowledge and accept that a defense mechanism exists and is in place. Finally, the hypnotherapist must help the client create and learn a new subconscious mental script to change those old behavioral patterns, he said.

“If you don’t spot a defense mechanism in regular (cognitive) therapy, use corrective therapy to reveal it,” Dr. Kappas advised.

Limited Special Offer!

Save an additional 10 percent on the 10-week weight-loss package.

This discount only applies to the 10-week weight-loss program and may not be combined with any other offer. It is valid through February 15, 2019 

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/.

© 2019

Stages of Therapy

(This blog was originally posted on December 14, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

As a certified hypnotherapist, I use hypnosis and therapeutic guided-imagery techniques to help my clients achieve their personal vocational and avocational self-improvement goals (Business and Professions Code 2908). In today’s blog I outline the (general) stages of the therapeutic process.* Please note that this description does not outline the specific number of hypnotherapy sessions each client receives or must receive to achieve the stated goal. Rather, it outlines certain behavior patterns that may be observed over time during the duration of hypnotherapy. Hypnosis is part of every hypnotherapy session.

• Defensiveness. The client may be defensive or subconsciously resist changing the previous behavior(s).

• Increased openness. Over time, the person becomes slightly less rigid or reluctant to address the stated goals. He or she also starts to talk more about other people and events.

• Avoidance. The individual may talk about or refer to the self by using more objective or even detached terms and avoid discussing present events.

• Opening up. The client begins to share or talk about deep feelings and may develop a close relationship with the therapist. As I explained in my blog titled Secondary Relationships, the hypnotherapist’s role in a client’s life is to use tools such as hypnosis and guided imagery to help the individual achieve vocational or avocational self-improvement goals. Therefore, to prevent transference and counter-transference in my hypnotherapy practice, I establish strong professional boundaries around the therapeutic relationship that I have with each client.

• The beginning of personal growth. As the person starts to express his or her emotions, he or she starts to make decisions (behaviors) and accept responsibility for personal actions.

• Moving toward congruence. With increasing personal growth, the client rapidly moves toward congruence: i.e., feelings “match” behavior. The individual’s Emotional/Physical Sexuality and Emotional/Physical Suggestibility may shift slightly at this time to reflect this congruence.

• Self-Actualization. This is characterized by greater empathy and the client’s ability to deal with situations in the “here and now.” A caveat: When a person grows this way, the romantic partner will also grow and catch up with these new values or the relationship may end. For more information about Family Systems, I invite you to read my blog titled The Systems Approach in Hypnotherapy.

Limited Special Offer!

Save an additional 10 percent on the 10-week weight-loss package.

This discount only applies to the 10-week weight-loss program and may not be combined with any other offer. It is valid through February 15, 2019 

*Hypnosis is performed during every hypnotherapy session, throughout the therapeutic process

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/.

© 2019