Fears vs. Phobias

     Whenever a client tells me that he or she has a fear of something, the first thing I must do is confirm that the experience is a fear and not a phobia. A "fear" has a specific origin. For example, someone may develop a fear of dogs after being bitten by one during childhood. Such a fear can be treated by repeatedly exposing the person to the memory of the fear-inducing stimulus (the dog)--and "passing" that fear--during hypnosis. This repeated process of experiencing and passing the stimulus gradually desensitizes the person to the fear.
     Conversely, a phobia does not have a specific origin. To treat a phobia, the person is repeatedly exposed to the phobia-inducing stimulus; however, he or she is immediately "removed" from the stimulus and returns to imagery of "a special place" or somewhere safe, through guided imagery before actually experiencing the emotion or phobic reaction. This process would be repeated until the person is completely desensitized to the phobia.
     Once the client has resolved the fear or phobia issue, I have the person anchor these new sensations of relaxation, calm and comfort. While the client is still in hypnosis, I have the person continue to draw, hold, and then slowly release several deep breaths to increase relaxation throughout the body. I remind the person that each deep breath draws in confidence and relaxation, replacing the old anxiety/fear with relaxation and a sense of well-being.

 

 

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

What Is a Hypnotherapist Qualified to Do? Part 3

    

As December comes to a close, many people are making a list of “New Year's Resolutions” that they would like to achieve in 2012. Following are just some of the issues (behaviors and attitudes) that I can help you change through hypnotherapy and or/therapeutic guided imagery.

Words that are followed by an asterisk (*) indicate issues that do not fall under the vocational/avocational self-improvement parameters of hypnotherapy. I would require a psychological or medical referral to address these issues. Similarly, items followed by two asterisks (**) may also require current enrolment in an addiction-control program (e.g., AA, NA, etc.).

 

Abandonment, Addictions**, Aggression, Agoraphobia, Anesthesia*, Anger, Anxiety, Assertiveness, Assist Healing*, Attitude Adjustment, Bed-Wetting, Biofeedback, Breathing, Career Success, Change Habits, Child Birth*, Chronic Pain*, Communication, Concentration, Controlling, Cramps*, Cravings, Creativity, Death or Loss, Discouraged, Dreams, Exam Anxiety, Exercise, Fears (general), Fear of Loss of Control, Fear of Animals, Fear of Death, Fear of Dentist, Fear of Doctor, Fear of Failure, Fear of Flying, Fear of Heights, Fear of School, Fear of Success, Fear of Surgery, Fear of Water, Forgiveness, Frustration, Gagging, Gambling**, Guilt, Hair Twisting/pulling*, Headaches*, Helplessness, Hopelessness, Hostility, Hypertension*, Hypochondria, Immune System*, Impotency, Improve Health, Improve Sales, Indecision, Inferiority, Inhibition, Insecurity, Insomnia, Irrational thoughts, Irritability, Jealousy, Lack of Ambition, Lack of Direction, Lack of Enthusiasm, Lack of Initiative, Lower Blood Pressure*, Medication Side Effects, Memory (improvement), Mistrust, Moodiness, Motivation, Nail-Biting, Nausea*, Negativism, Nightmares, Obsessions, Obsessive-Compulsive Behaviors*, Overeating, Overly Critical, Pain Management*, Panic Attacks, Passive-Aggressiveness, Past-Life Regression, Perfectionism, Performance Anxiety, Pessimism, Phobias, Postsurgical adjustment, Premature Ejaculation, Pre-surgical preparation*, Problem Solving, Procrastination, Public Speaking, Reach Goals, Rejection, Relationship Enhancement, Relaxation, Resistance, Resistance to Change, Responsibility, Restlessness, Sadness, Self-Awareness, Self-Blame, Self-Confidence, Self-Control, Self-Criticism, Self-Defeating Behaviors, Self-Esteem, Self-Expression, Self-Forgiveness, Self-Hypnosis, Self-Image, Self-Mastery, Sexual Problems*, Shame, Skin Problems*, Sleep Disorders, Stop Smoking, Social Phobias, Sports Performance (improvement), Stage Fright, Stress, Stubborn, Study Habits (improvement), Stuttering, Substance Abuse**, Superiority, Surgical Recovery*, Tardiness, Temptation, Thumb-Sucking, Tics, Trauma*, Ulcers*, Victimization, Weight Loss, Worry, Writers Block.

I look forward to working with you in the New Year!

     Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist who specializes in helping equestrians to achieve their competition and riding goals. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

What Is a Hypnotherapist Qualified to Do? Part 2

     In my previous blog, I explained the legal and ethical parameters in which I provide hypnotherapy. Now, I would like to describe how I use hypnosis and therapeutic guided imagery to help my clients achieve their vocational and avocational self-improvement goals.

     Hypnosis has been used as a therapeutic tool for centuries. It is also a safe, natural state that everybody experiences twice each day: thirty minutes before drifting off to sleep, and thirty minutes after waking up. Other examples of being in a similar, naturally induced trance state include: being so deep in thought that you “missed” your exit on the freeway; becoming dazed wandering a shopping mall during a holiday sale; or losing a sense of time while studying for a test in the library.

     As a certified hypnotherapist, I use hypnosis and therapeutic guided imagery as a tool to help my clients change behaviors that no longer work for them. The reason why most attempts to change a habit don’t work is because the subconscious mind overpowers conscious willpower to make that desired change. Hypnosis is an effective, safe and drug-free tool that allows you to gain access to your subconscious mind and change the mental scripts for behaviors that no longer work for you. Each “suggestion” that I use during hypnosis will be based on your specific ideas/words/images/reasons why you want to change a specific behavior. In other words, through these suggestions you will essentially be hypnotizing yourself. You will be completely conscious and extremely aware of everything in your environment. You are always in complete control of what you do and say during a hypnotherapy session.

     Each hypnotherapy session lasts approximately one hour. During the first part of the session, I will discuss/review your (the client’s) goals for the hypnotherapy session. It is usually appropriate to discuss other aspects of your life/experience that may be influencing that goal; however, you guide the pace and direction of each session. As the hypnotherapist, my role and responsibility is to help you make specific behavioral changes (e.g., stop smoking, lose weight, increase self-confidence, etc.).

     The hypnosis component of a hypnotherapy session occurs in the last fifteen minutes or so of the session. I encourage clients to achieve a state of deep, complete relaxation through deep breathing and processes of visual imagery. When you are in this deeply relaxed state (hypnosis), your body is very comfortable and becomes completely relaxed. This state of complete relaxation is very similar to being asleep. In fact, I say the words “sleep,” “deep sleep,” and “going even deeper,” but these terms are used to induce increased relaxation and awareness, not slumber.

     I am a certified Master in therapeutic guided imagery, and I use a lot of visualization and imagery techniques while you are in hypnosis. Imagery techniques involve seeing, feeling, hearing, smelling, and tasting. I use terms “imagine, visualize, picture or pretend” to facilitate this process. Unlike hypnosis, where I (the hypnotherapist) would do most of the talking, you are encouraged to describe and interact with the “images” that are evoked during the therapeutic process. Like hypnosis, therapeutic guided imagery is a safe, non-invasive way to help you change behaviors that you believe or think no longer benefit you.

     Again, you will be conscious and aware, and in complete control of everything that you say and do during the hypnosis and therapeutic guided imagery processes of a hypnotherapy session. Specifically, no one can make you say or do anything that is in conflict with your personal, ethical standards, values or goals. There is complete confidentiality, and I observe the ethical guidelines of the American Counseling Association for the conduct of counseling therapists at all times.

 

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist who specializes in helping equestrians to achieve their competition and riding goals. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

What Is a Hypnotherapist Qualified to Do? Part 1

     At this time of year, many people make a list of their New Year's resolutions: I will give up smoking. I will stop procrastinating. I will start exercising more. I will lose weight. ... All of these goals are within the scope of what hypnotherapy can help you achieve.

     Hypnotherapy is a very powerful, alternative treatment tool that may be used to complement healing arts, such as medicine and psychology. According to Dr. John Kappas, a clinical psychologist and the founder of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, and his colleague, psychiatrist Dr. Ron Hodges, the scope of a hypnotherapist's expertise lies in his or her ability to help clients to deal with vocational and avocational self-improvement issues. These areas include the topics listed above, as well as general relaxation, increasing self-confidence, and improving study habits and sports performance. In addition to helping clients achieve those goals, I also work with equestrians to achieve their competition goals and improve their relationship with their equine partners.

     In some instances, hypnotherapists may also work with a client who is addressing other issues that ordinarily fall outside of the scope of vocational/avocational self-improvement, such as pain management or depression. In order to work with these clients, the hypnotherapist must first obtain a referral from the client's medical doctor, psychiatrist or psychologist. This referral protects both the client and the hypnotherapist: Hypnotherapists do not have the expertise to determine whether there is a medical reason why a person is experiencing a physical symptom, such as a headache or discomfort elsewhere in the body. When a person wants to lose a lot of weight (e.g., 25 pounds or more), it is always a good idea for the doctor to make sure that there is not a medical reason why their patient has gained the weight and that he or she may safely participate in an exercise or physical-fitness program.

     George Kappas, the current director of HMI, also insists that hypnotherapists may only work with someone who has a substance addiction if the client is also enrolled in an appropriate 12-Step program to help manage that addiction.

     Following is the Business and Professions Code 2908, which is the guideline of practice for hypnotherapists in California: "California law allows access by California residents to complementary and alternative health care practitioners who are not providing services that require medical training and credentials. The purpose of a program of hypnotherapy is for vocational and avocational self-improvement (Business and Professions Code 2908) and as alternative or complimentary treatment to healing arts services licensed by the state. A hypnotherapist is not a licensed physician or psychologist, and hypnotherapy services are not licensed by the state of California. Services are non-diagnostic and do not include the practice of medicine, neither should they be considered as a substitute for licensed medical or psychological services or procedures."

     I will discuss the way(s) in which hypnotherapy and therapeutic guided imagery can help you achieve your New Year's resolutions in the next blog.

    

    

     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/.