(This blog was originally posted on May 4, 2014)
At
some time in our lives, just about everyone uses a defense mechanism to cope
with a stressful or disappointing experience. These strategies can include denial
or displacement of the unpleasant emotion, repression of a memory, substance
abuse, regressing to an earlier stage of development or even substance
dependency. However these behaviors provide only a temporary perception of
control over the environment; eventually, we have to deal with and resolve the
primary issue that has triggered the defense mechanism in order to achieve
personal growth. To be an effective hypnotherapist, I must recognize which one(s)
a client may be using, how and why the device is working in this situation, and
when it is preventing desired change and personal growth to occur.
According
to John
Kappas, Ph.D., resistance to changing a behavior is the first stage of
effecting this change. “We do things systematically to avoid change,” said the
founder of the Hypnosis
Motivation Institute. “Change is a threat
to the unconscious mind.” To facilitate change in a client’s behavior—such as
helping someone to quit smoking or to lose weight—the hypnotherapist must “buy”
the person’s symptoms of defensive behavior and provide some symptomatic
relief. But for the problem or unwanted behavior to be truly resolved it is
often necessary to go for the cause of the conflict or symptom. “The client may
be subconsciously protecting [the cause] by employing defense-mechanism
devices,” Dr. Kappas explained.
Usually,
many factors combine to create the primary issue or problem, and the client is
suggestible to those precipitating factors, the hypnotherapist explained.
Consequently, the first hypnotherapy session with a client is the most
important component of the therapeutic process, because this is the first
opportunity to start working with the client’s suggestibility and “suggest”
certain changes in behavior. For example, I might work with a client to
desensitize the person to the association of smoking a cigarette while drinking
an alcoholic beverage before supper. Or, I would create a new association in
which a client would “choose” to write about his or her negative emotions in a
journal rather than eat a bowl of ice cream when the person felt angry or sad.
But these changes in behavior—social drinking and displacing negative emotions
through eating—can and will only occur when the client is ready to recognize
the relationship between the emotion and behavior.
“You
cannot cure a person by telling him what the problem is,” Dr. Kappas said.
“Whenever you hit the cause of the problem, symptoms start to disappear. Once
you identify and remove the primary cause of the problem, you must alleviate
secondary issues.”
