(This blog was originally posted on March 30, 2014)
In
my blog titled Creating
Your Hypnotic Script, I described how I create customize hypnotic scripts
for each of my clients. This process actually (unofficially) begins during the
first introductory conversation I have with a prospective client, when the
person contacts me to discuss whether hypnotherapy can help him or her to
achieve specific vocational and avocational self-improvement goals. During the
course of this conversation, I try to get as much information about my
prospective client and the presenting issue as I can. This isn’t being “nosey”;
rather, I need to know whether these goals fall within my scope of expertise as
a hypnotherapist. If not, I will refer him or her to a medical doctor or
licensed mental health practitioner, who would be a better source of support for
that issue. (For a complete list of ways in which hypnotherapy may help you,
check out the Appendix
tab on my website.)
Once
I determine that I can help you, I will need to know even more information and
specific details about your behavior/habit: How long have you been doing “X”?
Under what situations/circumstances are you most likely to do or want to engage
in the behavior? When and why did you start doing this behavior? Have you ever
tried to change or stop this behavior in the past? Why do you want to stop
doing “X” now? Finally, I will ask
whether you ever been hypnotized before. It does not matter whether you have been hypnotized in terms of whether
hypnosis can help you achieve your goal; it will. However, this information is
useful for me to help gauge how much time you may need to become comfortable
being hypnotized (i.e., the hypnotic induction) before we address your specific
behavior in hypnosis.
Once
we conclude the conversation and we have set your appointment with me, I
consult my notes and text/course material for different hypnosis and
guided-imagery techniques that I feel will be most appropriate or applicable to
help you achieve your behavioral goal. I may revise or write out a completely
new hypnotic script that I can use when we meet that is composed of elements of
several different scripts. If we have worked together before, I will review the
notes I made during your previous session and research hypnosis scripts or
techniques to follow up our recent work together. Of course, I know that this
plan may change or be revised again, depending on what we discuss during the
session and how you respond to/feel during the hypnosis, etc. I will also
review different hypnosis and imagery techniques, and even prepare alternate
scripts, to use during the session if necessary or as time permits.
My
goal as your hypnotherapist is to help you address and change the habits that
no longer work for you and replace them with behaviors that do. To do this, I
constantly review and practice the techniques I know, and train for
certifications in new topics that will enable me to help more people in even more
ways.
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/.
© 2015
