(This blog was originally posted on September 29, 2014)
What
is the key to a successful hypnotherapist and hypnotherapy session? It is
giving the client a place of non-judgment in which to work on his or her
self-improvement issues.
In a pivotal
scene of Shonda Rhimes’s series, How to Get Away With Murder,
law instructor Professor Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) explains how she can
tell whether her client is innocent: “I don’t care.” I admit that example is
extreme: I help people achieve their vocational and avocational
self-improvement goals, not represent them in a capital crime. Having said
that, I must and do approach each client from a similar position of
non-judgment (unconditional positive regard) as Professor Keating to help my
clients feel comfortable, relaxed and open to do the intensive inner work that
hypnotherapy often entails.
Hypnosis
Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., believed that it is not a
hypnotherapist’s role or responsibility to make moral value judgments about a
client’s situation or circumstances. Rather, it is up to the therapist to “buy
the symptoms” of and provide information about the client’s presenting behavior.
According to Dr. Kappas, the
hypnotherapist’s only role is to repair the problem that the client has
brought. The only exception is if the client is a victim of or threatens
violence against himself or herself or another person. In that case, the
therapist is obliged to warn or intervene on another person’s behalf, or call
authorities if necessary, he said. (I also follow this policy, which I explain
to my clients when we start working together.)
There is no
right or wrong when it comes to the client’s life and world view. When the
hypnotherapist takes this approach, it facilitates helping the person through
the bad times and guides the person to happier times, he advised. “The moment
you make a judgment call, you lose the client.”1
1.
1. Intimate Conversations With Dr. John
Kappas. 1989. Video
series, Lesson 1
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
