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Tuesday, September 6, 2016

The Saddest Thing I Ever Heard

Photo by Rick Hustead

Recently, I heard a news story that absolutely broke my heart. In August 2016, a four-year-old-girl was rescued from an abusive home in Hot Springs, Arkansas.¹ When police officers rescued her, she reportedly told them that her name was “Idiot” because that’s what her mother’s boyfriend allegedly called her. Apparently, she was called that so often that she didn’t even know her real name.

According to John Kappas, Ph.D., the subconscious mind works on expectation and imagination. Over time, we learn to expect others to respond to and interact with us in a particular way based on our previous experience with those individuals. Eventually, it becomes part of our subconscious mental script as we also learn to internalize the message or emotion we perceive in those interactions. All of this can and does affect self-confidence and self-esteem, the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder explained. No matter what the “message” is, the more you hear and repeat it to yourself your subconscious mind starts to believe and even “own” that message. When everyone around you constantly bombards you with so much criticism and negativity, including referring to you as an idiot or some other derogatory slur, it’s no surprise that your self-confidence and self-esteem take a hit. It’s really only a matter of time until you start to believe in the negative hype, and when you are as young and impressionable as this child it takes even less time to create a negative mental script.

Now that this little girl has been found and her alleged abusers—her mother and her mother’s boyfriend—are in custody, she can start to heal from the psychological damage she endured as well as her physical injuries and emaciation. Hopefully the inner resources that helped her endure the negative treatment and messages she received during these early years will also help her to heal, thrive and find happiness, safety and security throughout the rest of her life.

1. “Abused 4-Year-Old Child Tells Police Her Name Is ‘Idiot’: Mother, Boyfriend Charged After Abuse Reported” by Anneclaire Stapleton, CNN. http://www.clickorlando.com/news/national/abused-4yearold-child-tells-police-her-name-is-idiot

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/.

Monday, September 5, 2016

Depression and Sleep

(This blog was originally posted on January 15, 2016)

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

John Kappas, Ph.D., observed that depressive sleep tends to be light, which allows the individual to maintain enough awareness of the environment and maintain a sense of being able to stay in control. Often, someone who is dealing with depression reports tossing and turning throughout the night and easily awakens. However, the person’s belief that he or she does not sleep at all is usually not completely accurate, the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder stated.

The hypnotherapist can prove that the client actually does sleep by having the individual place an illuminated clock beside the bed. That way, the individual can always see what time it is whenever his or eyes open. For one week the person should record the time whenever he or she wakes up, and then try to drift back to sleep. By the time the person finally “gets up” out of bed in the morning, the individual can look back at the times he or she woke up during the night to see that there were some solid hours spent asleep—usually between three to five hours.

“If you get that pattern, and the person has had some sleep (a nap) during the day, people can get by on five hours of sleep,” Dr. Kappas explained. Once the person realizes that he or she is actually getting some sleep, the anxiety about not sleeping usually disappears and the person sleep six to eight hours a night. “This mechanism works pretty well with depressive sleepers, and we use it quite regularly.”

However, if the person is genuinely unable to sleep at all, he or she will not have venting dreams and therefore is at risk of stimulus overload and a subsequent loss of the critical thinking/reasoning process. In this case, it would be inappropriate to use dream therapy because the thought of not sleeping would only induce further distress and anxiety.

“Don’t take away what little sleep they have,” the hypnotherapist advised.

Friday, September 2, 2016

Thoughts of the Day

Photo by Sara Fogan

Every now and then I like (and need) to take a few moments and remind myself about what is really important to me, in my life. If you follow me on my Calminsense Hypnotherapy Facebook page you may have seen some of these quotes before on this page, or will in the future. Many of these Quotes of the Day are beautiful examples and illustrations of the work I do as a hypnotherapist, so I will probably draw on them in future essays.

“At some point you just have to let go of what you thought should happen and live in what is happening.” – Dr. Laura Schlessinger

"Challenges make life interesting; however, overcoming them is what makes life meaningful." – Mark Twain

"Things don't change, only the way you look at them." – Carlos Castaneda

"We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world." – Buddha

"Speak your mind even if your voice shakes." – Maggie Kuhn

"Heaven on Earth is a choice you must make, not a place you must find." – Wayne Dyer

“We can’t become what we need to be by remaining what we are.” – Oprah Winfrey

"Happiness is a state of mind. It's just according to the way you look at things." – Walt Disney

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or objects.” – Albert Einstein

"If a problem is fixable, if a situation is such that you can do something about it, then there's no need to worry." – Dalai Lama

Thursday, September 1, 2016

Are You Sure I Was Hypnotized?

(This blog was originally posted on January 5, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

After each hypnotherapy session, I always ask my client if he or she has any observations or questions about the experience. Following the first session—especially if the person has never experienced hypnosis before—I am almost always asked the same thing.

“Are you sure I was hypnotized? I could hear everything you said and knew what was going on around me, the whole time. I don’t think it worked.”

It did.

As a certified hypnotherapist, I am trained to induce hypnosis for my clients as well as (and especially) to recognize subtle physiological signs that indicate when the person has entered this state. These include: changes (deepening) in your breathing, a “glassy” appearance of the eyes, and slower and softer verbal responses. In addition, a person who is in hypnosis tends to move more slowly when walking from the straight chair in front of my desk to the recliner, for the deeper hypnosis work.

Hypnosis is different for every client. Some people remember every detail about the hypnotherapy session, from the sound of the heater or air-conditioning unit coming on to physical sensations such as tingling or heaviness in their limbs as they become more deeply relaxed. Others report they were only vaguely aware of what I said (the hypnotic script) but felt very comfortable and safe, and even more confident that they could achieve their goals

After the hypnotherapy session, I make sure to count the client completely up and out of hypnosis. I offer the person some water and give him or her a chance to sit up for a few minutes and even stretch to increase circulation and feel more alert and aware for the drive home.

For more information about hypnosis, I invite you to visit the Hypnosis Facts link on my web-site.