Crisis Intervention

Photo by Rick Hustead

In a previous blog, I described the Cycle of Violence and some of the behaviors that characterize this phenomenon. As a certified hypnotherapist, I focus my practice on individuals who are striving to achieve vocational and avocational self-improvement goals (i.e., weight loss, smoking cessation, increase self-confidence, improve sports performance, etc.). Every so often a client comes in who has just experienced a traumatic event in his or her life or has even become a victim of violence. Today, I will explain how I work with a client who is caught in this or another kind of crisis.

First, a disclaimer: I do not see a new, first-time client who is in a crisis state because the person’s therapeutic issue may be out of my scope of professional expertise. If someone contacts me for hypnotherapy to deal with a previous or is already in a trauma state, he or she probably needs to work with a licensed medical or mental-health professional from the get-go. However, when I already have a relationship with the client as the person’s trusted hypnotherapist, it is logical that I see the individual right away to assess the situation. I am prepared to and will refer the individual for additional support described above, if necessary. In the meantime, I am certified to use hypnosis to help a person work through a crisis and handle an emergency.

First, “crisis” is described as a life-event in which a person’s normal ability to cope with what has happened is diminished or completely absent. When an individual is in crisis, the person enters a state of overload (natural hypnosis). My first task is to de-hypnotize the client so the person can start using his or her good judgment and return to a state of emotional homeostasis to deal with the conflict. I do this by using:

• Reflective listening: This client needs to be heard, so I let the person tell the story about what happened/caused so much distress. In addition to showing that someone is listening, talking about the incident helps to calm the person down.

• Ask constructive questions: I want the client to activate the constructive-thinking areas of the mind, so I encourage the person to tell me, “What do you think you need to do next?” During a crisis, people tend to feel immobilized or stuck because every area of their life seems to be bunched together. When the person is encouraged to focus on each component of the problem by chunking it down this way, it becomes easier to tackle one issue at a time. This strategy for also helps to increase the person’s self-confidence and self-esteem by knowing that he or she does possess the good-judgment and skills to resolve a problem, alone.

• Imagery and Visualization: Another effective problem-solving technique is to have the client imagine/visualize strategies that someone else could use or do in that situation: “What would you tell me to do if I were you?” Once again, the goal is to restore the client’s good judgment and good-reasoning skills. To do so, I encourage the person to fantasize or do hypnodrama to engage a light-trance state and imagine a different outcome of this crisis. I (the hypnotherapist) do not offer any advice; it is up to the client to consider, discover and make independent decisions about how to change the situation.

• Subconscious Resources: If a client is in crisis, I have the person focus on a different, occasion in which the individual successfully used strategies/abilities/attitudes to successfully get through that difficulty. When the client is in hypnosis, I use this list of these skills/positive attributes to create repertoire of coping skills the individual can successfully use to deal with the current crisis.

• Options. The most important thing is for this client to realize, know and understand that he or she has options for how to get out of the crisis or traumatic situation. Perhaps that means seeking protection at a refuge/crisis center, becoming more assertive, leaving an abusive relationship, etc. Whatever decision the person chooses is the right one, and he or she has what it takes to change the negative situation to a positive one.

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/.

© 2017

Just Do It

(This blog was originally posted on May 23, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

Nike® has the right idea.

At some point, each of us has to do something we really don’t want to do. Whether it is a task at work or the obligatory visit to a relative, the desire to just “call it in” can be so overwhelming. But at the end of the day, there is nothing else to do but grit our teeth and get it over with.

For example, my horse hates working on the right in the arena. Like most horses, he is more comfortable and more flexible traveling left. I can almost hear his internal groan when I ask him to reverse direction. He still grunts when he has to pick up a right-lead canter since this direction is much more strenuous for him. However, over time the grunting has become less frequent and not quite so loud. In fact, my trainer and I agree that Galahad travels better going to his off-side. 

The same is true for people, too. When we have to do something we don’t enjoy or want to do, it is easy to slack off and do a less-than-stellar job to complete the task. However, we quickly learn that rushing through a project we don’t enjoy just to get the job done often produces more work in the long run. Whether your boss points out the sloppy work or a client notices the lower quality performance or you experience the consequences of a poor design first-hand, no one benefits a lack-luster performance. 

It is true that time passes whether we do the job right or put “just enough” work into the project to get it done. However, in the latter case we usually end up spending more time making up for the errors we didn’t (bother to) catch the first time. So, why not just do it?

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/.

© 2017

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.

• “Failure is the condiment that gives success its flavor.” – Truman Capote

• “Creativity is a drug I cannot live without.” – Cecil B. DeMille

• “If you have much, give of your wealth. If you have little, give of your heart.” – Arabian proverb

• “Before you embark on a journey of revenge, dig two graves.” – Confucius

• “Celebrate the past, don’t demonize it. Use it as a platform not an anchor.” – Dan Rockwell

• “Love is giving every, every, everything, all that you have...And wanting to give even more.” – Bille Baty

• “When you plant a seed in the ground, don’t keep digging it up to see if it’s growing.” Lolly Daskal

• “The world needs you to be the ‘you-est’ you can possibly be!” – Bruce Van Horn

• “Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.” – Lao Tzu

• “There is no right way to do a wrong thing.” – Harold S. Kushner

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/.

© 2017

Reasons Why People Smoke

(This blog was originally posted on January 12, 2015)

Image courtesy of Microsoft/Bing

People smoke cigarettes for various reasons, but the addiction to nicotine is very real and extremely powerful. Depending on your “trigger” to smoke, techniques to help you quit may vary. Following is a list of the different reasons (motivations) why people smoke and strategies to help you quit.

• Pleasure Seeker. You enjoy smoking cigarettes, particularly after finishing a meal or while drinking liquor. Therapeutic strategy: Find a pleasurable activity or substitute to replace cigarettes.

• “I Need a Cigarette to Cope.” You smoke when you feel tense, nervous or stressed out. Therapeutic strategy: Learn new coping strategies to reduce stress and manage your life more effectively.

• Habitual Smoker. You smoke in specific situations because this behavior has become a habit at those times (e.g., while talking on the phone, after a meal, while drinking alcohol). Therapeutic strategy: Desensitization to the “triggers” for your smoking habit and creating physical obstacles to limit access to cigarettes (e.g., limiting access to the cigarettes or only being allowed to smoke only in one specific location).

• Stimulation Smoker. You need a cigarette first thing in the morning to wake up and you smoke throughout the day to remain alert/keep going. You enjoy the physiological stimulation that nicotine provides. Therapeutic strategy: Relaxation techniques, reduction of cigarettes in conjunction with replacement strategies that substitute smoking with activities that create a similar physical sensation. It may also be advised to wear a nicotine patch at the beginning of the therapy.

Hypnotherapy is an effective tool to help you achieve your goal of becoming a permanent non-smoker. This is because hypnosis enables you to communicate with your subconscious mind to reprogram your previous mental scripts about wanting and needing to smoke, with ones that reinforce your decision, motivations and ability to stop smoking. I offer a 6-week, smoking-cessation hypnotherapy program that is good for people who smoke one or more pack of cigarettes a day. During this time, you will learn how to resist the triggers of your psychological and physiological addiction to nicotine while you gradually stop smoking altogether. I also record and provide a customized stop-smoking track for you to listen to in order to reinforce this new behavior (lifestyle of a permanent non-smoker).

You can read about the benefits of becoming a permanent non-smoker in my blog titled Physiological benefits to quit smoking. When you are ready to quit smoking, I am here and ready to help you!

         

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/.

© 2017