Let’s begin
with a typical client session focussed on weight issues. I comment
to you throughout, so that you can recognise important facets in what
can seem like merely an inconsequential conversation to the
uninitiated. You already have a fascination with the phenomena of
the human mind and a fascination of hypnosis, by reading this
article, so join me now as we apply hypnotic techniques from the
moment the client is walking through the door of the Practice.
This is a verbatim session transcript.
The client focus here
is regarding weight issues.
The session begins with
pleasantries about the weather and the journey to the practice.
I begin with the question I’m just wondering how you
came to hear about the practice.
The client said that I
was just passing one day. You know, I must have walked past here for
years; it was only the other day that I noticed the sign.
I continue. That’s
great. You know, we like to think that your unconscious mind notices
these kinds of things only when it is ready to change. It’s
good to establish how the client has come to know of your skills
particularly, or hypnosis generally, word of mouth etc. I am
repeating the phrase, ‘you know’ together with voice tone and
body posture (slight shrug), to gain rapport (this will be used
throughout session).
I am seeding a
response, in saying ‘…your unconscious mind…. is ready to
change’. Apart from the sign outside, we
don’t advertise. So, most often clients come to see us because
they know of someone who has already been helped tremendously by
coming here. Though you came just because you noticed the sign?
The client confirmed
with a Yes.
I asked. Do you know
anything about hypnosis or how much it can help you with weight
control?
The client replied.
No, nothing really.
So, really this is
blind hope we are talking about, yes? Or is it ‘the last thing on
the list’?
Well, yes, I’ve tried
everything else!
This is when again I am
seeding response ‘…someone has already been helped tremendously
by coming here.’ And “…can help you with weight control’.
Also, introducing humour and realisation of desperation, wanting it
to work without yet knowing evidence of effectiveness. As
we talked about on the ‘phone, you know a lot of our challenges to
do with eating and exercise are in the mind. It is usually because
we have been through the process of deprivation-based dieting, where
weight reduction will work as long as we ‘suffer’, as long as we
are ‘good’. The unconscious will only allow us to do that up to
a certain point. Maybe 5 or 6 weeks on a very strict regime will
mean that the next time we come to do it the mind is more guarded,
because it knows what you went through last time.
There is recollection
and representation of information already given by client over the
telephone to illicit the inner response of being with someone who
understands. The brain likes what’s the same, (you are the same as
me). Bringing the ‘good’ versus ‘bad’ perception into
awareness in order to discount it.
The client then
continues. I did six months on Slimming World and then became a
consultant. Yes, the feeling of deprivation was there even though I
was having a kit kat every week. When you are used to having one
every day, I suppose, the deprivation was still there, although
compared to many, it was a very generous eating plan.
The client is now
processing more, validated by looking around and down to feelings.
Notice the change from ‘I was having a kit kat…’ to ‘…when
you are used to having one….’ This is an appeal to those outside
of ourselves to hope they experience this too; also a deflection from
one’s own plight being separate, perhaps unique and distinct.
Also, it is association to dissociation and if now pointed out to
client this would prevent further admissions and hinder rapport.
I clarify with own
suggestion. I suppose it was like ‘I want a kit
kat now, I don’t want to wait until Saturday!’
The client confirmed,
with a Yes, it was!
The unconscious can be
likened to what some may call the ‘inner child’, you know
sometimes we may just want a milk shake or something seemingly
ridiculous to the consciousness, well chocolate is part of that,
particularly if it was used as a reward in childhood – you have
been ‘good’ so now we can go to the sweet shop and get you
something. Some of these associations are so deeply
rooted in the unconscious mind that although we would like to feel
that we are in charge of what we do, if we were continually told to
eat everything on our plate before we could go out to play or that
there were children starving in other countries etc, if that was the
case when we were at a very vulnerable age (with nothing against the
people who with the best of intentions encouraged us to eat like
that) these learnings settle deep within the mind as we grow older.
If we find that we feel compelled to finish everything on our plate,
or even find ourselves finishing what other family members leave
rather than throwing it away, there is perhaps a remnant of that
still within us. Even if those people who said these
things to us may not be on the planet any more, we may still think it
is the right thing to do, despite what our conscious mind says and
all the well-meaning intentions of slimming clubs.
It is our conscious
mind that wants us to live the best life possible in its own terms,
though it is our unconscious that still runs screaming away from a
spider (or wants to!) though we would prefer to be more dignified and
capable. In the beginning we had what might be
referred to by some as the ‘one hit wonder’. People either smoke
or they don’t though you do HAVE to eat. What you may perceive
now as an addiction to chocolate, or crisps or bread, if you could
say to me,’ Oh Jennie, if I could only stop eating such and such I
know I would be fine. Can you make me not like pasta or whatever’.
There is usually something. These comments are
references to information given by client on the telephone and also
guiding the unconscious to think about what client could change in
eating habits. In this initial session, maybe there
is something we can do with that. The one session has been
brilliant for about two weeks. After the two weeks, that’s when
you know. That’s when the physical addiction is out of the system
when you say things like, ‘oh I never knew how much chocolate I was
eating or why I would want to do that’, or ‘crisps are just so
salty and sharp I just don’t want to put them in my mouth now’.
After two weeks that is when you know if the behaviour wants to
re-establish itself, you know it is more deep rooted. Client Yes.
These comments are to prepare the client for more than
just one session, as the expectation can be that all problems are
‘fixed’ in an hour (as perhaps it may appear in the stage
hypnotism that may have been exposed to when behaviours are radically
changed temporarily).
This takes the pressure
off client and off therapist. Physical addictions
can be likened to smoking in a sense because the receptors in every
single cell respond to certain substances. If you are having a lot
of sugar for example, suddenly not having any sugar at all throws
those receptors into a frenzy and almost compels you to dive into the
sugar bowl even though there is no real need for you to have the
sugar. After this session, any addictions will just go. Our
clients have taught us that after two weeks it’s good to have
something else, then two weeks on from that for more long term,
lifetime changes. You will continue to do what you WANT to do -
BUT now see the next article for more.
No comments:
Post a Comment