Hypnotherapy & Hypnosis Tools for Professional Psychotherapist
by Batya Miller
Since receiving my Masters degree, I have participated in a wide variety of clinical trainings for my professional growth and development. For years I have been curious about hypnosis and its applications for therapeutic intervention. Several years ago I decided to broaden the scope of my practice to include hypnotherapy. After experiencing several trainings that were superficial and symptom-oriented, I heard about Alchemical Hypnotherapy. As a psychotherapist in private practice I have found the training I received in Alchemical Hypnotherapy to be an effective technology in my work with clients. These techniques have given me reliable tools in a wide variety of client situations.
For me the greatest benefit of therapeutic work done in the trance state is that the client and therapist actually have direct access to the place within the client's mind where the memories, decisions, and beliefs that created an undesirable behavior or feeling state are located. In accessing this material in hypnosis it is possible to work to create change at a deep level far more efficiently than with any of the traditional "talk therapies."
My practice has changed completely. With hypnotherapy sessions I can see a great deal of positive movement much more quickly in my clients. Their behavior as well as their feelings about themselves and their issues changes rapidly.
Many therapists I have spoken with are somewhat mistrustful of the painful memories which clients can access with hypnosis. The therapists' fear is that these difficult memories may be frightening and overwhelming to the client, possibly leaving the client feeling more powerless than before the hypnosis. If these therapists were to be trained in Alchemical Hypnotherapy, they would perceive enormous opportunities for clients to reorganize the emotional charge they have around these traumatic memories -- the outcome being a wonderful sense of safety and empowerment for the client.
Inner child work takes on a new dimension in the Alchemical Process. The client and his/her inner child become empowered to rewrite any pieces of their history which continue to exert a negative influence in the present. When old traumas are rewritten during this process, the child is relieved of the pain that accompanied the original memory, and from that time forward, each time the memory bank containing the painful memory is triggered, along with it the new rewritten and "empowered" memory is also accessed. This creates a new emotional response in the client regarding the material. The results are quite phenomenal.
Another technique I use frequently is the mini-conference room. This is the treatment of choice whenever clients have conflicts which do not resolve by conscious decision making, or when clients feel they have a direction they want to take, but "something" is in the way. We begin by entering a deeply relaxed state of inward focus and then asking the client to put their attention on the issue in need of resolution. Clients then listen inside to become aware of their primary response to the issue at hand. Next the clients are asked to find what parts of themselves have a reaction to the "primary response" that came up. We then listen to each part that has another point of view and find out what this part would do if it were to gain control. This process continues as the various points of view on a given issue come out and react to each other. Within this process it is often appropriate to utilize other Alchemical techniques such as resourcing inner guides or doing inner child work. The conference room technique is extremely effective in facilitating the integration of change at a deep level within the subconscious mind of the client. Once the change occurs at so deep a level within the personality, the external behavior changes easily.
Etheric plane communication is another technique I utilize with my clients on a regular basis. This gestalt/hypnosis technique helps clients take care of unfinished business and empowers them to change their patterns of interaction with others in their lives. The client in hypnosis pictures and imagines addressing a troublesome individual in empowering ways that allow for the positive resolution of the issue. Because the work is done in the trance state, the client can experience resolution to old and deep communication problems. When a situation re-stimulates the original problem in the client's external life, the client feels competent to manage the communication in a new way.
When clients need somewhere to turn for support and guidance in any area of their lives, the Alchemical therapist assists the client in developing a relationship with his/her own inner wisdom, through metaphorical "Inner guides." The phenomenon of clients becoming dependent on the therapist is minimized through this modality. When clients need daily assistance in dealing with their problem, they learn to access their own inner resources.
So what sort of client responds to these rather unusual therapeutic tools?
I have used Alchemical techniques in cases of agoraphobia and panic attacks with great success. Addictive relationships to people and substances respond extremely well to Alchemical Hypnotherapy. In clearing and healing emotional pain of the past and the present, Alchemical tools bring relief to the client faster than any other treatment I am aware of. Quieting down disturbing obsessive thoughts and images is a comparatively brief process using Alchemy.
I can work successfully with weight and smoking issues integrating Alchemical techniques into my work. The core of the addictive behavior can be identified and reconstructed so the addiction or compulsion may be released with relative ease.
Grief work lends itself to Alchemy, and depression can be worked through utilizing an assortment of Alchemical tools. Anxiety can be cleared and soothed enabling the client to become centered and effective in both personal and work circumstances. The list goes on and on.
It took a leap of faith and an adventurous spirit to move into what was for me an unknown territory --Alchemical Hypnotherapy. As I look back on how my ability to assist clients to gain control over their own lives has blossomed, I am pleased and grateful. The Alchemical techniques get to the source of my clients' dilemmas and effectively alter the emotions, memories, and subconscious beliefs in such a way as to facilitate rapid and positive change.
I highly recommend this training to any professional therapist. It is simply the most potent way of working with clients that I have discovered.