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Hypnosis Authority Cal Banyan Provides Hypnosis Certification Training Courses, Videos, Audios, Books & More - New Video Every Week
Hypnosis Authority Cal Banyan Provides Hypnosis Certification Training Courses, Videos, Audios, Books & More - New Video Every Week
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I've heard PTSD is now thought of as a disorder of memory where the encoded events don't migrate properly from the hippocampus to the neocortex (if I recall correctly) and so the hypervigilance is those memories being experienced as if they were occuring in the present. So from that perspective it makes sense to think of the event as if it were always already being experienced.
With regard to presenting 5 PATH to a place that does a lot of trauma work the biggest challenge I can think of is how best to word the informed consent. It would seem that the client would have to go into phase two knowing they are about to do AR which might be a positive if it can be pre-framed in a way that doesn't inhibit the process. I'm not sure just saying we are somehow going to "neutralize emotion" would really constitute informed consent to a process.
Also according to Handbook of Hypnotic Suggestions and Metaphors, Affect Bridge is contraindicated for brutal rape, gang rape, torture, and cult abuse. Any thoughts on that?
Hi Rob - Thanks for your thoughtful comment and question.
When wording informed consent documents you might consider using wording like, "You will always be in control of the hypnosis session, and able to refuse any instruction. With that in mind your hypnotherapist may ask you to mentally visit times from your past that are related to your specific issue in order to provide therapeutic insight".
Here's the problem with labeling certain past experiences such as rape, as being a contraindication of the use age regression (by way of Affect Bridge, or any other technique such as the Time Tunneling Technique™) and that is that these are "uncovering" techniques. This means that these painful events may not be known consciously to your client. The use of the uncovering technique then can make it known, unexpectedly. And, if they are known prior to the session, the emotionally painful event may have nothing to do with the cause of the problem for which your client is coming in to see you about.
Licensed professionals such as MD and Psychologists can get stuck because of books like this, or beause because of certain standards of practice. Let's say that one is bound by the current version of the DSM (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual) which is there to indicate a diagnosis and to indicate treatment (the only real reason to make a diagnosis). If the licensed professional practices outside of the standards of practice then one may jeopardize one’s license.
Here is the deal, you know and I know that a client can become non-compliant at any time during the hypnotherapy process. So, if she does not want to regress to a painful experience in the past then they can just refuse to regress. But if the Affect Bridge process takes the person to that painful event, then that is exactly where she needs to go to resolve the issue. With the help of a caring and sufficiently trained hypnotherapist or mental health professional, she can go through that experience again (associated or disassociated) and release the painful emotions and erroneous beliefs associated with it (if there are any) and be much better off for it.
The challenge can be that in certain professions such as psychology, quite often they are behind the times when it comes to being trained in the latest and most powerful techniques. And sometimes these professionals are too fearful of working with strong human emotion. They far too often want to over analyze things from the past. When far too often, the client needs to revisit those painful emotions in the light of what they know now, and with the support and insights of the hypnotherapist, psychologist, counselor or whatever.
Having said all that, I maintain that everyone needs to work within limits of the law, and their own training. Hypnotists, unless they have specialized training in psychology, etc. should not be working with individuals with psychological disorders or psychiatric diseases.
Those are my off-the-cuff thoughts on that. 🙂
Thanks again for your contributing to the discussion.
Cal
“You will always be in control of the hypnosis session, and able to refuse any instruction. With that in mind your hypnotherapist may ask you to mentally visit times from your past that are related to your specific issue in order to provide therapeutic insight”.
Ahh very well said.
I agree about the taboo on emotion that seems inherent to the field nowadays. I wonder if it might be cultural or perhaps coincide with the backlash against psychodynamic methods and rise of more behaioral symptom coping strategies.
I know John Watkins himself, who describes doing AR work at the VA for PTSD as far back as WWII, expressed dismay about abreactive techniques not being more fully utilized in those treatments. He also attributed it to clinicians not being comfortable with strong emotion, which seems to be a 5 PATHer strength.
As far as the over analyzing thing thing, from what I have seen (perhaps because I am looking for it) coming from recent publications in attachment theory and neuroscience research (such as Dan Seigel, David Wallin, Allen Shore on affect regulation), there seems to be an increasing awareness of the need for the client to have an "experience" in psychotherapy with regard to difficult material rather than just a verbalization. Perhaps this accounts for the rising popularity of mindfulness techniques as an affect regulator.