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The way it works: Therapist and client discuss the problem to be treated. A trance is induced in which the client remains aware, and therapy is conducted using either the Heartcentered or Ericksonian method. The client awakens from the trance feeling relaxed and refreshed.

-- W. T. Greene

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Hypnosis and Energy Psychology

In the last quarter century, a quiet revolution has been occurring in the field of psychotherapy and the healing professions, a fusion of traditional methods with knowledge, insight and techniques from disparate sources - neurobiology, applied kinesiology, Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine, meditation and healing practices from many different religious traditions, psychoneuroimmunology, mind-body medicine, energy psychology. In the last fifteen years, these influences have been openly acknowledged and have changed the practices of many practitioners.

Philosophically and theoretically, the preparatory groundwork for this revolution has been going on since the time of Freud and Jung, (and long before that if you factor in Eastern cultures). Freud and Jung each read widely about other cultures’ healing methods. Both were creative innovators who integrated many different influences. Jung was fascinated with Taoist mysticism; he wrote the introduction to the first translation of the I Ching and also to The Secret of the Golden Flower. In the 20’s, Emile Coue popularized autogenic training (“Day by day in every way, I’m getting better and better”) which was picked up by positive thinkers such as Norman Vincent Peale who popularized positive thinking. In the 50’s and 60’s the Humanistic psychologists Abraham Maslow, Rollo May, Roberto Assagioli (Psychosynthesis). became widely popular, initiating the human potential movement, as they explored the full spectrum of human consciousness. Duke’s Department of Parapsychology conducted experiments on telepathy and extrasensory perception in an effort to assess the basis for extrasensory experiences In the 60’s and 70’s, Charles Tart and Stanley Kripner and others studied religious and meditative experience in the context of human consciousness. The Russian work with Kirlian Photograpy seemed to capture the energy field of objects. In the 70’s, Herbert Benson studied and promoted deep relaxation as a way to counteract stress, and he began to use hypnosis to heal his patients at the Deaconess Hospital in Boston. In the ‘80’s and 90’s, Jon Kabat Zinn, Joan Borysenko began to apply mind/body medicine to help patients with chronic pain and other problems. Their work in psychoneuroimmunology has revolutionized contemporary psychotherapy.

While these developments were going on, body therapies also evolved. Wilhelm Reich, one of Freud's Associates began the tradition when he noted "body armoring," the bodys tendency to lock in muscular tension when it is stressed. He noted that those locked in tension patterns inhibit the flow of energy through the system and encode emotional and physical distress into its mode of being. Alexander Lowen followed Reich's lead; he developed Bioenergetic Therapy which combines psychotherapy with "body work" to release restrictive patterns. Recent developments in this field by Peter Levine and other practitioners have focussed on trauma release through a physical "unwinding" of the trauma patterns. These psychotherapeutic approaches are supplemented by other forms of "energy medicine" which seek to release blocked energy in a variety of ways. EMDR and TFT use sensory distraction to change the processing of memorly. Eastern practices -- acupuncture, chi gung, yoga, reiki, etcl, have brought other aspects of energy transmission and flow into the equation, influencing and inspiring further therapeutic developments.

What has become increasingly clear as a result of these developments is that the “mind/body split” is a verbal artifact based on Cartesian thinking. We are integrated beings in which complex systems interact and communicate through different “languages” transduced by the hypothalamus. The nervous, digestive, pulmonary, circulatory, endocrine and immune systems each has its own language, its own response system which signals the other systems. The hypothalamus plays a key role – just beginning to be understood in the function of neurotransmitters – hormonal messengers which transduce these different signals and communicate them to the other systems and the brain. The thoughts we entertain affect our emotions, our physiology, our outlooks, our energy fields. We are energetic beings in the sense that we emanate energy fields which interact with the fields of others. Negative self thoughts, conscious or subliminal, weaken us, undermining our efforts, draining our energy. They can make us sick and toxic to others. Through disciplines such as meditation, Yoga, Tai Chi, we can open ourselves to healing and inspiration and become radiators of positive energy.

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Hypnotherapy: Quick Fix or Serious Psychotherapy?
(This article appeared in the Spring ’04 issue of The Art of of Wellbeing)

Entranced by the year’s first snow, I begin this article. Back from a walk with my dog, I carry the hushed stillness, enhanced perception of my body’s motion in relation to woods, fields and sky, hear inwardly the whisper of boots, their prints embroidered with playful paw prints. The wonder and connection of this moment is very like the focused, open awareness of trance and the connection I feel as a therapist with a client who is working from the core of the self.

Each new year and at the beginning of summer, I am flooded with calls from people who want to know if hypnosis can help them quickly realize goals or resolve long-standing problems. This article is a response to some of the common questions asked. The possibilities of hypnotherapy continually amaze me.   From realizing creative potential to effective pain management and habit control, changing destructive relationship patterns, to deep inner searching – hypnotherapy has proven an invaluable aid.

Hypnosis, the root of which comes from the Greek word for sleep, is not sleep. It is an intermediate state between alertness and deep sleep, a state of physical and mental relaxation accompanied by a simple shifting between the conscious and subconscious mind. This is a natural process that occurs about eighty percent of the time we are awake. Some everyday examples are “highway hypnosis,” day dreaming, reverie, or “spacing out.” Everyone experiences these states to some degree daily, and we experience the deeper hypnoidal states before going to sleep. Most of us are familiar with stage hypnosis, which is used for entertainment.   It is important to note that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis. You cannot be hypnotized unless you are willing to be, nor can you be made to do what you are unwilling to do in a fully alert state.

Hypnotherapy uses hypnosis and the hypnoidal states to help realize therapeutic goals agreed on by client and therapist. The therapist simply facilitates the process.   Normally clients are fully aware of what is happening in trance; sometimes, when deeper trance occurs, the client may not remember afterwards what has been said. If we consider “unconscious behaviors” – habitual reactions -- as forms of trance behavior, it makes sense to use trance to change them. Because consciousness is more fluid in the hypnoidal states, hypnotherapy allows us to bypass the rational mind with its limited sense of what is possible and access the creative potential within each of us for further self-development and/or for problem resolution.

Types of Hypnotherapy: Hypnosis has been used for millennia for therapeutic purposes and inner guidance. There are many different approaches to hypnotherapy today, including “certification programs,” some of which do not require licensure as a psychotherapist as a prerequisite.   Two approaches are familiar to me. Ericsonian Therapy is based on the extraordinary work of the legendary therapist, Milton Ericson. It relies primarily on well crafted therapeutic suggestion which can create major attitudinal shifts in clients, often in a remarkably short time. A more recent approach is Diane Zimberoff’s “Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy”™. Only licensed psychotherapists can be trained and certified in “Heart-Centered Hypnotherapy”™.

Zimberoff draws from many sources: Ericsonian, Neurolinguistic Programming, Gestalt, Cognitive Behavioral, Energy Psychology and meditation traditions and weaves these elements into a coherent, integrated system. This approach is interactive, allowing both client and therapist to be cognizant of what is happening throughout the session. By relating present to past experiences through “emotional bridging,” the Heart-Centered approach can trace problematic response patterns back to their origins in experience. Once the emotional connections between experiences are fully grasped, it is easier to use the resources of the conscious mind to change negative behavior patterns and self-concepts and build self-esteem and self trust. In the hypnoidal states, one is better able to entertain and incorporate positive suggestions, replace old habits and recover a sense of self. Because the process goes to the core of emotional problems and allows the _expression and release of pent-up feelings, deep self-acceptance and understanding often result. When this happens, a tremendous amount of energy, formerly engaged in repressing disturbing memories, becomes available to the conscious self.

Results: Sometimes the results of hypnotherapy are immediate. Here are some examples from my practice: A young woman wanting to pass a demanding set of physical tests in order to qualify for her chosen profession called two weeks before the tests. She had failed them twice before and had recently injured herself. Nevertheless, after two or three hypnotherapy sessions, she passed the tests with a better score than she had hoped for. The same has been true for numerous students with test anxiety. A young man, just out of high school, called with much embarrassment. He wanted to get into the Armed Services but had been unable to give a necessary urine sample. After two sessions, he went back to the military and passed.   Certain skin problems also respond well to hypnotherapy. In one session, a woman with hives discovered the roots of her anger, and the hives vanished within a day. A boy with childhood eczema learned to manage it through self-hypnosis in three sessions. Some smokers are also free of their habit after a single session; most take several.

With deep-seated problems --addictions, compulsive behaviors, anxiety, deep depression, long standing self-esteem and behavioral problems or abuse deriving from childhood -- it is almost a given that treatment will be longer. However, in comparison to other long-term psychotherapies, it is generally believed that hypnotherapy shortens treatment.   In my practice hypnotherapy and self-hypnosis to be powerful aids to creativity, health and self-development. Inherently relaxing, hypnosis is and a natural antidote to stress. It promotes greater focus and awareness, reconnects us to our deepest feelings, and restores the sense of enchantment we experienced in childhood.

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