Can hypnosis help when it comes to mental illness?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Henxy on October 16, 2009 at 5:12am

Hi Cathrine,

I suggest you keep well away from MH issues unless you're experienced/trained in the area and have the dr's permission. It's a very fragile area, and these patients (rather than clients) are particularly vulnerable.

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Permalink Reply by Cathrine Margit Moller on October 16, 2009 at 5:19am

Hi Henxy,

Thank you for your input.
I was not considering taking this client myself. Just looking for an answer to IF it's possible to help people with mental illnesses using hypnosis.

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Permalink Reply by Henxy on October 16, 2009 at 6:03am

I didn't suggest that you were going to see the client yourself, my response was a generic 'you', not you personally.

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Permalink Reply by Kelley Woods on October 16, 2009 at 6:08am

I suspect that those professionals qualified to work with such a patient might employ similar tools that we hypnotists use, such as Gestalt or Parts Therapies...perhaps some on this site might illuminate further?

And that leads to another question: does the general public ever specifically request hypnosis from a psychoanalyst, or is it usually a judgement call of the therapist?

Best wishes,

Kelley

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Permalink Reply by GIL BOYNE on October 16, 2009 at 10:26am

Hello Kelley, Althopugh it is changing now, for many years psychiatrists and psychologists avoided hypnotism totally based on the premise that Freud stopped using it and "discovered": free association Today, the American Psychological Associatipn has Division 30 which registers psychologists that have a minimal training in hypnosis.
On a slightly different note, I have had clients who told me that when they went to a psychologist and asked for hypnotherapy they were told that it would be used later in the therapy after other preliminary issues were completed. Time passed, the sessions continued but the clients request was always deferred. Finally, when the client strongly asserted themselves, they were told, "Your case is not suitable for hypnotherapy, it could be harmful to you".
At which point, the client terminated and sought out a hypnotherapist.
One more point--I have had female clients tell me on the first session,"you do not need to delve into my sex life because I have no problems there". This is before the therapy session had started. My reply was always," We will only deal with the problems and issues that you present to me" Then, they would reveal that they had been in therapy with a psychologist who would repeatedly tell them " We have not talked about your sexual expression, fantasies and attitudes" When she protested he would say."Your avoidance and denial is the proof that your problems are connected to your libidinal dysfunction. (dazzle em' with footwork)
At this point, finally, she terminated and sought out a hypnotherapist and began the session with her warning to me. --
I am well aware that some may say, "Well, that is anecdotal evidence", Not so, I have had many women report the same experiences with licensed therapists who are trained in the Freudian psychoanalytic philosophy.. I have known many mental health professionals and one Harvard graduate told the class, “It took me ten years in practice to get rid of the c__pI was taught at the university.

Kelley Woods said:

I suspect that those professionals qualified to work with such a patient might employ similar tools that we hypnotists use, such as Gestalt or Parts Therapies...perhaps some on this site might illuminate further?

And that leads to another question: does the general public ever specifically request hypnosis from a psychoanalyst, or is it usually a judgement call of the therapist?

Best wishes,

Kelley

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Permalink Reply by Dennis Atkinson on October 16, 2009 at 12:10pm

I think Gil's point is a good one ... but we need to define what we mean by "mental illness". Someone who is obviously "out there", hearing voices, talking to imaginary people, etc. is probably not a good candidate for hypnosis ... not because it wouldn't help them, but mainly because they may not possess the ability to relax and go into trance.

So my two cents would be YES it can definitely help them, providing they possess the ability to go into trance.



GIL BOYNE said:

Hello Kelley, Althopugh it is changing now, for many years psychiatrists and psychologists avoided hypnotism totally based on the premise that Freud stopped using it and "discovered": free association Today, the American Psychological Associatipn has Division 30 which registers psychologists that have a minimal training in hypnosis.
On a slightly different note, I have had clients who told me that when they went to a psychologist and asked for hypnotherapy they were told that it would be used later in the therapy after other preliminary issues were completed. Time passed, the sessions continued but the clients request was always deferred. Finally, when the client strongly asserted themselves, they were told, "Your case is not suitable for hypnotherapy, it could be harmful to you".
At which point, the client terminated and sought out a hypnotherapist.
One more point--I have had female clients tell me on the first session,"you do not need to delve into my sex life because I have no problems there". This is before the therapy session had started. My reply was always," We will only deal with the problems and issues that you present to me" Then, they would reveal that they had been in therapy with a psychologist who would repeatedly tell them " We have not talked about your sexual expression, fantasies and attitudes" When she protested he would say."Your avoidance and denial is the proof that your problems are connected to your libidinal dysfunction. (dazzle em' with footwork)
At this point, finally, she terminated and sought out a hypnotherapist and began the session with her warning to me. --
I am well aware that some may say, "Well, that is anecdotal evidence", Not so, I have had many women report the same experiences with licensed therapists who are trained in the Freudian psychoanalytic philosophy.. I have known many mental health professionals and one Harvard graduate told the class, “It took me ten years in practice to get rid of the c__pI was taught at the university.

Kelley Woods said:

I suspect that those professionals qualified to work with such a patient might employ similar tools that we hypnotists use, such as Gestalt or Parts Therapies...perhaps some on this site might illuminate further?

And that leads to another question: does the general public ever specifically request hypnosis from a psychoanalyst, or is it usually a judgement call of the therapist?

Best wishes,

Kelley

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Dennis Atkinson on October 16, 2009 at 12:38pm

Hi Henxy. I wanted to respond to what you said, but for a different reason. A while back I misunderstood your involvement where you were advising a grandmother about her grandchild, and the grandchild had problems eating because his natural parents had forced him to eat feces when the child had been in their care. I actually wanted to apologize to you, and tell you that after posting my comments, I had to honestly and with an open mind "re-visit" my response to you. Mainly, I was puzzled why I felt so strongly that as a hypnotist we should not be involved ... I can safely say now, my reaction was one of over-reaction.

I am a retired peace officer who now has a hypnotherapy practice. During my career in law enforcement, I investigated countless numbers of child abuse and neglect cases, and have to admit each one sickened me with such disgust ... how could parents do those things to their own children? But what I discovered during my own review of my prior answer to you, was why I was feeling my reaction so strongly. It seems I have not actually dealt with my own emotions that were attached to having held witness to those crimes.

I still would stand by my original answer ... but not because as a hypnotist we should not help that child, but only because I see the liability attached to involvment in that particular case would be too risky, at least for me personally - namely the type of case you had explained in your post normally come with a long history of serious mental illness running in the family. I now feel a hypnotherapist who was skilled in those areas with children would be beneficial to that child.

Henxy said:

Hi Cathrine,

I suggest you keep well away from MH issues unless you're experienced/trained in the area and have the dr's permission. It's a very fragile area, and these patients (rather than clients) are particularly vulnerable.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Haifleigh on October 16, 2009 at 1:40pm

Cathrine,

It would depend on what type of mental illness. And the treatment would require a very compentent mental health practitioner.

Michael

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Permalink Reply by Henxy on October 19, 2009 at 1:12am

Hi Dennis,

I think you have mixed me up with someone else... I've never had experienced with a grandmother/grandchild.
Thanks for your explanation, though!

My caution is really because I have experience with various hats on of various mental illnesses. I despair that so many HTs are anti-medical, and that so many medics are anti-HT. I'm really pro teamwork. People can really undo each other's care when they're not working as a team.

Spending time with people in crisis has shown me how very vulnerable some MH people are, and how easily confused and how easily they misunderstand peoples' intentions and words. I am not anti-hypnosis, I am anti the arrogance of either health professionals or HTs who think that only they can have the answer. Multi-disciplinary team meetings, all with the patient's best interests and all working together is the way to help people, IMHO.

Dennis Atkinson said:

Hi Henxy. I wanted to respond to what you said, but for a different reason. A while back I misunderstood your involvement where you were advising a grandmother about her grandchild, and the grandchild had problems eating because his natural parents had forced him to eat feces when the child had been in their care. I actually wanted to apologize to you, and tell you that after posting my comments, I had to honestly and with an open mind "re-visit" my response to you. Mainly, I was puzzled why I felt so strongly that as a hypnotist we should not be involved ... I can safely say now, my reaction was one of over-reaction.

I am a retired peace officer who now has a hypnotherapy practice. During my career in law enforcement, I investigated countless numbers of child abuse and neglect cases, and have to admit each one sickened me with such disgust ... how could parents do those things to their own children? But what I discovered during my own review of my prior answer to you, was why I was feeling my reaction so strongly. It seems I have not actually dealt with my own emotions that were attached to having held witness to those crimes.

I still would stand by my original answer ... but not because as a hypnotist we should not help that child, but only because I see the liability attached to involvment in that particular case would be too risky, at least for me personally - namely the type of case you had explained in your post normally come with a long history of serious mental illness running in the family. I now feel a hypnotherapist who was skilled in those areas with children would be beneficial to that child.

Henxy said:

Hi Cathrine,

I suggest you keep well away from MH issues unless you're experienced/trained in the area and have the dr's permission. It's a very fragile area, and these patients (rather than clients) are particularly vulnerable.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Cathrine Margit Moller on October 19, 2009 at 10:19am

I have since the original call where she left a message requesting if it was possible to get help in regards to a mental illness have talked with her on the phone and it appears that it is not actually a mental illness per se. Her problem is that due to lack of self-esteem and lack of social skills she now withdraws from people. That's why she thought it was a mental illness.

I would like to say thank you to all of you who so generously provided me and everybody else with your view on this matter. It has been very beneficial.

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Permalink Reply by Jan Krüger on October 19, 2009 at 11:27am

I've got a controversial opinion about this one... and to explain it, this post will need to be fairly long. Sorry.

For one thing I'm highly critical of the psychiatric idea that mental issues are actually an "illness". Often the idea is that "mental illnesses" are affected or even caused by physiologica/medical issues, and taking a pill can magically cure them. I don't deny that body and mind are interconnected, and it would be stupid to completely discount physiology, but some people go to extremes. I have heard of a psychologist who assumes that pretty much all psychological issues can be solved by changing the client's diet. Similarly, way too often, psychotherapy consists of pumping someone full of drugs and hoping that drugs can simply be used indefinitely to suppress the problem without any undue side effects.

Even if you talk about "mental illness" and simply mean someone who does things that make him (or others) very unhappy, I'm strongly opposed to calling that an "illness". In a moment I'm going to describe how I think illness is commonly understood (remember: whatever you think something is forms your beliefs about what it means and how you should deal with it).

An illness is something that you obtain more or less from external sources; a psychological problem is something that you inadvertently create yourself (but that distinction is very technical and I'm not intending to assign the blame to anyone who has a problem).
An illness is something that is cured by simple steps that are independent of the individual in question (for the most part, anyway), or simply by waiting it out; a psychological problem is often very individual and while there is a certain chance that a cut and dried approach will work, you'll probably succeed much more quickly if you remember that individuality in your therapeutic approach.
With an illness, the patient doesn't really have to get involved that much in most treatments. He simply swallows a pill or gets bed rest or both, and that's it. Or he has surgery. Treating a psychological problem requires full participation of the client; not necessarily hard work, but he needs to do certain things, anyway.

With all those differences, I think using the term "mental illness" creates false expectations in clients that make the actual therapy that much more difficult. What's worse, it creates expectations in therapists about what therapy should look like that may be completely wrong. I think any serious therapist owes it to himself to look at therapy as a very individual and adaptive thing.
What distinguishes a "mental illness" from a "small problem", anyway? Just one thing: how much the problem affects you and your environment. Nothing in that says that "mental illness" operates differently from any other "small mental problem".

As far as I'm concerned, the way the mind works isn't really complicated, but we can't hope to understand it fully, at least not any time soon. I'm all in favour of ridding psychological problems of as much stigma as possible, then looking at it in a way that makes them rather simple forms of badly developed mental habits with especially severe consequences, then changing those habits.
Hypnosis excels at changing habits. I think the real problem is finding out what exactly needs changing (psychological problems can work in really obscure ways), which requires a certain knowledge of psychology combined with a healthy dose of openness to different explanations, and then finding a way for the client to achieve this change that uses minimal force. I consider hypnotic principles to be extremely powerful in achieving the second, especially if you know the concept of utilization, but you can't hope to be very effective if you don't know anything about the other part (finding out exactly what needs to be changed in what ways).

Executive summary: I'm convinced hypnosis is very helpful in treating "mental illness" (which I think isn't a good way of looking at it), but it's not a magic spell that works no matter how you use it.

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Permalink Reply by Jake Shannon The-Hypnotist.com on October 22, 2009 at 4:04pm

Depends, does mental illness even exist? I tend to say no...

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