opposite effect from test improvement hypnosis??

Hello fellow hypnotherapists!
I am new to hypnothoughts but would like to extend out to all of you for any insight, ideas, or similar experiences you may have had to a recent case of mine.
I have been a certified, practicing hypnotherapist for 13 years and worked with many people over the years for learning/sports improvement.
For the past 2 months I have been working with a very bright young man who works for NATO. He is highly educated and both right and left-brained. He goes into hypnosis deeply and quickly (sometimes too deep and I have to bring him up a bit to get him to respond).
He has had some blocks with math and a bit for learning in general, though he has mastered other analytical thought and is very verbally expressive. He has come to me for 4 sessions to help improve his math reasoning abilities and ease test anxiety so he could re-take his GMATs and get higher scores (especially in math; he was 76% in verbal last test and 51% in math) so he can get into thehigher level grad school he wants to be in.
I have done hypnosis to help with test anxiety, improve comprehension, remove learning blocks from childhood (hard time grasping higher level math skills; not supported by family in his studies), and instill greater sense of "student genius." Also utilized EFT to help remove old beliefs about his learning abilities and ease test anxiety. Taught him the 3-finger technique for relaxing his mind during testing if anxiety came.
The sessions went well and he felt like he was absorbing the material better and feeling more confident. Was also working with a tutor. We did the 3-finger technique 2 days before the test and he was feeling nervous but good.
I talked with him today and he found out his scores. Incredibly, they went DOWN precipitously--especially in verbal, which was even more surprising. His math went from 51% to 42% and verbal from 76% to 18%!!!
We're both dumbfounded and not sure what happened to create this opposite effect, nor what to do next. He wants to retake it Dec. 10 but we want to have a strategy.
Any thoughts on why this might have occurred or what tactic to take from here?
Lisa Smith

Tags: for, hypnosis, learning

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Permalink Reply by John Cleesattel on November 24, 2009 at 8:00pm

There may be another problem, possibly something that passing those tests will cause or affect.

I had a case with a woman who was taking the nursing certification exam. She had failed it twice and only had one try left, so she came to see me. She said she knew the material backwards and forwards but when it came time for the test, she marked down the wrong answers. She was so stressed out I had to use a core dump technique to calm her down. I decided there may be more to the story so I did parts therapy with her to speak to the part of her that was preventing her from passing the test. BINGO!
Come to find out, she has been separated from her husband for 9 years, yet they are still very good friends and he even pays for her nursing school classes. She made a vow to herself that when she got her nursing license that she would (finally be able to) file for the divorce, but part of her didn't want to go through with it. She knew she would lose her husband and the good friend he had been all these years and she didn't want it to happen, passing the test would mean she had to keep the vow, so she was sabotaging herself.

Oh, it was an easy fix. I just suggested that her vow to divorce him was based on her being financially able to, not on what she wanted, and if she didn't want to divorce him, then there was nothing forcing her to do so, and she didn't have to.

I hope that helps you
John

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Permalink Reply by Lisa Smith on November 25, 2009 at 7:53am

Thanks for the reply, John. My first thought was that there was some secondary gain for not passing the test or getting the high score he wanted to be able to get into Tufts or a similar grad school.
I'll work on that aspect with him.
BTW, what is the core dump technique?
--Lisa

John Cleesattel said:

There may be another problem, possibly something that passing those tests will cause or affect.

I had a case with a woman who was taking the nursing certification exam. She had failed it twice and only had one try left, so she came to see me. She said she knew the material backwards and forwards but when it came time for the test, she marked down the wrong answers. She was so stressed out I had to use a core dump technique to calm her down. I decided there may be more to the story so I did parts therapy with her to speak to the part of her that was preventing her from passing the test. BINGO!
Come to find out, she has been separated from her husband for 9 years, yet they are still very good friends and he even pays for her nursing school classes. She made a vow to herself that when she got her nursing license that she would (finally be able to) file for the divorce, but part of her didn't want to go through with it. She knew she would lose her husband and the good friend he had been all these years and she didn't want it to happen, passing the test would mean she had to keep the vow, so she was sabotaging herself.

Oh, it was an easy fix. I just suggested that her vow to divorce him was based on her being financially able to, not on what she wanted, and if she didn't want to divorce him, then there was nothing forcing her to do so, and she didn't have to.

I hope that helps you
John

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Permalink Reply by John Cleesattel on November 25, 2009 at 12:41pm

Hi Lisa,
When people are stressed out, their body is trying to react in several different ways at once, all of which are being consciously suppressed. The core dump allows a path for that negative energy to leave the body. You may have seen these types of people, wound up like a nine day clock that was wound for 10 days.

I give the client a "D-Cell" battery to hold in their fist. (its big enough and sturdy enough for the job). I have them begin squeezing the battery while explaining that by design, a battery is a storage device for energy. Then I have them allow all of the negative energy that they feel inside, the stress, the anguish, the fear, the rage, all of it, to flow down their arm and into the battery. The tighter they squeeze the quicker the flow. I tell them it is their one chance to get rid of it ALL, so make sure that they do so. They can feel the negative feelings one more time as they send it away if they want, to say goodbye to it. If they try, they can actually visualize the negative energy as it travels to the battery. Once they are absolutely sure that they have put it all in the battery, and they are sure that they want to let those negative emotions go, then just open their hand and let it all go.

The battery hits the floor, I have them open their eyes, and ask them how they feel. Absolutely phenomenal results with it. Just from that, they walked out of my office a changed person. Its a very good way to insure they won't abreact when I put them in trance for what they came to me for.

I hope that helps you
John

Lisa Smith said:

Thanks for the reply, John. My first thought was that there was some secondary gain for not passing the test or getting the high score he wanted to be able to get into Tufts or a similar grad school.
I'll work on that aspect with him. BTW, what is the core dump technique? --Lisa