Self Harming - best course of action?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by amber lee poole on January 21, 2010 at 6:35pm

Hi Doreen,

Thank you once again - i have taken on board all you have said.

Amber xox

Doreen Cohanim C.Ht said:

Dear Amber, your client cutting is an obvious emotional and psychological need and this needs to be addressed, even when you work with him, so, just doing what you doing is not enough, since you have been ignoring the real issue as why he came to see you, and you are missing the point of your client real well being.

Don't get me wrong, It's not about hypnosis, it's about how you use hypnosis to help your client, and your position is to help your client with the outcome of his condition, so he can identify why he is cutting him self, and once his deep reasons been acknowledged and identified, you can give him the right suggestions in helping him with his negative and limited thoughts, so you can help him with new and positive behaviors, and if next time anything happens, he knows how to approach it better then just going back to his old self harming/cutting.

I'm afraid you are missing the real point of your clients real condition that is "CUTTING".

Your client needs more then RED BALLOON and Relaxation, what he needs is understanding and realization of his negative approach that is harmful for his safety.

And I wish for those who emailed me privately agreeing with my concern to come forward and explain why they agree with me, so you can perhaps understand my point.

PS: I am not suggesting for you not to work with the client, I am suggesting that you talk to his psychiatrist and ask for help, and also study the cutting condition, not by articles, but by taking classes and or reading as many books about it, since what you doing right now will back fire and harm your client, and no mater how sincere is your intention to help your client..

Doreen Cohanim C.Ht
www.HypnoCruise.com

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Doreen Cohanim C.Ht on January 21, 2010 at 7:19pm

Dear Amber, you are welcome and If I can help, please, feel free to email me.

Doreen Cohanim C.Ht,HBCE

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Roy Hunter on January 22, 2010 at 10:18am

Some years back a very concerned father brought his son to me for a similar situation (but not quite as serious) on a referral. His son was in his mid-teens, and kept pulling out both the hairs in his eyebrows as well as his eyelashes (and sometime the hair on his head). The boy was under a lot of unidentified stress that seemed related to his parents being divorced. His father had custody.

The "balloon" technique you described is similar to an NLP technique called object projection...where you give a problem a shape, color and size, and use imagery to help a client release it. Now, back to my teenage client...

On his first session I helped him establish a peaceful place in order to stay calm when people push his buttons. Afterwards I used object projection, and set up another session for parts therapy to discover the cause. (This was my youngest client ever for parts therapy.)

That part of him causing the problem was doing so as a stress response to the fact that whenever he visited his mother, she tried to turn him against his father, putting him in a no-win situation. The subconscious agreed to back off somewhat, but not altogether until the cause went away. Because he was a minor, AND because there was a possible abuse situation, I had a serious discussion with his father regarding contacting Child Protective Services as well as a family counselor regarding the mother's actions.

While simply suggesting the problem away without discovering the cause may provide temporary relief, my response is that temporary or partial relief is better than no relief at all. In my client's case, the relief was only partial...but parts therapy revealed the cause of his problem. Even though I was unable to release him from the cause, the father had more insight as to why his son was literally pulling his hair out.

Roy Hunter, Ph.D., FAPHP
www.royhunter.com

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Doreen Cohanim C.Ht on January 23, 2010 at 12:48am

Hello Roy,

I am sure Amber did a great job, and yes, I do agree that it is better to have a temporary or partial relief then nothing at all, and in my opinion, it will be even best, If Amber learns more about her client cause, so she can continue helping him to a point that it is no longer a temporary relief for her client, that's all.

Respectfully, Doreen Cohanim C.Ht

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion

• ‹ Previous
• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next ›
• Page