Tough time getting a phobia client into Somnambulism session 1

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Permalink Reply by Michael White on September 15, 2010 at 9:14am

Here are some ideas that might be completely useless...

If it helps, have her unconscious pick one animal she doesn't have to be as quite afraid of than others. In other words, get her to explore which feelings feel a little bit better, "or not as scary" as others. Fur does not feel like feathers and so on. Large is not small. Have her describe how one animal is different, how she sees them differently.

Create a plexi-glass zoo in her mind so she can keep her distance and exist in complete safety and also be able to walk through the zoo. If any of the animals make a move at her they instantly shrink down to the size of an atom. Have her tell her about someone she knows whose taken their child to the zoo and just listen to her describe it. She'll have to describe what she is seeing. She can probably see her best friend in her mind. Or a sibling.

Then do the fast phobia cure. Teach her how to visually dissociate (with the zoo) then use that. She might not even need to be able to "see" to get lasting results...

Make it a fun game! Go through Noah's Arc. Eliminate her phobia of velociraptors (have fun!).

Or just start with squirrels, then have her come back the next week and do raccoons. The UC will probably start generalizing when it realizes that you are literally going to go through the entire Animal Kingdom. You did say "all animals" after all...bind it so that she does the work on her own!

She's being a bit too "cooperative".

Elicit other ways she's grown up since she was 2. I love it when people have phobias from an early age because the UC can quickly understand that it is very old programming. Like trying to use dial up nowadays or those phone jacks from the movie "Wargames". Have her pull up from the age of 2 the resources that are important to maintain from the phobia (like self-preservation, resolve, self-care, self-love) Teach her to generalize these resources out into the future in the most appropriate contexts. And so on...

I hope this helps in someways. Finally, I want to point out that "deep trance" is not necessary for permanent change. It might help, but not necessary at all.

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Permalink Reply by Sean Gately C.Ht on September 15, 2010 at 9:26am

Hi Michael,

Thank You for the response and I really like some of your ideas and will integrate the. The reason for deep trance is this, she cannot consciously recall information from that age, and has no idea where the phobia came from. In a light trance I have noticed it is almost impossible for the subconscious mind to recall vivid memories from chidlhood if they are blocked for some reason.

Also this is a tough case because she has a very very limited ability to visualize. When I mentioned can you visualize or see pictures she said no, and was only able to recall a memory after 45 minutes of trance-work. She can imagine, but not visualize, which is effective but shrinking would be tough in this case. I can have her feel the animals getting smaller, but without direct physical confrontation she cannot even recall feelings of panic. I had asked her, bring up a time when you were very scared when confronting an animal, she mentioned she felt nothing because it was not real right now. Its an odd case that I am working through.

I love the Arc visualization though!

Michael White said:

Here are some ideas that might be completely useless...

If it helps, have her unconscious pick one animal she doesn't have to be as quite afraid of than others. In other words, get her to explore which feelings feel a little bit better, "or not as scary" as others. Fur does not feel like feathers and so on. Large is not small. Have her describe how one animal is different, how she sees them differently.

Create a plexi-glass zoo in her mind so she can keep her distance and exist in complete safety and also be able to walk through the zoo. If any of the animals make a move at her they instantly shrink down to the size of an atom. Have her tell her about someone she knows whose taken their child to the zoo and just listen to her describe it. She'll have to describe what she is seeing. She can probably see her best friend in her mind. Or a sibling.

Then do the fast phobia cure. Teach her how to visually dissociate (with the zoo) then use that. She might not even need to be able to "see" to get lasting results...

Make it a fun game! Go through Noah's Arc. Eliminate her phobia of velociraptors (have fun!).

Or just start with squirrels, then have her come back the next week and do raccoons. The UC will probably start generalizing when it realizes that you are literally going to go through the entire Animal Kingdom. You did say "all animals" after all...bind it so that she does the work on her own!

She's being a bit too "cooperative".

Elicit other ways she's grown up since she was 2. I love it when people have phobias from an early age because the UC can quickly understand that it is very old programming. Like trying to use dial up nowadays or those phone jacks from the movie "Wargames". Have her pull up from the age of 2 the resources that are important to maintain from the phobia (like self-preservation, resolve, self-care, self-love) Teach her to generalize these resources out into the future in the most appropriate contexts. And so on...

I hope this helps in someways. Finally, I want to point out that "deep trance" is not necessary for permanent change. It might help, but not necessary at all.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Kennedy on September 15, 2010 at 12:04pm

This is a repetition of another of my posts, but I too had trouble going deep. It was partly a trust issue, but also a fear. When Michael White suggested that I visualize a hand letting go, my subconscious sent me back an image of me hanging onto a tree branch suspended over a cliff. Through self-hypnosis I changed the image to a relay race where my conscious mind passed the baton (i.e. letting go of it) to the subconscious. That allowed me to go deeper and elicit the hypnotic phenomena I had previously been unable to experience.

Bill

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Permalink Reply by Marc Carlin on September 15, 2010 at 12:28pm

Nicely done. I've copied and pasted it into my swipe file of great ideas for hypnosis. Thanks Michael.

Marc

Michael White said:

Here are some ideas that might be completely useless...

If it helps, have her unconscious pick one animal she doesn't have to be as quite afraid of than others. In other words, get her to explore which feelings feel a little bit better, "or not as scary" as others. Fur does not feel like feathers and so on. Large is not small. Have her describe how one animal is different, how she sees them differently.

Create a plexi-glass zoo in her mind so she can keep her distance and exist in complete safety and also be able to walk through the zoo. If any of the animals make a move at her they instantly shrink down to the size of an atom. Have her tell her about someone she knows whose taken their child to the zoo and just listen to her describe it. She'll have to describe what she is seeing. She can probably see her best friend in her mind. Or a sibling.

Then do the fast phobia cure. Teach her how to visually dissociate (with the zoo) then use that. She might not even need to be able to "see" to get lasting results...

Make it a fun game! Go through Noah's Arc. Eliminate her phobia of velociraptors (have fun!).

Or just start with squirrels, then have her come back the next week and do raccoons. The UC will probably start generalizing when it realizes that you are literally going to go through the entire Animal Kingdom. You did say "all animals" after all...bind it so that she does the work on her own!

She's being a bit too "cooperative".

Elicit other ways she's grown up since she was 2. I love it when people have phobias from an early age because the UC can quickly understand that it is very old programming. Like trying to use dial up nowadays or those phone jacks from the movie "Wargames". Have her pull up from the age of 2 the resources that are important to maintain from the phobia (like self-preservation, resolve, self-care, self-love) Teach her to generalize these resources out into the future in the most appropriate contexts. And so on...

I hope this helps in someways. Finally, I want to point out that "deep trance" is not necessary for permanent change. It might help, but not necessary at all.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sean Gately C.Ht on September 15, 2010 at 12:28pm

Bill, that is an excellent suggestion. Imagery of letting go, or passing on from conscious to subconscious. Awesome.

Bill Kennedy said:

This is a repetition of another of my posts, but I too had trouble going deep. It was partly a trust issue, but also a fear. When Michael White suggested that I visualize a hand letting go, my subconscious sent me back an image of me hanging onto a tree branch suspended over a cliff. Through self-hypnosis I changed the image to a relay race where my conscious mind passed the baton (i.e. letting go of it) to the subconscious. That allowed me to go deeper and elicit the hypnotic phenomena I had previously been unable to experience.

Bill

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Marc Carlin on September 15, 2010 at 12:40pm

Hi Sean,

I just want to add a few ideas to this discussion.

I'm not sure how old your client is and this might effect some of my response. I'm thinking they are at least late teens to adult at this time. First off everybody visualizes. We don't all do it the same way, but we all have representations of what comes up when we recall past events. An easy way to get your client in touch with how they visualize is to ask them a question which requires they use their visual ability, such as, "how many windows do you have in your home?" As you notice them starting to count the number of windows, stop them by asking them what room they are in? This usually connects them to the way that they represent their past events.

When you're doing the AR and they come up blank, just tell them that something will come up it always does. Give your mind time to access the info. Keep pressing them to come up with something.
You can talk directly to the SCM and tell it that "she's older now and she has a right to know that information now" or something like that. People spend years and years trying to make their minds void of any thoughts when they practice meditation and never succeed because our minds are constantly bombarded with thoughts. You just can't turn it off, so don't let the response of "nothing" deter you from finding the answers.

Marc

Sean Gately C.Ht said:

Hi Michael,

Thank You for the response and I really like some of your ideas and will integrate the. The reason for deep trance is this, she cannot consciously recall information from that age, and has no idea where the phobia came from. In a light trance I have noticed it is almost impossible for the subconscious mind to recall vivid memories from chidlhood if they are blocked for some reason.

Also this is a tough case because she has a very very limited ability to visualize. When I mentioned can you visualize or see pictures she said no, and was only able to recall a memory after 45 minutes of trance-work. She can imagine, but not visualize, which is effective but shrinking would be tough in this case. I can have her feel the animals getting smaller, but without direct physical confrontation she cannot even recall feelings of panic. I had asked her, bring up a time when you were very scared when confronting an animal, she mentioned she felt nothing because it was not real right now. Its an odd case that I am working through.

I love the Arc visualization though!

Michael White said:

Here are some ideas that might be completely useless...

If it helps, have her unconscious pick one animal she doesn't have to be as quite afraid of than others. In other words, get her to explore which feelings feel a little bit better, "or not as scary" as others. Fur does not feel like feathers and so on. Large is not small. Have her describe how one animal is different, how she sees them differently.

Create a plexi-glass zoo in her mind so she can keep her distance and exist in complete safety and also be able to walk through the zoo. If any of the animals make a move at her they instantly shrink down to the size of an atom. Have her tell her about someone she knows whose taken their child to the zoo and just listen to her describe it. She'll have to describe what she is seeing. She can probably see her best friend in her mind. Or a sibling.

Then do the fast phobia cure. Teach her how to visually dissociate (with the zoo) then use that. She might not even need to be able to "see" to get lasting results...

Make it a fun game! Go through Noah's Arc. Eliminate her phobia of velociraptors (have fun!).

Or just start with squirrels, then have her come back the next week and do raccoons. The UC will probably start generalizing when it realizes that you are literally going to go through the entire Animal Kingdom. You did say "all animals" after all...bind it so that she does the work on her own!

She's being a bit too "cooperative".

Elicit other ways she's grown up since she was 2. I love it when people have phobias from an early age because the UC can quickly understand that it is very old programming. Like trying to use dial up nowadays or those phone jacks from the movie "Wargames". Have her pull up from the age of 2 the resources that are important to maintain from the phobia (like self-preservation, resolve, self-care, self-love) Teach her to generalize these resources out into the future in the most appropriate contexts. And so on...

I hope this helps in someways. Finally, I want to point out that "deep trance" is not necessary for permanent change. It might help, but not necessary at all.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Sean Gately C.Ht on September 15, 2010 at 12:58pm

Thanks Guys. Marc I will take your advice on visualization and then I think the NLP in Michaels original reply will do the job. Great comments.

Marc Carlin said:

Hi Sean,

I just want to add a few ideas to this discussion.

I'm not sure how old your client is and this might effect some of my response. I'm thinking they are at least late teens to adult at this time. First off everybody visualizes. We don't all do it the same way, but we all have representations of what comes up when we recall past events. An easy way to get your client in touch with how they visualize is to ask them a question which requires they use their visual ability, such as, "how many windows do you have in your home?" As you notice them starting to count the number of windows, stop them by asking them what room they are in? This usually connects them to the way that they represent their past events.

When you're doing the AR and they come up blank, just tell them that something will come up it always does. Give your mind time to access the info. Keep pressing them to come up with something.
You can talk directly to the SCM and tell it that "she's older now and she has a right to know that information now" or something like that. People spend years and years trying to make their minds void of any thoughts when they practice meditation and never succeed because our minds are constantly bombarded with thoughts. You just can't turn it off, so don't let the response of "nothing" deter you from finding the answers.

Marc

Sean Gately C.Ht said:

Hi Michael,

Thank You for the response and I really like some of your ideas and will integrate the. The reason for deep trance is this, she cannot consciously recall information from that age, and has no idea where the phobia came from. In a light trance I have noticed it is almost impossible for the subconscious mind to recall vivid memories from chidlhood if they are blocked for some reason.

Also this is a tough case because she has a very very limited ability to visualize. When I mentioned can you visualize or see pictures she said no, and was only able to recall a memory after 45 minutes of trance-work. She can imagine, but not visualize, which is effective but shrinking would be tough in this case. I can have her feel the animals getting smaller, but without direct physical confrontation she cannot even recall feelings of panic. I had asked her, bring up a time when you were very scared when confronting an animal, she mentioned she felt nothing because it was not real right now. Its an odd case that I am working through.

I love the Arc visualization though!

Michael White said:

Here are some ideas that might be completely useless...

If it helps, have her unconscious pick one animal she doesn't have to be as quite afraid of than others. In other words, get her to explore which feelings feel a little bit better, "or not as scary" as others. Fur does not feel like feathers and so on. Large is not small. Have her describe how one animal is different, how she sees them differently.

Create a plexi-glass zoo in her mind so she can keep her distance and exist in complete safety and also be able to walk through the zoo. If any of the animals make a move at her they instantly shrink down to the size of an atom. Have her tell her about someone she knows whose taken their child to the zoo and just listen to her describe it. She'll have to describe what she is seeing. She can probably see her best friend in her mind. Or a sibling.

Then do the fast phobia cure. Teach her how to visually dissociate (with the zoo) then use that. She might not even need to be able to "see" to get lasting results...

Make it a fun game! Go through Noah's Arc. Eliminate her phobia of velociraptors (have fun!).

Or just start with squirrels, then have her come back the next week and do raccoons. The UC will probably start generalizing when it realizes that you are literally going to go through the entire Animal Kingdom. You did say "all animals" after all...bind it so that she does the work on her own!

She's being a bit too "cooperative".

Elicit other ways she's grown up since she was 2. I love it when people have phobias from an early age because the UC can quickly understand that it is very old programming. Like trying to use dial up nowadays or those phone jacks from the movie "Wargames". Have her pull up from the age of 2 the resources that are important to maintain from the phobia (like self-preservation, resolve, self-care, self-love) Teach her to generalize these resources out into the future in the most appropriate contexts. And so on...

I hope this helps in someways. Finally, I want to point out that "deep trance" is not necessary for permanent change. It might help, but not necessary at all.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Kathleen Hanover on September 15, 2010 at 3:04pm

Hi Sean,

I'm an enthusiastic client, not a hypnotherapist, but here's my take.

I have been told I'm a natural somnambulist. I'm also insanely kinesthetic. However, unless I'm practically in a coma, I don't physically feel any different when I'm hypnotized than when I'm not. And I have one of those yippy-little-dog conscious minds that never stops analyzing or slowing down, even in trance. So a lot of times, I have to take the hypnotherapist's word for it that I'm in a trance at all. I only know for sure that I was, because I find myself making positive changes. :)

You may want to check with your client to find out how she expects to feel in a trance. I know I got frustrated with myself when I didn't "feel hypnotized," so I started to "try harder" and that really got in the way.

Hope that helps,

Kathleen
Marketing and PR Opinionist

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Permalink Reply by John Cleesattel on September 15, 2010 at 7:14pm

Hi Sean,
I deal with people that have trouble achieving trance quite often. It sounds like she might be trying to figure out how to help you, which of course will have the opposite effect.

A metaphor I sometimes use is that they are at the beach, its very hot, and can't wait to get wet to cool off. The only problem is that every time they move, or do anything, it moves them farther away from the water. Now the waves will come in and wash over them all by themselves, so if they don't try to help and just lay there, and just allow the wave to wash over them, they will get to feel how good it feels.

That being said; I agree there is no need for deep trance for any of this.

John

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