Phobia: parts therapy or regression?

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Permalink Reply by Katherine Zimmerman on July 29, 2008 at 4:58pm

Here is a case history of a client who, through parts therapy, not only released her fears of public speaking but experienced healing in many other areas of her life as well.
Darcy, an attractive woman in her mid-30s, came to me to overcome her fear of public speaking, specifically in her French class. She reported that even though she knew the proper words her mind would go blank, she would cry, feel flustered, and her face became red. Although speaking up in French was a huge problem she said that she is fine with coaching basketball and volleyball for grade school kids but felt that adults were judgmental. Her feelings of panic would begin before going to class and, once, there, meeting the people and having them stare it her when she presented increased her anxiety dramatically. Not only was this behavior affecting her French grade, she wanted to return to college and become a teacher. In her own words she stated that, “I can’t stand myself”.

Her problem improved in front of class if she avoided making eye contact with the other students and she made it worse by thinking about it too much. Darcy also reported that she isn’t comfortable shopping alone, meeting new people and has occasional problems sleeping.

The goal for her first session was to be able to relax in class, to find that center of peace that we all have. Even though Darcy had never been hypnotized before, she went into hypnosis easily and achieved a medium trance state. We started the work of her session in her sanctuary. There was a waterfall in Darcy’s sanctuary and it was very relaxing. Described as an object, her relaxation was a lavender circle, solid inside, smooth on the outside which “lived” in her left hand.

I asked Darcy to imagine herself with this relaxation in bed, while out shopping, in a social setting and finally, in French class. She did this easily.

Darcy left with a handout for several acupressure techniques for relaxation and a self hypnosis tape for reinforcement. As you will see when you read on, this very simple process made a significant change for Darcy.
Second session, progress report: Darcy reported that she is doing much better in French class. She received a B on her test, which is a big improvement; she is more comfortable in class and shopping was less stressful.

For this session we set a goal to start using what is in her brain in class. Darcy recognized that there is a part that resists answering questions in class. Our goal, then, is to converse with that part. The resistant part of Darcy turned out to be a nine-year-old part who had learned that you are “not supposed to talk in class”. Their presence is not generally felt except when conditions occur which are similar to the original trauma or passionate moment

She learned this information from “mean people”. That nine-year-old part is still alive and well and influencing her life as a grown up. Grown up Darcy educated her younger part about talking and we encouraged that part to mature and integrate with her grown up self. Darcy reported feeling “really different” at the end of the session.
Third session, progress report: Talking in French class now although she still gets flustered and loses vocabulary that she has learned. She is not having panic attacks before class and is not stressing over tests now. Darcy is “having fun with French”.
Our goal for this session is for Darcy to be able to respond more competently in French, recall vocabulary in the right form. This time we addressed the part that was flustered and thought that it was easy for everyone else. We helped this part create a magical place of learning and in that place Darcy tuned into a French learning channel. While connected to this channel the client understands and speaks French perfectly. She locked this connection in place so that it was always accessible. While tuned in to this channel the words stay in place and she remembers how to say the words. The client can now hear herself speaking as well as her fellow students.
Fourth session, progress report: Darcy reports no particular improvement and has experienced a mini-panic attack over going to the teacher’s office. She feels “dumb, slow, behind because the teacher thinks she should be further along.”
Our goal for this session was to prepare Darcy for an upcoming presentation so we talked with the part that felt dumb, slow, behind and that she wasn’t good enough. This 12-year-old part said that she learned from mom that there’s no such thing as good enough. Initially this part did not support her goal to improve her presentation skills. She thought that it was a waste of time. However, with some negotiation between the client’s grown up self and this younger part, they came into agreement. I asked Darcy to move into the future and imagine making a presentation to see what was different. A six year old part still felt nervous and said that it was easier to chicken out. Since Darcy feels confident about sports we borrowed that confidence and used it to make her presentation.
Fifth session, progress report: French class is better, she had two meetings with the instructor and did not feel nervous. She reported that she hardly has to study.
Her goal for this session is to easily keep her place during her upcoming presentation, feel calm and have fun with it. The part accessed this session was worried about what others think and that part wants to stay away from other people. This is a 4 year old part that believes that “nothing works”. Darcy educates this part and integrates her into her grown up self. She is able to imagine presenting well.
Several weeks later Darcy said that her presentation went well. She was not nervous “before, during or after. Everything that could go wrong, did but I remained calm and carried on. It was a complete success.”
I heard from her again three weeks later. “Everything is still going well, the sessions with you have sure helped me in a lot of different areas that still surprise me every other day. The French is still getting better! It is weird how things start to change, for example at work I've been selected to head a committee - and give little presentations - one was thrown at me in a meeting to talk to everyone in the company about this new committee - and in the past I would have totally frozen - but with all your help it was easy! I didn't have a panic attack or freeze just jumped in and gave a little impromptu intro. Sure makes me feel a lot more confident in talking in general and especially to a whole group of people I don't really know. I have one more presentation in French, I have doubts about doing it but, in weird sort of way, my subconscious won't let me back out of it - even though I have moments of not wanting to complete it.”
One of the reasons that Darcy was so successful is that she was willing to take the time to deal with every aspect of her issue. She gained so much more than just overcoming her fear of public speaking. This continues to filter into other areas of her life.

Copyright Katherine Zimmerman, CHT, PhD
www.trancetime.com

Permalink Reply by Bonnie Robinson on November 18, 2008 at 9:10pm

Katherine could this same technique be used when dealing with students who freeze on tests? I have the perfect person to practice on if it does. Someone that is an A student until it comes to tests.

Permalink Reply by Katherine Zimmerman on November 19, 2008 at 6:00am

Bonnie
Parts therapy is useful for a great many situations. Were you trained in it? If so, ask this person if it feels as if a part of her freezes but another part feels ok with it. I get my clients talking about their issue and very often something will pop out that directs the session. You might also use the NLP swish technique with your client. I consistently use that one at the first session. The next session might be parts therapy or regression.

Katherine

Permalink Reply by Roy Hunter on November 19, 2008 at 9:39pm

I'm happy to see some discussion in the parts therapy group. Please encourage other colleagues to join in.

Best wishes,
Roy Hunter

Permalink Reply by Pattie Freeman CH.t, MST on March 27, 2009 at 10:00pm

I also used it for public speaking and also for a competitive cheerleading afraid to do a backwards handspring. Both of these were young woman and it proven to be successful.

Permalink Reply by Simon Hannaby, Ph.D on March 28, 2009 at 12:08pm

Roy,

I am not trained in Parts Therapy, but I do have your book about it - does this qualify me to be in this group?

I'm curious ... in Parts Therapy, in cases where dialogue is achievable (rather than just discrete finger responses), from your experience is the voice used by the client the same as the client's 'normal' voice? Is it the conscious speaking, or the unconscious? In your book, there are some excerpts of sessions and the language coming back from the client seems a little too polished, clean, rational, etc to be coming from the unconscious. If it's only conscious thoughts coming through, why would they be trusted?

Sorry ... that's maybe a bit deep, but I think a method that relies so heavily on vocal intercourse needs said dialogue to be thoroughly understood.

Permalink Reply by John Cleesattel on March 28, 2009 at 1:51pm

Simon,

I don't use signals of any kind with parts therapy. It is a meeting in a conference room with the different parts that are associated with the issue we are dealing with.

The part of the mind you are communicating with, believe it or not, is the judgmental part of the mind (also known as the super-conscious).

This is the part of your mind that determines right and wrong, good and bad, and maintains the lists of what you will do and what you won't do as a person. Your morals, virtues, and values live there, as well as your personality.

Most of the time, when there is an issue that is negatively influencing the client, the corresponding judgments that were made to cause the issue were made with either mis-information, or before they grew up and were responsible adults. Things that were true before they were adult, are often no longer true after adulthood was reached.

The client provides what the parts are saying and it is as much an eye-opener for them, as it is a problem solving technique, for they often don't know why they do what they do or why they feel like they feel about something.

As pointed out in other posts here, there are often more than one issue in play for the cause, so it is not always a quick answer.

John

Permalink Reply by Roy Hunter on March 28, 2009 at 5:26pm

You are certainly welcome to be in this group.

The excerpts in the book are clean for easy reading. Some of the statements used from actual sessions were colored with unprintable adjectives.

In my experience, some parts often speak almost like the conscious mind, while others can sometimes almost sound like a different person. For example, several years ago a Christian professional woman had a part that used trucker's language during parts therapy.

If you have a chance to do so, plan on attending one of my parts therapy workshops this year. My next one is in Singapore in early May, with another one in Florida also in May, before the IMDHA Convention. I have one in New Zealand in September, followed by another one in southern England either the 4th weeend of September or 1st weekend of October. I may have another one in the Chicago area in late October (TBA). Also, I will present a 3-hour presentation at the AHA Convention in Sydney in September.

Welcome to this group!

Roy

Roy Hunter, M.S., FAPHP
www.royhunter.com

Permalink Reply by Simon Hannaby, Ph.D on April 5, 2009 at 6:42am

Hi Roy,

Thanks for getting back to me about this - I'm a bit in awe to be honest ... wow, one of the world's most respected hypnotists answered my query!

Sorry I haven't replied sooner; the way threads seem to 'widen' on here is hard to get used to.

Thanks for reminding me about the Christian woman ... in fact I think you do mention this in the book and I had selectively forgotten about it.

Roy, are there any recorded (video) sessions of parts therapy I could get my hands on? Also, do your workshops include real therapy sessions with a range of 'presenting issues' covered?

Have you ever encountered any instances of anyone doing parts therapy in self-hypnosis? Would that be possible?

Cheers,
Simon

Permalink Reply by Roy Hunter on April 5, 2009 at 8:16am

Hi Simon,

In response to your query about recorded sessions, there are several on my “Parts Therapy Workshop” (3-DVD set) available at my website:
http://www.royhunter.com/advancedhypno.htm

I also have one DVD available on my site of Charles Tebbetts facilitating parts therapy for an epileptic.

When I teach a 2-day workshop, there is time for demonstrations. Because of the amount of substance, I rarely have time for a demonstration on the 1-day version. The 3-hour version is a condensed presentation covering the most important information, presenting all the steps but with minimal time to discuss detours and pitfalls.

I have met a couple of hypnotherapists who claim to have used parts therapy in self-hypnosis; but my concern is that competent resolution of an inner conflict normally requires an objective facilitator. On those occasions that I have felt the need for parts therapy, I have allowed another hypnotherapist to work with me, because of the difficulty of being objective with all our own parts. In other words, I do NOT attempt to call out my own parts during self-hypnosis because of the need for a mediator who is not attached to any particular outcome other than a client centered resolution acceptable to all parts.

Best wishes,
Roy

Roy Hunter, M.S., FAPHP
www.royhunter.com

Permalink Reply by Jo Moon on April 9, 2010 at 6:39pm

I, too, had a client, a highly respected businessman, who came in to stop his secret tobacco chewing. One of the parts that controlled the chewing was a "rude, crude, Dude" who was loud and very nasty - so different than the quiet thoughtful professional.

Roy Hunter said:

You are certainly welcome to be in this group.

The excerpts in the book are clean for easy reading. Some of the statements used from actual sessions were colored with unprintable adjectives.

In my experience, some parts often speak almost like the conscious mind, while others can sometimes almost sound like a different person. For example, several years ago a Christian professional woman had a part that used trucker's language during parts therapy.

If you have a chance to do so, plan on attending one of my parts therapy workshops this year. My next one is in Singapore in early May, with another one in Florida also in May, before the IMDHA Convention. I have one in New Zealand in September, followed by another one in southern England either the 4th weeend of September or 1st weekend of October. I may have another one in the Chicago area in late October (TBA). Also, I will present a 3-hour presentation at the AHA Convention in Sydney in September.

Welcome to this group!

Roy

Roy Hunter, M.S., FAPHP
www.royhunter.com

Permalink Reply by Shirley R. Patterson on April 10, 2010 at 2:45pm

I had a client last week I used parts therapy with. In trance, she stated she has never heard XXXXXX's voice before. It has never been able to speak. She began to cry. We then talked to her tears. It turned out to be a wonderful session.


Shirley