The Esoteric Dilbert

A Late Saturday Night Change: Sorry all, I had to remove the strip from the blog. Scott could not grant me permission to use it. Anyway it was cute and funny, but alas is not be be seen on the Transparent Hypnotist. Feel free to do an internet search for it, you might just find it.

This has to be one of my favorite esoteric Saturdays! Is there anyone out there who does not just love Dilbert? Scott Adams is a true genius! But, did you know he too has a hypnosis background? Yep. His mother used child-birth hypnosis when his sister was born. turns out his family physician used hypnosis in his practice. This influenced Scott and he learned the fine art of the trade.

Moving on to the Pre-talk

The next stop in our discussion of what happens during a hypnosis session. Last we discussed intake processes.

So, you have filled out the intake form and you sit, maybe twiddling your thumbs, drinking a cup of tea and wondering what comes next. The hypnotist shows no signs of moving and seems like he or she is just chatting with you.

"Great," you think, "I did not come here for idle chatter. Let's get on with it."

The things is, you are getting on with it. This is the part of a hypnosis session called the pre-talk. It is extremely important. This is the opportunity for you to ask all the questions that maybe circling your mind, and you should ask them. Even if it seems like a silly questions (or the dreaded stupid question) - ASK IT! If the hypnotist makes you feel bad for asking anything, well, you should just get up and thank him or her for their time and get the heck out of there.

This is also the time when the hypnotist will give you more background on his or her processes, maybe a little background on the subject of what has brought you there, and will learn about you. Your expectations of the session may be discussed and you may find yourself doing some little tasks that help the hypnotist learn about how you process information. Are you a visualizer, more audibly reactive, or Kinesthetic, to name a few? They may also determine where you fall on an analytical scale. We will talk about this next in an upcoming post.

There are many hypnotist who feel the pre-talk is the most important part of the session. Not only does it lay the ground work and set the tone for the hypnotic work, it often begins the suggestion work. There is often a form of hypnosis at play during this time. It is called conversational hypnosis. Now do not panic. This is no different than many conversations you have through out your life, especially the conversations that influence you to behave a certain way. It is employed in advertising and debate. In fact, you have probably done it to others (been the hypnotist in this case) without ever knowing it.

This is a good stopping place here because it deserves a post in its own right. So stayed tuned. Shortly we will cover the concept of analytic types, conversational hypnosis, and suggestion work in traditional hypnosis.

The Grey Puzzle

Ah, a cup of tea, a fire large in the fire place; one can almost look forward to the winter. Maybe.

I had an interesting client yesterday. She wants to change her eating habits before they cause problems. But she is a person definitely into the New Age school of thought, and I so enjoy those. I guess this is because I tend to fall on that side of philosophy. Well, it was a fabulous session. I guided her to a location where her issue was housed. And there it was, in the second chakra (here is the thing - I know little about the chakra's - only what Ken Wilber has written about them in his book Up from Eden - and I am only on chapter four). And the answer to helping herself with her eating habits is the word "baby."

It is so tempting and hard sometimes not to interpret these mind messages for others, but I tend to believe it is a message only the client can decipher. However, it will not stop me from writing about it here (my dearest client from yesterday, stop reading here. Just kidding). What interest me is that one could take it literally or not. It had not really occurred to me that when doing this type of hypno work, the mind maybe (and is) sending symbols to be deciphered. Puzzles, if you will. It reminds me a little of dream interpretation and all the potential symbols that Jung believed were delivered to us (I just cannot completely go with Freudian sexuality in everything). In my client's case, she just had her first child. The child was a bit unexpected but welcomed none the less. However, it has been a bit difficult on many levels for her, and now she describes the second chakra as being an empty void. It is fascinating how many things that "baby" could mean in terms of this emptiness.

I think we tend to look at literal translations when we get these sort of messages, wanting them to be black and white. But I suspect they are rarely anything but grey.

A Conversation with a Doctor

A few days ago I had an annual doctor's appointment (it went well, so no horror or sad stories about to enter into the mix here). As usual, the doctor asked me how the hypnosis business was going and I told her it was just fine. Then she told me something that deeply pleased me, but startled me as well.

First, you have to understand that my practice is amongst the area of the Bible Belt in the US. This means that sometimes telling people you are a hypnotist becomes a challenge, as does marketing. There area is transient enough that there are several open minds around, which is a very good thing. So slowly but surely hypnosis is being more accepted. I already work with a few doctors, but it was after nurturing the relationships (a lot). There are still several doctors in my area who know little about it and do not want to learn more.

So, I was a little taken a back when my gynecologist mentioned that she wished she was younger so that she could go back to school and learn a combination of acupuncture and hypnosis to help women have an easier time during labor. Her medical internship was in the New England area, and one of the doctor's she studied under used the combination. She said it was amazing the difference between birthing experiences the women who used traditional methods verses acupuncture and hypnosis.

Conversation Snippets

The other night I dined with a few friends, and a few would-be friends (I had just met them). And as we had not met before, one inevitably asked what I do for a living (yes, I am in the states currently). So, I told them. One thought it was pretty cool. And then there was the biological studies major, who informed me he had spent some time studying hypnosis in a psychology class. They had dedicated something like eight hours (I think it may have been six, but I feel generous today) to discussion, theory, and perhaps practice? He told me in that reverent-I-am-in-college-so-I-know way, that the class came to the conclusion that hypnosis only works if you believe in it. Whenever I hear that I cannot help but think of Peter Pan and "clap your hands if you believe in fairies." And then he dismissed the subject and we were on to quantum psychics.

Now in reading that last paragraph you may think I am being condescending to college students, so let me get this straight. Having enough degrees myself, I find college students charming with fresh optimism (and gosh I hope they all keep it) and often self-confidence. When they are new to the world like that they show a wonderful worldliness of experience (their own or that surmised). I say all this is a fond reminiscent way.

This is where I really find people's reactions to hypnosis interesting. As a practitioner, it is so much a part of my life, perhaps I take it for granted. It is there when I need it for self-work, and it is there when clients need it, and seek it. But I find people who are not enmeshed in it a nice break from reality, especially the ones who know just enough to have a conversation.

Then dinner conversation continued on to topics such as future plans, curing cancer, and just as abruptly as changing the subject from hypnosis to quantum psychics, the conversation turned to say-I-think-they-have-bread-pudding-for-dessert.

What a Pain

My old faithful English Breakfast tea! How soothing it is on the throat when one seems to be inevitably destine for a summer cold. I suppose I should be thinking healing thoughts, but I am a bit torn between that and fighting it or just letting it happen and going with the flow. Even with this New Age enlightenment stuff, I guess we still have many choices.

In my current research with birthing techniques and such, I came across Dr. Bruce Eimer's article on pain management. Though this article does not so much speak to child birthing, it does relate. There are some interesting similarities to Dr. Peterson's premises (see yesterday's posts). His again deals with some emotional aspects. Here is his article:

Hypnosis and Pain Management

Living with Chronic Persistent Pain can be a terrible energy drain and distraction. In addition to the "physical hurt" of the pain, there usually is a component of "emotional suffering". This emotional component, or "emotional overlay" to the physical pain can make the pain hurt more, and it can also interfere with pain treatment. Emotional suffering makes physical pain worse.

Hypnosis ... may help you obtain relief from the "Sensory" component" of your persistent pain, as well as from the "Emotional Overlay".

Relief from the pain's "Sensory” component" can be obtained through the induction of Hypnosis and the utilization of appropriate, individualized Hypnotic Analgesia, Relaxation, and Imagery techniques. In addition, you may benefit by learning SELF-HYPNOSIS so that you can self-induce the Hypnotic State and benefit regularly from the Escape from Pain that it can provide.

Relief from the pain's "Emotional Overlay” component" can be obtained by changing your self-defeating, negative thinking patterns through the use of both “Waking State Reframing” and Hypnosis. This can enable you to cope better.

Pain is a total experience that is at once a "Physical Sensation", an "Emotion" (e.g., depression, fear, anxiety, anger), an accompanying thought (e.g., Ouch!! This really hurts! When is this going to end?”) and a "Behavior” (e.g., laying down, ceasing activities that hurt, etc.). Pure pain" WITHOUT the “Emotional” and “Thinking” components does not hurt as much and is more tolerable.

Fear, Anger, Anxiety, and Depression all make pain worse. Negative ideas should be removed from one’s Conscious and expecially one’s Unconscious (i.e., “Subconscious”) Minds. This is best accomplished through the appropriate use of Cognitive Psychotherapy, Reframing, and Hypnosis.

No one need suffer continuously or endlessly. PAIN MAY BE MANDATORY BUT SUFFERING IS OPTIONAL. Most people can be helped to better cope with their pain.

To learn more about Dr. Eimer's practice, go to www.hypnosishelpcenter.net.

*You will note the ellipsis at the second paragraph. Sorry Dr. Eimer, I did make an edit here. What I clipped out is "administered by the right licensed health professional." Seems a bit small of me, I know, but I wanted to use it to make a point. In the United States, in most states, one does not even really have to be certified to be a hypnotist, much less licensed. I understand Dr. Eimer's point of view on licensing, though. He is a clinical psychologist who uses hypnosis in his practice. However, there are some very wonderful hypnotists out there who are certified and should not be dismissed. If you are looking for a hypnotist, my suggestion would be to make sure that they are certified by a real association and do find out about their background.

A Correction

Another pot of coffee later...

If you have already read today's post and article by Gayle Peterson, you may want to look at it again. I have made a correction to the article that may clarify Dr. Peterson's approach. I had originally cut it out, but it does make more sense with it in. So, my apologies to Dr. Peterson.

She emailed me to clarify all this and I thought I would quote the email because it is beautiful put:

It would be wonderful if people could finally understand that my body-centered hypnosis is developed through my research, applying concepts of indirect hypnosis (Ericksonian) to a woman's unique life history. I have termed my approach "body-centered hypnosis" as it applies to the woman's relationship to the cues of her body and psychological landscape......

Body-Centered Hypnosis

Good morning, fellow coffee and tea drinkers (and anyone else for that matter).

As I mentioned in my last post, I contacted Dr. Gayle Peterson about her body-centered hypnosis for child-birth and she was kind enough to respond with a lot of helpful resources.

Basically, if I have understood her correctly, her method is a bit different from the traditional child-birthing hypnosis concept that involves disassociating the pain of labor. Since labor pains fluctuate in many ways, the dissociative method may not be the best solution for helping women with their pregnancy. (And sorry about this gentlemen, but as a female, if I were to have children, I would do so using natural child-birthing methods - midwife and all, and it seems like this body-centered approach would be perfect, perhaps heightening the experience as opposed to repressing it).

But rather then trying to explain this in my words, here are Dr. Peterson's:

Hypnobirthing is a method, like LaMaze, that is based on Grantley Dick Read’s premise that fear of labor pain, alone, causes tension in childbirth. This approach has flaws, both scientific and practical. The body-centered hypnosis that I developed since 1973 is based on research that shows that hypnosis that is associative, rather than dissociative can greatly assist women in their adaptation and coping with labor, specifically targeting a woman's unique needs. Women should not be slotted into “one size fits all” methods.

Dick Read’s approach was not a scientific one and represents an overly simplistic application of neurophysiology. Tension is not only related to the fear of pain in childbirth, but to many other factors which may impinge upon women at the time of her transition into motherhood. Body-centered hypnosis aimed at addressing a woman’s unique concerns about her labor and transition to motherhood, statistically decreases the need for medication, even in those few cases in which interventions, such as pitocin, are necessary.

I use body-centered hypnosis to decrease tension about labor and birth and to resolve fears about the upcoming psychological transition to motherhood. This hypnosis is unique to each woman and is not a mass produced method. I support the individual woman in her process. It is not my goal that childbirth should be a certain way, natural or not, painful or not. Instead, my hope is to support the woman where she is in the context of her family history and culture. The result of this kind of support can be empowerment.

An authentic approach to childbirth must forgo ideas about how women should birth, and embrace, instead, a woman’s own desires. No method should dictate a woman’s experience or pressure her to believe based on another’s perspective. Instead it should be flexible enough to meet her individual needs and support her growth.

Lastly, we should keep in mind that any method is only as good as its failures. Exploring the failures of “hypnobirthing” will yield valuable insight into what is missing for women, rather than interpret their failures as not living up to the model requiring one right way to “succeed” at childbirth.

Gayle Peterson, PhD

Many thanks to Dr. Peterson for responding to my request. If you would like to learn more about the process and her methods, visit her website at www.makinghealthyfamilies.com .

More About Child-birth and Hypnosis

This seems like a great topic to explore for awhile and for those of you who used hypnosis during your pregnancy (or your partner's) or for those who facilitate hypnosis in such situations, please respond to this. I am fairly inexperienced in parts of this subject, so please do not hesitate to add your comments and such.

My experience is working with fears and phobias related to pregnancy, not the actual birthing process. With conception, there seems to be a certain amount of anxiety or self-esteem issues - will I be a good mother/father, I come from an abusive childhood and do not want that for my child, what if I am not healthy enough, how will I deal with the pain, and many more along this line. I have found that release techniques are great for this.

I looked up the subject of hypnosis and pregnancy and came across an interesting form of hypnosis that is a body-centered approach, as practiced by Dr. Gayle Peterson. I have written to her about explaining her approach for us as it sounds wonderful. Hopefully, I will hear from her soon.

She wrote an interesting snippet for iVillage about this. The premise is that using dissociative hypnosis (often used in pain management hypnosis) is not that helpful during labor because labor ebbs and flows, ever changing. Peterson's model seeks to accept the pain,"diving" into it interestingly enough, rather than avoiding it.

Do any of you have any experience with this?