Awakening Mind and Body
Regression to the Origin of a Problem is a Highly Useful Tool to Solve Depression
Recently a woman
entered the office of a hypnotherapist to discuss a
develop¬ment which she did not understand. She had always,
as far as she remembered, been affected with sadness when a
visitor left her home, but in recent years the feelings had
increased. Not only had the emotional disturbance become
greater, it also now resulted in tears and severe crying
spells which approached the levels of hysteria.
This was increasingly embarrassing, for '.. the emotional
upsets came when anyone went out the door. It was not
limited to loved family members and fears for their safety.
It occurred regardless of who departed-the plumber,
carpenter, even the pest control serviceman. She felt the
situation demanded attention and a friend had suggested
hypnosis.
While in traditional psychoanalysis the case might have
required many months or even : ' years of therapy, the
hypnotherapist felt that three sessions could prove
adequate. The first session would involve information
gathering in the fully conscious state, familiarization of
the client with the nature of hypnosis and certain tests of
hypnotizability to provide the practitioner with information
important in determining methods and procedures appropriate
to the client's personality and belief systems.
DEPRESSION A CASE FOR REGRESSION
The second session was planned to utilize techniques of
hypnotic regression, the purpose being to seek out the cause
or event involved in the initial development of the problem.
The therapist felt that something, probably early in life,
had occurred which created a psychological imprint which
subsequently had been forgotten or had been unrecognized for
the effect it could produce. It might have involved parents,
teachers, relatives, or siblings. Regression could pull back
the covers of the past to reveal the causal factors.
The regression proceeded normally. Since the hypnotherapist
had no knowledge of either the age or circumstances
involved, the client was simply instructed to go back in
time to the year and place where the problem originated.
Programmed to view the event as if it were a television show
and to be able to speak about
it, the client was asked what was going on.
She explained that she was sitting on the stairs in her
home, halfway down the staircase, looking down into the
living room. She was three years old. Her father had died
and was lying in the living room. She was called down and
instructed to kiss her father goodbye, which she did without
reaction.
Well-meaning family members then sought
to avoid a situation where, not understanding death, the
child would not be constantly expecting her father to
return. They explained
to her that when her father was taken out through "that
door," he would be gone forever and would never return.
That, she was told, is what death is. You go out a door and
never return.
Bingo! The explanation and the concept of doors was locked
subconsciously into the three-year-old mind. There was no
understanding, simply an authoritative statement that going
out a door led to something terrible. Parents, teachers and
others often have no idea that an explanation understandable
and well-intended to adults
can prove devastating to a child's mind.
NO THIRD SESSION
Having uncovered the casual factor and surrounding
circumstances, the hypnotherapist felt it would be fairly
simple, through hypnosis, to guide the client into releasing
the past to the past where it would have no further effect
on the present or the future. However, as is not
infrequently the case, it was not necessary. Simple
understanding of the cause-emerging from hypnosis with
heretofore buried knowledge -was in itself sufficient to
resolve the problem. From that moment of understanding the
problem vanished instantly. In three years it has not
returned. The third session was never needed.
Age regression has proved invaluable in hypnotherapy. Its
use in psychotherapy, following the work of the late
internationally recognized psychiatrist, Milton Erikson, has
been expanding steadily.
Regression, as in the case cited, has proved a superb
vehicle for rooting out causes. In many cases of stress or
anxiety, the causing factors are unknown to the conscious
mind. But the unconscious, vastly larger and more powerful,
is the seat of all memory and can bring forth from memory
information and events related or pertinent to the problems
at hand.
Fears and phobias often have hidden, repressed or suppressed
causes which can be ferreted out through hypnotic age
regression. Perhaps the most important factor in successful
regression is the rapport between client and therapist.
Hypnotic trips into the past can encounter very sensitive
and personal revelations, and solid trust and comfort
between the participants is essential to the achievement of
goals.
Considerable attention has been given in recent years to the phenomenon of "past life regression." Unfortunately a number of individuals, untrained in hypnotherapy, psychology, psychiatry or related fields, present group programs in what they term "past life therapy." But the trained professional can resolve many problems using this type of therapeutic procedure.
Such professionals usually do not claim that, experience recalled in such regression is necessarily valid, noting that regression could call up past fantasies, imaginings or dreams. The consensus seems to be, however, that whether the recalled experience is real or imagined is really not significant if it solves the problem, which is often the case.
Regression, of any type. presents no particular risks in the
hands of a competent and trained professional. It can offer
major advantages in revealing the sources of problems, even
in cases of habit control smoking, overeating, etc. It is
usually contraindicated in cases of major medical disorders.
Copyright © 2002-06 Awakening Mind & Body all rights reserved. Last modified: 09/06
