Contents
The unconscious stores all the information we have received throughout life. A special state of consciousness allows us to remember the forgotten and get answers to questions that concern us. This state can be achieved using the method of Ericksonian hypnosis.
The word «hypnosis» is associated by many with impressive effects: a magnetic gaze, directive suggestions in a «sleeping» voice, a point to be gazed at, a shiny swinging wand in the hypnotist’s hand … In fact, the use of hypnosis has changed since the second half of the XNUMXth century, when the French Doctor Jean-Martin Charcot began to actively use classical hypnosis for medical purposes.
Ericksonian (so-called new) hypnosis is a method associated with the name of the American psychiatrist and psychologist Milton Erickson. While suffering from polio, this ingenious practitioner used self-hypnosis to soothe pain and then began using hypnotic techniques with patients.
The method he developed was taken from life, from ordinary everyday communication between people.
Milton Erickson was a careful observer, able to notice the subtle nuances of human experience, on the basis of which he subsequently built his therapy. Today, Ericksonian hypnosis is rightfully considered one of the most effective and elegant methods of modern psychotherapy.
Benefits of trance
Milton Erickson believed that any person is able to plunge into this special hypnotic state of consciousness, otherwise called «trance». Moreover, each of us does it every day. So, when we fall asleep (but do not sleep yet), all kinds of images appear before our mind’s eye that immerse us in a world that is between reality and sleep.
A similar situation can arise in transport: moving along a familiar route, at some point we stop hearing the voice announcing stops, we plunge into ourselves, and the travel time flies by.
Trance is an altered state of consciousness, when the focus of attention is directed not to the external world, but to the internal
The brain is unable to constantly be at the peak of conscious control, it needs periods of relaxation (or trance). In these moments, the psyche works differently: the structures responsible for intuition, imaginative thinking, and creative perception of the world become active. Access to the resources of internal experience is opened.
It is in this state that all kinds of insights come to us or suddenly answers to questions that we have been struggling to solve for a long time are found. In a state of trance, Erickson argued, it is easier for a person to learn something, to become more open, to change internally.
During an Ericksonian hypnosis session, the therapist helps the client go into a trance. In this state, access to the most powerful internal resources contained in the unconscious opens up.
In the life of each of us there is both joy and personal victories, which we eventually forget about, but the trace of these events is forever preserved in our unconscious. This universal positive experience that exists in the inner world of every person is a kind of collection of psychological models. Ericksonian hypnosis activates the «energy» of these patterns and thus helps resolve problems.
body memory
The reasons for seeking help from a psychotherapist are often irrational in nature. For example, you can reasonably explain hundreds of times to a person who is afraid of heights that the loggia of his apartment is absolutely safe — he will still experience panic fear. This problem cannot be solved rationally.
42-year-old Irina came to the hypnotherapist with a mysterious ailment: for four years, every night at a certain hour, she began to cough, sometimes with suffocation. Irina went to the hospital several times, where she was diagnosed with bronchial asthma. Despite treatment, the seizures continued.
At a session of Ericksonian hypnosis, coming out of a state of trance, she said with tears in her eyes: “After all, he was choking me …”
It turned out that four years ago she had experienced violence. Irina’s consciousness «forgot» this episode, but her body did not. After some time, after therapeutic work, the attacks stopped.
Companion Therapist
The style of Ericksonian hypnosis is soft and non-directive. This type of psychotherapy is individual, it does not have a clear theory, for each client the therapist builds a new construction of techniques — it was said about Milton Erickson that his work is similar to the actions of a polite burglar, methodically selecting new master keys.
During work, the therapist, like the client, plunges into a trance, but of a different kind — more superficial and controlled: with his own state, he models the state of the client. A therapist working with the Ericksonian hypnosis method must be very sensitive and attentive, have a fine command of speech and language, be creative in order to feel the state of another, and constantly look for new methods of work that can help a particular person with his particular problem.
Hypnosis without hypnosis
During the session, the therapist also uses a special metaphorical language. He tells stories, anecdotes, fairy tales, parables, but he does it in a special way — using metaphors in which messages are «hidden» for the unconscious.
Listening to a fairy tale, the client imagines the images of the characters, sees the scenes of the development of the plot, remaining inside his own inner world, living according to its own laws. An experienced hypnotherapist tries to understand these laws, consider the «territory» and, in a metaphorical form, suggests expanding the «map» of the inner world to include other «lands».
It helps to overcome the limitations that consciousness imposes on our behavior and actions.
The therapist offers several options for changing the situation, one of which will be chosen by the client — sometimes unconsciously. Interestingly, therapeutic work is considered effective, as a result of which the client believes that changes in his inner world have occurred by themselves.
Who is this method for?
Ericksonian hypnosis helps with a variety of problems — psychological and psychosomatic. The method is effective when working with phobias, addictions, family and sexual problems, post-traumatic syndromes, eating disorders. With the help of Ericksonian hypnosis, you can work with both adults and children.
Stages of work
In most cases, this is individual work with the client, but family involvement and group therapy are also possible. Ericksonian hypnosis is a short-term method of psychotherapy, the usual course lasts 6-10 sessions. Psychotherapeutic changes come quickly, but in order for them to become stable, a full course is required. The session lasts about an hour.