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“STOP LISTENING TO THIS CON-MAN AND OPEN YOUR EYES OR I’LL F@#&ING HIT YOU!”

This (along with several other choice sentiments) were aimed, not at me, but at my excellent subject and his friends by another friend of theirs while he was thoroughly enjoying a great hypnosis experience that I’ve already written about (here). I should point out that this person was not hypnotised at any point during the evening.

This is an abreaction.

Many in the hypnosis community won’t agree with this statement believing that, as is taught by most hypnotherapy courses and books, an abreaction has to happen while IN a state of hypnosis.

“A physical movement or an emotional outburst as a reaction to a suggestion while in the state of hypnosis.” www.hypnosis.edu

During my hypnosis training I was taught all about hypnotic abreactions – occasions where the hypnotised client spontaneously experiences an incredibly intense negative emotional state. This might be caused by a sudden regression to a past event or simply an overwhelming negative emotion. Either is easily dispelled by following carefully practiced and delivered suggestions easing the client away from or out of the horror they are experiencing/re-living.

Since my IEMT training with Andrew T Austin (the technique’s creator) I have had to revise both my definition and my approach to abreactions. Andrew taught all of us on the course about the three stage abreaction which is detailed below and since I also practice IEMT as a treatment it became important that I learned how to deal with kind of non-hypnosis abreaction.

3 Stage abreaction

In a therapy setting (not necessarily using hypnosis) the three stage abreaction is generally experienced as an escalation of emotion by the client following (roughly) the stages below:

1. Verbal warning – “I don’t like what you’re doing“
2. Emotional threat – “You’re making me upset!“
3. Physical escalation – [pokes you in the face] “OI! I SAID F@*&ING STOP IT!”

These abreactions can and should be used and those who support the provocative therapy approach actively seek to create these situations. From my IEMT point of view, I love this as you can immediately launch in to a “so on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being really bad, just how strong is this feeling you are experiencing now?” and then quickly help them overcome it and expose whatever it is that is causing the problem underneath. Dealing with it when you’re in the middle of a bar with loads of people watching on and enjoying seeing someone being (and also enjoying) hypnotised is quite a different matter and I have to say that in the end, closing time and generally leaving the bar was the only way to sort out the situation.

It was certainly very interesting to experience an abreaction (albeit unpleasant and slightly embarassing) so strong in a public place, and I hope that the person involved felt better about it the next day. For those hypnotists who read my blog, I hope that you will realise that abreactions do not just happen when your subject is directly in hypnosis in front of you and that it can take many forms and manifest in many different ways. The rote 9 word abreaction fix is not going to cut the mustard in all cases and indeed in some, it is to be actively managed in order to HELP the therapy!

There are a lot of terms used throughout the hypnosis and the therapy world that may or may not make sense to you. On this page, I have listed a few of the most common with descriptions.

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General terms

Below are some general terms that I’ve not been able to group.

IEMT

Integral Eye Movement Therapy is a brief change work process that generates rapid change in the area of undesired emotional and identity imprints. The process and algorithms of the technique answers the question, “How did the client learn to feel this way, about that thing?” and applies specific change at the right place within the client’s model of the world. Andrew Austin, Creator of IEMT. I am a licensed practitioner of IEMT.

NLP

Neuro-linguistic programming is a controversial approach to psychotherapy and organisational change based on “a model of interpersonal communication chiefly concerned with the relationship between successful patterns of behaviour and the subjective experiences (esp. patterns of thought) underlying them” and “a system of alternative therapy based on this which seeks to educate people in self-awareness and effective communication, and to change their patterns of mental and emotional behaviour”. OED

Abreaction

An emotional (and possibly physical) response experienced as a result of some subconscious trigger. Abreactions take many forms from spontaneous regression to a past event to apparently fighting the therapy being given.

Induction

The process by which a state of hypnosis is formally achieved with the subject.

Re-Induction

Once hypnotised, it is easy to re-orient a subject and then re-induce hypnosis for further work.

Deepening

The process by which a hypnotist will intensify a state of hypnosis

Fractionation

A process of intensifying a state of hypnosis by repeatedly waking and then re-inducing hypnosis in a subject.

Somnambulism

A state of hypnosis where suggestions given by the hypnotist are freely and clearly acted upon. Additionally, approximately 20% of people are able to achieve a somnambulistic state quickly and easily. These people are often described as “somnambulists”. It is also a term used to describe someone who suffers from “sleep walking”.

Revivification

The process of re-building and intensifying a past memory. This flexible tool can be used to induce, deepen or even as part of a treatment.

Ideodynamic (and ideomotor) Therapy

A method of working originally created as a result of the indirect and subtle approaches of the legendary Milton Erickson. Milton’s student Ernest Rossi developed the therapeutic use of ideomotor and non-conscious movements in new and powerful ways. Having studied with Norman D. Vaughton (one of Rossi’s own students), I use the techniques of dissociating the client from the physical movements caused by conscious processes. This then facilitates access directly to the unconscious mind leading to profound and often dramatic (seen to be believed) change.

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Phenomena

A term used to describe specific observable occurrences as a direct result of hypnosis either suggested or self-evident.

Post Hypnotic Suggestion (PHS)

An automatic response that a hypnosis subject will have no conscious control over carried out at some point after a hypnosis session while they are not formally hypnotised.

Catalepsy

Complete rigidity of one or more sets of muscles in the hypnotic subject’s body.

Ideomotor

The process by an idea “Ideo” causes muscular movement “motor” without consciously creating the movement.

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Treatments

There are many different forms of hypnotic therapy available, so I have listed a couple of terms that are fairly common throughout.

Regression

The process of allowing a hypnosis subject to re-experience a past event.

Aversion

Artificial creation of an intense dislike of something in order to affect a change in behaviour. Often used in therapy for things like gambling, nail biting and occasionally smoking.

Parts Therapy

A therapy that involves identifying the conflicting elements of a subjects personality and aligning them in order to affect change. This is a personal favourite of mine.

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The Mind

For a thorough description of the mind model that I use for hypnosis, please see http://practitioneroftrance.com/Hypnosis_Mind_Model.php

The conscious mind

The element of the human mind that deals with short term memory, rationalisation and will power. This is often considered the “analytical mind”.

The subconscious mind

The element of the human mind that deals with long term memory, emotions, habits and addictions and self-preservation. It is these functions and area that we aim to deal with for most hypnotic interventions.

The unconscious mind

The element of all animals minds that deals with the automatic processes of living. This includes the immune system and other essential functions.

The critical faculty

The analytical element of a human brain that sits on the border between conscious and unconscious and normally acts to prevent us accepting and reacting to every suggestion given to us on a day-to-day basis. This faculty needs to be by-passed or otherwise appeased in order to effect hypnosis.