Hypnosis has been a part of the mental health profession for over a hundred years. Freud was one of the first to specialize in using these techniques, which was his main form of therapy from 1890 to 1895. His hypnosis skills were limited and his frustration with not being able to help every patient with it led to his abandoning hypnotherapy and replacing it with free association and dream interpretation. In the late 1940’s, Milton Erickson, M.D., began focusing exclusively on a new field called medical hypnosis and shortly thereafter became the founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis. Erickson liked to use the word, ‘trance’ interchangeably with hypnosis because he felt it was a more accurate term. One of the things he said was, “The problem isn’t putting a person into a trance, it’s getting them out of the trance they are already in.”
By the time I had begun my work in hypnotherapy, I had already spent thousands of hours working in mental institutions and understood the phenomenon of altered states of consciousness quite well. However, as I would later find out, altered states or ‘trance’ are a part of our everyday life experiences are not endemic to psychotic individuals.
Our minds are in a light trance when we are reading a book, watching a movie, driving a car, seeing a play, dancing with wild abandon, or transfixed by the beauty of a sunset. We are in an altered or trance state when we are having a conversation, filled with rage, cooking a grand meal, or passionately making love. Anytime we are concentrating, focused, and absorbed in an experience, anytime we are thinking deeply, obsessed with an idea, or daydreaming we are in a trance state. Sometimes these trance experiences are light and sometimes they are deep. Sometimes these trance states are positive and life affirming and sometimes they are negative and emotionally crippling. If we are unable to let a past experience go or rid ourselves of a self-depreciating thought or belief, then we are caught in the web of a negative trance state. But, no matter what our past experiences have been the goal of hypnotherapy is to create more positive and enriching ways of thinking and seeing and to access one’s own healing power deep within the unconscious. The mind is a miraculous thing and amazing changes can occur if we create an environment where healing can take place. We can learn a lot from our past but we don’t have to be stuck there.
In regards to achieving goals, it is important to not only make a plan on how that will be accomplished, but to also to use your imagination to see the goal realized, to feel what it feels like to accomplish the goal, and to hear what you will be saying to yourself as you accomplish the goal. The use of imagery dominates the world of sports. Many Olympic athletes use imagery for 50% of their training!
In the last summer Olympics women’s diving competition, the American diver was in 8th place and slowly made her way to winning the gold. A reporter asked her how she did that considering 6 months prior she was recovering from a broken ankle. She told the reporter that since she couldn’t dive while her ankle was healing, she ‘imagined’ she was diving perfectly over and over again. This kind of imagery, which is refereed to ‘end result imagery’ is the same kind of imagery we can successfully use to accomplish goals, to improve self-confidence and self-esteem and to rid ourselves of bad habits, stress, and other unwanted behaviors. We can use positive imagery to significantly improve our ability to relax, enjoy, and to create more peak experiences in life.
Contact John Tamiazzo by emailing him at drjt2100@aol.com
Last modified: 2/2/03