What Makes a Good Hypnotic Screed Essay Example

the brain, which allows you to do multiple things simultaneously without having to concentrate on all of them at once.For example, when we were children we had to concentrate consciously to learn to tie our shoelaces. But now that our subconscious mind has learnt the sequence of moves, we do not need to pay attention to the process consciously anymore.There are four stages of learning that we go through - unconsciously incompetent, consciously incompetent, consciously competent and unconsciously competent. Using the analogy of learning to drive, these can be explained as follows:Unconsciously incompetent - When you were a child you probably sat in a car and watched the driver and thought how easy it was to drive.

You may have thought that you could drive without too much difficulty.Consciously incompetent - On your first driving lesson you would have become aware of how difficult it was to drive, how many different elements there were, and realised your own incompetence.Consciously competent - Eventually you became more proficient, progressing to taking and passing your driving test you realised that you were able to drive a car successfully and competently.Unconsciously competent - After a period of time, which can differ for all, you would be driving a car and going through the complex motions without conscious thought of clutch control, gear selection, checking your rear view mirror etc. The subconscious mind has now taken over.

As the subconscious mind simply learns things that are repeated, whether or not we really want to learn them, it is possible to install a bad habit by accident (e.g. insomnia).The Conscious versus the Subconscious MindThere needs to be an explanation of the differences between

the two minds, before we look at the role of the subconscious in hypnotherapy.The conscious mind is only aware of in the region of seven pieces of information at a time. Being sequential it likes logical order and is linear thinking.

It thinks in terms of cause-effect and seeks answers to "why"? This part of the mind does your intellectual thinking and is responsible for your self-talk. It is associated with the waking; thinking state and can voluntarily move parts of your body. Our conscious mind is only aware of the now, it seeks understanding of problems and reasons that if it understands them, it can make them go away. It is the place of cognitive learning and understanding.The subconscious mind is aware of all the other pieces of information, and by processing them simultaneously it is in effect multi-tasking. It makes associations and connections between many thoughts, ideas and feelings, does not seek answers, as it already knows why.

Our subconscious mind does your perceiving and feeling and is associated with the dreaming (including day dreaming), reflecting, meditating and sleeping state. This part of the mind can involuntarily move parts of your body. It is unlimited in time and space and holds all your memories and future constructs. Our subconscious mind decides what it will do about it. It can forget (amnesia), distort (make false associations) or break connections (get over it). The subconscious mind is the place of experiential learnings.

When we are born the subconscious mind is up and running: functional aspects of survival are etched into it. The conscious mind starts to develop later on and delegates new messages to the subconscious as experiences

allow. Thus, as experiences increase, our subconscious mind has a larger and larger store of experiences to work with. This creates our belief system.The conscious mind has the ability to be critical of suggestions or compare possible actions.

The subconscious however, will exercise its power in favour of its perceived best action to ensure our survival and to reduce our anxieties in the quickest possible mannerConscious Critical FacultyBetween these two parts of the mind is the Conscious Critical Faculty (CCF) that can best be thought of as a kind of psychological membrane that separates the conscious and subconscious. The CCF constantly monitors the input from our senses, and tends to reject that which does not agree with an idea or concept that has been previously experienced and accepted as 'valid'.This is why if an individual has understood that they are stupid, there will be a rejection of information to the contrary, just as certainly as if they believe themselves to be clever. In other words, unless we can get beneath the CCF, it is very difficult indeed to make lasting change. Hypnosis can enable this to happen.

Chrysalis, in Year One, Hypnotherapy and Counselling Skills, Module Three offer a less technical definition of hypnosis, which is, 'A naturally occurring altered state of consciousness in which the critical faculty is bypassed (mind in the conscious mode) and acceptable selective thinking established'. This simply means that the reasoning, evaluating, judging part of your mind (conscious) is bypassed.While we wonder how this could possibly happen, we are subject to it all the time. The advertising industry is dedicated to bypassing our critical judgment all the time in order to influence

our buying behaviour.

We suspend our critical judgment other times when an authority figure makes some sort of comment.Children suspend their critical judgment frequently in games of "let's pretend". Actors do it in playing a part; they have to suspend their CCF, and they ask the audience to suspend theirs to accept them as being someone else.With the CCF bypassed, specific thoughts or suggestions can be lodged in the subconscious where they can propel the client toward a desired goal or change behaviour in a positive, permanent way.

Any such suggestions must be acceptable to the client; they would have no effect otherwise.Affirmations and the Power of the Subconscious MindIn Hypnotherapy the use of affirmations can be used to bring about change. Affirmations are positive statements that describe a desired situation, and which are repeated many times, in order to impress the subconscious mind and trigger it into positive action. To ensure the effectiveness of the affirmations, they have to be repeated with attention, conviction, interest and desire.

More than often, people repeat in their minds negative words and statements concerning the situations and events in their lives, and consequently bring upon themselves undesirable situations. Words and statements work both ways, to build or destroy. It is the way we use them that determines whether they are going to bring good or harmful results.Waking HypnosisYou have waking hypnosis at any time hypnotic effects are achieved without trance, in which the bypass of the CCF has been achieved and selective thinking is implanted.

A classic example of waking hypnosis is the placebo effect often used by physicians when prescribing medication. Physicians will prescribe a simple sugar pill to a patient

having dramatic results of curing ailments. The medical industry tests their new medications on the public with every new drug against a placebo / sugar pill, and most impressing, is that the fact that often, the prescribing physician doesn't even have knowledge of the placebo, causing the physician to provide a truly realistic belief when stating that "this dramatic new drug will cure the problem".It is this congruent belief put forth as a statement that has the effect of instilling belief within the patient providing the cure.

The patient believes that they will get well and they do.Another form of waking hypnosis is the "forgetting syndrome", when all of a sudden we try to remember something, which could have been what we were last talking about before an interruption, and we say to ourselves, "I can't remember". By repeating the statement "I can't remember", not only are we bypassing our CCF because, we do know that the information is there, but we also implant selective thinking around the thought of not remembering.Waking suggestion, on the other hand is having the effect of a hypnotic suggestion acted upon without the bypass of the CCF.

Simply by taking a deep breath in the midst of someone talking will probably also cause him or her to take a deep breath.Initial ConsultationSome therapists decide to offer a free initial consultation, and ideally this should last 30-45 minutes. This session is important, as it is the opportunity to gain information about the client's health and any current medication. There are numerous benefits as there is the ability to assess the nature the client's presenting symptoms, and ascertain their suitability for therapy, while

creating the rapport, trust and empathy necessary for a strong therapeutic relationship.

By using an Initial Consultation Form with a potential client and taking effective notes, the therapist has the ability to decide whether they can work together. They can ensure that they are not connected to them in a way that may be inappropriate. a questionnaire can be used to recognise personality types and disorders, assess modality and obtain other information to enable the personalising and style of a suitable screed.If they are on medication a check can be made to ensure that this is not psychotic or anti-depressants. Details of their family history is important as this may help understanding cause and effect, and direct versus indirect symptoms.

Managing the client's expectations is key as well as discussing fees and gaining agreement to the number of sessions before a progress review.ConclusionWhen hypnosis is used to focus on a specific goal or behaviour there can be a laser-like precision and intensity. It is a little like looking through a telescope from the wrong end; you see just one tiny spec of the environment in focus though you may be aware of everything else around it.Understanding the way in which the conscious and the subconscious mind interact and how the CCF can be bypassed is essential to ensure the effectiveness of implanted suggestions.

The placebo effect shows that when the therapist has a belief in what they are saying, and recognises a client's belief system, the success of the hypnotherapy can be increased.A free initial consultation with a client offers the opportunity to build trust, rapport, belief, likeability, and confidence. This can be useful in identifying whether a

client is suitable for therapy, and the best approach to adopt. Therefore the success of the therapy lies in the ability to individualise each client's treatment.