Many, many years ago, before I knew anything about hypnotherapy, I went to see a Solution Focused Hypnotherapist. They were a very prestigous hypnotherpist, even training other therapists to do what they did. My problem was a relatively common phobia, and I was told the therapist could sort it out in just three appointments.
I knew why I had my phobia, but the therapist wasn't interested, because they were "solution focused" - my traumatic past could be ignored in favour of looking to the future.
In my appointments, the therapist read out loud from a book of "scripts" - a series of prepared stories that used hypnotic language that would help me let go of my phobia so that I could do what I wanted to do without being scared.
I didn't have to do anything, other than close my eyes and listen.
It didn't work, at all. In fact, because I was left to my own imaginative devices as the therapist droned on, my phobia got worse. It wasn't the solution I was expecting!
Solution Focused hypnotherapy can be very appealing to would-be therapists due to it's heavy reliance on hypnotic scrips - those prepared stories that use hypnotic language. Scripts can work very well for a specific problem; there are scripts for every problem you can think of, from fears or phobias to even stress related health conditions like IBS.
The problem with scripts is that they reduce a client down to just their problem, and ignore everything else that has gone on. Sometimes, this might work, if the therapist is lucky enough to have a script that resonates with the client, but because the cause of the problem hasn't been resolved, it's like cutting down a weed without digging up it's roots....it can just grow back when you least expect it. Script based work can be effective...it's the longevity ("it helped for a while, but now it's come back worse!") that can be the problem.
For clients, the idea of a therapy that only focuses on the problem can seem very appealing.
Who wants to go rummaging around in the past? Often, people put up walls between themselves and their painful past, and the last thing they want to do is go back there.
For some problems, and for some clients, just focusing on the future may be a useful approach - but as therapists, we ignore the past at our peril. Something has happened to cause the problem, and just focusing on the future can be a little like painting over a damp wall - the damp might be hidden for a little while...but eventually, it'll just come through again. It might just be that there is work around that past event that needs to be done before you can move on.
It's not always necessary to talk about your past when you come to see me for hypnotherapy, but that doesn't mean that we work together to help you loosen the hold your past has on you, so you can move forward to a brighter future.
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