Making sure your client does not hear what you have not said!

TIn this article, the focus is very definitely on the use of regression or analytical therapy, or, indeed, any form of therapy which requires you to interact with your client, especially during the hypnotic state.

Interaction is fraught with all sorts of pitfalls, the worst being that you can easily lead your client into believing that they should feel a certain way or remember a certain event or even TYPE of event. What we need, of course, is to ensure that the client remembers what s/he needs to remember, feel/experience whatever s/he needs to feel/experience to find peace of mind. The problems were generated by the thought processes that originated within their particular mindset; and it is from that same place that their answers should come. The trouble is, it is far too easy for the therapist to assume they know what their client is thinking/feeling and act or speak accordingly. What happens then is that THEIR therapy is based upon YOUR life experiences! Not conducive to therapeutic success, therefore not conducive to helping you find new clients via recommendation - the most successful form of promotion.

So here is a working strategy using a regression technique that can help you overcome these difficulties. It does have certain limitations, but it can be very fast and effective far more times than you might imagine. The technique itself is not new, having been around for a while under various different guises, the most common one being the Watkins Affect Bridge. I've used that in the past, but this version of it seems to do better, especially when we have used any form of subconscious preparation work which has 'geared' the client specifically towards this type of work.

First of all, you should ascertain that your client can get into their mind a truly vivid image of the last time they experienced their problem, or one of the symptoms of it. After the induction, continue:

"This feeling you have inside you has been in your mind, stuck there, for far too long... you've tried ignoring it, you've tried pretending it isn't there, you've even tried to run away from it sometimes... but now, you deserve to let go of it. I'm going to count from one to five now and as I do so that feeling is going to increase in intensity until it's as real as it's ever been before."

Count 1 - 5 slowly. Increase excitation, watching for signs of unease (you need as much of it as possible) and slowing the count down if necessary until you find it. A bio-feedback meter helps enormously, here. Hypnosis will, of course, increase quite dramatically. Then:

"Now just stay focussed on that feeling in your mind while I count from ten to one... Your mind will try to move onto other things perhaps, thoughts, memories, places, maybe... but your task is to keep just that feeling, only that feeling, there in your mind, as I count from ten back to one... and as I count, your subconscious is going to take you back through time, as if there were no such thing as time, all the way back to a memory or a person or a place or maybe even just a thought from way back then, that has absolutely everything to do with that feeling in your mind. I want you then to tell me the very first thing you think of, without trying to make sense of it, just tell me straight away, as soon as I get all the way down to 1."

Count 10 - 1 slowly. I usually allow a long pause between 2 and 1.

Most of the time, at the count one, your client will offer you something and you work with it, exploring it until it's exhausted (this is where the clean language comes in). Then use it to start the whole process again, if necessary, until it becomes obvious that you have hit the originating cause. It's easy to tell. If it IS the originating cause, the emotion will soon start to fade; if that does not happen, you still have some more work to do.

Sometimes, resistance kicks in and what you get is: "Nothing, sorry, nothing at all." No problem! I just ask the client to answer what I ask them with the first thing that comes into their mind. What might follow is something like:

Therapist: "Ok, just give me your first impressions... is it light or dark?"

Client: "Light..."

Therapist: "Ok, and are you indoors or outdoors when it's light?"

Client: "Indoors..."

Therapist: "Good. And are you on your own or are you with other people when you're indoors and it's light?" (If you asked "Who's there with you?" that would be leading)

Client: "My Mum's there."

Therapist: "Good. Your Mum's there. And how old are you when your Mum's there and you're indoors and it's light?"

Client: "I'm seven."

Therapist: "You're seven. And what else is there about that when you're seven and your Mum's there and you're indoors and it's light...?"

You get the idea - use as many of the client's thoughts and as few of your own as you can. To improve your abilities with this technique, it will help if you can find a willing friend or colleague who will let you practice. Instruct them to tell you when you have got it wrong, then investigate any part of their life you have agreed upon and determine to get as clear a picture of it for yourself as you possibly can. Listen to the questions you ask and any statement you make, and notice those which may carry any form of assumption or restrict the answering possibilities - "And did you feel happy or sad?" is an example; the correct question here must be: "And how did you feel?" Of course, if you are sure that the answer is a 'cover up' of some sort, you can explore. But then you must keep the exploration clean, too! You could, for instance, continue with: "And you felt (however the client says s/he felt) because...?" If you read the previous article on clean language, there are more examples given there.

During an interactive session, there are many other things you can ask to trigger memories, always feeding back as much of the information that your client has given you as you sensibly can. The following are useful (not in any particular order):

AND WHAT HAPPENED THEN?

AND WHAT HAPPENED NEXT?

WHAT ARE YOU WEARING?

ARE YOU HOT OR COLD?

IS IT SUNNY OR CLOUDY?

HOW DO YOU FEEL WHILE YOU'RE THERE?

HOW DOES MUM (OR WHOEVER) LOOK?

WHERE COULD YOU BE GOING?

WHERE COULD YOU BE?

WHAT COULD YOU BE DOING?

WHAT COULD BE HAPPENING THERE?

WHERE COULD MUM (OR WHOEVER) BE? (when 'My Mum's not there' has been volunteered).

It's not usually too long before your client will say something along the lines of: "Oh, I remember now, this was the time when..." Then, of course, you work with it, explore it and maybe free associate with it if necessary. This has often proved to be an astonishingly effective way of working and I've used it to get to phobic problems with astonishing ease - sometimes with only two sessions. But a word of warning, if you're not experienced with this sort of technique... beware abreaction!