Hypnotherapy Scripts

A Neo-Ericksonian Approach to Persuasive Healing

Ronald A. Havens, Catherine Walters

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• eBook ISBN: 9781135450465
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Mental Health in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

Hypnotherapy Scripts, 2nd Edition is a straightforward, practical guide for doing Ericksonian hypnotherapy. This book not only explains the rationale for every step in the hypnotherapeutic process, it also contains sample scripts for each step. This edition of Hypnotherapy Scripts guides professionals through the construction of their own hypnotherapy induction and suggestion scripts. Verbatim sample transcripts of various induction and therapeutic suggestion procedures with detailed guidelines for creating one's own hypnotherapeutic inductions and metaphors are included. Recent research and writings on the role of unconscious processes, wellness, and positive psychology have been added to this edition. Also included is a detailed review of the diagnostic trance process, a therapeutic procedure unique to this text.

PART I

Concepts and Instructions

1

A NEO-ERICKSONIAN ORIENTATION

The goal of this book is to provide you with the understandings, instructions, and confidence you need to incorporate Neo-Ericksonian forms of communication and persuasion into your practice now. Even if you never actually do “hypnosis” with a patient, this approach offers a way of speaking to people that is captivating, calming, reassuring, inspiring, and therapeutically productive.

This book originally grew out of our experiences as workshop leaders training therapists and physicians in the art of Ericksonian hypnotherapy. We carefully outlined the necessary concepts for them. We compulsively instructed participants in the hypnotherapeutic process. We taught our groups how to devise unique metaphors and anecdotes. In short, we gave them all the basics we thought they would need to become competent hypnotherapists. Yet, when practice sessions began we were faced with something we had not counted on: many participants became tongue-tied and self-conscious. They simply did not know what to say and the more they struggled the less they could do. We soon discovered that our exhortations to “trust your unconscious mind” just did not do the trick. They wanted us to tell them exactly what to say and how to say it. In other words, they wanted a script.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF SCRIPTS

Our first script was a simple induction script that we incorporated into the practice sessions of our workshops. The Simulation Induction Script in Chapter 4 of this book is a modified version of that original script. The workshop participants not only expressed gratitude for the structure and guidance this script provided to their practice sessions, they also seemed to acquire an effective hypnotic style much more rapidly than they had without it. Furthermore, by the end of the workshop, they demonstrated more confidence in their ability to do hypnotherapy and seemed more comfortable with the idea of actually trying it with their clients.

Although these early impressions were encouraging, we had no objective evidence that they were accurate. Accordingly, we decided to empirically study the impact of using a prepared script on learner confidence. The subjects for our study were thirteen graduate students in psychology and related fields who volunteered to participate in a free one-day workshop and research project on hypnotherapy. The entire morning was spent providing didactic information on trance, trance induction procedures, hypnotherapy, and trance termination. These lectures were followed in the afternoon by a demonstration of trance induction and arm levitation. The participants were then randomly divided into two groups for a practice session. The first group contained seven participants. They were each given a trance induction script, which contained suggestions for an arm levitation (a modified version of the Eye Fixation and Arm Levitation Ratification Induction Script presented in Chapter 4 of this book) and were told to pair up and take turns reading it to each other. The other group of six participants met in a different room and they simply were told to pair up and practice an induction with the goal of obtaining an arm levitation. Using presession and postsession questionnaires with the participants, and postsession rating scales with the hypnotic subjects, we discovered not only that those participants who used the scripts felt more confident, but also their actual success with subjects (measured in terms of trance depth, arm levitation, and learning) was significantly higher. In the group working without scripts, for example, only one subject experienced arm levitation, whereas all subjects in the script group experienced it. (A more detailed account of our method and results is given in Appendix A.)

The results of this simple study confirmed our hypotheses regarding the value of hypnosis scripts as a way to increase practitioner skills and self-confidence. These results also prompted our subsequent decision to provide scripts for every step in the hypnotherapeutic process. The first edition of this book, published in 1989, was the product of that decision. Practitioners responded enthusiastically, and other authors have since followed our example by providing hypnotherapy scripts of their own (e.g., Brickman, 2000; Hammond, 1990; Hunter, 1994).

Although this book contains many hypnotherapy scripts, it also contains the basic concepts that underlie our Neo-Ericksonian approach and explicit instructions for creating your own hypnotherapy scripts. Our intent is to facilitate your development as a hypnotherapist, not merely to provide scripts that you can use. Thus, it is necessary for you to begin with a thorough understanding of the rationale behind the content and structure of our scripts.

The understandings you will need in order to use the scripts presented in this book and create your own are relatively simple and straightforward. The Neo-Ericksonian approach to hypnotherapy is not an arcane practice based on complex theoretical abstractions or mystical notions. The procedures we use and the messages we convey in hypnotherapy and psychotherapy derive from a few basic observations about people, therapy, and the nature of trance itself. These observations are easy to understand, they are consistent with current research, and they can be verified by personal experience.

In the remainder of this chapter we will discuss the eight assumptions about people and therapeutic change that form the foundation for our Neo-Ericksonian psychotherapeutic and hypnotherapeutic approaches. In Chapter 2 we will describe the Diagnostic Trance process, a technique that emerges from and captures the essence of these basic assumptions. An understanding of the rationale and potential utility of the Diagnostic Trance process sets the stage for Chapter 3, where we examine the nature of hypnotic trance and review the basic principles of hypnotherapy.

Our eight fundamental assumptions are derived primarily from the teachings and writings of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. Although we call them assumptions here, we actually think of them as givens or truisms. Each can stand alone as an empirically and observationally verifiable summary of a particular aspect of human functioning and therapeutic change. When these fundamental assumptions and their implications are considered as a whole, they explain the usefulness of a variety of therapeutic techniques, not just the hypnotherapy techniques we present in this book. Thus, no matter what form of therapy you now use, you may find that your approach either may already implicitly recognize or could benefit directly from these observations regarding human functioning.

PAIN IS THE PRIMARY SYMPTOM

Orienting Assumption #1: Pain is what motivates clients to seek therapy.

The common underlying feature of virtually all problems presented by therapy clients is emotional pain and suffering. Whether the presenting complaint is anxiety, depression, problems in a relationship, feelings of inadequacy, or whatever, pain and its consequences are the client's fundamental reason for seeking help.

We began developing this understanding largely as a result of an observation offered by Dr. Erickson during a lecture he gave in San Francisco in 1965. On that occasion he said:

Every patient that walks into your office is a patient that has some kind of a problem. I think you'd better recognize that problem, that problems of all patients—whether they are pain, anxiety, phobias, insomnia—every one of those problems is a painful thing subjectively to that patient, only you spell the pain sometimes as p-a-i-n, sometimes you spell it p-h-o-b-i-a. Now, they're equally hurtful. And therefore, you ought to recognize the common identity of all of your patients. And your problem is, first of all, to take this human being and give him some form of comfort. And one of the first things you really ought to do is to let the patient discover where he really does have that pain. (cf. Havens, 1985, p. 152)

Because of our involvement in hypnosis, clients suffering from physical pain are often referred to us. As we worked with these individuals along with our traditional therapy clients, the validity and significance of Erickson's remarks became increasingly apparent. It is psychic pain and suffering that motivates people to contact therapists, and therapy involves replacing that suffering with comfort.

We emphasize pain as a central feature of our clients’ experience primarily because pain is easier for most people to understand than psychopathology. The experiential qualities, psychological consequences, and interventions required to cope with pain and suffering are relatively simple and easy to grasp in comparison to the complex theoretical systems often associated with many psychiatric disorders. This is true for both clients and therapists.

Mental health professionals, for example, can be so firmly wedded to specific theoretical explanations for particular diagnostic problems that it becomes difficult for them to examine and treat these problems in an objective manner. There is a tendency to impose hypothetical constructs instead of exploring the unique sources of discomfort of each individual. If a client says he or she is depressed, the clinician may immediately begin to look for “learned helplessness” and serotonin deficiencies, or prescribe specific cognitive techniques deemed appropriate for depression. If the same client had instead complained of problems with a spouse or job dissatisfaction, it is possible that the therapist would have focused instead only upon this problem and would have missed the depression. More importantly, in both instances the therapist may have missed the painful source of all of these problems.

When all problems are defined as pain, however, it seems to be easier for most therapists to set aside their own preconceptions and examine and treat each problem from a more unbiased and genuinely inquisitive point of view. The therapist becomes interested in the nature and location of each individual's unique discomfort, rather than trying to fit the client's peripheral symptoms or presenting complaints into a diagnostic category.

Pain also is easier for clients themselves to understand and examine. The negative outcomes of psychiatric labeling are well documented. Defining a problem as psychic pain or emotional discomfort avoids these adverse effects. Clients cooperate more openly in treatment and are less ambivalent about revealing their relevant thoughts and feelings when we refrain from diagnoses and frame their problems only as pain.

When the problems presented to a therapist are construed as various types of pain or suffering, the concepts, goals, and treatments used naturally will tend to be similar to those employed to treat chronic pain. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the hypnotherapeutic approach presented here is applicable to both physical and psychic pain. The only difference is that the procedures used for physical pain can be much more straightforward because there is less need to avoid ambivalence, resistance, self-conscious biases, and sensitivities.

Thus, there are two reasons for tracing all problems back to an issue of pain. First, our experience suggests that pain is an accurate description of the distress, hurt, and tedium that so often fill a client's life. Second, the metaphor of pain best conveys the perspectives and techniques that are most useful with various psychological and emotional problems and that underlie our hypnotherapeutic approach.

COMFORT IS THE PRIMARY GOAL

Orienting Assumption #2: The primary goal of therapy is the creation of comfort, pleasure, health, success, and happiness, not the elimination of discomfort or pain.

Although pain of one form or another is what brings clients into therapy, the primary goal of therapy is not the elimination of pain. Pain is not the actual problem. The problem is the absence of comfort. Pain, in fact, is a useful warning signal, like the alarms that warn pilots when they are too close to another plane. Pain directs attention toward the location and nature of the thought or behavior that needs to be changed. It illuminates whatever is preventing or interfering with the person's comfort, and it motivates the person to seek help. Thus, pain is a therapeutic ally, something to be utilized rather than something to be attacked and destroyed.

Within this perspective, when a client brings in anxiety or depression, the therapist does not immediately consider ways to eliminate these painful conditions. Instead, the therapist begins to wonder what the client needs to do or to stop doing now and in the future in order to begin feeling comfort and pleasure. Therapy is viewed as a constructive, additive process, not a destructive or confrontational one. The primary goal of therapy, therefore, is to promote the thoughts, feelings, and behaviors required for each person to experience comfort or pleasure, not to decide how to attack and eliminate pain. As the person begins thinking and behaving in ways that produce comfort and pleasure, the pain disappears automatically.

The use of pleasure as a source of comfort and healing is not a new concept. Norman Cousins (1976) helped pave the way for the wellness movement in medicine by describing his use of humorous movies and TV shows to treat his own serious illness and the pain that it created. Cousins observed that in addition to promoting the healing process, “ten minutes of laughter allowed two hours of pain-free sleep.” In support of this idea, Ornstein and Sobel (1989) summarized research on the healing effects of many different types of pleasure, from pleasant tastes, smells, and sights to pleasurable actions and attitudes. Similarly, Faymonville, Meurisse, and Fissette (1999) reported on the successful use of the hypnotic remembrance of pleasurable life experiences as a form of anesthesia in over 1,600 surgical procedures. Their results indicated that memories of pleasurable experiences can indeed displace awareness of or concern about physical pain. Finally, Ewin (2001) reported that for many years he has provided his burn patients with relief from their pain by using hypnosis to help them find a “laughing place.”

By focusing on the patient's pleasure and sense of humor as sources of relief and healing, the wellness model relies on the healing power that lies within each individual (cf. Seaward, 1999). Within this framework, the healer does not do the healing, the patient does. Because the goal is to promote health, rather than to attack illness, the healer motivates and directs patients to use their own inner resources to establish a healthier way of being.

Along these lines, Erickson once commented, “It is the patient who does the therapy. The therapist only furnishes the climate, the weather. That's all” (Zeig, 1980, p. 148). He also defined the therapist as “... a needed human source of faith, hope, assistance, and, most importantly, of motivation toward physical and mental health and well-being” (cf. Havens, 1985, p. 145). Thus, our role is to figure out how to motivate patients to use their inner resources in ways that promote healthier, more comfortable thoughts and actions. Our goal is to help them discover how to experience well-being, hope, satisfaction, and happiness.

This also is the goal that Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi (2000) recently proposed in their call for the development of a “positive psychology.” Perhaps taking their cue from the wellness movement in medicine, these authors note that psychology traditionally has given “almost exclusive attention to pathology” and has virtually ignored the factors that “make life worth living.” In an effort to correct this disparity, Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi also served as the guest editors for the January, 2000 issue of the American Psychologist, an issue that consisted entirely of articles investigating the causes of happiness, excellence, and optimal human functioning. Like those in the wellness movement, these researchers recognize that by learning how to produce psychological health, they also are learning how to treat and to prevent psychological problems. They are identifying behaviors, ideas, and experiences that can displace emotional pain with pleasure. The Neo-Ericksonian approach relies on hypnosis to stimulate such events.

Erickson concentrated his efforts as a therapist and person on redirecting attitudes and behaviors toward positive ways of being (cf. Walters & Havens, 1993). He once commented that “The important thing is to get the patient to do the things that are very, very good for him” (Zeig, 1980, p. 195). He was not particularly interested in problems of the past; he was interested in motivating and enabling people to think and do things now and in the future that were good for them. He emphasized the creative use of existing abilities and an immersion in life-enhancing experiences. He helped his clients and students become more aware of and better able to use the kinds of thoughts, understandings, memories, perceptions, and behaviors that produce well-being. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Erickson noted that the potentials for positive, comforting experiences already exist within each patient, although they typically exist at an unconscious level outside the range of conscious awareness or experience, where they are often ignored or overlooked.

OUR MULTIPLE MINDS MUST INTERACT

Orienting Assumption #3: People have a conscious mind and an unconscious mind.

If you are at all familiar with the work of Milton H. Erickson, M.D., you will recognize this observation as the cornerstone of his hypnotherapeutic system. In some respects it is unfortunate that he used the term “unconscious mind” because this term has been used by so many other authors and, thus, has many potentially misleading connotations. The “unconscious mind” referred to by Erickson is not the repressed unconscious described by Freud or the rather mystical collective unconscious of Jung. Erickson used the term “unconscious mind” to refer to all of the cognitions, perceptions, and emotions that occur automatically, outside of a person's normal range of awareness. He reserved the term “conscious mind” for the limited range of information that enters the restricted focus of attention of most people in everyday life. A corollary of his observation of this dichotomy is his recognition that people try to rely upon the limited capacities of their conscious mind for direction and support, even though their unconscious mind has more resources and a better sense of reality.

The number of activities our unconscious mind carries out for us is astounding and humbling. Whenever the situation calls for the use of an unconscious memory, ability, or understanding, it seems to appear magically out of nowhere, whether the conscious mind wants it to or not. We reach out and catch a tossed object without giving it a conscious thought. We scratch an itch or straighten our hair without consciously knowing it. Names, dates, concepts, and insights appear in our awareness. Emotional reactio...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half Title page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface to Second Edition
• Preface to First Edition
• Acknowledgments
• PART I CONCEPTS AND INSTRUCTIONS
• PART II SCRIPTS
• Postscript
• Appendix A: Results of the Research Project to Study the Effectiveness of Scripts
• References