More Scripts & Strategies in Hypnotherapy

Lynda Hudson

• Publisher: Crown House Publishing
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9781845903916
• eBook ISBN: 9781845904623
• Topic: Medicine
• Subtopic: Medical Theory, Practice & Reference

A collection of brand new general scripts from Lynda Hudson, author of Scripts and Strategies in Hypnotherapy with Children ISBN: 9781845901394. This book covers: Also included is the use of Hypnotic Language and suggestions for varying scripts for particular clients. This volume is an outstanding complement to Roger Allen's now classic Scripts and Strategies in Hypnotherapy ISBN: 9781904424215 and will be welcomed by beginner and experienced practitioners alike. Lynda Hudson, a former teacher, is a clinical hypnosis practitioner who specialises in working with children. She is a lecturer in clinical hypnosis at the London College of Clinical Hypnosis (LCCH) and provides master classes in using hypnosis with children. Covers: Anxiety;Panic Attacks;Phobias; Sexual problems; Breaking habits; Sporting performance; Managing dyslexia and related; Social stigma; Essential tremor; Tics and twitches; Urinary incontinence; IBS; Pain control; Preparation for and recovery from childbirth; Sleeping difficulties; Speaking in groups, meetings, conferences etc; Enhanced business performance; Preparation and recovery from surgery and illness; Coping with mild to moderate depression;Recovering memory (not recovering traumatic memory)

Anxiety, Panic, Phobias

Ratio breathing

This can be used as an induction or a deepener, or simply a short therapeutic activity in its own right.

It is useful to teach the technique before you begin the script and explain how it gives the client control over their breathing.

1Settle yourself comfortably in the chair and let your eyes close and begin to imagine that the air around you is a wonderful colour of calm and comfort … I wonder what colour that would be … and as I count from 1 to 3 … I’d like you to breathe in through your nose that wonderful calming, comforting colour so it spreads throughout your whole body … are you ready? … 2In 2, 3 … Out 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … In 2, 3 … Out 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … and each time you breathe out through your nose, you can breathe out any tension in your body … you can even look inside and notice the colour of that tension and … as we count out … just breathe out that colour … Out 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … breathe away any tension in your mind … that’s right …. breathing. 3In 2, 3 … Out 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … In 2, 3 … Out 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … and each time you do this … your level of calm and comfort increases … you become more and more relaxed … you become 4more and more in control of your relaxation … and this will continue as we go on.

5So … as you’ve been breathing in the calm to the count of three and breathing out the tension to the count of six … have you been noticing just how very calming this is? … How it gives you control over your breathing and control over your feelings … and every time you do this … always remembering to breathe 6only through your nose … you will strengthen your ability to stay calm and in control in any situation … you have a tool you can use anywhere … any time … you want to increase your calm and increase your control. So in a moment or two I’m going to begin the counting again and then I’m going to allow you to continue your own 7inner counting … keeping the rhythm … breathing in through your nose and out through your nose … breathing in the calm … and breathing out the tension … as I stay silent for a while … that’s it … ready … In 2, 3 … Out 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … In 2, 3 … Out 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … breathing in the colour of calm … breathing out the colour of tension … In 2, 3 … Out 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 … breathe away any tension in your mind … that’s right.8

9Excellent job … I want you to know that the more you practise this at home … the more you strengthen the power of this ratio breathing which gives you calm and control in any situation … any time … any place … with anybody you’re with … or just calmly on your own … calm and control. That’s right.

Go to further therapeutic suggestions, or ego strengthening and trance reorientation as appropriate

Variations, Adaptations and Recommendations

Ratio Breathing is best carried out while breathing through the nose, as this will slow down and regulate the breathing. It is a useful technique to teach patients to use if they have a tendency to panic. A frequent response to anxiety is for people to feel that they can’t get enough air and then they open their mouths to catch their breath and begin to hyperventilate (over-breathe). This hyperventilation in itself can cause major panicky feelings in their body and in their minds too. Ratio breathing can help restore the delicate balance of oxygen and CO2 in the blood necessary for normal functioning.

Using the above as an induction has a twofold effect: it is calming and relaxing in itself and, at the same time, the patient is being taught an invaluable technique to use on their own. It is probably best only to tell them afterwards that it can be a coping technique for panic in order to avoid their becoming anxious about needing to learn it in the first place!

Rewind procedure

There are many variations on this theme which is based on dissociation and guided visualisation in a way which breaks up the original coding of the memory in the brain. We remember things in words, sounds, pictures, feelings, and sometimes smells and tastes too, and we normally remember them in the sequence they occurred. If we play about with the sequencing, the colours, the size, and any other variable that you can think of, the memory trace stored in our brains and any associated negative feelings are altered, in some cases quite dramatically. This is a useful first intervention for situations where there have been one or more specific frightening events which have triggered anxiety, panic or phobias. The Rewind Procedure can be carried out with or without formal trance.

When you choose to use this type of intervention with a tragic incident, it would clearly be inappropriate to use some of the suggestions for humorous modality change such as using cartoons.

Demonstrate the procedure of ‘rewinding imagery’ with a memory which has no upsetting content and will be clear in client’s minds, such as their journey to see you.

Summary of Rewind Procedure

1. Prepare to turn the frightening event into a film/movie/sequence on a computer screen and establish a safe beginning and a safe end.
2. See the sequence through on the screen from beginning to end (Optional: create further dissociation by sitting above/beside self to watch whole process). Freeze-frame the safe end scene.
3. Run the sequence backwards as if on rewind mode, emphasizing the safe end and safe beginning. Blank out the screen.
4. Repeat Rewind Procedure, changing modalities of speed, size, colour, cartoons etc., blanking out the screen between each rewind.
5. Optional: step into the end scene of the sequence (associated) and rewind it again.
6. Run it forwards again from the beginning, ensuring that the client behaves as they would prefer to have done (dissociated). Repeat this action until no further improvements can be made and the client reports that previous negative feelings have been eliminated or significantly reduced.
7. Step into the picture and go through the event from beginning to end, noticing the feelings of confidence and calm (associated).

Generic rewind template

Eliminate or lessen the effect of a previously experienced frightening event, phobic response or panic attack

This script may be used with phobic responses, panic attack and milder anxiety too. It can also be adapted for use with a traumatic or tragic situation where you would employ more dissociative techniques and avoid insensitive humour. It makes use of ‘one-stage dissociation’ by asking the client to see, as a mental movie/film, a previously experienced frightening event which had either caused or reinforced an anxiety, phobic response or panic attack. It then employs ‘two-stage dissociation’ by having the client’s observant part float out of the body and view the event from a doubl...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Praise for More Scripts and Strategies in Hypnotherapy
• Title Page
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• Hypnotic Language
• Anxiety, Panic, Phobias
• Anchors – Explanation and Procedure
• Mild to Moderate Depression
• Sleep
• Sexual Issues
• Essential Tremor
• Vocal and Motor Tics
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
• Urinary Incontinence and Bladder Retraining
• Surgery: Preparation and Recovery
• Coping with Pain
• Antenatal, Childbirth, Post-natal
• Enhance Business Performance
• Speaking in Groups, Meetings, Conferences, Classrooms
• Tests and Exams
• Sport and Performance
• Miscellaneous
• Habits
• Inductions and Deepeners
• Reorientation Procedures
• References and Useful Resources
• Copyright