When I first learnt hypnosis, everything was leading up to the clinical application of what I have learnt.
After Erickson, I saw that looking at specific conditions became irrelevant or even troublesome. It becomes increasingly clear that we are never dealing with anxiety, depression, trauma, etc. We are always in conversation with an individual who is stuck in an unwanted experience, and wanting to move on with their life.
Instead of asking what’s wrong so we can diagnose the situation, treat it and fix it, we can explore,with each individual person what may be missing for them, that if they could access it, they would be OK.
This allows us to converse as one human being with another, and explore where this missing resource may be, and encourage a process for each individual to connect, reconnect, or learn this experience.
Because the process allows someone to see what’s there and had been overlooked, the therapy can often be quite brief, sometimes surprisingly so.
Because the emphasis is on each individual’s unique experience, the therapy is usually experienced as respectful and leading to a lasting resolution.
Even if a client comes with a diagnosis, such as “anxiety”, it can be so delightful to find out just how this person experiences what they call anxiety, which will be different between different individuals, sometimes dramatically.
I have noticed that clients will often be relieved to hear that they are not suffering from some psychological condition, but rather, having some problem which they can resolve.
Exercise: Next time a client comes for help, instead of trying to diagnose their condition, see what happens when you explore with them what might be missing.
Next time a client comes already diagnosed, explore just how they are experiencing that “condition”.
So simple, but I only realized when reading this guide.