Emotional discharges during a hypnotic regression are called abreactions. When the client starts displaying any abreactions, no matter how mild, that is the start of the third phase of hypnotic regression therapy.
Some hypnotherapists are afraid of abreactions and unwisely jerk a client up out of hypnosis; but doing so leaves a client stuck with the problem. Worse yet, the emotions surrounding a problem may remain at a conscious level, causing the client to pay more attention to the problem rather than the resolution. Sadly, as of the writing of this book, there are some hypnosis instructors who actually teach their students to realert a client immediately if abreactions occur. The authors believe this is unwise.
Other hypnotherapists use dissociation by asking the client either to become a third party observer to the event or to imagine viewing the event on a movie screen. While the argument for this approach is that it is more gentle for the client, and does not re-traumatize them, many clients need to feel the emotion in order to completely release it. One of the authors has experienced two unsuccessful regressions at different times because one of the two dissociative hypnotic regression techniques mentioned above was employed in order to avoid dealing with abreactions.
Conversely, a handful of hypnotherapists use very confrontational imagery during abreactions, such as asking the client to pound a pillow as though he/she is hitting the real or imagined perpetrator of the cause. One of the authors observed Gil Boyne facilitating a regression in the 1980s, asking a stutterer to pound a pillow. Even though Boyne was very paternal and authoritarian, the client enjoyed lasting success. Randal Churchill, originally trained by Boyne, also uses a confrontive style. Churchill has probably facilitated more regressions than almost anyone alive, and he obtains excellent results, as evidenced by his sessions described in his regression books (Churchill, 2002, 2008).
Charles Tebbetts, who also learned regression techniques from Boyne, used a less confrontive style that is more client centered. The authors believe that the client centered approach is more considerate of clients. In other words, neither force nor inhibit abreactions, but allow clients to discharge emotions in their own ways. That being said, using either dissociation or a paternal approach is not incorrect when the client obtains successful results.
We should also avoid interfering during abreactions. This is not the time to offer advice or share our experiences. Rather, it is of utmost importance to be a good listener, regardless of whether the client cries or swears, and so on.
There are three main types of abreactions: intense, moderate or minimal; and some clients will suppress the abreactions. We should consider handling each of these types of abreactions differently in order to facilitate them in a client centered manner. Note that some clients will try to suppress emotional discharges even though speaking in the present tense. In any event, have a box of tissues nearby, as even middle-aged men sometimes cry profusely during hypnotic regression therapy.
Some people are so close to their feelings that they may actually experience abreactions outside of a formal hypnotic trance simply by talking about a past event. For this reason, psychotherapists and mental health counselors who have clients talk about the past may wish to consider formal training in hypnotherapy and HRT so that they can spot the spontaneous trance, or at least obtain training in regression therapy in order to avoid inappropriate leading.
When a regressed client starts an intense abreaction (such as sobbing, screaming, loud swearing, etc.), we may use one of the two options described below if we need to reduce the emotional intensity of the abreaction. In addition, place a tissue in the client’s hand.
1. Emotional distancing (or dissociation):
Now you can imagine either that you are observing the event as an invisible observer, or imagine that you are watching it on a movie screen. Please tell me which is easier for you …
Use the imagery the client chooses. Then ask the “W” questions, listen and deal with what emerges.
2. Reduction of intensity:
Let the scene fade away now and go back to your safe and peaceful place, or a scene in which you are HAPPY and enjoying yourself thoroughly. Be there, feeling how wonderful life is at this moment in time … or simply go back to your safe and peaceful place. Take a deep breath and RELAX, and just feel how wonderful life is at this moment.
It is important to your future happiness that you go back to the previous scene you just experienced—but this time the feelings will be much less intense. For the sake of your happiness, are you willing to go back to that scene for just a short moment?
After obtaining a “yes” response, proceed appropriately with “W” questions, competently dealing with what emerges.
While most clients do not need either of the above techniques, the client centered approach is to use dissociation with the person who feels very intense emotions during a regression.
Clients displaying moderate abreactions are the most common, and fortunately the easiest to help. There may be some crying (though not intense) and/or tears with some feelings verbalized, in which case we may still place a tissue in the client’s hand.
Simply allow the client to abreact, and be a good listener. Once the initial abreactions start subsiding, we can move on to the next step as discussed in the next major section.
Close observation of the client’s facial expressions and non-verbal language (e.g., tone of voice) can help the hypnotherapist determine whether the client is feeling any emotion. Sometimes the evidence might be one lone tear, the trembling of a hand or a few swear words.
We can still proceed to ask the “W” questions until enough information is gathered to identify a core cause that can be released. Listen carefully to be sure that the client is not suppressing the emotions accompanying the event.
A handful of clients attempt to suppress or avoid abreactions altogether even though talking in the present tense. When this happens, we can invite the abreaction by asking:
How does that make you FEEL?
Emphasize the word “feel.” The above question has worked well for both of the authors over the years, as hypnotherapists and as clients. After asking the question, listen carefully to the response. If the client starts verbalizing feelings, proceed with more “W” questions as appropriate. If the client makes further attempts to suppress emotions by either talking in the past tense or by saying something like “I think he should be nicer to me,” and so on, then use a phrase such as the following:
Do not try to think about it. Instead, tell me exactly how that makes you FEEL …
Note the use of the word “try” in the above statement, combined with “do not.” The subconscious ignores the negative (e.g., “Don’t think of a dog”), while the conscious mind hears the whole statement. Meanwhile, the word “try” implies failure to the subconscious; and we do not want the client to think about the process. Instead, he/she needs to feel the experience in order to more easily release it and have a successful catharsis. Roy has used the above two sentences with analytical clients successfully over a period of many years.
When the abreactions start to subside and we have enough information disclosed regarding the event discovered by the regression technique, we may now guide the client back to his/her peaceful (or safe) place. There is no scientific point at which we can say dogmatically that it is time to do so; rather, that decision is often made intuitively based on being a good listener and observer. While it is not a serious problem if we keep the client in the regression too long, doing so can sometimes provide a little more emotional discomfort than necessary for facilitating release. However, taking the client out of the event too soon might inhibit a complete release. So use good clinical judgment to titrate it just right for that particular client.
When appropriate, say:
Now go to your peaceful place. Take a deep breath, and RELAX …
If appropriate, you may give the client a few more suggestions to deepen the hypnotic state and/or rest for a minute or so before employing the informed child technique. When ready, say:
In a moment, I’m going to ask you to go back to that same event, but with ALL of your present adult wisdom, knowledge, understanding, training and experience.
Now … go back to that event once again and BE the [age at regression]-year-old, but with your present adult awareness.
You just [summarize event] … What is your NEW perception of that event?
Listen carefully, and then facilitate Gestalt role play.
Fritz Perls is recognized as a pioneer of Gestalt therapy, which many psychotherapists and psychologists have used over the decades. Gil Boyne employed and taught regression therapy with the use of Gestalt role play as an important step of the releasing process (Boyne, 1989). Randal Churchill also combines Gestalt with his hypnotic regressions (Churchill, 2002). David Quigley, a former student of Churchill, does so as well (Quigley, 2011).
When I (Hunter) studied hypnosis in 1983, Charles Tebbetts showed an old video of Perls facilitating Gestalt role play with several clients. Tebbetts taught that the combination of hypnosis and regression therapy greatly enhanced the effectiveness of Gestalt therapy; and he personally told me that a regression without Gestalt would make it much more difficult for the client to obtain total release from the problem. Note that he also gave credit to Gil Boyne for teaching him how to combine Gestalt with regression.
Additionally, Tebbetts taught that Gestalt role play helps the client establish understanding at a subconscious level, which is often a prerequisite to release (Tebbetts, 1985). Whether or not someone agrees with that opinion, tens of thousands of client successes have resulted from sessions facilitated by the practitioners mentioned above.
After the client tells you his/her new perception of the event, ask the client to speak to the real or imagined perpetrator first. If more than one person is involved (such as a sibling and a parent), let the client choose which person to speak to first, and where to speak to that person. Make it safe for the client to talk by saying words such as:
Imagine that [name of other person] is in front of you right now. He [or she] MUST LISTEN to everything you have to say. Tell that person exactly how his [or her] actions hurt you then, and in the years that followed. Say, [name] you made me feel …
Listen carefully. If client fails to start talking within about 30 seconds, paraphrase the above and again ask the client to speak. Remind the client that it is now SAFE to speak to that person.
He [or she] must now listen to you talk. Remember, you have all your present adult knowledge, wisdom, understanding, intelligence and experience. Tell her [him or them] EXACTLY how you FEEL about what has happened, and how it affected you then and in the years that followed …
Wait for response, and allow the client to speak and express his/her feelings. He/she may talk for several minutes.
Avoid interrupting, but if you accidently do so, quickly apologize and ask the client to please continue. After listening until the client finishes, ask the client if he/she has anything more to add—and listen again. When the client has fully vented, it is time to change roles. Say:
Now, BE YOUR MOTHER [or father, or the person or animal who caused the hurt] and RESPOND!
If there is no immediate response, you may repeat the phrase and then summarize what the client expressed as though you are talking to that person rather than the client:
Now, BE YOUR MOTHER [or father, or the person or animal who caused the hurt] … Your son [or daughter, brother, etc.] says that you [summarize whatever was done]. He [or she] doesn’t know how you can love her and do that! RESPOND TO [client name]!
Note that we must remain objective and avoid siding with either role taken during the role play (Churchill, 2002). Listen to each role carefully, eventually asking the client if he/she has anything else they wish to say to the other person. Go back and forth several times, and then ask:
Do you now release [name or title of perpetrator] from the apology they used to owe you?
Then, last but not least, ask:
Are you now willing to forgive yourself and release yourself from carrying all that hurt for all these years?
If more than one person was involved in the event, ask the client whether he/she wishes to talk to the other person(s) involved. If so, then repeat the above process. Occasionally a client resists releasing a perpetrator, as discussed in the next section.
An occasional client might say that he/she can never forgive that person for what was done. However, even when the client knows that the other person is still living and unwilling to change, he/she can still “give the problem back” to the other person to deal with at another time and place. If forgiveness of the perpetrator is not an option for the client, then at least seek to help the client obtain a greater understanding and expanded perspective, as this is often essential to release.
Do you now release [name or title of perpetrator] to his/her Higher Power or karma; and without condoning, do you give him/her the problem back to deal with it at another time and place?
The above question often helps when the client is convinced that the perpetrator will not change. One of the authors helped a woman over 20 years ago who had claustrophobia. The cause was a sibling who locked her in the closet frequently when their mother was at work. While playing the role of the sadistic sister, it became evident that the sister could never feel remorse; but the above question resulted in successful release. The following week she rode up and down an elevator several times comfortably for the first time in her life.
On rare occasions, a client is still unable to release, even when the above question is asked. If that happens, then simply ask:
What would it take for you to release [name or title of perpetrator]?
Several years ago, a man was upset that his father (still living) continued to tell him how to live his life. His response to the above question was: “Take me to my safe place, where I can take the sword of truth and cut the black cords that Dad tied around me; and then ask me to surround myself with light to prevent him from attaching any more cords to me.” The guided imagery proved successful for that client.
A third form of resistance may result from guilt and/or self-punishment, as sometimes a client is unable or unwilling to forgive him/herself. If this happens, ask:
What would it take for you to forgive or release yourself? [And/or] Haven’t you suffered enough?
Deal with what emerges, and act accordingly. Do not take it upon yourself to supply imagery for release, as the client might strongly dislike your chosen imagery technique. I (Hunter) made a very unwise and costly statement in 1985 with a Jewish woman after mistakenly assuming she was a Christian. After telling her to release the problem into the light of Christ, she immediately broke trance saying, “I’m Jewish, and I resent your using the name of Christ in this session!” She verbally accepted my apology, but never returned for a follow-up session.
Be sure to keep your questions open ended, without engaging in inappropriate leading. If the therapist projects his/her agenda of spiritual or professional beliefs onto the client, the session may backfire and go “south” rapidly, without any lasting results. Let the client’s subconscious tell you how to complete the release.
Even after successful employment of Gestalt therapy, we cannot assume the job is complete. Instead, we should guide the client back to his/her peaceful (or safe) place and confirm release with ideomotor response signals. We should first confirm release of the particular event, and then confirm release of the problem and its causes, in that order. The reason for confirming release of the event first is that we often do not yet know whether the client needs to do Gestalt with another participant in the significant event before being able to release the problem and its causes.
We can confirm release of the event with a question such as:
Please answer with the appropriate finger response. Is that EVENT successfully released?
The reason for the ideomotor response is that an occasional client answers a verbal “yes” while moving either the “no” or “I don’t know” finger, in which case we should accept the ideomotor response.
When clients fail to confirm release of the event, it is usually because there is another perpetrator (person or animal) involved in the incident that must be forgiven or released; and we need to ask the client whom else he/she needs to talk to. One of the authors had a client in 2010 who needed Gestalt role play with a parent who was not present during a fight with a sibling. In another case, a client in Gestalt therapy talked to a teacher who should have supervised recess at school when he was bullied.
If the client does not provide a clear answer when you ask who else they wish to talk to, but still seem reluctant to release the event, then ask:
What will it take for you to completely release that event?
Deal with what emerges. One of the authors had a client who responded to the above question by saying she wanted to give her burden to an angel. Release occurred with object projection (i.e., giving the problem a shape, color and size and projecting it outside herself). This was combined with imagery of a sacred place where she could then imagine giving the object to an angel. Another client said that she needed to bury her problem in the ground, fertilize it and let it grow into a lotus. After she moved forward in time in her mind to observe the growing lotus, release was confirmed.
If you are running out of time, it is acceptable to pause the regression at this point and continue in a subsequent session, even if the client wishes to do Gestalt role play with another perpetrator. However, it is the opinion of the authors that interrupting the session earlier than the release of at least one perpetrator from an event is not considerate of the client, and should only be done if the session must be ended. In the event that we have to pause a regression after releasing either an event or a perpetrator (for lack of time or an unexpected reason), the regression may be continued at that point in a subsequent session; otherwise, continue.
Once the client confirms complete release of the event, we can now proceed to confirm whether any other events must be discovered and released. Ask a question such as the following:
Please allow your subconscious, or your inner mind, to answer the next question with the appropriate finger response: Is there any other event that must be discovered and released?
In the event of either a “yes” or “I don’t know” response to the above question, at least one more regression is required to discover and release another event. Whether the second regression occurs the same day (time permitting) or at a subsequent session, we need to be ready to change regression techniques if necessary in order to guide the client back appropriately to another event. Also, we often may not know whether the event already cleared is the ISE or the AE until after the second event is uncovered during hypnosis.
Even after confirming release of the second event at a second regression, we should still ask the question about any additional events. On occasion, the subconscious takes a client back to one or more SSEs in order to completely release a problem.
Years ago, one of Roy Hunter’s hypnotherapy students had a fear of snakes. Her phobia was so intense that she was unable to even look at a picture of a snake. He employed the affect bridge in a classroom demonstration, taking her back to an incident at age three, which proved to be her ISE.
After she picked up a snake in the yard, her father panicked and told her to run for her life. She watched him use a shovel to beat the snake to a bloody pulp, resulting in her father imprinting his fear of snakes onto his daughter. Meanwhile, her older brother watched from the porch. The AE occurred only a few hours later, as her brother dropped a garden snake in her lap and said, “Snake’s gonna get you! Run, run for your life!”
Her subconscious indicated more events to discover and release. The first SSE that needed to be cleared happened during grade school when her brother learned that he could terrify his sister with just a photograph of a snake. The final subsequent sensitizing event requiring release happened at a frat party in college, when her boyfriend threw a live snake around her neck as a joke. She ran out the front door screaming, running across the street and almost getting run over by a car while she threw off the snake.
After the session, she told the class that she discarded the boyfriend almost as quickly as she discarded the snake. Several weeks after the classroom session, she told the class that she was now able to look at pictures of snakes even though she retained respect for the danger of the poisonous ones.
Whether it takes one regression or several regressions, we should be persistent until the client finally indicates that there are no further events to discover and release. When that confirmation comes from the subconscious, ask:
Is that problem and its causes totally released now?
Once the client answers in the affirmative, we can move into the subconscious relearning phase discussed in the next chapter. However, when the client answers the above question with either a “no” or “I don’t know” response, ask what it will take to completely release the problem, and deal with what emerges. If the subconscious does not know how to obtain total release, then consider scheduling parts therapy or one of its variations (such as ego state therapy or voice dialogue) in a subsequent session.
Note that after successfully releasing all events pertaining to the cause of the problem, the third of the four primary hypnotherapy objectives is complete: release. We are now ready to move into Phase 4: subconscious relearning.