hypnosis therapy

I'm supposed to be starting hypnosis therapy soon to be brought back to traumatic event?

I don't know much about it.

Is there anyone who could give me some information please? like what happens during a session. what are the sideeffects etc.

alone_lost wrote:I'm supposed to be starting hypnosis therapy soon to be brought back to traumatic event?

I don't know much about it.

Is there anyone who could give me some information please? like what happens during a session. what are the sideeffects etc.

Two plus years in the care of a hypnotherapist, EMDR, ego state therapist and the first thing I will warn you of, trust him/her or do NOT proceed.

I found my hypnotherapist purely by accident, because that was not what I was seeking at the time (since I had never heard of nor been sent to anyone but CBT types before this). But a psychiatrist of mine suggested him and we were off to the races. Once I found out what he was... Things got complicated though.

Very long story short, twenty plus years of various abusers, abuse, compounding comorbid conditions, left my mind littered with repressed traumatic memories and PTSD triggers. So bad that to this day therapist will not let me near hypnosis. I'm one of those people that nearly any smell, sound, sight, color even sometimes, can trigger repressed memory flashbacks, and then turn around and have no memory of it happening or have incomplete memories.

Or at least I used to.

Oh yes, do not get me wrong (why I'm here typing and posting today) I still have bad bouts, days, even weeks long bouts, but with his help and sometimes the poor man is ready to pull his hair out, we have found what i still only call The Others and helped me become more aware of HOW I am triggered, what, who, where is involved.

This all took a HUGE amount of trust bridge building by him. Do NOT do this kind of diving into traumatic past casually. I do not know how many times i had psychologists and therapists pop the cork on a PTSD trauma memory and throw me out of their office telling me to "come back when you calm down."

Turns out the only reason I lived to drive home from those? The Guardian ego states within me. When I get wildly freaked out, I dissociate and they take over motor skills like driving. Yeah, they are rigid and have issues with changes in my driving route and access ME to make route changes for road construction etc., but... They are why I'm alive after some... well a large chunk of my repressed memories are FROM professional abuse.

Trust whoever you are letting inside your head, because guess what? If you are DID and whatever he/she goes digging around is what caused any part of that DID, your alters/ego states will not let that person in. They will work very hard to protect you.

Now there are hypnotic things he does to me, subtle things. Things we notice even when our core personality does not. There are methods to either talking directly to the subconscious or at least asking for its input. That is how we accidentally opened the door for me to talk with The Others and more importantly, some of them to talk to him.

BTW... be ready for some weird $#%^ down in those traumatic places, because when it is an early childhood memory... those can come with some really weird sensory or lack there of input depending on how old that ego state is and how developed they were cognitively to understand the world around you back then.

First time one of the littlest hurt ones crawled into the driver's seat (that is what I call when I share mental time/space/emotional state with one or more of them, the driver's seat)... If you have ever read or seen how children are when scared to freaken death... be prepared to live that moment.

Being curious, wanting to know your different parts, your hurt parts most of all, can help, because once I realize a new trigger/bout/weirdness by his/hers name or at least that it is a moment of me trapped in the past... It tends to help greatly with the reliving it.

If you are lucky... You only have one traumatic major core problem, and the other parts of you, can all help you cope. As I have learned, I have dozens, perhaps hundreds of hurt ones due to many sources of abuse and trauma over three decades, chunks of which i still have no memories of. But when I'm around this therapist, for the first time EVER, the others come out confident they will not be abused or yelled down, and some of them talk the therapist's ear off

Sorry, I rather enjoy it. Even on the bad days when a hurt one comes out. Once we identify the hurt one and can talk either with them or let them tell his/hers story... Then it turns into something surreal. Something like a religious experience, a joy, a sudden absence of pain.

But... it took therapist almost two years to get TO that point, so... Do not be expecting this to be quick. When the others are ready to talk, when they think you are ready to hear what they have to say... That is when things will progress positively.

I wish I had more... hard facts for you, sorry there >_>

but how did you get to remember your repressed memories? Was that through Hypnosis?

alone_lost wrote:but how did you get to remember your repressed memories? Was that through Hypnosis?

Depends on how broad a definition of hypnosis you use. The dramatic type you see on TV? No. Subtle little things, techniques he used that took entire sessions and/or employed neurological backdoors to talk with my subconscious and unconscious minds? Yes, many times.

But I was fully aware during all of these. No deep induction methods were used on me. Apparently I'm a bit too high risk for those. But the techniques he did use helped my subcon to be able to talk to him (and me at times) and also helped me to pull back from painful flashbacks right in his office, so we could all talk about them as they happened, sort out what was going on, why, how, when, etc..

Though I have heard stories of deep induction used to dig up deeply repressed memories, painful events, these things take work, a level of trust from the patient/client, and the subcon willing to comply, since hypnosis pretty much shutsdown/bypasses the conscious mind and talks directly to the subcon.

And by all counts, if done well, the patient/client will have no memory of the experience if what is found down there is too traumatic to be coped with. But it can also be a great way to pull up long lost things that sabotage your here and now, but basically you'd be reliving something really unpleasant in one shocking info dump. Thus why in my case it is avoided so strongly. I have dozens and dozens of the things apparently. And just from what I have remembered in flashbacks... beatings from teachers, parents, violent screaming assaults by teachers, counselors, doctors, parents... Things like being told I need to die, was just a cancer on society, death threats from a doctor and first psychiatrist I ever went to, etc..

Never will forget the day I had my first flashback in a psychologist's office (not a therapist, a PhD psychologist). The guy BSOD on me. I've had so many flashbacks through the years, 19yrs of my sleep was full of the things, so I'm a bit better equipped to deal with them than every day people suddenly getting them, and apparently something about my flashback triggered the psychologist. I had to help him back to able to talk again over the next 10-15 min, lol. He just sat there, unmoving, non verbal through my flashback and afterwards. He pointedly avoided all flashback and nightmare talk after that with me, lol.

-- Tue Jun 30, 2015 1:17 pm --

alone_lost wrote:but how did you get to remember your repressed memories? Was that through Hypnosis?

Bloody hell, I didn't answer your first question very well now did I? Apologies.

I remembered some things and am still working on it to this day, via therapist building trust with my Others. Also my developing better self awareness of subtle clues and better understanding of my internal symbology. Vast vast majority of my progress had nothing to do with in session therapy. A LOT of looking inward, listening, being open to little cues, and just raw curiosity.

But that said, once the Others started to use the therapy sessions to talk more with the therapist than I did... Lots and lots of old ego states/flashback roots, traumatized parts have slowly come forth. I've learned how to communicate with some of them. And I don't mean talk verbally. Most of it is learning an emotional language, since many of mine are child states has been our guess. IE, before cognitive abilities developed as I aged, so emotions are all they have, and flashes of images, bits of screaming or pain, etc.

It is... surreal, and pretty cool when one of them comes out because they trust the therapist and I get to watch them talk or at least communicate with him while all I do is interpret between them and watch.

I've got to be honest. I don't understand much of this.

With the others do you mean. Different sides of you. And what do you mean you can talk to them.

Sorry, I don't really understand what you mean

alone_lost wrote:I've got to be honest. I don't understand much of this.

With the others do you mean. Different sides of you. And what do you mean you can talk to them.

Sorry, I don't really understand what you mean

*chuckles* Don't feel bad, neither did I at first and I live in this brain.

First off, I have found the modern mental healthcare field shockingly lacking in terms to name anything outside of the basic conditions (depression, anxiety, hearing voices, hallucinations, etc.), so I've had to wing it as far as certain things go. Hell, last new psychiatrist medicare sent me to threw me out of her office when the Others tried to explain themselves to her. She just flipped out and screamed at me to leave, lol.

Dissociative Identity Disorder is actually on a spectrum of dissociative disorders that are at best poorly understood. Ironically, hypnotherapists are about the only member of the mental healthcare field with any regular experience with it.

Next, in my case I do not hollywood "switch" personalities, have the loss of time, complete radical change in body language, etc.. What I get is me with someone else or several elses all vying for what I now call the "driver's seat." My therapist calls those I talk with ego states. Or protectors. Additionally, as has been found out through a LOT of trial and error over the last five years, one of the origins of my DID is the fact I have very very little barrier between my past, present, and the different ego states everyone has in their lives. Ever hear of the analogy the hats we wear to work, into the bedroom, when we talk to doctors, when we talk to kids, etc.? Well in my case the natural barriers between them is nearly non existent. And when I get stressed it tends to completed evaporate. For years it was like hearing a storm of voices screaming in my head and I had no clue what it was because doctor after doctor, therapist after therapist, all told me the same thing. "There is nothing wrong with you. Aren't you ashamed of being a cancer on society? Go away."

In time I have learned a whole lot better how to listen to them and in some case sort of communicate with them. They do not use word conversation like we are here in this forum thread. It is impressions, emotions, flashes of images or sometimes lines of dialogue.

Is this how all of it works for everyone? I have no idea. I had heard little of any of this until just two, three years ago when I stumbled upon this website and began to ask professionals IRL about this stuff and in turn triggered the Others to openly start talking to me and some of those professionals.

But to simplify, yes the Others are other parts of me within my head. The Hurt Ones are what I call those from my past who were victims of child abuse, beatings, attacks, from teachers and other authority figures outside of those of my immediate family. This side of my mind is the part I work to open dialogue with in therapy AND at times when I become triggered, since we have learned what typically happens when I have flashbacks or a panic attack is one of my Hurt Ones has become active for one reason or another and must now be dealt/worked with.

The Protectors or the helpful ones that I am able to sometimes pull back into myself to listen to, and get some advice from, are literally just that. The parts of ME that want to help the conscious side of me.

Apparently there is a considerable difference between what our conscious side is and what the sub and unconscious sides of our minds are, do, does, etc..

I hope this helps to clear things up at all. Keeping asking questions though until you do better understand. It is what I have had to do for the last five years to even begin to understand what I do now (and it was not in mental health care providers offices I got most of these answers, since very very few of them want to provide information).

I cant believe therapists turned you away like that. That must have been awful for you. It's just so wrong. How can they have turned you away like that?

I'm glad that you learned how to understand yourself.

I get it a bit better.

I don't think it will be like that for me. I don't have DID.

It sounds like you've been through so much. I've been through abuse too. Twice.

And yes of course that's why you developed DID. Maybe as a coping mechanism. I don't know enough about it. But you said you have protectors.

But I agree with the unconciouss and subconscious thing.

For me it's like the outside of me has made progress. But not whats in me. Not all the pain from the abuse. I just block all that up. And I want to let it all out. I just don't know how.

It sounds like you have a tough life. But well done for not giving up on youself when others did give up on you.

alone_lost wrote:I cant believe therapists turned you away like that. That must have been awful for you. It's just so wrong. How can they have turned you away like that?

This may shock you, but my experience is not unique, but at the same time rare. After finding this current therapist we had a lot of conversations about all this, because a large chunk of my PTSD + DID is from professional abuse, it boils down to in complex, difficult cases like mine most professionals have either NEVER seen a single case of complex PTSD much less DID, and well... just because it says "healthcare professional" in their job description does not mean they ARE professional. Too much work to be worth their time, ignorance, lack of education, and just lack of want to honestly help those in serious need... all play a factor in finding healthcare of any kind at my end of the illness, medical and psychiatric conditions spectrum.

And yes, it was awful for him. For forty years he was convinced he was just a stupid, retarded #######1 that was nothing more than a cancer on society and deserved to die, because that is what his first three mental healthcare experiences independently each told him. This is why him and MANY parts amongst the hurt ones trigger severely any time he goes near any authority figures, healthcare, law enforcement, and teachers. Teachers told him for years he was just too stupid, just do your best, and refused to let him ask any questions about problems he had with assignments, etc.. Doctors, psychiatrists, counselors all of them... He has been told to go away and basically die, no one will ever want to be around someone "like you" as recently as 2012 on the suicide crisis hotline. And law enforcement were the ones that enforced those acts against him time n time again.

And it is all due to how poorly humans treat other humans with mental health issues. It isn't even hatred in most cases. Purely self defensive lashing out at the victim subconsciously and walking off feeling superior, that's all.

I'm glad that you learned how to understand yourself.

I get it a bit better.

I don't think it will be like that for me. I don't have DID.

It sounds like you've been through so much. I've been through abuse too. Twice.

And yes of course that's why you developed DID. Maybe as a coping mechanism. I don't know enough about it. But you said you have protectors.

But I agree with the unconciouss and subconscious thing.

For me it's like the outside of me has made progress. But not whats in me. Not all the pain from the abuse. I just block all that up. And I want to let it all out. I just don't know how.

It sounds like you have a tough life. But well done for not giving up on youself when others did give up on you.

You said something very important amongst all that, maybe more important than you realize.

For me it's like the outside of me has made progress. But not whats in me. Not all the pain from the abuse. I just block all that up. And I want to let it all out. I just don't know how.

The basis of ego state therapy and near as I can tell hypnotherapy is firmly in your court, but regardless of whatever symptoms you may suffer from those repressed memories and internal pains, dealing with them takes time and a lot of work. But the willingness to GO THERE and DO that work, is the make or break point in treatment for them.

I and we wish you luck with it. I had no idea they *points back into the crowd in me head* were even there before I started therapy and was more or less in your shoes at wanting things just dealt with, fixed, taken care of FINALLY. And BTW, They do not mean I have DID actually, because as ego state therapy is based upon, we ALL have parts. It is just when some of them cause us problems in our every day life that there is a problem.

Just be open to whatever you find "down there" once y'all start digging into things. Curiosity is a GREAT BOON to learning more about yourself and your inner workings. I've learned where several fetishes come from, why I like to talk stories so much (internal coping mechanism), and so so much more.

There can be some scary $#%^ down there, locked away, I know I have to live now with something I wish I did not know about my own mother, mainly because it poisons my here and now with hatred of "how could that @@@@@@@ do that to me her own child????" but it is a recent discovery and... and honestly I may never come wholly to terms with it. But on the converse side, it opened new doors in my story telling I never suspected MIGHT be there.

Learn to take the good with the bad, and see the silver linings. Sometimes... *sigh* that is all we have.

I have seen sessions of hyno done and trust me; it isnt what you see on Derren Brown where he snaps his fingers and the client goes into induced sleep.

No. It is really going into a super relaxed mode; where the client is fully aware of what is happening and is capable to reaching deep into memory to retrieve events and memories because of the relaxation. and yes trust is a big big part of this.

I have seen clients talking to themselves, ie the good side and bad side of themselves and have a negotiation. ie should i continue smoking or not?" yes man" comes out and says that smoking relaxes, then hyno-therapist invites the "no man" to come out to state his case, this happens repeatedly and a conclusion is reached.

well it didn't work for me. I don't think I was even in my subconscious mind.