Hidden Depths: The Story of Hypnosis by Robin Waterfield Page B

behaviourist quiver. Freudian or psychodynamic methods are good for allowing the origin of problems to be brought to the surface, examined and explained, so that the undesirable effect can be made harmless. Behaviour-modification techniques are good for breaking ingrained habit patterns which contribute to problems. Then at the end of the treatment the therapist might suggest some reinforcing method, such as self-hypnosis or visualizations, with or without affirmations and positive thinking. Ideally each case will be judged on its own merits, and treatments tailored to the client's particular nature and needs, rather than the therapist's being so committed to a school that she cannot use techniques outside of that school.
    Regression is a common technique, and has featured in films such as the 1946 Oscar-winning
The Seventh Veil
. In regression the therapist takes you back to your childhood, to uncover the origins of some syndrome or problem that you have. What caused that fear of spiders? Why did you originally start to stammer? In regression you can see the start of the problem, and begin to untie the knot.
    I like the Freudian anagram technique: the hypnotized patient is told to imagine a box containing all the letters of the alphabet. She takes a handful of the letters, throws them into the air and watches them land. Those that land face up will form a word (so the therapist instructs) which will be related to the patient's problem. There are similar techniques, such as being taken through a symbolic journey, in which the things you encounter – a gate, an animal – are symbols with mental and emotional values. These are all ways for the therapist and client to see what is going on deep in the unconscious, so that measures can be taken to deal with whatever the problem may be. Sometimes being brought face to face with the roots of a problem can cause what is known as ‘abreaction’ – a cathartic, emotional reaction such as weeping. If such a thing occurs, the therapist will gently guide the patient through it, and show her why it happened.
    Behaviourist measures can seem quite drastic. In order to deal with a phobia, the therapist will take advantage of the ability of a hypnotized subject to visualize things vividly. Suppose you have a fear of spiders: you will gradually be brought to the point, over a series of images, to where you can cope with spiders crawling onyour stomach, perhaps. Or aversion is a technique whereby you are trained to associate a habit like smoking with something unpleasant, until you are put off smoking. These are techniques for ‘reframing’ – locating something that was perceived as a problem inside a new frame of reference, one in which it is no longer a problem, or at least less of one. As the old saying goes, an optimist perceives as half full a glass which a pessimist perceives as half empty: they have different frames. Since there is a connection between thinking and emotion, and between emotion, breathing and bodily posture, working on any of these can help to bring about the required change. Some therapists literally displace the problem. Milton Erickson once got a woman who was scared of flying to imagine a plane trip on which there was plenty of air turbulence, and to let her fear slide out of her and on to her seat. She had shed it; it was no longer part of her.
    Although the patient appears to be will-less, letting the therapist stand in for his will, I would rather say that the patient is distracting his will, akin to the Zen practice of acting through non-action. If you confront a problem head-on, you treat it like an adversary, which gives it power, and makes it harder to get rid of. But if you sideline the problem, or treat it in an avuncular fashion, as the manifestation of the spoiled child within you, so to speak, its hold over you is lessened. This is passivity, but not will-less passivity. Having said that, however, it is likely that direct,