by Katherine Zimmerman
We all know that hypnotherapy assists people in making amazing changes in their lives and empowers them in the process. While the following case history isn’t typical of the clients I see, it is interesting to see how the session unfolds. And I think that it is an excellent example of working on an issue with no prior experience.
Leonard discloses a diagnosis of Tourette’s Syndrome in the interview. Symptoms of Tourette’s disorder (TD) include motor tics (sudden body movements) and vocal tics (sounds and words) that are not under the person’s control.
This client believes that there is an underlying emotional cause which he wants to identify and release. After the interview and induction, Leonard enters his sanctuary and is feeling carefree. I give him a few moments to absorb that feeling even more and tell him to allow his body movements to simply deepen his relaxation.
When I deepen his trance state further, Leonard reports that he’s feeling, “descended – like lying on the grass.” Of course, I still want a number and ask “if lying on the grass had a number what number would it be?” It’s a two.
Next I check for Leonard’s ideomotor signals so that I can communicate directly with his subconscious mind. Once they are established we proceed. “Tell me, subconscious, are you creating the twitching that Len experiences in his body? Yes or no?”
The answer is “yes.” Next I ask the subconscious if the twitching provides any benefit for Len. The ideomotor response is “no.”
Since there is no benefit, I inform the subconscious that Len would really like to experience life without the twitching. Next I ask the subconscious if it’s willing to eliminate all this involuntary twitching from Len’s body? Yes or no? The ideomotor response is a “yes.”
I wonder if there is any information that Len needs to know or understand before the subconscious eliminates this twitching? The ideomotor response is a “yes.” Subconscious, I ask, are you willing to bring that information into Len’s conscious mind. The ideomotor response is a “yes.”
I suggest that the subconscious mind run a movie in Len’s mind so that he’ll understand the cause. And if Len wants to share that with me, he can describe the movie that comes up.
Len’s movie shows a “scary scene – my brother’s chasing me. I’m seven and I’m scared. I run when I’m scared. And I cover my eyes and ears. I’m trying, trying not to notice, trying not to be scared.”
I ask seven year old Len what his body does when he tries not to be scared? He tells me that it feels like he’s trapped in a bubble so he won’t be hurt. His brother is younger, Len tells me but he’s not afraid of anything. His brother knows that Len is afraid of “bugs and things and likes to scare him.”
I give Len an opportunity now to change what happened. As the writer and director of this experience he can make this turn out anyway he wants. Instead of feeling scared and trapped, Len wants to be fearless and not be scared. Seven year old Len doesn’t know how to change this scene. He just knows that he wants his brother to stop. I suggest that Len can simply ask his brother to stop. He can just tell him, “That’s enough, stop it.”
Len does say “stop” but not very convincingly. I encourage him to say it louder. “Stop! You know I don’t like that. You know I’m scared of bugs,” Len tells his brother. His brother agrees to stop and Len reports that now he feels relaxed. I ask him if there is anything else that he wants to change in this scene. No, Len tells me. All he wanted was for this brother to stop tormenting him. And now, “It’s good. Like I can take my hand away from my face and ears.” At the moment, there’s no anxiety in his body.
While Len relaxes and enjoys his new outcome I give him some suggestions and tell him a story: Experience that feeling of no anxiety in that seven year old body now. Just notice how every part of your body is carefree, comfortable. In fact, you know what animals do? This might be interesting for both seven year old Len and grown-up Len, there is a certain animal, I tell him, I think it’s a gazelle. When the gazelle is being stalked by a tiger, it plays dead, and it actually emits a chemical that makes the tiger think it has died. So the tiger loses interest, because he only likes to eat fresh meat. After the tiger leaves, and the danger has passed, the gazelle gets up and shakes off that impression that he was dead. He just shakes it off. So, seven year old Len, I want you to shake off that frightened feeling that you had in your body. Just shake it off. Permanently. Shake it off. Imagine what can you do to get all that out. You might want to jump up and down. What can you do to get all of that out so it isn’t stuck anywhere in your body? Len tells me that he felt “this bulge around me and it just went, uh, out.” And now seven year old Len’s body is feeling much better now.
Grown-up Len tells his seven year old that it will be okay now. And the boy tells his adult self that he will be, too.
Sometimes I run into clients years after their sessions and learn that their lives changed dramatically as a result of the work that we accomplished. I’d love to tell you that Leonard’s Tourette’s was resolved with this session but he didn’t do any follow up work so I don’t know the long-term outcome. Although he certainly felt much calmer when he was re-alerted.