The very topic takes me back many years to a Sarah Jane, a twenty eight year old lady who was in great pain because of advanced cancer, she did not want to increase her drugs because she said they robbed her of mental clarity. So even before, I learnt about hypnosis I had recognized the power of telling stories and helping people relax. So she had me tell her stories of my camping holidays and of walks in the mountains.

Closing her eyes, she would drift off, as I too got lost in the recollection of those innocent adventures in the hills. Getting lost in the dark, ranting farmers, even more angry cows and the beautiful smell of coffee and a cooked breakfast in the open air.

Always believing there was something outside of the allopathic model to relieve pain; it was Sarah, David, Chrissie, Nick, Nic’s and many others whom I worked with. Who are responsible for my journey into acupuncture and hypnosis.

Today there are countless studies that show the amazing power of the mind to lessen or banish pain, so how do people do this ?

Well we know that when a person is in a hypnotic state they are in a similar brain wave pattern to the REM (rapid eye movement) state. More commonly associated with sleep; we drift in and out of this pattern twenty-four seven.

The REM state seems to be a brain wave function that is associated with the ability to create a dream like reality and deep relaxation. This natural human ability enables you to enhance your concentration, bypass worrying thoughts and create a focus that can change your brains interpretation of your present reality.

Let me now answer a few questions that come up time and again.

So can everyone go into hypnosis? well yes. But there are a few people for whom it may be difficult. Some who have taken lots of drugs, or who are on the autistic scale may find it harder. For the rest of us practice makes perfect. Remember you are just harnessing and using a perfectly natural function of your brain, nothing weird about that.

Who can benefit? We all can benefit from relaxing deeply, our immune system and digestion can work unhindered by the robust voice of stress when in a hypnotic state. Natural pain killers, endorphins are also produced when relaxing. So our own pain killing chemicals, extra energy and a clear mind are just some of the benefits of hypnosis; but changing our reality is the second part of the equation when looking at pain control with hypnosis.

Our brain does not feel pain but sends signals to the various parts of the body to say that something is wrong. So in the case of long term chronic pain or childbirth, a person can keep an image of something that convinces the body that all is well and they do not have to respond to those messages.

So for instance birthing women who relax will have a body full of endorphins; they can add to this ability to diminish pain, by thinking of the ‘contractions’ (see Marks article on language that makes us ill) as waves of energy like the sea. Or they might focus on their baby getting nearer to being in their arms. Their brain acts like some reality simulator and bypasses the normal pain response.

What is realistic to expect? A Meta analysis of clinical and experimental studies in 2000 revealed that a staggering seventy-five percent of participants with various types of pain, obtained substantial relief through hypnosis.

One trial of people having the invasive heart treatment angioplasty, showed that patients found the sedatative effects of hypnosis better than diazepam (valium).

So from the banishment of pain to it’s reduction, hypnosis is a winner. Even if it means that you take less medication, that alone will be of benefit in the long term.

To learn how to do it

And for an article on pain relief using hypnosis with phantom limb pain

The students worked on each other, each in groups of four for the day, looked after by one of our appointed supervisors. Taking it in turns to be therapist and client, they had an hour to do the solution focused questioning and gather resources before a hypnotic induction.

Each student had a turn in being both therapist and client and as clients they bought along real issues for their colleague to deal with.

We have had received stories about phobia’s that had been there for years, gone in one session. From needles to birds those students can now face the things that used to inject so much terror.

Also those who had to face very difficult situations, that were causing concern…….overcome and faced with calmness and clarity. Improved sleep patterns and less procrastination. Well done this class of 2008.

I started to think about the importance of creative play a few weeks ago; I was out running and stopped suddenly at the site before me. Hove beach awash with driftwood from the stricken Ice Princess, had become the perfect playground and was full of deliriously happy kids. Their imaginations were running riot, all totally engrossed as they played out being builders on a new planet, pirates and monsters.

I could not help think that although it was gorgeous to see the kids having such a wonderful time it something was weird. Then it dawned on me…..no adults organizing them. The parents sat around in groups chatting and enjoying each other’s company.

So after a coffee and some research on the net, a picture started to form about changing nature of children’s play. There has been an increase in adult led, toy centered, rule bound play that has had a detrimental effect on the development of children’s emotional and cognitive development.

In a recent book by play historian Chudacoff he says “It’s interesting to me that when we talk about play today, the first thing that comes to mind are toys. Whereas when I would think of play in the 19th century, I would think of activity rather than an object.”

With the ever increasing growth in toys and pre-scripted play, children now wave a plastic gun instead of a piece of wood. Combine this with the ever more sanitized and protected environments that we create for children to keep them safe; and we have limited their make believe world that equips them for adulthood.

It turns out that all that time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate. Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.

Psychologist Elena Bodrova at Mid-Continent Research for Education and Learning says
‘We know that children’s capacity for self-regulation has diminished. A recent study replicated a study of self-regulation first done in the late 1940s, in which psychological researchers asked kids ages 3, 5 and 7 to do a number of exercises. One of those exercises included standing perfectly still without moving. The 3-year-olds couldn’t stand still at all, the 5-year-olds could do it for about three minutes, and the 7-year-olds could stand pretty much as long as the researchers asked. In 2001, researchers repeated this experiment. “Today’s 5-year-olds were acting at the level of 3-year-olds 60 years ago, and today’s 7-year-olds were barely approaching the level of a 5-year-old 60 years ago,” Bodrova explains. “So the results were very sad.’

In other studies, children with poor executive function had trouble waiting, co-operating and would be more inclined to say something that would offend. Teenagers would need more help with organizing themselves, deciding the importance of tasks and sticking with a project for a long period. These children were more likely to be involved in crime and drop out of school.

However; children who had good executive function were more easily able to exercise self confidence, solve problems and monitor their responses. The result of this is that they were better able to learn, concentrate and get on with others.

As executive function researcher Laura Berk explains, “Self-regulation predicts effective development in virtually every domain.” And is a more reliable guide to success than IQ.
The same was discovered in the famous 1960’s ‘marshmallow test’ where children of four years old were given a marshmallow and asked to wait twenty minutes before eating it; if they did they would get an extra one. The researchers followed them into adolescence and found that those children who were able to defer gratification were better adjusted and more dependable.
So how is this achieved? In make-believe play children do a great deal of ‘private talk.’ Berk say’s that this is where we talk our way through what we plan to do. This helps us when we are older to organize our lives, solve problems, exercise restraint and a whole host of other complex cognitive skills.

I recall playing with a friend’s three year old recently and she poured too much water into the pot of glue we were making for paper mache, I mentioned that it would not hold and waited to see what she would do. She stirred for some time, talked endlessly about the goo, pushed her fingers and generally made a complete mess. Then she went outside got some dusty soil from the edge of the driveway and added it to the pot to make a thicker paste. Genius!!!!!

When we strip away our rules of the game they are left to make their own. No longer slaves to information from adults minds, children can try out their own theories and problem solving. Play then becomes a process of learning through experience not compiling external information.

If after reading this article you are tempted to google ‘creative play’ you will be disappointed to learn that the first two website pages I opened talk about the equipment and toys you will need for creative play!!!!!

Of course the real answer in my book is they need nothing but their imaginations. And I was using my imagination when I mentioned about using a branch for a horse. I had a stuffed pull along dog, Blackie, that in the night when no one was looking became the fastest horse in the West, the envy of every cowgirl!!

We talked about some basic ideas that may shed light on teenage behaviour and skills that can be useful in lifting that depression. I thought some of you would find what we discussed useful.

The genetic debateSome people say that genes are responsible but depression has increased ten fold over the last two generations. A statistic that forces us to look beyond genetics, so what are we left with?

Teenage brains: do not finish developing until their early twentiesThe section of the brain that sits behind the forehead is called the frontal cortex, in a teenager continues to grow until they are about twenty two. The frontal cortex is responsible for thinking things through, empathy, reading external stimuli and a whole host of things.

In a USA study they found that when they asked teenagers and adults to look at a picture (of someone who was angry) and guess the emotion expressed. Only fifty percent of the teenagers compared to one hundred percent of the adults got it right.

Interestingly they found that when they wired up the participants brains, the researchers found that when the teenagers were looking at the picture most of the activity was in the back part of the head and this is to do with gut instinct and emotions. The adults showed most activity in the frontal cortex.

The consequesnces of this are that teenagers will be more emotional and often misread what others say or how they look. Teenagers process information differently so may not understand things that adults assume have been made clear.

The link between junk food and antisocial behaviour.
The UK prison trial at Aylesbury jail showed that when young men there were fed multivitamins, minerals and essential fatty acids, the number of violent offences they committed in the prison fell by 37%. Although no one is suggesting that poor diet alone can account for the complexity of violent behavior, the former chief inspector of prisons Lord Ramsbotham says that he is now ‘absolutely convinced that there is a direct link between diet and antisocial behaviour’

TV can make people exhausted
The fast scene changes in many films and computer games causes something called the orientation response in our brain to continually fire off and this can cause the exhaustion that is characteristic of depression; if too much time is spent playing games or watching action movies on TV.

Not lazy, just have a different set of chemicals to what we adults haveOur sleep cycles are partly governed by a chemical called melatonin, teenager’s melatonin is set to have them up late and sleep later in the morning.

Some of the consequences of underdeveloped brains, and different sleep cycles can lead parents to think that their child is unhappy. High emotionality, quick to react, inability to express themselves clearly and needing lots of sleep can be misinterpreted as the onset of depression but there are other factors that are more significant.

The meaning we attach to events is a deciding factor in depression or happinessThe eminent psychologist Martin Seligman discovered that our ‘explanatory styles’ are what decides our path to depression or feeling fine. That simply means the way in which we explain life’s events to ourselves.

So if a teenager looses in a hockey match and says to himself ‘ I always play rubbish, there is no point in me being in the team in the future as I won’t ever be useful. And I am now not looking forward to going to school at all.’ This is what he calls a global, specific and permanent style and is likely to make the person anxious and feel low.

However if that teenager after that match says ‘ that was not my best game, but the competition was tough and there is still another chance to get in to the final next week…………and I am seeing my mates tonight will cheer me up’ this way of looking at ‘bad’ events inoculates against depression.

Adult and teenage depression can be treated in the same way.
The National Institute of Clinical Excellence decided in 2005 that Drugs should not be the first line of treatment for anyone suffering from depression, also that teenagers and children should rarely be prescribed drugs (antidepressant medication.) Their research shows that talking therapies should be the first line of approach in treatment.

Our Depression Learning Path has helped many suffers of depression, it has a section on Seligman’s explanatory styles. So if you are a teenager who is feeling low or are worried about someone else; they like thousands of others may find the depression learning path helpful. Its all free so take a look.

The facilitators took two groups of students and asked one group to recall their journey to the campus and the others to think about their last meal. They were then all offered unlimited biscuits; the group that had thought about their last meal ate less than the other group. So on TV a psychologist was advocating we should all imagine our last meal and this would stop us snacking later.

She said that we always have a choice and that if we think about what we had before we can then think that ‘I am not going to snack later’ ‘Oh yeah’ I felt myself murmur.

Great thought, but only part of the picture, as many people who have struggled with their weight will know. Those people are very familiar with the cravings that seem to possess every fiber of their being and flood them with thoughts of eating. These inner drives are so hard to ignore, no matter what our conscious brain tells us.

Because our natural instincts can be highjacked by unconscious processes we can crave something before we think consciously about it. Often this urge is the body chemically asking for sustenance and conscious intervention will rarely make it fade. You will see this in people who have yo yo dieted for years where their body believes it has a feast and famine existence.

Also if you eat a diet that is loaded with refined foods or heavy on the carbohydrates this causes your body’s blood sugar to have a roller coaster effect. So your fuel gauge swings from thinking it is empty, to too full. The chemicals it pumps out to deal with this can make you feel lethargic, emotional and craving sugary foods.

Then you can have habits that are mismatches of our basic needs. So if you feel lonely and turn to food for a comfort this is a faulty pattern match. Read the article on basic needs to ensure that your needs are met in an appropriate way.

Finally the process that can override the ability to make clear choices are limiting beliefs. The old war mentality that makes you clear the food left on your kids plates is way out of date. Or a belief that you are ugly that causing anxiety, stress being a major contributory factor to cravings.

Ok so this is a great practice for me as I am talking about weight issues and nutrition to our students this weekend. And by the next weekend I always get several students saying how much better they feel, greater energy, clearer thought and better sleep; all from altering their unconscious attitudes to food, stabilizing their blood sugars and eating more nourishing foods.

I will let you know their feedback. Off to finish my breakfast!!

Watching the Horizon programme last Tuesday, I was reminded of how many people with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) continue to suffer unnecessarily; because they are being treated with outdated ineffective treatments, or do not have access to being treated with the ‘Rewind technique.’

Held by many to be one of the most effective psychological tools in the West it can demolish the harrowing ubiquitous symptoms of PTSD in one session. It is non voyeuristic and protects the client and therapist from exposure to any harrowing recall.

The psychiatrist in the documentary managed to bring a young girl’s debilitating symptoms down by ‘a third,’ over six sessions. He used an old method of getting the patient to take a drug then recall the trauma. Statistics from a recent study in Ireland show that from just one session of the Rewind, the participating client’s symptoms were greatly diminished.

Having seen traumatized individuals who cannot even speak about the cause, (and they don’t need to) I think the process of deliberately exposing someone to terrifying memories is nothing short of barbaric. Anyway will get off my soap box now and say that..

Mark and I taught the ‘Rewind’ technique once again this weekend, therefore adding to the growing band of therapists who can confidently and successfully work with PTSD and phobia’s. Hoorah!

We use dolls, our acting skills (ha ha) and few creative props to ensure our students learn the rewind technique easily. The students who practiced on each other gave some great feedback on the day……..needle phobia gone as was the traumatic recollection of a bomb disaster. Great start eh?

Although it is primarily known for treating PTSD and phobic conditions, the technique is also effective for when someone experiences anxiety or distressing emotions; caused by thinking about or imagining the stressor.

This pattern can be the anchor for many difficult or depressive episodes in a person’s life. The element that would benefit from the rewind often goes undiagnosed as the medical criteria for a diagnosis of PTSD is complex. So we spent time ensuring our students understand the key questions to ask to uncover when this technique would help a client. A vital skill for any effective therapist.

All of our supervisors and mentors are chosen because of two main attributes; they are top of the field in the skills we teach and they are friendly approachable and enthusiastic. These core qualities are built on through the training we give.

Seeing our team in action with the students last weekend was …….well can I be a bit smug in a blog? Ok just this once …….. it was just really satisfying They were all so engrossed in conversation about the exercises and lectures that time slipped by and Mark and I had to round them all back to go to start the next section.

We never throw our new recruits in to the deep end as they get ‘buddied’ by a more experienced supe, till they feel confident and we see they can cut the mustard. (yes we did cover metaphor this weekend!!)

In April, the students will do the first of the four examined client assessments. To help ensure a balanced and unbiased evaluation for each student we have a set process for creating feedback for these supervised assessments. This helps eradicate any bias from one supe to another. I worked with several people to build this system; one was management and coaching expert Lyndsay Swinton. Check out her site ‘Management for the rest of us’ there are some valuable and easy to apply tips and techniques.

After years living on Mauritius this bird had developed a large chest and no longer flew. It nested upon the ground and when man arrived could not adapt quickly enough to the changing environment to survive. Millions of years of evolution were powerless when the bird had to deal with a changing habitat.

About fifty percent of all animals that are now extinct lived on islands. Does this have a message for us human beings?

Often a person’s anxiety and depression will have its roots in a fixed view of the world. Seeing the world through a narrow lens stops people being creative and thinking ‘outside of the box.’ If we live life believing that our view is the only way to be, like the dodo we are asking for trouble. Because when change comes along it hits hard!

On our Diploma of hypnotherapy and psychotherapy, we teach our students how to help ‘reframe’ peoples unhelpful negative viewpoints.

Seeing a new perspective is often enough for the client to begin to feel much better. The solution focused therapy skills the students develop allows them to help clients to see areas of grey, think in a more creative and flexible way.

We laid the foundations of solution-focused therapy and reframing last weekend, and will continue to build their knowledge next weekend. I can’t tell you the amount of times that past, present students have said how thankful they have been to have the knowledge of reframing, and solution focused therapy. Because when hardship comes they sure are mighty powerful tools for survival.

Lots to tell you but the first snippet to pass on is some reassuring knowledge that will help you feel calm when faced with any new learning environment. I relayed this to our students too.

When I was in my first half marathon eighteen months ago I was so excited at the start line, then as everyone seemed to pile past me my head went into a spin with performance crushing negative thoughts. ‘What if I did not make it?……..’my breath is so laboured’………. I will be last and ……….and’ Suddenly I was in pain and running like an broken woman!

So I took hold of the reigns of my bolting thoughts and said nice calming things to myself, forgot about the outcome of the race and decided to enjoy the outstanding scenic views that the Isle of Mull has to offer. Then Roger Elliott cycled beside me and he chatted away completely taking my mind off the running.

In no time at all I had passed nine miles, started to overtake people and did so all the way to the finish.

We see just the same pattern on the Diploma. People have their own way and pace of assimilating knowledge, some learn through watching, others by listening or practising their skills. Students’ different life experiences will also impact on this.

We find that some students shine from the beginning and others take a while to translate the skills into confident practise. But what I find amazing is that every year after the Summer break there is a leveling out of ability. Those who had a steadier start have consoliated their knowledge and skills, some even race ahead!!

So if you are starting a new area of study, go at your own pace and remember that the ‘the journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step’

Stories of their clients stopping smoking, sleeping better, getting rid of phobia’s and other anxiety related conditions were heart warming and exciting. One lady even helped a young friend of hers who had a poor prognosis of cancer, she said he told her that the hypnosis gave him strength, helped him to relax and feel more in control.

Although I have been  teaching for about seven years now, I still get such a buzz from hearing our students stories.