The three pillars. Anxiety Self-confidence Here & Now

The three pillars Anxiety Self-confidence Here & Now Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 1

Terea García Sánchez Creativity & Metaphors As applied to the three pillars of an initial session: Anxiety Self-confidence Here & Now

Anxiety Feeling anxiety is what takes people out of their comfort zone. Anxiety lets the client know that something is wrong. It prompts him to ask for help. Just as pain prompts people to go to the doctor. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 3

Self-confidence Self-confidence, in people who need help, is usually lowered by not being able to help themselves or to solve problems on their own. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 4

Usually, the client comes to therapy totally focused on the emotions involving the problem. Unable to perceive any positiveness in life. Here & Now Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 5

The Façade The problem presented by the client is what metaphorically could be portrayed as the façade. Nevertheless, the columns are necessary to support the façade. Although the columns may be unclear for the client. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 6

Why approach all three pillars indirectly with a metaphoric intervention? All three pillars must be approached from the very first session, even if the client has not complained directly about anxiety, self-esteem, or feeling trapped in a hopeless here & now with nothing positive in it. If the client has not brought these symptoms forth, we must first investigate their state by using Ericksonian indirection, and then address them. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 7

Direct suggestions or indirect suggestions? The type of suggestions you give, depends on the client s attitude towards you and the therapeutic process. Erickson The degree of indirection must be directly proportional to the degree of resistance found or anticipated. Zeig Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 8

Metaphors enable one to treat, effectively and indirectly, problems that have not been mentioned openly. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 9

Hypnosis is to focus the attention Dr. Erickson order conscious attention unconscious attention Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 10 10

Focus attention with any hypnotic technique metaphors conscious attention unconscious attention V European Congress of Ericksonian of Hypnois & Psychotherapy Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014

Naming the problem increases the resistance of the client Dr. Erickson V European Congress of Ericksonian of Hypnois & Psychotherapy Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014

How can the rope metaphor be helpful? It can be done with clients who feel they are not able to change. It is also helpful with the ones who don't believe in the mind-body connection. It can be useful with highly analytical individuals who need proof that metaphors work. And for the ones who believe that the ability to change depends on the depth of trance. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 13

Must the content and intention of a metaphor be explained in order for it to be effective? If the similarity between the contents of a metaphor and what could have been said with direct communication is too obvious, then, Why use a metaphor? Besides, each metaphor allows for a variety of interpretations... and at different levels too. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 14

Must the content and intention of a metaphor be explained in order for it to be effective? The use of a metaphor, in this case, will bring comprehension at a different conscious level and will also present the information to the unconscious in a language that is more appropiate for it: the language of dreams. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 15

What is the unconscious mind? Where and what is the unconscious? Is it like the liver? or like the stomach? Is it located in the right hemisphere? It is just a different way of processing than the conscious way of logical thinking. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 16

The unconscious mind is always right It is a well-known fact that Ericksonian therapists used to agree with that statement. Why? Did Dr. Erickson think exactly that? He used to ask his patients to trust their unconscious mind; however, this does not mean Dr. Erickson thought all the unconscious procedures were always right or wise. He often explained how the unconscious mind can produce harmful behaviors. (e.g. compulsion, psychosomatic reactions) Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 17

However, although it is true that the unconscious way of processing is not always right, it is also true that the unconscious mind can be stimulated to find the solutions because the resources are contained in it. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 18

Milton H. Erickson proposed a new way of doing psychotherapy: He aimed at working with the clients resources and their goals, and not to look for the causes, or the trauma, or the past. As opposed to Dr. Freud, Dr. Erickson was confident of the wisdom of the unconscious mind. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 19

Let's ask our unconscious minds to answer through our body expression Groups of two: 1) Ask the other person to associate himself with a nice memory, a joyful experience. 2) Test both thumbs. 3) Ask the other person to associate himself with the worst experience. 4) Test both thumbs. 5) Repeat with other thoughts, and find out if the person is thinking about something positive or negative. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 20

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Summarizing what we ve seen so far: Clients usually present three problems associated to any block or symptom they bring to therapy. These are the three pillars that support the symptom. If they are not aware of these symptoms, it is most convenient to treat them indirectly and metaphorically. The unconscious is capable of incorporating the teachings of a metaphor by orienting itself positively. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 26

Having explained how a metaphor is useful as an indirect suggestion Let s find metaphors to treat each of the three pillars of the first session: Anxiety Self-confidence Here & Now Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 27

What is anxiety? The person feels as if he is loosing the control of his body. To return the mindbody power, it would be good to give him adequate rational explanation in such a way that he would then understand the mechanism by which his body responds and then not panic when or if this next occurs. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 28

Demonstration Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 29

Give the client an explanation of the self-hypnotic process he develops when he starts to get an anxiety attack: dissociation/association Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 30

When someone dissociates, he then associates himself with something else and this is like traveling in time: regression/ progression Exercise: Do I want to eat this apple? Make your partner salivate Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 31

Negative self-hypnosis past present future to focus the attention, to dissociate/ to associate and to do a regression/ and a progression 32

Fear of fear Every client suffering from anxiety will accept that his rational mind agrees there is no reason to be frightened, and yet, he is disappointed because he s not able to not anticipate the fear. They usually say something like: I m afraid of the fear that will come. So the expectation becomes true Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 33

Fear is a self-fulfilling prophecy To motivate the client not to anticipate his fears, it is useful to explain how a fear is a self-fulfilling prophecy: Fear is an emotion which comes directly from the amygdala. It jumps over the rational mind, and becomes the powerful new goal. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 34

The good news is: the person who suffers from anxiety also knows how to do self-hypnosis What he needs to understand is that he is able to change the content and how to go about it: Instead of anticipating his fear, he needs to reorient himself and to be able to recognize where he is in the here and the now. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 35

Example: The golfer s fear. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 36

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We counted the balls that went into the bunker over a weekend. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 38

The following weekend we watered the bunker with green water. Only a third of the balls went into the bunker when it was painted green. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 39

Exercise: divide the room in two and make small groups of two participants each The right part of the room Person (1) will be commenting what his partner (2) is doing. Advising him to be careful, anticipating the difficulties etc. The left part of the room Person (3) will just be there, looking. If he sees any mistakes he will say sometimes, it s OK, go on, but not all the time. He can also just do a sound of approval of what his partner (4) has done. At the end: count the failures. Which part of the room has more? Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 40 40

Conclusion Increasing the anxiety makes people fail much more Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 41

Have you been told that in order to stop anxiety you need to breathe deeply? Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 42

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Say instead: Don t take a big breath if you are having a panic attack! Have you ever seen those trick birthday candles on a cake? What happened? Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 44

Elements present in this intervention: 1) Dissipating anxiety The metaphor: To blow a trick birthday candle until the last spark disappears will be like extinguishing the anxiety attack so that it cannot relight itself. Plus, it is associated with a pleasant moment. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 46

Elements present in this intervention: 2) Restoring self-confidence To give the person the power over his own body back, and to give him a resource that he can use: blowing out instead of asking him to take a deep breath, which is something he can't do when he is in a panic attack. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 47

Elements present in this intervention: 3) Supplying a conditioning anchor To install an external anchor: the candle will be external to his body and the association made will be with a funny and pleasant moment (birthday/joke). Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 48

Elements present in this intervention: 4) Reminding of resources Reminding the person that after all, breathing was just the first thing he did when he arrived here and it is something he has never stopped doing since then. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 49

Elements present in this intervention: 5) Offering other metaphoric examples of breathing The image of first exhaling and then inhaling can be represented by the movement of a wave. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 50 50

Remark for this intervention: It s like renewing our contracts with Life People who suffer or have suffered panic attacks say they felt as if they were going to die. It is good to help them experience the inhalation after emptying their lungs, and make them aware that this was like the first inhalation they experienced at birth. Inhaling like this again, it s like renewing his contract with Life. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 51

Let s see now how we can help clients orient themselves positively to Here & Now Orienting clients toward their reality will displace their ability to anticipate. First we can have them do an exercise to demonstrate how they can be affected by their capacity to experience: Dissociation-association Regression-progression Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 52

Now: Can you help with an investigation? What color did you choose? Is there any relation between the importance of anger and the color you chose? Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 53

Reframe the tendency to anticipate as the good news is: the person who suffers from anxiety, also knows how to do self-hypnosis What he needs to understand is that he is able change the content and how to go about it: Instead of anticipating his fear, he needs to reorient himself and be able to recognize where he is in the here and the now. In hypnosis, we help the client dissociate by inviting him to go somewhere and look at, listen to and feel the things that we are suggesting. That is exactly what the client needs to do in his real world in order not to dissociate from it and thus allow his mind do the regression-progression routine that promotes the anxiety. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 54

Here & Now: visual 1 The Here: To look around and see himself in the place where he is now, looking for details, and being aware of distances between the objects and himself (using his visual access). Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 55

Here & Now: auditory 2 The Now: To find out where he is in time by listening to sounds. Sounds couldn t be developed without the dimension of time (audio access). Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 56

Here & Now: kinesthetic 3 Himself: To recognize how he is autonomous and how he is related to his environment, paying attention to the contact of his feet on the floor, the contact with his clothes, the temperature (external kinesthetic access) Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 57

Reconciling with the Here & Now First: «make a list of everything that is wrong» Second: «write down as many positive things as wrongs on your list» Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 58

Preparation for the Here & Now & The There Like we ve said, the unconscious needs a positive direction in order to proceed effectively toward improvement. We have to orient our client toward that desired There. It is possible to do a hypnotic intervention that presents the problem in its resolved state, in order to prompt the unconscious to make the best possible decisions that will lead to such a desired state of wellbeing. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 59

Example: An exam. objetif The antidote: To be able to create a future goal: Future progression V European Congress of Ericksonian of Hypnois & Psychotherapy Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 60

Being afraid of fear makes a person focus on fear itself Because the fear of not being able to reach the goal is so strong, it becomes the most dominant thought and it starts to substitute the real goal. Thus, it becomes the principal thought and it is much more present and powerful than the initial goal. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 61 61

Being afraid of fear makes a person focus on fear itself So if someone is focused mostly on the problem, the only thing this person will be able to experience is the problem itself When someone is focused on the fear, his unconscious mind does everything necessary to accomplish this new goal, instilling the fear of failure. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 62 62

To avoid focusing on the fear It is good to give the client an explanation, in such a way that the anticipation of fear and being scared by the fear of fear would be transformed or reframed as a self-hypnosis process, the content of which could be changed by doing two things: 1) Focusing on the present 2) Being able to create a future project Because to be in the here and now without any direction is just like being a prisoner of destiny it is just like being blocked, and it makes one feel powerless, which is just what an anxious person needs to avoid. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 64

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The hypnotic induction can contain The awareness of what he sees, hears and notices around in the context (scene) created for the induction. That will help him to be more focused on the here and now. An image of exhaling and inhaling represented by the movement of a wave. The use of any of the client s hobbies as a way of achieving a goal and enjoying the process as he is very likely to have a clear idea of dreaming of success (good anticipation). In classical hypnosis, this is called: The future projection Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 66 66

Remark on the future projection : The future projection is a very well-known classical hypnotic intervention. However, nowadays we can utilize it as we know that research has demonstrated, using brain neuroimaging techniques, that during hypnosis, the experience zone and not the imagination zone is being activated.* So there will be a neuronal memory of being able to feel well without fears. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 67

How does Hypnosis help with the three-pillar treatment? Is Hypnosis useful only because the future projection can provide experience? Hypnosis helps people to be in a relaxed state which facilitates the learning of new attitudes. In hypnosis, it is possible to recall previous successful experiences and actualize resources, making it possible to discover new options, and to feel hope. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 69

How does Hypnosis help with the three-pillar treatment? We feel or, at least, amplify our emotions with the body. Hypnosis produces dissociation and helps to think without being in touch with the body sensations. The client will be able to face his problems with some detachment, without fears and without generalizations. Hypnosis is a good training * for focusing the attention on both: external (out focus) and on the target or goal (solution focus) Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 70

Hypnosis is the focusing of attention Dr. Erickson The comforting sensation of being able to be out focus of the internal fears helps to increase motivation during the hypnotic session. Motivation and hope are the most important factors in the recovery of an anxiety client. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 71

Conclusion: the hypnotic technique used The post hypnotic suggestion of exhaling instead of inhaling. The regression to the birthday. The candle metaphor. Anchor or conditioning of blowing the candle. Dissociation and Regression to the flavor of the apple Reframing of the anticipation of the fear, like a self-hypnotic resource. Activation of motivation with hypnosis. Providing tools to focus on the here and now. Proposal of doing a progression to a distant positive future. The use of anecdotes: the golf, the exam and the lift and wave. Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 72

Hypnosis helps to treat the three most imperatives problems presented during the first session The three pillars Anxiety Self-confidence Here & Now Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 73

Thanks! Madrid-Los Angeles Practicum Practicum en tramitación para algunos cursos Practicum Teresa Garcia-Sanchez Creativity & Metaphors 2014 74