When people think of Hypnotherapy, most of the time they think of "suggestion". An individual finds a Hypnotherapist in order to overcome their fear of public speaking, most would think the Hypnotherapist would simply suggest to the client in a deep trance that they are now feeling confident when speaking in public and these suggestions slip into the unconscious mind of the client leading them to feel confidence when speaking in front of a large crowd. However, this is only one way to create change and what people do not realise is there are innumerable "more advanced" techniques that can be used in Hypnotherapy that can create even deeper and more profound changes (sometimes even physiological and "out in the real world" changes). In this article I shall be introducing what I would consider to be one of the greatest Hypnotherapy techniques of all time "Parts therapy" and how it was used as a technqiue for sugar addiction hypnotherapy, helping a client put an end to her addiction to cake.
Parts dissociation therapy or "Parts Therapy" is an advanced technique used in Hypnotherapy to work on a very specific aspect of a persons psyche. It involves using dissociation to isolate, target and bring out a particular "part" of an individual that is responsible for a problem and work on it directly.
What do I mean by "a part?"
Well all of us as human beings have various parts of ourselves, for example there maybe a part of you every morning when you wake up that may think "I should do some exercise", this is the part of you that wants to exercise, conversely there also maybe a part of you that just would like to sleep for an extra hour, this maybe the part that cannot be bothered to exercise and would rather sleep. So, every morning these two parts have a bit of a battle, some days the part that wants to exercise may win and you go for a jog or to your local gym. However, some days the other parts may win and therefore you end up clicking the snooze button on your alarm. Similar to this, each individual is a collection of different parts.
What do I mean by dissociation?
Dissociation refers to the experience of being able to separate our mind from the here and now, including our body, thoughts and emotions. Dissociation happens naturally in all of us, eg: day dreaming is an example of every day dissociation that occurs. However dissociation can also occur as a defence mechanism in times of overwhelming emotion, for example in the case of a traumatic experience, overwhelming emotions that were felt could be dissociated by the mind, in order to protect the individual. However, the dissociated part containing the negative emotion is not fully processed and may begin to drip feed the individual with those emotions, leading to flashbacks, anxiety, emotional outbursts, depression, psychosomatic sensations and even physical symptoms.
It is important to note that in hypnosis, communication with the unconscious mind can take place easily. Therefore, in hypnosis we can ask the unconscious mind to find a particular part of an individual thats responsible for a problem (often referred to as the "problem part") and to bring it outside of them and to float it above their left hand, in this way we can interact with the part and see what the part needs in order to change and stop causing the problem. The part is likely "acting out" and is looking for something.
The unconscious mind is highly intelligent and knows exactly what the part needs, therefore we can ask the unconscious to go searching within the person for the solution, another part of them that has whatever the part causing the problem needs and we bring this part out (often referred to as the "solution part") and float it above the right hand.
Interaction then takes place with the solution part and upon strengthening it we ask it whether its willing to share some of its positive qualities with the problem part. Once agreement is gained, the problem part receives the solution and dissolves and transforms into a new part that is free of the problem as the problem part has now received that which it needs to feel whole and complete. Reintegration of the newly transformed part is then carried out.
The following story is a real case example of one of my clients where Parts therapy was used to create a profound change. Joan (not her real name), contacted me as she had a very unique problem, ever since her husband had passed away she had terrible trouble sleeping and an insatiable craving for chocolate cake every evening before bed, she would say "it's the only way I can sleep, I must have a large piece of cake. Sometimes I even eat 2 or 3 pieces I can't help myself, it is the only way I can sleep". Joan would buy ready made cakes from the grocery store and keep them in her fridge, having a piece or two was the only way she could fall asleep at night and she became dependant on the cake, it was like an addiction. She had tried everything, she thought Hypnotherapy would be something she must do.
I decided to use part's therapy as the main therapeutic technique during our second session, I asked her unconscious mind to bring out the part of her responsible for the strong cravings for chocolate cake, it manifested above her left hand as a "chocolate eating monster" she described it to look a little like "the cookie monster from sesame street, but made of chocolate". So I spoke to this part of herself and asked it what it represented, it said it represented "wanting love" so I asked the chocolate monster when was it created in her life, it responded through her saying, when she was 5 years old.
So I asked her unconscious mind to follow this part back in time to when it was created and she found herself being 5 years old, where her Grandmother would freshly bake chocolate cake and give her a piece saying "this is my love for you dear". This was what the chocolate cake was, it represented love, her husband had passed away and when she went to bed, she was seeking love so she couldn't sleep and the strong emotional link between chocolate cake and love lead to her craving chocolate cake as a replacement for love, allowing her to fall asleep.
Knowing this, I knew exactly what needed to be done, I asked her unconscious mind to bring out the part of her which already had the love and was whole and complete, the part came out and floated above her right hand, she described it to look like a big red flaming heart (we referred to it as the love part). We asked the love part whether it is willing to become stronger and share the love with the chocolate monster that was seeking love. It agreed, we strengthened the love part (as that is something that can be done using hypnosis) and asked it to share some of the love with the chocolate monster, the chocolate monster instantly dissolved and a new part was created, she described the new part as being "two people embracing". The parts were then reintegrated within Joan. The work was complete.
Joan emails me 4 days later happily announcing that she hasn't had a single craving for chocolate cake since our session and has been sleeping like a baby.
The human mind is truly incredible, with an understanding of the inner workings of the mind and the many tools used in hypnotherapy, profound changes can be made.
Perhaps "Parts Therapy" is the missing key to create that change you are looking for, especially as a form of sugar addiction hypnotherapy.
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