Hypnoanalysis

Analysis is a method of investigating mental processes which uses the techniques of free association. Traditional forms of analysis usually take between two to five years but by combining analysis with hypnosis (Hypnoanalysis) the process can be dramatically speeded up and completed in around 8 to 12 sessions, although this may vary from person to person.

The goal of Hypnoanalysis is to uncover unconscious psychological patterns and enable the client to discover the influence of these patterns in daily life. As the client acquires self-knowledge, the unconscious patterns are undone and areas of behaviour come under conscious control. For a person who has the required maturity and intelligence and who is motivated to accomplish a thorough reconstruction of the personality, Hypnoanalysis is the psychotherapy of choice.

Psychoanalytic theory has increased our understanding of the causes of anxieties and emotional disorders. All adverse patterns of behaviour have their origin in conflicts, feelings, and attitudes that often arise in a persons developing years.

A younger person may have many desires, impulses, and thoughts that are in conflict with the expectations of their parents or other important figures. In order to avoid the unbearable anxiety of direct conflict, which they fear, would result in loss of affection or other forms of punishment, these conflicts are repressed or disavowed; the anxiety-producing thoughts or feelings are excluded from conscious awareness. Normally, the conflict is resolved unconsciously by acting it out in a disguised way in order to come to terms with it.

When unconscious conflicts are not resolved, they may continue to be acted out in daily life, producing adverse symptoms such as phobias, emotional problems or physical symptoms. Without realising it, the person is going through adult life still harbouring unresolved emotions of childhood.

Hypnoanalysis relies upon Free Association. In this technique the client simply says whatever comes to mind without censoring or withholding anything, no matter how trivial, irrelevant, distressing or embarrassing it may seem. Often the analyst is silent for long periods in order to avoid interfering with the client's train of associations. In order to facilitate this process, which would be interrupted by the client's need to respond to the analyst's facial expressions and conversational responses, the client usually lies on a couch facing away from the analyst and the client will have their eyes closed to aid concentration and the process.

Resistance. At some point it is inevitable that the therapy will be interrupted by various forms of resistance. Free Association may be interrupted by forgetfulness, evasions, embarrassment, or mental blocks from the client. Even the experiences put forth by the client may even be met with emotional forms of resistance, such as denial, anger, or misunderstanding. Resistance occurs because the blocked association or understanding would be too threatening to face at that point in the therapy and is in itself an important indication of the client's unconscious patterns.

Adapted from Ian Evens adaptation of the Miller-Keane Medical Dictionary, 2000.

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