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Hypnosis

Self-hypnosis involves becoming highly focused and absorbed in the experience while giving yourself positive suggestions about ways to reach your goals. Self-hypnosis is an individual practice, unlike when you are working with a therapist. It can be a most empowering practice as you learn to have better control of your thoughts and reactions while enjoying the physical and emotional benefits of the relaxation that is typical of self-hypnosis techniques. Self-hypnosis is very similar to meditation in that both involve entering a calm and relaxed state main difference is that when people practice self-hypnosis, they tend to have a specific goal in mind, something that will improve them and their quality of life in some way. Hypnosis, by definition, is “an artificially induced trance state resembling sleep, characterized by heightened susceptibility to suggestion.” Self-hypnosis is simply a way to grab the bull by the horns, so to speak, and use techniques and suggestions to induce yourself into a hypnotic state. 

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Mindfulness and it’s applications in psychotherapy.

Mindfulness means paying full attention to something. It means slowing down to really notice what you're doing. Being mindful is the opposite of rushing or multitasking. When you're mindful, you're taking your time. You're focusing in a relaxed, easy way.   Mindfulness is a form of meditation that has become a mainstream part of psychotherapy, providing stress reduction, self-control and concentration improvement. Some of the benefits of practicing mindfulness include: An improvement in psychological and general well-being. Stress relief.   Mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) is a type of psychotherapy that involves a combination of cognitive therapy, meditation, and the cultivation of a present-oriented, non-judgmental attitude called "mindfulness."   Formal meditation practices include sitting meditation, mindful movement (including walking medication and gentle yoga exercises), and the body scan, which teaches individuals to mindfully focus on bodily sensations, starting with the feet and progressively moving to the head and neck.

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Psychoanalysis- Defense Mechanisms

Psychoanalysis is a method of therapy in which the patient talks about experiences, early childhood, and dreams. Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques that deal in part with the unconscious mind, and which together form a method of treatment for mental disorders.  Psychoanalysis is a type of therapy that aims to release pent-up or repressed emotions and memories in or to lead the client to catharsis, or healing. In other words,  the goal is to bring what exists at the unconscious or subconscious level up to consciousness.  Defense mechanisms are ways you react to situations that bring up negative emotions. According to psychoanalytic theory , when you experience a stressor, the subconscious will first monitor the situation to see if it might harm you. In psychoanalytic theory, a defence mechanism is an unconscious psychological operation that functions to protect a person from anxiety-producing thoughts and feelings related to internal conflicts and outer stressors.  The processes that keep unwanted thoughts from entering consciousness are known as defense mechanisms and include repression, suppression and dissociation. Therapy, Medication and stress management are the few main ways to help work with defense mechanisms. 

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REBT- Irrational beliefs

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), previously called rational therapy and rational emotive therapy, is an active-directive, philosophically and empirically based psychotherapy, the aim of which is to resolve emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances and to help people to lead happier and more fulfilling lives. REBT posits that people have erroneous beliefs about situations they are involved in, and that these beliefs cause disturbance, but can be disputed with and changed.  REBT therapists strive to help their clients develop three types of acceptance: 1) unconditional self-acceptance, 2) unconditional other-acceptance, and 3) unconditional life-acceptance.  In REBT thought, irrational beliefs are the cause of human neuroses, including depression and anxiety. Irrational beliefs tend to ignore the positive, exaggerate the negative, distort reality, and/or overgeneralize. REBT teaches that people tend to overuse “shoulds,” “musts”.  In REBT rational beliefs are defined as beliefs that are flexible, non-extreme, and logical (i.e., consistent with reality), and in contrast, irrational beliefs are rigid, extreme, and illogical (i.e., inconsistent with reality).

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Helping clients to work with unhelpful thinking styles

Cognitive distortions or unhelpful thinking styles are ways that our thoughts can become biased. As conscious beings we are always interpreting the world around us, trying to make sense of what is happening. Sometimes our brains take short cuts and generate results that are not completely accurate. Different cognitive short cuts result in different kinds of bias or distortions in our thinking. Sometimes we might jump to the worst possible conclusion, at other times we might blame ourselves for things that are not our fault.  Beck’s cognitive distortions included:  Arbitrary interpretation / arbitrary inference,  Selective abstraction,  Over generalization,  Magnification and minimization,  Inexact labeling,  Personalization, and Absolutistic, dichotomous thinking.  Helping clients to think in a more balanced fashion is a core component of traditional cognitive therapy. Clinicians may need to move clients through a number of stages in order to effectively help them to overcome unhelpful and habitual cognitive biases. Help your clients understand about automatic thoughts,  Train your clients to catch their automatic thoughts using thought records,  Understand and notice cognitive biases,  Cognitive restructuring,  Making the restructured thinking habitual are some of the basic ways to help a client to successfully work through their unhelpful thinking styles. 

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Eclectic therapy

Eclectic therapy is a type of therapy that seeks to directly meet the client and their needs by drawing from multiple therapy approaches in order to select the best treatment for each individual client.  Eclectic psychotherapy is a form of psychotherapy in which the clinician uses more than one theoretical approach, or multiple sets of techniques, to help with clients' needs.  An example of an eclectic program is when children spend a part of each day receiving different therapies, such as structured teaching using methods of applied behavior analysis (ABA), sensory integration and stimulation (brushing and swinging), floortime procedures, music sessions, and free play with typical peers.  Technical eclectic psychotherapy focuses only on using multiple techniques and ignores the theoretical background of those techniques. In this form of eclectic therapy, the therapist uses a variety of techniques based on what is expected to help the patient.

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Working with Psychosomatic issues

Psychosomatic disorder is a psychological condition that leads to physical symptoms, often without any medical explanation. It can affect almost any part of the body. People with the disorder tend to seek frequent medical attention, becoming frustrated with no diagnosis. Behavioral therapy and stress reduction may help. In addition to the somatic symptom itself (for example, pain or upset stomach), people with psychosomatic disorder often: Become angry or irritable because they believe their medical needs aren’t being met. Get depressed or anxious. Visit healthcare providers frequently, often jumping from one physician to another. Experience difficulties functioning at work, school or socially. Some of the ways psychosomatic pain and other somatic symptoms are treated: Several treatments can help people with somatic pain symptoms, including:Cognitive behavioral therapy.Medications, such as antidepressants.Mindfulness-based therapy.Referral to a specialist in mental health (for example, a psychiatrist or psychologist). Regular contact with your primary care provider. Psychosomatic disorder can affect almost any part of the body. Common examples include: Fatigue, Insomnia, Aches and pains, such as muscle pain or back pain. High blood pressure (hypertension).Trouble breathing (dyspepsia, or shortness of breath). Indigestion (upset stomach). Headaches and migraines.

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Working with Grief, Anger and Guilt

Grief is a natural response to loss. It’s the emotional suffering you feel when something or someone you love is taken away. Often, the pain of loss can feel overwhelming. You may experience all kinds of difficult and unexpected emotions, from shock or anger to disbelief, guilt, and profound sadness. The pain of grief can also disrupt your physical health, making it difficult to sleep, eat, or even think straight. These are normal reactions to loss—and the more significant the loss, the more intense your grief will be.  While grieving a loss is an inevitable part of life, there are ways to help cope with the pain, come to terms with your grief, and eventually, find a way to pick up the pieces and move on with your life.

Acknowledge your pain.

Accept that grief can trigger many different and unexpected emotions.

Understand that your grieving process will be unique to you.

Seek out face-to-face support from people who care about you.

Support yourself emotionally by taking care of yourself physically.

Recognize the difference between grief and depression.

Anger is an intense emotion you feel when something has gone wrong or someone has wronged you. It is typically characterized by feelings of stress, frustration, and irritation. Everyone feels anger from time to time. It's a perfectly normal response to frustrating or difficult situations.  The instinctive, natural way to express anger is to respond aggressively. Anger is a natural, adaptive response to threats; it inspires powerful, often aggressive, feelings and behaviors, which allow us to fight and to defend ourselves when we are attacked. A certain amount of anger, therefore, is necessary to our survival. Strategies to keep anger at bay: Relaxation, Cognitive restructuring, Problem solving, Better communication, Changing your environment.. etc.

Guilt is feeling self-conscious and experiencing a sense of distress about your potential responsibility for a negative outcome. Like all self-conscious emotions, guilt originates from a process of self-evaluation and introspection and may involve your perception of how others value you. How to handle the guilt: Using guilt to create positive behaviors. Guilt can aid in personal growth. Expressing your guilt. Making amends. While it can be challenging to face perceived inadequacies head-on, sometimes making amends is all that’s needed.

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Working with Phobias, Fears, PTSD, and free floating anxiety

A phobia is a persistent, excessive, unrealistic fear of an object, person, animal, activity or situation. It is a type of anxiety disorder.  Fear is one of the most basic human emotions. It is programmed into the nervous system and works like an instinct. From the time we're infants, we are equipped with the survival instincts necessary to respond with fear when we sense danger or feel unsafe. Fear helps protect us.  Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health condition that's triggered by a terrifying event — either experiencing it or witnessing it. Symptoms may include flashbacks, nightmares and severe anxiety, as well as uncontrollable thoughts about the event. Free-floating anxiety is also known as “a diffuse, chronic sense of uneasiness and apprehension not directed toward any specific situation or object.” To put it another way, you might simply feel worried, nervous, and fearful for no clear reason. 

A few steps that the therapist can follow to deal with this effectively-

Help the client recognize the voluntary story that plays in their mind unconsciously when that particular stimulus strikes.

The next step will be to either correlate the story with another humorous occasion that the client has experienced in any other space or make the current story calmer. Associating and dissociating two or three events that gave joy to the client with the fearful event will help the client recover that phobia super soon.

The fast phobia cure technique can also be used for effective results.

In the issue of phobia mostly the client is where he is overreacting to a specific stimulus but in the case of fear, reaction to the stimulus is more justified. A few scenarios that can help-

Thought restructuring

Giving indications to release fear out of their body

EFT + Anchoring

Strategies that will be effective-

Enquiring about the triggers of the client

Associating the story with another story that gives calming experience

Fast phobia cure & rewind technique

A few methods of working with free-floating anxiety-

Imploring about the triggers

Operating with the story

Mindfulness

Visualization

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Working with intense negative intentions

Our intentions regarding the performance of an action may change over time. We may initially have an intention not to perform an action (a negative intention), but later develop an intention to perform that action (a positive intention), and vice versa. Negative intentions are incomplete intentions (not meeting the essential parts of what intention is) or are not in alignment with your highest self. Negative intentions aim to bring about a reality or creation that is not in your best interests or in line with your consent or what is best for you. 

Negative intentions can be divided into three types:  Negative intentions you create for yourself, Negative intentions you create for others and  Negative intentions created by others. Inner child, hypnodrama and regression are some of the many techniques used to help the client deal with their intense negative intentions. Working with the conscious and unconscious level helps the client.

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Working with positive intentions

Positive intention means that people do things because they think that they will gain something from their behavior. Seeing things from this perspective, we might be more understanding of people's ignorance, rather than being overly critical of what seems to be their unreasonable behavior. Like most, working with positive intentions requires us to work with the conscious and unconscious levels of the mind. The conscious level makes the client work with their intents in a more self aware level. Suggesting ways to change or influence their ways is one way to go. 

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Working with beliefs and values

Working with any client requires the therapist to be clear on the differences between Beliefs and values. Belief is an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof. Values is the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. Beliefs are basically assumptions that we make about the world and our values stem from those beliefs. Our values are things that we deem important and can include concepts like '“ equality, honesty, education, effort, perseverance, loyalty, faithfulness, conservation of the environment and many, many other concepts. The distinction between these two helps the therapist and client know exactly what beliefs or values should be implemented in their lives and what must be removed. 

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Working with the present

Working with the client for them to express their problems. Working with abstract metaphors help the client. The format used during the session is usually: I feel _____ when _______ . This format helps the client realize what their problem is. The clarity for the therapist and client helps them to move forward with their session. What the therapist is working with is evident and what must be done can be shaped accordingly. 

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Humanistic Approach

Humanistic psychology is a psychological perspective that arose in the mid-20th century in answer to two theories: Sigmund Freud's psychoanalytic theory and B. F. Skinner's behaviorism. Thus, Abraham Maslow established the need for a "third force" in psychology. Humanistic psychology is a perspective that emphasizes looking at the whole individual and stresses concepts such as free will, self-efficacy, and self-actualization. Rather than concentrating on dysfunction, humanistic psychology strives to help people fulfill their potential and maximize their well-being. The humanistic approach emphasizes the personal worth of the individual, the centrality of human values, and the creative, active nature of human beings. The approach is optimistic and focuses on the noble human capacity to overcome hardship, pain and despair. 

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Psychoanalysis

Psychoanalysis is a method of therapy in which the patient talks about experiences, early childhood, and dreams. Psychoanalysis refers to both a theory and a type of therapy based on the belief that all people possess unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories. Psychoanalysis is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques that deal in part with the unconscious mind, and which together form a method of treatment for mental disorders.

They do this through techniques such as dream analysis, free-flowing conversations, transference analysis, interpretation, and free association. With these techniques, psychoanalytic therapists attempt to help their patients gain insight into how their past experiences inform their present behavior.

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Cognitive Therapy- Part 2

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychological treatment that has been demonstrated to be effective for a range of problems including depression, anxiety disorders, alcohol and drug use problems, marital problems, eating disorders, and severe mental illness. Numerous research studies suggest that CBT leads to significant improvement in functioning and quality of life. In many studies, CBT has been demonstrated to be as effective as, or more effective than, other forms of psychological therapy or psychiatric medications.

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT): Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT), previously called rational therapy and rational emotive therapy, is an active-directive, philosophically and empirically based psychotherapy, the aim of which is to resolve emotional and behavioral problems and disturbances and to help people to lead happier and more fulfilling lives. REBT posits that people have erroneous beliefs about situations they are involved in, and that these beliefs cause disturbance, but can be disputed with and changed.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT):  Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) is a type of talk therapy for people who experience emotions very intensely. It’s a common therapy for people with borderline personality disorder, but therapists provide it for other mental health conditions as well.

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Cognitive Therapy- Part 1

Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is a talking therapy that can help you manage your problems by changing the way you think and behave. It's most commonly used to treat anxiety and depression, but can be useful for other mental and physical health problems. Cognitive behavioral therapy is a psycho-social intervention that aims to reduce symptoms of various mental health conditions, primarily depression and anxiety disorders. 

The ABCDE coaching model has five stages: Activating event or situation, Beliefs, Consequences, Disputation of the beliefs and Effective new approach to dealing with the problem.