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Hypnotherapy, also referred to as clinical or consulting hypnosis, is the application of hypnosis as an aid to enhance wellness. By working directly with the subconscious mind, hypnosis can have a profound, transformative effect, on a wide variety of physical, mental and emotional issues.
MEDICAL COLLABORATION
As clinical hypnotherapists, we do not independently work with medical conditions. We do not diagnose, treat or prescribe. We do not practice psychotherapy. We teach and train our clients to release limiting beliefs, enhance their wellness, and reach their goals with self-hypnosis and hypnotic techniques.
We facilitate, enhance and support wellness around diagnosed physical, mental and emotional symptoms in a coordinated care approach with licensed medical practitioners. Our collaboration with medical professionals enables us to facilitate rapid and lasting relief in conditions previously resistant to treatment.
We require a physician’s authorization before initiating work on diagnosed conditions. Working with your medical team enables us to ensure your progress in an optimal manner.
Most therapeutic methods work on a conscious level. The conscious mind, however, is merely the tip of the iceberg. The efficiency of hypnosis stems from its ability to work at the subconscious level.
Hiding below the surface of our conscious awareness, the subconscious mind is the force sustaining our life and directing us in all that we do. By allowing us to work at deeper levels of the mind, hypnosis allows us to target the very source of our issues.
Unresolved root causes are a driving force behind our physical, mental and emotional imbalances. They prompt negative patterns of behavior that can become extremely resistant to change. Once root causes are correctly addressed and released, rapid and lasting relief of symptoms typically follows.
Our conscious mind can only hold limited amounts of information at any given time. The subconscious mind, on the other hand, stores everything we learn through the course of our lifetime. When we begin to drive, or operate a complicated piece of machinery, we apply conscious effort to analyze, memorize and implement each step, in a specific sequence.
With practice and experience, we pass this control to our subconscious mind. We begin to drive seamlessly from one location to another, while reflecting on perfectly unrelated topics. Our subconscious mind is capable of orchestrating our thoughts, emotions, actions, reactions and behaviors simultaneously, and with effortless ease and fluidity.
Our brain is an electro-chemical organ composed of billions of cells, called neurons, using electricity to communicate with each other. The combination of million of neurons sending signals to one another produces electrical activity in the brain. This can be measured using medical machines such as an EEG (electroencephalogram).
The electrical activity in the brain is referred to as brain waves because it is cyclical, or wave-like, in nature. The state of hypnosis can be objectively measured in terms of brain wave activity. It is a natural state of heightened focus and relaxation, which we go in and out of daily. When we are driving long distance, watching a movie, lost in a book, playing video games, etc., we enter this state naturally, easily and effortlessly.
On a physiological level, it is a state of deep physical relaxation. Blood vessels loosen. The blood flows better through the entire system, distributing vital oxygen to the brain, and essential nutrients to our vital organs, more efficiently. Stress levels decrease significantly. The body returns to what it was engineered to do: heal and restore itself.
Neuroscientists studying encephalograms of the brain explain the deep, attentive, physical, mental and emotional relaxation, characteristic of the state of hypnosis, produces a significant increase in endorphin levels – our body’s natural opiate system – as well as dopamine and norepinephrine levels, enhancing focus and attention.
This creates an ideal state for synthetic thought and creativity – functions of the right brain hemisphere – placing us in an optimal condition to learn new information, remember facts and data, master new languages, analyze complex situations, all of which in a state of profound, restorative calm.
Our brain is the control center of our nervous system, our decision and communication center. Our central nervous system englobes our brain and spinal cord. Our peripheral nervous system consists of a network of nerves branching out from our brain and spinal cord. Our peripheral nervous system is further subdivided into our somatic nervous system and autonomic nervous system.
Together our brain, central and peripheral nervous systems control every part of our daily life, from our breathing and blinking, to our ability to memorize facts and orchestrate our thoughts, beliefs, emotions, actions and decisions.
Our limbic system, often referred to as our emotional brain, englobes the hippocampus, amygdala, anterior thalamic nuclei, septum, limbic cortex and fornix. It supports and controls a variety of functions including our emotions, fears, behaviors, long-term memories and olfaction sense.
Our thalamus is a gateway through which all sensory information is transferred to our brain for processing. It also determines whether or not to send the information to the cortex for conscious consideration. The hippocampus is in charge of transforming information into memories. Memories are then transformed into neural pathways, and stored for future reference.
The basal ganglia represents a group of nuclei, which receive information from the cortex, and translate it into a variety of functions, including voluntary motor control, procedural learning relating to routine behaviors and habits, eye movements, and cognitive and emotional functions.
The hypothalamus links our nervous system to our endocrine system. It plays an essential part in our motivation. It controls our body temperature, hunger, thirst, fatigue and sleep. The amygdaloid region of our brain, or amygdala, is part of our limbic system and is involved in a wide range of behavioral functions.
Among its primary role is the processing of our emotional reactions, such as anxiety, fear, desire or exhilaration. It is the architect of our emotional memory and affects the way we relate to each other, and to the world around us.
The prefrontal cortex is primarily implicated in planning complex cognitive behaviors, mental functions and personality expressions. It is regulates our decision making process and moderates correct social behavior.
It conducts the orchestration of our thoughts and actions in accordance with our internal goals. It holds executive functions in its ability to differentiate among conflicting thoughts, determine good and bad, better and best, the consequences of activities and the advantages of working toward defined goals.
Neurons connect with one another in complex networks called neural pathways. Neural communications occur in the brain via neurotransmitters. This produces what we experience as different thinking, feelings, and behavioral patterns.
All our physical and mental functions depend on the establishment and maintenance of these networks. Our habits and skills, such as nail biting, or playing a musical instrument, become embedded within the brain in frequently activated networks.
When we stop performing an activity, the neural networks responsible for this activity fall into disuse and can eventually disappear. When neurons are either over or under used, the chemistry of the brain changes, and neurological or psychiatric disorders can occur.
Negative events experienced early in life generally lead to chronic stress, lack of self-esteem and negative coping mechanisms in adult life. This, in turn, can create emotional instability, along with negative and destructive behaviors.
Hypnosis techniques address currently held behaviors specifically. Correctly addressing and releasing antiquated negative behaviors allows us to create space for healthier and more positive responses. Beneficial positive associations are brought forward, initiating new routines for the mind to focus on.
Once former negative behaviors are released, active techniques are used to find, create and maintain new emotional balance. By allowing us to communicate directly with our subconscious mind, hypnosis can have a profoundly transformative effect in correcting, rectifying and releasing a wide variety of issues having resisted other modalities and approaches.
Correctly addressing the root causes responsible for current negative behaviors enables us to restore and rebuild our self-esteem and our sense of self-worth. With restored purpose and direction, we finally find the strength and the stability we need to embark on a healthier, more productive chapter.
Forensic and Clinical Hypnosis in Portland, Oregon.
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