The nature of our work, as clinical hypnotherapists, consists in diving into the unsolved mysteries of the mind. Because our field is still not fully known and understood, people often come to see us as a last resort. Hypnotherapy is not the first option that comes to mind when someone is faced with a debilitating problem. More often than not, they turn to us after having tried every possible traditional treatment, program and path, when nothing has brought them durable relief. For this reason, we regularly work with people who have reached a profound state of despair and hopelessness. Because every other method, treatment or program they tried seems to have failed, they have grown convinced nothing will bring them relief. Some are on the verge of giving up.

When a problem or condition proves resistant to a great number of attempts, methods and treatments, it is often driven by a cause buried deep within the subconscious mind. I like to compare the different levels of our mind to the image of an iceberg. The conscious mind is merely the tip of the iceberg, visible above the surface of the water. The subconscious mind is the gigantic, all-powerful driving force hidden below the surface. Attempting to alter behaviors, reverse debilitating conditions or repair post-traumatic sequels by addressing them via the conscious, critical, analytical part of the mind will only prove successful if there is not a cause, buried within the subconscious level of the mind, driving the problem in the opposite direction. The effort would be similar to attempting to move an iceberg by its tip in one direction, while the submerged mass is being driven by oceanic currents the other way. You might have a short-term illusion of progress, but the larger driving force under the surface will regain its momentum and obliterate your efforts.

The reason we have powerful and permanent results with clinical hypnotherapy when all other methods have failed is because we don’t fight against the currents. Instead, we dive head in to the very depths of the epicenter to uncover, understand, analyze and resolve the cause of the problem. In many ways, it could be labeled archeology of the mind, in that we dig deep beneath the surface to uncover and study the past origins of a present human behavioral problem.

We can sometimes we can be consciously aware of the initial sensitizing event triggering a current behavioral problem, yet interestingly, understanding the functioning and reasoning behind the problem on a conscious, analytical, intellectual level does not necessarily enable us to heal from it and release it.

Other times, the original cause of a problem escapes our conscious mind entirely. This is the case in traumatic memories that have been blocked, repressed or denied on a conscious level.

Diving to the epicenter of the problem, revisiting its cause, uncovering the initial sensitizing event at the subconscious level, allows us to process it in a new light.  Removed from the pressure and urgency of the event in actual time, distanced from the intensity of the original emotional charge, we are able to shift our perspective of the initial trauma, to repair the wounds left behind, restore our sense of self-worth and heal our self-image.