Strictly For Therapists

 

There are common roots which connect therapies. These methods need not be mutually exclusive and a 'cocktail' of different approaches is sometimes necessary. We should avoid working within fixed frames. We should have an eclectic approach to the way in which we, as therapists, should work. Those systems include psychotherapy, hypnotherapy, active imagination, shamanism and NLP

The core theme of those different approaches to therapy is the method of communication with the unconscious mind. Coming to terms with the unconscious mind seems to be at the root of all of the processes involved. It becomes necessary to present an assumption that the unconscious mind is represented as different models within the context of each approach, but that the underlying processes of unconscious thought are universal. There is also the assumption that the unconscious mind is separate to the conscious mind and that they are not necessarily on the same wavelength!

As part of an overview I will now summarise the aims of the different approaches ahead of a broader explanation of the individual methods. Psychotherapy is a collective term for creating mental well-being with clients with mental (emotional) problems. It encompasses a wide range of techniques from analysis, behavioural change and facilitating interpersonal communication. The following are some of the methods therapists will use.

For hypnotherapy the underlying aim is to elicit the responses of the unconscious to bring about changes in the entire organism that cannot be brought about by conscious will. This is done by either making changes to the current thinking process, or by reconciling past trauma in order to allow a fundamental change in those thinking processes. marriage counseling near me Jung's methodology was to bring about those changes by listening to the activities of the unconscious mind and thereby bringing about reconciliation of conflict. Hypnosis aims to do the same thing by both listening to, and directly communicating changes to, the unconscious.

NLP is a different way to view and influence the unconscious by observing and using the different communication modalities which are influenced and directed by the unconscious. The aims of shamanism are to enjoy the experiences of a wider world, a spiritual one which, I propose, is in fact a construct of the unconscious mind, in order to learn and change. This element of the 'deeper' world is present in Jung's collective unconscious. There are differences in the approaches which involve passivity. Shamanism is very passive with somebody else, usually, taking responsibility for the communication with the 'other world' for 'healing', therapy.

Active imagination allows the unconscious to take over the thought processes, but is an individual activity, even if directed by a therapist. Hypnosis relies on the therapist. (I believe that the effects of self-hypnosis are different to those of directed hypnosis, simply because in self-hypnosis the conscious mind is offering subjective direction which allows the resistances which hide trauma to operate. marriage counselling This view may be substantiated by the lack of examples, if any, where successful self-help by using such methods for fundamental changes is claimed).

NLP is usually about working problems out with another person when used in a therapeutic context. When NLP is used as a self-help technique, it is similar to self-hypnosis in that positive thoughts and suggestions can be made and acted upon, but it needs an objective helper when used for therapies which need fundamental changes.

In short, NLP considers man's communication with man in the present time in order to allow positive change for the future. Hypnotherapy considers man's communication with man to recall events from the past in order to allow change for the future (analysis), and communication in the present for positive change in the future (suggestion). Jung's active imagination considers man's communication with man and the inherent images which are assumed to be present in every man, and their reconciliation, with the intention of change. Shamanism considers man's resolution with the influences of a different, usually invisible, world of spirits (the unconscious), in order to bring about healing.