Anxiety Control Center

Tish Schuman LPC, CMH, NCC is one of the outstanding Hypnotherapists at the Anxiety Control Center. She has been helping people in our Cherry Hill, NJ office for over 14 years.  In this post she gives information on hypnosis as she answers 3 questions.

Questions:
1)    A lot of people don’t think that I can be hypnotized.  Is there anything I can do between now and then to make me more hypnotizable?

2)    What happens if people find things out that they didn’t really know about before?  Do they freak out?  Does the hypnotherapist take them out of it or do they walk them through it?

3) If one can’t be hypnotized during the first session, does that mean they can’t be at all, or is it possible that they could be at another time or by someone else?

Client question: # 1.    A lot of people don’t think that I can be hypnotized.  Is there anything I can do between now and then to make me more hypnotizable?

Answers by Tish Schuman LPC, CMH, NCC:
Hypnosis or trance, we use the words interchangeably, occurs naturally. We have all experienced a naturally occurring trance state in our lives whether we are aware of it consciously or not.  For example, have you ever read a book and been so engrossed, that you could really feel what the character was feeling?  Or have you ever gone to the movies and identified so closely with one of the characters that you felt like you were part of the action?  Do you ever daydream?  These are all examples of a trance state. Anyone who is of average intelligence or higher can be hypnotized.  And like any skill we learn, some people may do it quicker than others.

2)    What happens if people find things out that they didn’t really know about before?  Do they freak out?  Does the hypnotherapist take them out of it or do they walk them through it?

Tish Schuman answers:
We use a hypnotic technique called Time Line Therapy. This is a very powerful and effective way to help people to get to the root of their problems and heal it there. When doing Time Line, we have the client “float” above their time line so that they are looking down as opposed to being “in” the problem.  So a good hypnotherapist will keep you out of the situation by keeping you floating above it. You already lived it once so we don’t want you in it again.

Many times the root of the problem occurred at a very young age.  What is no big deal to an adult, may be to a very young child.  So the events don’t necessarily have to be some very traumatic thing.  I have found that most clients are already aware of the very traumatic events that they have experienced.

One thing to remember is that you are always in control.  A hypnotherapist cannot make anyone do anything.  When you are in a trance state you are awake and aware although usually your eyes will be closed.  You are aware of what the hypnotherapist is saying and what you are saying.  If you need a break or want to stop the process, you can.

Client Question #3  If one can’t be hypnotized during the first session, does that mean they can’t be at all, or is it possible that they could be at another time or by someone else?

Tish Schuman responds: As I mentioned earlier, hypnosis is like any skill that we learn.  Some people may be better at it initially and for others may take a little time.  I will say it is very important to feel comfortable with the person that you choose to work with.

Also, when people think about hypnosis, they are typically thinking about they way they have seen it portrayed in the movies or on TV.  The client is sitting in a chair with eyes closed, almost appearing to be asleep while the hypnotist gives suggestions.  This is called classical hypnosis.  Many of the clients that we help come in wanting to get relief from anxiety. For a person who has anxiety, it is not usually easy for them to sit still for classical hypnosis. If someone with anxiety sees a hypnotherapist who only uses classical hypnosis and can’t get into a trance state, it is most likely because they are in an anxious state so simply hearing suggestions of calm will not work.

We mainly use Ericksonian hypnosis and with Ericksonian hypnosis a client does not have to be in a relaxed state to go into trance.  In fact, we can use whatever the client is feeling at the moment to help them get back to the root of the problem.  After this process clients describe feeling calm, relaxed and like a weight has been lifted off of them.

Tish Schuman LPC, CMH, NCC, is a Certified Hypnotherapist who specializes in Time Line Therapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming for the relief of panic and anxiety. She is a member of the American Board of Hypnotherapy, the Time Line Therapy Association, and the American Board of Neuro-Linguistic Programming. Tish has written numerous articles for various publications. As a parent, she has found her skills in Neurolinguists have helped her to create a warm and peaceful environment at home and in her career.

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The following are answers to questions I have received about worry and parenting.

Questions 1. So why are some people more prone to worrying than others?

Have you ever been watching your child at play, feeling love and joy and all of a sudden find your thoughts spinning off into all sorts of worry? Has one worrisome thought ever brought on a terrible cycle of more fearful thoughts?  If this has happened you are not alone.

There are many reasons for the different ways people respond to the world they live in.  An event that hardly creates a ripple in one person’s life can completely distress another person.  People react differently because of deeply rooted emotions and beliefs, which become filters for their perceptions and the way they interpret events.  A person’s past experiences will “color” their current interpretation and reactions to events, sometimes in positive ways, but also in less than helpful ones.  When a person reacts to an event, it is often not just the present day situation they are reacting to, but an entire chain of emotions going back all the way to childhood.

As children, we form beliefs that continue to run into adulthood.  We also develop patterns and coping techniques intended to help us deal with stress or protect us from danger.  Although these patterns and beliefs may serve a positive purpose at the time they were formed, they are no longer useful for the adult.

For example, I had a client who felt that if she didn’t worry something bad would happen.  She had a number of experiences in her very traumatic childhood where she learned that it wasn’t safe to just be, she had to run every possible consequence through her mind to keep her safe from her alcoholic parent. She learned that worry protected her, so that even as an adult, she still found herself consumed with worry.  The circumstances had changed, but the thought pattern hadn’t.  Instead of serving her by protecting her from harm, worry was actually getting in the way of her living her life to the fullest.

Fortunately, through the use of hypnosis, Neuro-Linguistic Programming, time line and vibrational healing my clients have found that they can change these thought patterns at the subconscious root from which they spring.   Adjust the thought pattern, and unnecessary worry disappears.

Question 2. Is worrying ever a good thing?  Some of us are very talented at it!
Sometimes worry is a fleeting feeling of concern.  This is a natural part of being a parent trying to protect your child from harm.  For parents of children who have special needs it is understandable that worry can take on a whole new meaning. The reality is that your child has to overcome additional hardships.  As a parent, you are constantly dealing with the extra stress that comes with wanting to protect your child and at times feeling helpless or unsure what the future will hold.

Let’s look at the positive purpose of worry.  Despite all the negative feelings attached to it, worry can serve a positive function when it prepares you for possible future difficulties.  It can alert you to things that need to be taken care of, or of consequences of certain actions.  Worry can keep you watchful for symptoms that indicate a possible life-threatening problem, or it can motivate you to take positive action to improve the quality of your child’s life.

However, once you have done everything in your power to anticipate and prepare for possible future problems, worry ceases to serve a positive function.   When your thoughts cycle into negative, scary future possibilities about things that are outside of your control, it is time to learn techniques to stop worry from putting another hardship in your life.

3. Got any simple techniques for stopping worry in its tracks?

There are many different techniques that can be used to stop worry and the stress that results from it.  Choosing the most effective one depends on which part of the stress cycle you are in:  the cognitive, physical or the emotional.

Many times the cognitive part of the cycle is where worry begins. It relates to the way you are filtering information, and the stories you are telling yourself based on your perceptions.  The emotional part relates to the subconscious feelings that anchor these perceptions.  One way to think of this is like looking at an event through a stained glass window.  The cognitive part relates to the direction in which you fix your gaze, what you choose to look at, and what you think about it.  The physical/emotional part is the window itself, the specific tint of the stained glass colors that affects everything you see.

Cognitively, the feeling of worry does not come from the event itself.  It comes from the stories we tell ourselves about the event:  both stories about scary possibilities we imagine for the future, and stories about traumatic experiences we remember from the past.

If you want to break the cognitive part of the stress cycle and stop negative thoughts, there is an excellent exercise called the “2 for 1″ technique.  It draws upon the same powerful imagination that you use to create negative stories but instead you use it to create positive thoughts instead.

This technique gives you a potent way to consciously transforming negative thoughts into positive ones.  By practicing it consistently, you cannot only begin to change the cognitive thought cycles that are causing your worry, but also adjusts the unconscious assumptions that keep the cycles alive.

Next time you find yourself spinning into a worry cycle, start by paying attention to the thoughts and stories that are going through your mind, and then do the following:

Step 1: Write down the facts of the event.  What is actually happening right now in the present moment?

Step 2:  Make a list of each thought, picture or story that is triggered by this event.  Stay in a curious state, letting all the negative thoughts come to the surface.  These may be fears that you have for the future, or past traumatic experiences that this event brings back to you.  As you write down these thoughts you will start to realize that no matter how much you might believe the thoughts to be true, they are still just one possible way things might happen.

Once you have a list of the negative thoughts, stories and pictures you are ready for the next step.

Step 3: Cross out the first negative thought you have written down, and write down two possible positive thoughts or possible positive outcomes in its place.  Repeat this for each negative thought on the list, until all your negative thoughts are crossed out and replaced by positive ones.

Most of us are far more used to telling ourselves negative stories than positive ones.  So it may feel a little strange at first to accept these positive thoughts as readily as you did the negative ones.  So at first the “2 for 1″ technique may take some conscious effort.  With practice, you will find that the positive thoughts start to pop up on their own, just as the negative ones once did.  By harnessing the power of the same powerful imagination that created the negative stories, you can create a whole range of positive possibilities, which replace the cycle of worry with one of hope and potential.

4.  I’d love to hear an example of a woman you recently worked with who effectively put one of your techniques to use – a success story, if you will.

Here is an example one parent I worked with. I am sure this story will resonate with all parents.  Her son had recently lost part of his hand in a fireworks accident, and as she watched him struggling to tie his shoe with one hand, she found herself spinning into a terrible worry cycle.

In her imagination, she was moving from the facts of the present moment, to a whole range of terrible thoughts and worries for the future: Will he be able to function in a job?  Will he be accepted?  Will this accident change he cheerful personality? She also found herself remembering traumas from the past—remembering how other people had looked at him in the emergency room, and even thinking about how she’d been teased as a child and worrying that it would be even worse for him.

Fortunately, before she allowed this cycle of worry to overtake her, she remembered the “2 for 1″ exercise.  She started with the facts of the present event.  Her son was struggling to tie his shoe.  She then wrote down all the negative thoughts that were passing through her mind, and replaced them with positive ones.  She thought about the things he did well, his keen mind, his energy, his goofy sense of humor, she imagined him playing with his friends, thought about jobs in which he could be successful, even imagined him graduating from college and getting married.

And as she did so and stopped the cycle of worry, she noticed something that surprised her:  the proud smile on her son’s face as he bounded up to her, his sneakers tied in a perfect knot.

It was then that she realized, at this moment, it wasn’t her son who was struggling.  It was her.

During our sessions together, we built on this realization using a combination of advanced hypnotic, NLP and time-line techniques.  As a result we were able to change this emotional part of the cycle:  the “stained glass” window of worry that was obscuring her perception, by releasing the deep-rooted emotions and adjusting the old thought patterns that were fueling her worry.

5.  What if I really believe that the thoughts I have might come true in the future, is there anything I can do about that?

Both the positive and negative thoughts you create about possible future events are fictional.  The problem with negative thoughts and pictures you create, in your mind, is that even though they possibly will never happen, the unconscious mind nevertheless accepts them as if they are true.  And you react with fear in the present moment to something that hasn’t even happened.

In just the same way, when you create positive thoughts, the unconscious mind also accepts them as true, creating a reaction that opens you to the positive possibilities.

Positive and negative thoughts both spring from the same place: your imagination.  They are simply stories.  You have the power of your own mind. So as long as you make up stories, you might as well choose ones that can serve you in a positive way.

6. What’s your best piece of advice for parents of children with special needs?
Parents of special needs children have many stressors that never even enter the minds of other parents.  In fact, many times it is the parent that suffers more than the child, as they struggle to reconcile their dreams for their child with the struggles of everyday life.  Amazingly, children have a way of taking even the most difficult, frustrating situations in stride. The best thing you can do for your child is what you are already doing, being proud of each accomplishment, celebrating what is unique about your child, and continuing to find and celebrate each wonderful gift.

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I once again would like to share some information on research that is being done with children who are suffering with abdominal pain.  I was so excited to see this research showing positive results using guided imagery for children.

Guided imagery is one form of self-hypnosis that I have found is extremely powerful for children.  I am including the following study for anyone interested in the results.  In the study the children use their imagination to help reduce pain.

For many years the therapists at the Anxiety Control Center  have been using a hypnotic system developed specifically for children.  Visualization is just one of the hypnotic techniques we have found can help with social fears, speaking in public, fear of the dark and other fears, as well as pain.     We have found that children respond  quickly to this hypnotic method, even faster than adults.  Because children are naturally great at using their imaginations this method is very powerful for them.

The following is information about the study. . .

The study states that  “Children can greatly reduce abdominal pain by using their imagination” by Miranda van Tilburg, Ph.D., Denesh K. Chitkara, M.D., William E. Whitehead, Ph.D., Nanette Blois-Martin, and Martin Ulshen, M.D.

Children with functional abdominal pain who used audio recordings of guided imagery at home in addition to standard medical treatment were almost three times as likely to improve their pain problem, compared to children who received standard treatment alone.

And those benefits were maintained six months after treatment ended, a new study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University Medical Center researchers has found.

“What is especially exciting about this study is that children can
clearly reduce their abdominal pain a lot on their own with guidance
from audio recordings, and they get much better results that way than
from medical care alone,” said van Tilburg. “Such self-administered
treatment is, of course, very inexpensive and can be used in addition to
other treatments, which potentially opens the door for easily enhancing
treatment outcomes for a lot of children suffering from frequent stomach
aches.”

The study focused on functional abdominal pain, defined as persistent
pain with no identifiable underlying disease that interferes with
activities. It is very common, affecting up to 20 percent of children.
Prior studies have found that behavioral therapy and guided imagery (a
treatment method similar to self-hypnosis) are effective, when combined
with regular medical care, to reduce pain and improve quality of life.
But for many children behavioral therapy is not available because it is
costly, takes a lot of time and requires a highly trained therapist.

For this study, 34 children ages 6 to 15 years old who had been
diagnosed with functional abdominal pain by a physician were recruited
to participate by pediatric gastroenterologists at UNC Hospitals and
Duke University Medical Center. All received standard medical care and
19 were randomized to receive eight weeks of guided imagery treatment.

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Testimonials:

“Irritable Bowel Syndrome controlled my life for over 20 years. Panic attacks brought me to therapy. I learned skills that enabled me to do things I had never dared before. The panic is gone. The IBS is under control.” K.C.

“When I started therapy, I was completely drained of energy. I was truly amazed at how energized I felt after using a Positive Future Image.” M.H.

“When I first started learning these techniques, I was very doubtful they would work for me. I was delightfully amazed when I was able to use these skills to get rid of migraine headaches.” M.G.

“Your great insight is truly helping me understand how to communicate in a new and more effective way”. C.G

“I’m letting go of feeling like I was suppose to know everything about parenting and being more like myself.  I feel such a weight lifting off my shoulders”.  A.B.

“My anxiety now comes and goes, sometimes  a little bit more and at times so much less. That in itself feels like a miracle, it’s been 20 years and finally I feel like there is hope.  It is a journey and I remember your words when the anxiety shows it’s face”.  D.I.

“It helps to to know that I have feelings and needs as a parent . . .  I never recognized or understood that it was OK for me to have needs too.  I thought I was just supposed to keep giving and giving and meet my children’s needs all the time, even when it made me feel unappreciated.”  R.R

“I’m still adjusting to the knew skills, as I learn how to be an “active” listener and how to talk so others really hear what I feel.   I’m now communicating more of how I feel.  I definitely want to support others in who they are and how they feel and I too, just as I want to be supported in who I am and how I feel.”  M.K.

“Thanks for the recommendation of the book and for explaining it in a way that made it possible for me to follow.  You seem to understand what I’ve been experiencing with my panic and fear.  And as I practice the exercises they hit the places I need to release my fears.”  B.F.

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This morning we begin with tips for changing negative thoughts into more enhancing ones.  In the next post I’ll be discussing a few more techniques to help stop panic and negative feelings.

I know first hand how it is to suffer with panic.  So I know what it feels like to have these types of thoughts.  At times when you first start to use new techniques it might seem almost impossible that anything can help.   I realize that, yet we need to start somewhere.  Please know I am not making light the feelings of panic, worry or anxiety.  What I am attempting to do, is to help you to begin to see things in a new light.

Panic can be horrible and disabling, especially when there seems there is nothing you can do to stop it. There is hope and help available.  Keep reading for more tips:

Tip 1:  Start by changing just one thought or belief that is not enhancing to you.

It does take some work,  yet the benefit is it will give you hope for more changes.  There are many ways you can use you mind to change thoughts that feed anxiety.

Tip 2.  Look for the possible positive “intention.”

Think about a possible, more positive reason for the underlying the thoughts or feelings.

Tip 3.  Create 2 positive thoughts for each negative one you create.

Find ones that will not “beat you down” or make you feel bad.  When creating possible positive “stories” you don’t even have to believe them.  Just start with creating different one that might counterbalance the negative thoughts you are having.

Tip 4.  Use your very creative mind to create positive possibilities.  Perhaps just a small change at first.

Use these small changes and see what happens.  Many have found them to be a good way to begin to feel back in control.  When we change our thoughts it gives a different message to the body.  It’s almost like saying, all is well no more adrenalin is needed.  This simple thought creates a settling down feeling in the body.  In the  25 years I have been working with panic and anxiety I have found that people who suffer with this difficult condition are not only strong, but also highly creative and intelligent.  Keep that in mind as you create positive thought to counteract the negative, scary ones.

Those of us who suffer with panic and anxiety are highly creative.  This very creativity sometimes causes us to think of all the possible negative or fearful things that might happen.   This pattern may start in early childhood.  It may be due to life circumstances where we learn to anticipate things that might hurt us.   Sometimes these patterns of fearful thinking start so a child can protect or warding off the feelings of being out of control.  If you think about the roots of where worry comes from in this more positive way it can help to re-frame the feelings of being weak.  Seeing it as a possible coping skill used as a child that isn’t necessary as an adult, something that can be changed.  We are looking at a “negative” scenario in a different light.

Many times our very positive skill of being creative, can cause a person with a predisposition to panic,  to create all the possible scenarios things that might happen in the future.  Unfortunately they are usually they take the form of negative thoughts. We do this not because we are negative, but because we are trying to be prepared for any possibility.  But these very thoughts disable us, by causing more anxiety.

Let me know  how these tips work for you, and any other solutions you are using in your life use to stop panic and fear.  I hope the tips are helpful.   Audrey Sussman PhD, director of the Anxiety Control Center.

If you find this information helpful, and want to learn more, there are 3 ways to continue learning to change panic and anxiety reactions.  For information you can:

1. Keep reading the weekly posts with helpful tips.

2.  Join with others at the Anxiety Control Center’s online coaching community.
To do this sign up at the right side of this page to be notified of the monthly calls.  If you want to get a jump start on dealing with anxiety,  you can get an Mp3 jam packed with 90 minutes of live coaching.  It’s still only $10 with a money back guarantee.
Go to ActionEndsProcrastination.com to get this downloaded directly to your computer.

3.  Or set up a private session: Call or email Audrey to set up a one-on-one session with one of our hypnotherapists.  In your private sessions you get intensive,  targeted techniques to help with your specific issues.   Our hypnotherapists are specially trained in all the techniques of the Anxiety Control Center’s Transformation System. This Transformation System enables us to get to the root of where panic really comes from, stuck (repressed) memories and emotions.    You’ll experience first hand how to release emotions that are getting in the way of moving forward in life.

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