Center Pensées - French Therapy Center in Berlin

Hypnosis Therapy in Berlin

🌿Definition of hypnosis

The term hypnosis comes from the Greek word “hupnos”which means sleep. Contrary to its etymology, hypnosis is a natural state of altered consciousness. It does not correspond to a waking state but to a dissociative state which allows access to the unconscious. According to the Larousse dictionary: “ the term unconscious designates in a fairly general way the inaccessible part of the psychic functioning of any human individual, whether this inaccessibility is temporary or constant. » 

It's that part that is stronger than yourself, that which you can stop yourself from being, doing or thinking. Ericksonian hypnosis is a therapeutic approach that allows the patient to access their unconscious to make profound changes that consciousness cannot make on its own. The unconscious and the conscious will combine together to resolve problems and develop new, healthier and more balanced coping strategies for the patient. 

 

🌿 Ericksonian hypnosis:

It is a support that is useful for pain, the management of anxiety disorders (stress, phobia, low self-esteem, panic attacks), for addictions (eating disorders and smoking), for somatization (dermatological, migraine, inflammation) and in psychopathology (personality and mood disorders). It is useful to help people better manage their emotions or physical reactions to stress or anxiety factors. Hypnosis is a complementary method to medical, paramedical and psychological monitoring. In the context of chronic and/or serious illness, however, it is recommended to have the agreement of a doctor and that medical monitoring is always effective in order to be able to use hypnosis. 
It is a humanist approach where the therapist induces in the patient, in a state of modified consciousness, indirect suggestions which allow the unconscious to mobilize its psychic resources. Ericksonian hypnosis appeared at the beginning of the 20th century by the American psychiatrist Milton H Erickson who was able to cure his poliomyelitis (paralysis) thanks to self-hypnosis. He views hypnosis as a natural and permissive state. Erickson believes that everyone has within them the resources and capacity to alleviate their own suffering and resolve their problems in ways that are not necessarily cognitively understood and analyzed. For him, it is only important that changes happen. 
Indeed, we are all, to varying degrees, receptive to the hypnotic state that we experience every day in our daily lives. For example when we read a book, our mind elsewhere and we must return to the lines that we have covered but which we have not read. Even better, for those who drive, when we realize that for a period of time, our mind goes elsewhere, yet driving has been done automatically. For movie buffs, movies are a great example of an altered state of consciousness. Indeed, if you watch a film in the cinema, you are well aware that certain things do not exist in reality or are not plausible, and yet, during the moment of a film and you let yourself be caught up in the game! In hypnosis it is the patient who will be at the origin of his modified state of consciousness throughout the session. 

🌿What is a hypnotic state?

The modified state of consciousness makes it possible to suggest comparisons to the brain with other states of consciousness, which opens the field of possibilities to new realities. The individual is immersed in a state between wakefulness and sleep, he experiences a sensation of well-being but remains conscious. Thanks to suggestions, truisms and the yes set, the therapist can speak directly to the unconscious. The language is permissive, the metaphors and indirect suggestions make it possible to remove psychological resistance and allow the person to access their own resources. Because the subject will disconnect from his external environment and focus on his unconscious. The state of physical and psychological relaxation contributes to putting the consciousness in a state of wakefulness, to let the imagination take the place of logic. Both present and elsewhere, the patient is free to act. Indeed, the patient is an actor in his healing because the hypnotic state allows access to inner resources. Because the unconscious is the source of new energies, that is to say the capacities for adaptation and change, which the patient is unaware of. Accompanied by the voice of the therapist in a defined and containing framework, the patient sets out to discover his unsuspected resources which will allow him to make a change in himself. The hypnotic state allows you to access a creative flow and open up the field of possibilities and transform your daily life. 
“Because the goal of Ericksonian therapy is change! »
Hypnosis brings a state of well-being and an effective change in the patient's life. Its aim is to reduce, or sometimes even disappear, the symptoms or blockages that prevent the subject from being in the present moment and moving forward in their life journey. The therapist will help the subject to explore their unsuspected and unused potentialities which are unconscious. Thanks to a hypnotic state which allows the unconscious to integrate new “schemas”, that is to say new habits, more healthy and balanced for the subject. Because hypnosis allows the unconscious to respond in a neutral or positive way to stimuli and events that affect the patient's life. Take the example of phobias, sometimes the subject does not know where their fear comes from and cannot confront it. Hypnosis will allow the patient to reduce or even make their phobia disappear without looking for a rational cause, simply by reducing its intensity. Thanks to advances in technology and research in neuroscience, it is now possible to be able to identify different brain activities and the interactions between them under a hypnotic state.
Hypnosis in Berlin
person showing green and black eyelid closeup photography
person showing green and black eyelid closeup photography
person showing green and black eyelid closeup photography
person showing green and black eyelid closeup photography
person showing green and black eyelid closeup photography

🧠 The effects of hypnosis on the brain:

The brain will modify its activity when it is in a hypnotic trance. Initially we notice a drop in activity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, that is to say the area which evaluates the context, focuses our attention and allows us to make decisions. Then we observe an increase in activity in the frontal lobe, the part responsible for problem solving as well as cerebral intensity in the prefrontal cortex (area which manages adaptation, allows one to change behavior and evaluate one's consciousness self).

The increase in connections between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (executive control) and the insula (part that regulates bodily functions) allows the subject to pay less attention to what is happening around them. We also observe weaker connections between certain areas of the parietal lobe, which creates a dissociation between the action and the awareness that we have of this act. Finally, we see an inversion of the connection between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex, the part which manages thoughts and mental ruminations, which induces detachment and therefore a reduction in self-awareness. This explains how indirect suggestions will act on the unconscious without the patient asking questions and allowing him to consider things differently. Hypnosis induces a restoration of functional connectivity between the central nervous structures which are: the neuroendocrine-immune axis, interoception (awareness of the internal state of one's body), the regulation of the central and peripheral system and the vagal tone.

 

⚠️ Contraindication :

Hypnosis cannot be offered to people with a psychotic structure or an autism spectrum disorder. Because hypnosis lowers psychic defense mechanisms and therefore allows the unconscious to take up more space.
However, psychotic subjects have an “open unconscious” and a less anchored relationship with reality than neurotic people or people with a personality disorder. It is important for people suffering from psychosis or ASD to maintain sufficiently good psychological defense mechanisms to maintain a link with reality. Psychiatric and psychological follow-up is more suitable for these people.

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