Using Hypnosis To Release The Pain And Trauma Of Child Sexual And Physical Abuse

WITH all my heart, I hope that very few of you reading this have had to know the deep, scarring wounds that childhood abuse in all forms can leave. This subject is very close to my soul as I am a survivor of both extreme physical and sexual abuse as a child. It might be hard for some to understand, but I am actually grateful as my quest for self healing led me to the world of hypnosis as a young teenager – a world I love and cherish as I see on a regular basis the depth of transformation it can bring.

I want to introduce you to the power of stories told in metaphors under hypnosis. Metaphoric hypnosis is often irreplaceable in its profound wisdom. The subconscious is not threatened and can assimilate it well. It is particularly helpful for those whose emotions are too raw for a direct approach and emotional distance is necessary to gain trust. It’s as gentle as it is powerful. It is a technique originated by my leading inspiration, Milton Erickson. He was a ground breaking psychiatrist and clinical hypnotherapist and was the founding president of the American Society for Clinical Hypnosis. His influence is far reaching in the way so many hypnotherapists across the world approach the skill and techniques in which they use hypnosis to help their clients.

So the following are metaphors (used under hypnosis) written by Dr. Erickson, for healing change at a subconscious level. It is specifically and carefully worded for victims of childhood abuse of all kinds. The written format might look strange but Dr. Erickson was deliberate in this so that the Hypnotherapist would be able to capture the correct flow but most importantly how the subconscious mind of a client would hear, absorb the conceptual message and then willingly make ‘shifts’ to move away from unhelpful and perhaps deeply ingrained patterns.

Volumes have been and will be written on the topic of abuse. I myself will come back with many more thoughts and accounts of how I work with my clients on this. Too much to incorporate into this little piece. I just want to share the simple, yet complex way that a brilliant metaphor can be a treasure to the subconscious. Keep in mind that the hypnotherapist would be conveying the following to a client who is under hypnosis.

BURIED TREASURES BY MILTON ERICKSON

“I wonder if you have ever seen the small fragile glass figurines that artisans sell at fairs and in shopping malls, made of tiny strands of clear bright glass all carefully laced together to form the shape of a ship or an animal, or even a house or a tree, that seem to fascinate children with their delicate sparkles and shapes like priceless jewels, valuable possessions, to be carried in velvet cases and protected, kept safe from loss or damage, tiny treasures, a gift to someone, like the treasure carried in ships across the sea. There was a program on TV several years Ago, about a woman who spent twenty years searching for such a ship, a lost treasure ship, one of the hundreds that had been lost along the coast because of accidents and disasters and wars. She researched it very carefully, and thought she knew exactly what had been lost. She also thought she knew what had happened and where the treasure had sunk. But it was hard to find that ship, it had been lost for so long. It had gotten buried with mud and coral, and there were so many other wrecks in the area, any one of which could have been the one, but wasn’t. So she spent many years searching and she raised thousands of dollars from investors, because she was convinced there was something of great value down there, lost treasure of immeasurable worth, and she convinced others it was there too. Family, friends, and the divers who worked with her, searched for it year after year, until finally one day the divers returned to the surface shouting and screaming and holding up gold bars. They had found that ship, and it contained more than you can imagine. Tons of gold bars, silver bars, gold coins, precious jewels and elaborate jewelry, things from the past that had gone untouched, that had not been seen for hundreds of years suddenly were there for people to hold and feel. And they held them with reverence, touching them gently and silently, as if these things that had been lost for so long contained some memory of the past, something special that people need, something special to protect, like those tiny glass figurines that you see at fairs and malls. They seem to be so fragile, so easily broken by someone rough, but they actually are quite sturdy and can survive for years and years even when lost or hidden away, like the treasures at the bottom of the ocean, hidden deep down below, something precious and valuable inside, a part of you, before, because there is a kind of glass called Pyrex that is as strong as steel, that can withstand the hottest fires without cracking, without breaking, that can be bumped and dropped, mishandled and misused, that looks and feels fragile, like those inner treasures may seem to you yet it still stays strong and clear and bright, beautiful to look at and wonderful to touch. And the joy of its discovery, the recovery of that buried treasure, the pleasure of knowing it belongs to you, that it is you, is something you can bring back with you, that warm good part of the heart of the matter that children sometimes lose for a time, but it always lies there waiting, waiting to be brought back to the surface where it can be touched and felt and enjoyed and kept close within you forever, now, because it belongs to you.”

To Your Success.
Vanessa Lindgren, Cht
2019