PTSD therapy: It can be faster than you think

PTSD therapy can feel like something that's going to take a very long time and be very tough, but this doesn't always have to be the case. Especially not if you use hypnosis to resolve PTSD.

For example, I once held a session at a seminar with a man who had been traumatized after the Schiphol fire. He had been labeled PTSD. He suffered from fits of rage against his wife and at work he also experienced dizziness

He felt he would lose everything. He felt that his wife would leave him and that he would lose his business, his business.

Because of this, he went into therapy and was diagnosed with PTSD. If you know me, you already know that I always say, “You don’t have it—you do it.”

He came to me on stage and in 1 session he was rid of this trauma.

What was interesting, though, was that we didn’t end up focusing on the Schiphol fire. His problem had originated much further back in his past. It had to do with an argument at home when he was very young. That was the seed that would later sprout and was triggered during the fire.

Of course, what happened there is terrible. What you saw may then be on your retina and that's super intense. But not everyone is so affected by that.

I do think everyone suffers after that, but 14 or 15 years, they don't have to. Not everyone has or does.

Then it often has to do with something that happened before, making you less psychologically stable.

Then that's the gouge that spills the bucket. I deliberately don't say the gusher, because what happened there is not a gusher. But then you do get a slosh of water added to that bucket and then it overflows.

What is the real cause of PTSD

When you also get all kinds of bad suggestions, that you have something you can't get rid of. For example, many people think you can't get rid of post-traumatic stress.

For example, you also have CPTSS, chronic PTSD, well then you never get rid of it. But if there's only 1 person who overcomes it anyway, and there are, it's already wrong.

For example, sometimes you do something for a very long time because of stress. You then need to discharge those.

That man unloaded that tension where it belonged. This was in the past. At the moment of that argument.

At that point, you’ve removed the seed, after which you imagine yourself growing up without the anger —so that the problem never existed. Of course, you still remember it, but the feeling is gone, and you then arrive at that fire.

Then that feeling is different. The moment is still terribly k*t, of course, but the feeling is different. It is no longer from the old feeling, but from a new feeling.

That second moment is then automatically altered. We call this reconsolidation. We retrieve a memory, alter it, and store it again.

So we had implemented that technique. A week later, he had several more trigger moments, but nothing was happening precisely now and he still feels fine because it had changed.

Many people find this hard to believe or find it miraculous.

There are many factors involved in solving these types of problems.

Believe that the problem can be solved

A very important part is what you believe. You have to believe that it can be done and that it is possible to resolve PTSD.

If you believe this, the chances of resolving the issue are much greater. If, on the other hand, you believe that it cannot be resolved or that you have a chronic problem, then the chances of resolving it are actually minimized.

But so if you have the belief that it can be done, then it becomes more likely that it can be solved. Maybe this doesn't happen to everyone in 1 session, but I do think that the therapy time gets a lot shorter.

This isn’t just important for the person experiencing the trauma; the therapist must also hold this belief. The therapist shouldn’t think that their client is suffering too much from something, that the problem has lasted too long, or that it runs too deep. What do you mean, “too deep”? Where, exactly? Up their ass or something?

This is such bullshit and nonsense.

What they mean is that someone has done something so often that the habit is hard to break. That makes it difficult to do something different.

If he had not done it so often, there would have been nothing wrong.

Many therapists use methods based on the assumption that something isn’t possible, and then it doesn’t work. Or they use EMDR, but they don’t understand how the technique works. Because people often find it difficult to bring such an image to mind—which is required in EMDR—and then it doesn’t work.

Hypnosis for working with the unconscious mind

That's why I'm such a fan of hypnosis. You don't have to do much consciously; instead, we work a lot with the unconscious. Through the right suggestions and methods we can then make people feel better. We then do a lot to just make you feel okay with that situation and that is liberating. Sometimes this happens in 1 session.

But then all the conditions must be right. In any case, there must be a belief on the part of the therapist and the client that the problem can be solved; in addition, these three factors are still important:

• Clients believe they can do it.
• Clients believe the therapy works.
• Clients believe that the therapist can bring it about in them.

If 1 is missing, it gets trickier, but if all three are present, chances are very high that you will get a successful result.

Therefore, much starts with the therapist himself. If you are half-baked in it as a therapist, don't start. Then refer to someone else.

If you know how to sell the EMDR, regression or whatever technique you use well to your client, that he believes in it, the chances of it succeeding also go up.

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Scientific research also shows that hypnosis is effective in relieving PTSD symptoms and that these effects are even long-lasting[1].

Believing you can do it

You or your client must believe that something is possible. Scientists, for example, have observed a link between self-esteem—such as the realization that you’re good at something—and the severity of PTSD.

For example, how you see yourself has a greater impact on your symptoms than how you see the world. So even if you think the world is 1 great danger, how you view yourself in dealing with that danger has more influence[2].

Thoughts about yourself are therefore very important to help someone with PTSD and to make or keep them positive. Especially if you suffer from PTSD due to the influence of other people, than for example a natural disaster[3].

Hypnotherapy can also be used to improve self-esteem[4]. This is often done in conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy, which is therapy that works on how you think.

When should you actually seek help?

Of course, it's a shame if you're walking around with PTSD symptoms for years, when with PTSD therapy you can get rid of them quickly. If you have experienced a traumatic event and are suffering from it in your daily life, you can seek help as soon as 4 weeks have passed since it caused problems[5].

With mild symptoms, nothing may be done at first, but you may need to track whether symptoms get worse or less severe over time. Indeed, time can sometimes be all you need to give a traumatic event a place where it no longer bothers you.

If you don't have that time, or don't feel like waiting, you can of course seek help directly from a hypnotherapist or other therapist.

As mentioned, EMDR therapy can be used as well as cognitive behavioral therapy. The latter therapy in particular can also be given in conjunction with hypnosis.

People with PTSD are often prescribed antidepressants. While a pill like that is convenient, it doesn’t solve the underlying problem. In addition, many people who take this medication complain that their emotions become dulled—not just the negative ones, but the positive ones as well, which become less joyful.

In the process, you get the problem right back when you stop taking the medication.

Therefore, my preference is to mentally work on a solution myself.

So this can be done with hypnosis.

Want to learn more about how hypnosis can help you and others? Then come to a free online master class on hypnosis.

Or sign up right away for one of our courses.

Sources:

[1] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207144.2015.1099406

[2] https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/jts.20597

[3] https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0886260511431440

[4] https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00207140601177897

[5] https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/treatment/