Some regression hypnosis practitioners think that bringing conscious awareness to repressed memories is all that’s needed to resolve a client’s problem. They think that reviewing “what happened” will generate insight into the cause and that’s all it takes to clear things up. That’s just not true.
Human beings have the ability to “forget”.
We can forget painful memories. The way that we do that is by either suppressing or re-pressing conscious recall of some or all of a painful event. This is a protective function of the Subconscious Mind.
The idea is – out of sight, out of Mind. It’s helpful but it’s never completely out of Mind because the Subconscious Mind never forgets.
That’s why the client still has a problem.
This ability to push aside memory is a coping strategy that is essential for a young Child. It helps to reduce anxiety. And it allows a child to move on from experiences that were either painful, or overwhelming, or traumatic. But it’s a mistake to assume that simply bringing the memory to conscious awareness is the whole solution.
It’s true that bringing to light what happened can help to generate some understanding or insight for a client. But insight isn’t enough to get a complete healing. Simply reviewing an event isn’t enough to resolve the problem. It can even make things worse. Here’s why . . .
1. The Compounding Effect: Just going over a painful event can reinforce the underlying pattern. It can have a compounding effect if you don’t resolve the underlying problem.
2. False Memory: Reviewing an event can encourage false memories. Memories are seldom based in fact. If, based on what was revealed in the session, the client assumes that it must be true, and they believe that that’s what really happened, that’s a problem.
Get Ready for Regression
Learn how to create a safe environment in which to assess and then teach your clients how to be successful working with you in regression hypnotherapy sessions.
The event is only part of the solution.
Regressing into and reviewing past events will bring to light how a certain situation was perceived at that time. And it will show you what decisions were made based on those perceptions. The client may even gain some insight into the cause of the problem. But merely bringing painful memories to conscious awareness isn’t necessarily going to get rid of the problem.
To get rid of the problem for good you need to transform how it feels. And to do that you need to go beyond insight. You need to transform all the erroneous thoughts and feelings that were shaped by those events.
