Hypnotism?

[Deleted member 541]

One of my bigger triggers is death/dead bodies. I try to avoid wakes/funerals at all cost, but sometimes I can't. When I was married, my father in law died, or committed suicide as he was diabetic, and there was a needle next to his body. Anyways, when my husband and I discovered his body, we called the police. They came and because of the needle they would not let us leave the premises until the medical examiner came to determine the cause of death.

I became extremely anorexic in the next few months, to the point that my Dr was threatening to hospitalize and force feed me. My therapist at the time agreed, but wanted to try one last thing. She called in a group of drs and discussed the possibility of hypnotism to remove the memory of my father in law/death and dead body triggers. I backed out of it at the last minute....

I wonder if it is a possibility for those that have tried everything and still struggle with serious issues related to their trauma. Maybe @anthony will have some knowledge on this. Maybe it isn't viable, but I was just wondering.

 

[hodge]

Have you tried Thought Field Therapy or Accelerated Resolution Therapy?

I've done a little TFT, but my T says it takes awhile for it to have positive effects. She's getting training in ART this weekend. I'm inclined to try those before hypnotism.

 

[anthony]

My only advice... is that hypnotism isn't a validated treatment, and is quite subjective as to whether a person is susceptible or not to it. The other big problem surrounding trauma, is that if it does work for you, the problem is that you don't know what could be unleashed as a result of poking around in your brain.

Therapy is designed, even when highly stressed and pushed, that your brain can physically only release what you can realistically cope with. The brain in essence has a protective mechanism, and even though you want to go kill yourself and are drowned in symptoms. the brain itself will only release enough that you can deal with. Your choices and behaviour are vastly different than what you brain actually releases into your conscious brain.

Hypnotism, if susceptible, pokes around in the subconscious, and depending just on the severity of trauma (if you have experienced trauma from a child and are complex, years, decades of it) will depend on whether you should go near it or not. Now even with all of that, you may choose to give it a crack and see what happens. It may do nothing, it may help you, it may f*ck you for life beyond anything you could have ever imagined (think highly degraded capacity for anything).

A lot of unknowns, and most things have risks and rewards attached, more often than not.

 

[hodge]

Shudder. I think you were right to back out on hypnotism, @She Cat. There are several other alternatives to healing the traumatized brain without being unconscious or semi-conscious about it. I'm not talking about EMDR, as that's not good for those of us with multiple traumas. My T is very sensitive to that issue, but is quite convinced that we need to do some kind of brain work that engages both hemispheres to heal the traumas. I've exhausted CBT and every other talk therapy, so I've been working on this, even though it's painful for me to tap myself. I actually have to wear gloves when I do it because it bothers me so much to touch myself. :rolleyes:

 

[lostforgottensoul]

I agree with Anthony, no, no, and no. I would likely end up in a heap of droll or something. (Not meaning to be offensive or anything). Its suggestion as well and thats not good. I always said i would never be hypnotized. It scares me as to what would happen. I wouldnt do it.

 

[Deleted member 541]

@anthony. Thanks for getting back to me on that. It was 40 yrs ago when this happened, and back then I doubt they even knew that PTSD was a diagnosis for someone outside of the military. Things have changed and treatments have evolved so I was just wondering. I'm not a viable subject for hypnotism anyways. Found that out yrs later. I can not be hypnotized, several have tried for various reasons and failed.

But thank you for taking the time to respond..... Appreciate it.

Wendy