The Happy Hypnotist
Or, One Way that Hypnosis Contributes to a Training for Happiness
By: Nancy Montagna, Ph.D.
John loses in a game of tennis and finds himself depressed afterwards. "I am no good at sports," he is thinking, "Why do I even bother? I am a loser." These thoughts and others like them pass through his mind, barely noticed. Later that day, still feeling bad, he begs out of a plan to watch the Academy awards at a friend's house. The friend had wanted to introduce him to someone he might like to date. He reasons, "I am not in the best frame of mind to meet someone. No one would like a loser." As weeks go by he finds he is no longer interested in playing tennis.
I am a Clinical Psychologist with a private practice. Long before 1997 when the research field of "Positive Psychology" was launched by eminent researcher and then president of the American Psychological Assiocation, Martin Seligman, Ph.D., my approach was solution-focused and positive. I took all of the levels of training in NLP and Hypnosis offered by Ron Klein at the American Hypnosis Training Academy (AHTA), and was delighted with the many effective, positive tools I learned. I am also a National Board Diplomate Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist. Of the many effective approaches I learned at AHTA, the "well-formed outcome" and the search through the client's experience to access resources that are needed to solve the person's problem have been most powerful. Also importantly, both turn the clients' mind-set from the problem toward the solution and how to use their own strengths to achieve desired outcomes.
Two years ago, I was trained and certified by Martin Seligman in ways to apply the latest research in Positive Psychology. These are evidence-based interventions that increase what he terms "authentic" happiness. This "happiness" signifies a life not only rich in pleasurable feelings, but also full of activities that the person loves doing, and the satisfaction of contributing to purpose greater than oneself. Together with my colleague, Robin Carnes, author and fellow student of positive psychology, I have created Pathways to Happiness to help people to integrate these positive practices into how they live their lives, day-to-day. We have found them to be good for people who just want to get the most out of life, as well as being an effective adjunct to psychotherapy for clinical depression. These practices have also been useful to clinicians and teachers who wish to pass these powerful interventions on to others. Pathways to Happiness is offered as a series of classes, all by phone and email. (For more information, please see www.pathwaystohappiness.com or call 301 587-1835.)
John's, the fellow mentioned at the beginning of this article, reactions to the lost tennis game are examples of "pessimistic" thinking. In the research of positive psychology, pessimism is defined as attributing permanent (across time) and/or pervasive (across areas of his life) causes to negative events. Optimists do the reverse. They see negative events as temporary and specific.
Research shows that people who think optimistically, are happier and more realistic in most ways. They live longer and healthier lives, and are more successful at work, in relationships, in sports, and almost every other field of endeavor. Pessimists are far more likely to become depressed or develop an anxiety disorder. Best of all, optimism can be learned, and, when it is, people's lives change for the better. When optimistic thinking is taught to pessimistic people who are at-risk for depression, the rate of both depression and anxiety disorders is cut in half over a 10-year follow-up. (You will find an excellent test for optimism at authentichappiness.com ).
The method for developing optimistic habits is variously called Cognitive Restructuring (CR) or ABCDE Disputation and it has been written up in several books, one being Seligman's Learned Optimism. To summarize, the person must begin to notice that an event (the Adverse event) has affected his/her mood in some unhappy way, and then look for the thoughts, the Beliefs, the interpretations of the event that resulted in the bad feeling. Then, one asks, "What are the Consequences of my having this belief? What decisions do I make? How has this affected my life?" In John's case, the belief that he is incompetent (permanent) at sports, led to his giving up on tennis. The belief/feeling that he is a loser (pervasive) meant that he didn't take advantage of a social opportunity. Permanent and pervasive interpretations of disappointing events make us feel bad, but also limit our lives. The consequences in lost potential creativity are enormous.
After doing steps A, B and C, now we are ready to Dispute those limiting beliefs. The two most frequently applied disputations are 1) evidence to the contrary, e.g., "When I was a kid, I practiced ping pong a lot and got to where I could beat my father!" John could also look for evidence that he has been loved, even though he is not perfect. 2) John looks at alternative explanations for losing the game, e.g., "My opponent is more experienced and was better at directing the ball to where I couldn't reach it." In our example, John could also look for evidence in his past that people have liked him for other qualities having nothing to do with tennis or winning in all areas of his life.
The final step is to energize a positive belief, that is, to come up with an affirmation, and act on it. For John that would be, "I can be good at sports when I give myself a chance to learn. It might be fun to get some lessons and see what I can do!" He would certainly affirm his lovability in a permanent and pervasive way and go to his friend's house!
The Harvard Negotiation Group (Getting to Yes and Difficult Conversations) found that people often have vulnerabilities in their self esteem in the following three areas: I am good (even though I sometimes to something wrong), I am competent (even though I make mistakes and am not competent at everything), and I am lovable (even though some particular person doesn't like me, or someone who loves me is not showing it now.) The deep limiting beliefs that most need disputing are in these areas. When a person has identified their vulnerability, the hypnotic technique of re-visiting and revivifying memories of moments that demonstrate lovability, goodness, or competence multiplies the power of the disputation. Revivification of the "evidence to the contrary" brings to bear the emotional state of the good experiences, emotions which are incompatible with the pessimistic thoughts. In Pathways to Happiness, we make a recording guiding people through that revivification. If you would like to receive a copy of the mp3 file, please write to me at nancy@pathwaystohappiness.com.
Nancy K Montagna, Ph.D.1110 Fidler lane, # 1417
Silver Spring, MD 20910
http://www.nancymontagna.com
301-587-5735 X2