Advanced Hypnosis Suggests
Post Grad Training Needs
by
Copyright 2000
MBS HypnoClinic, 3031 Tisch Way, Suite 810, San Jose, CA 95128
To some, hypnosis means a funny stage performer who manipulated
people into barking like dogs. However many non-smokers recall
a hypnotherapist who substituted Tic-Tacs for cigarettes and
suggested that they were more enjoyable than smoking. This type
of hypnotic manipulation amounts to a verbal form of life saving
brain surgery. Hypnotic techniques have great versatility. In
modern hands hypnosis has advanced far beyond the stage of post
hypnotic suggestions to change old habits.
The latest techniques in hypnotherapy focus on regression
therapy. Review of old traumas has been a successful method of
therapy for decades. Traditional analysts once saw patients
three times weekly for two or more years. Modern psychotherapy
techniques have reduced this to a few months. In contrast,
hypnotic regression begins with direct access to the mind.
Suggestions to limit recalled discomfort make it possible to
handle material too painful and frightening to expose to
everyday awareness. Hypnotic regression is often able to provide
relief in only one or two visits. Because it so effective in
severe traumas, hypnotherapy has been extensively employed in
treatment of war neurosis, or "shell shock".
Of all regression methods, those associated with birth traumas
and past life work are most spectacular. Pains with no known
organic cause can lead to fruitless months with physicians and
pills. Hypnotic regression may discover the origin to be a
mishap during birth which left a trace of anxiety associated
with physical pain. Once discovered, the anxiety can be handled
and pains vanish. Regression methods have excellent success
going backwards through pregnancy to very early weeks. After the
pregnancy and birth process have been recalled, it is possible
to fantasize a new and more comfortable entry into the world.
This allows investigating what might have been different in our
initial outlook on life.
Some regression cases are more exotic. Ever since Berstein's
"Search for Bridey Murphy" and Edgar Casey's psychic
diagnoses
the West has speculated about reincarnation. If an unexplained
pain is not traced to birth trauma it may be the result of
injury in a past life. A regression therapist will instruct the
patient to return to the moment at which the pain began. Some
patients recall a past life causal event. Perhaps the pain is
associated with rage at an ancient assassin's blow. Upon
releasing the rage the patient finds the pain is gone as well.
Critics have long complained that past life methods were not
scientific, conducted by witch doctors in an inconsistent
manner. Others object that hypnotherapy requires little formal
education, and that some so-called therapists begin practice
with little more than a weekend workshop. Such therapists, if
challenged, protest that they can "do hypnosis", and
that
failure to attain results is the fault of the patient, which is
generally untrue. After such brief training, students have not
learned how much they do not know, much less how to get it. They
know too little to be effective, and have been misled about the
requirements of the field. Such people may justify the critics,
but better targets for criticism would be their teachers.
It is no longer true that hypnotherapy can be learned in a
few
hours. Due to advances in the field, basic competency in
hypnotherapy now requires several hundred hours of training.
Indiana's Health Professions Code requires 350 hours training
for licensing in hypnosis. This is merely the beginning for
those wishing to competently perform regression work. Training
beyond basic regression skills is needed for those who go into
past life work.
Just as hypnotherapy is similar to verbal brain surgery, past
life therapy is like surgery of the soul. This requires
specialized skill and insight far beyond everyday therapy
concepts. Clinical hypnotherapist, or CHT's, who are certified
in general skills must first obtain additional training in
regression techniques. Then they must develop the specialized
skills used in past life work. A past life therapist must also
be able to integrate hard science with exotic metaphysics. Not
only does this require philosophical insight, it requires
scientific training as well. In 1995 the International Board for
Regression Therapy was formed to establish basic standards for
certification. As a minimum, IBRT certified past life therapists
are required to be competent in hypnosis, science and mental
health work. To become trainers in the field an earned
bachelor's or higher degree in a mental health related field is
required. It is also necessary to have professional standing in
mental health, and substantial experience in past life work.
Expert past life therapists often have advanced degrees in
psychology.
The demand for regression therapy has indicated a distinct
need
for post-graduate training of CHT's. Such training is hard to
find. At present, for example, Dr David Armentrout is the only
instructor in the San Francisco Bay Area who offers IBRT
approved training which includes all factors required for board
certification. Armentrout, holds doctoral degrees in both
sociology and psychology, and is Director of MBS HypnoClinic in
San Jose. Together with the MBS staff, an excellent program is
provided.
In 1998 MBS HypnoClinic began operation with a radical new
concept in hypnotherapy. Instead of one practitioner in single
specialized practice, MBS gathered staff from the two major
branches of hypnotherapy, cognitive and regression. By shuttling
patients between therapists depending upon immediate needs, MBS
has had excellent therapeutic success. For example, based on
research at a methadone clinic, Armentrout created a 2 hour stop
smoking program which is immediately effective in over 95% of
all cases. Basic hypnosis and NLP training at MBS is provided
by
the MBS staff which also includes David Barron, CHT, and Roy
Kim, NLP Trainer & CHT, both master NLP practitioners. Armentrout
teaches regression based on gestalt, inner child, hypnoanalytic
and
PQR systems paradigms, as well as the past life segment of the
program.
Since it birth amongst the mysteries of shamanism in the distant
past, the field of hypnosis has come a long way. In past life
work there has been a return to concepts a shaman might
recognize. Yet to reach the simplicity of the past, extensive
training is needed. The MBS program, for example, offers the CHT
in 350 hours. CHT's then receive 250 hours of post-grad classes,
plus 200 hours of free case supervision. Then the new past life
therapist is fully competent and eligible to apply for IBRT
board certification. In this rapidly growing field the need for
advanced training is becoming more evident daily. Many CHT's
are discovering that now is the time for graduate work in
regression and past life methods.
For more information, send e-mail to info@changework.com