The
Cognitive Behavioural approach is focused on getting you to to become
directly aware of the belief about yourself or your situation, that
is creating the problem emotions and how that belief is being triggered
in different situations. This is one of the crucial insights in the
cognitive approach. Normally, we are aware of the problem situation
and our uncomfortable feelings in that situation. We may feel that the
uncomfortable feelings spring directly from the problem situation, but
there is an important element being overlooked. There is a belief about
ourselves that is triggered by the situation and it is this belief which
creates the feelings of distress or discomfort in that situation. Once
you have a clear view of how this happens you can begin to challenge
the belief and the destructive negative emotions that it gives rise
to and begin to create a better response out of a more rational belief.
To begin this process we look at the actual situations in which the
problem behaviour occurrs, and uncover the belief from which the problem
emotions spring. Usually we are not directly aware of this belief but
only of the negative emotions that it triggers. Suppose John has been
working as a programmer for six months in a new open plan office and
suddenly finds that on his way to work one morning he has a panic attack
and actually phones in sick and takes a couple of days off work because
he suddenly feels he just can't face it. He doesn't exactly know why
he can't face it, just that he can't stand to be in work at the moment,
it's something to do with the workplace. When we begin to look closely
at it he gradually begins to become aware that his discomfort has got
something to do with the open plan office and feeling that he is exposed
to the scrutiny of other people all the time. He knows that people are
more interested in their own work than in watching him, but nonetheless
these feelings of intense discomfort are building up. He's worried about
people making judgements about him, about how he looks, how he behaves,
in fact who he is, him as a person. He's worried that they are making
negative judgements about him. When we pursue this we find that the
reason this possibility is disturbing for him, is because basically
he believes that negative judgements are right. They might be judging
him as< not good enough> and this is in fact what he believes
about himself. So the workplace is a potential disaster area where someone
might come right out and expose him as a not good enough person. It
becomes a place that creates feelings of intense discomfort to such
an extent that he has a panic attack and withdraws temporarily from
the situation. That central belief that he is <not good enough>
as a person, is the trigger for the whole experience. That belief is
irrational , not borne out by his experience, not logical, and will
not help him to enjoy his life. Now that he has a clear perception of
it he is in a position to work directly against it.
So there is an ongoing aspect to Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy
that aims to give clients a perspective on their problem and equip them
to recognize and challenge the destructive negative beliefs, that are
the actual roots of their problem. Hypnosis is seen as a very powerful
means of focussing a person in this process. Hypnosis has been seen
to do this. It facilitates a process in which an individual begins to
challenge limiting negative beliefs and replace them with beliefs which
help him or her to move towards what they actually want in their lives.
The destuctive negative beliefs actually create a level of discomfort
that eventually may result in the person avoiding the problem situation
entirely. This means their life becomes more restricted. Another important
feature of the Cognitive Behavioural Hypnotherapy approach is that it
distinguishes between these destructive negative emotions and negative
emotions which function in a healthy way. These emotions may be just
as intense as their unhealthy counterparts but they do not have the
same effect. If you get very annoyed with yourself delivering a presentation
badly and it stimulates you to learn from what you did wrongly and enthusiastically
use what you learned in your next presentation, this is a different
type of emotion from an anger at yourself for doing badly which says,don't
do another presentation, you'll mess up again and feel really bad.
back
to hypnotherapylondon
