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I am doing alot of work on myself with hypnotherapy. I have discovered a lot of underlying issues around my illness. I also am a professional hypnotherapist so I thought I would post certain topics occasionally as "food for thought" for anyone who is interested. It may help you to look at some of this stuff.
So here's the first one. Just complete the sentence over and over again until you have exhausted your answers.
Being sick allows me to__________________________________.
This sentence helps to discover "secondary gains" or in other words, any reason you may be holding on to your illness subconsciously.
Post your results if you like!
Does hypno prefix mean
Does hypno prefix mean hypnosis, i.e. your patients are unconscious (asleep) ?
Samara,
Samara,
I have been debating about whether or not to respond to your post about exploring the secondary gains we might be having from being sick. Ever since I read it, I have thought about it because I am an open-minded person and I certainly don't want engage in behavior or thoughts that might be keeping me in pain. But I feel must respond because there are many people on this forum who are hurting physically and emotionally and are scared, confused, and hanging on to a thread of hope that they will get better.
I'm so glad that you are discovering some underlying issues surrounding your illness. I continue to discover things through this process of healing that are very beneficial to my emotional and mental health which also affects my physical health.
However, I tend to think that Dr. B's patients would be unlikely to be holding on to their illness subconciously. I could be wrong, but the reason I think this is because the whole reason why we are in treatment with Dr. B is the desire to get well. We don't just want to go the standard medical route and cover up the pain with mind-numbing drugs while our bodies continue to deteriorate. This is especially true of people like me for whom this process is a long one (we're talking a few years) to get better. This is a hard road, and Dr. B told me at my first appointment that it would be. She told me I would need a lot of perseverance because I had been taking medicines for so long for IC (10+ years). I don't believe the reason why it's taking so long is because I have secondary gains coming from being in pain. There is so much I have lost because of the pain and I am really looking forward to getting those things back again. Everytime I can do something I couldn't do because of pain, I celebrate!
I think this is true for the rest of Dr. B's patients as well. At least that has been my experience as I've been following everyone's posts and the ups and downs of their treatment on the ICAMA.
Sincerely,
Hi Lisa,
Hi Lisa,
If you do any research on the subconscious mind, you will discover that it is very different from the conscious mind. Of course, consciously, no one wants to be sick and in pain. That person would have severe psycological problems if they did. But, the subconscious mind, which is the "child mind", may see things differently. For example, if a child rarely gets attention from her father unless she is sick, then that "child mind" may make a decision that "it's better to be sick because that's when Daddy loves me the most."
This type of "secondary gain" is very common. Another example is someone who is abused as a child might decide at a young age that being overweight is better because they are bigger or less attractive and thus "safer" from their abuser.
These decisions made at young ages may stick with us as adults when we no longer need them. That is what I am speaking of. At that point, it is very beneficial to clear them out.
My intention here is only to offer anything that I find to be helpful to any others that are interested. It's all I can do to help. I have experienced days of incredible pain with IC. Believe me, it is not my intention to create disharmony in anyone's mind and if that is what happened with you then I am sincerely sorry.
This article is very helpful if you want more information on what I was discussing.
http://www.kevinhogan.com/kevin4.htm
Good luck in your healing!
Best,
Samara
This article is very helpful in explaining what I was talkign about.
Samara,
Samara,
Thank you for your thoughtful response. It's good to have this conversation and I welcome others to join in.
I am sorry that you've experienced much pain. I totally empathize with you, and I understand that you are offering help through your expertise as a hypnotherapist. I just wanted to offer an alternative thought on "secondary gains" in terms of Dr. B's patients because a lot of us suffer from anxiety and depression and doubts about getting better, even though we're doing everything we are supposed to with the diet and the protocol.
I totally agree with what you said about the subconcious mind and "secondary gains" in general. I just have a hard time believing that anyone who would choose to go through Dr. B's treatment, knowing that it will be hard work, would have this issue. I certainly could be wrong about that, but it just makes sense to me.
I think that pondering where our thought life is and seeking to improve it by exposing the lies we believe and replacing them with truth is very helpful to our healing. Maybe what you posted did help ICAMA readers. If so, I hope some of them will write in and say that it did. It was nagging at me that maybe some were feeling a false sense of guilt for having this illness and that's why I felt compelled to write. I hope I'm not coming off as being judgemental because that wasn't my intent. If you feel judged at all, I'm so sorry. I know you wrote in a spirit of love and kindness and helpfulness, and I wrote in a spirit of concern.
Samara, I hope you are feeling better these days. Please let us know how you are doing.
Sincerely,
Hi Lisa Ann & Samara,
Hi Lisa Ann & Samara,
A lively discussion with respect given by both. As I probably do too often in life, I sit on the fence between both opinions. Or, for the sake of discussion, offer another that might reallly offend someone. Do we have some say before we enter this life, on what it is that we choose to go through, to learn from? If so, after having breast cancer tree times, melanoma, bells palsey, obsessionve compulsive/paranoia, and scared to death more often than not, just to mention a few, I must have been out of my ever living mind right before I went down the chute! I will say this, an incredible new councelor has been my saving grace - soon to be doing hypnotherapy.
Take Care
Denise,
Denise,
From a fellow fence-sitter, I would just like to say that we are VERY lucky to know you through this forum. Thank god you came down the shute! :)
If we don't excel at health, the only other option is disease.
Hi Mimi,
Hi Mimi,
Thank you so much - that means alot!