HOW SICK ARE YOU? A Little Hypno-Reality Check.

by | Hypnosis, Managing Toxic Emotions, Successful Mindset

HOW SICK ARE YOU? A Little Hypno-Reality Check.

I met a man years ago who told me how proud he was for finally “graduating” from therapy for his addiction. Too polite to ask exactly which addiction, I did muster up the courage to ask how long he’d been seeing his therapist. I gasped when he said – “I just wrapped up my seventh year.”

It was all I could do to refrain from asking one more pressing question – “Did you ever consider that while you gave up one addiction, you may have developed another?” He was undoubtedly addicted to therapy and completely hoodwinked into believing that someone else held the magic formula to his recovery. And sadly, he was willing to hang in there as long as it took for someone else of perceived authority to release him with a clean bill of health.

To help you conceptualize seven years in tangible terms: In his seven years of therapy, I earned a bachelor’s, a master’s and helped launch two companies in two states. I’m pretty sure this man helped his therapist pay off her student loans, while he could have pursued a degree in psychology and kicked his own addictions. Pardon my sarcasm (but come on folks).

This, my friend, is the kind of HIGHWAY ROBBERY that happens all too often in the field of mental health – and in the healthcare system in general. But because this man’s health insurance covered these appointments, he never stopped for a moment to evaluate his investment of time (not to mention wear and tear on his car) or to evaluate the efficacy of this modality/practitioner.

Please let me clear the air – there are some excellent therapists who deliver measurable outcomes in reasonable and responsible time frames, but many do not. And I am basing this opinion on much more than anecdotal evidence. For nearly a decade, I worked as a Rehab Consultant handling complex injury claims. Part of my job was to review medical and mental health records and make various eligibility recommendations. I was shocked to sift through 10-15 years of mental health and medical records only to discover no significant resolution of the presenting issue(s) – and in many cases a progressive worsening (or so it appeared on paper).

And why is this? Because the medical system is broken and there are far too many perverse incentives (i.e.: people making money – doctors, surgeons, therapists, attorneys) for keeping claims open indefinitely – and claimants or “patients” terminally sick or stuck.

Over three-hundred hours of this man’s time in “therapy” and the most notable outcome was being able to rattle off his “DSM-5” diagnoses (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). When I asked him what tools, resources, or strategies he had implemented into his lifestyle to keep him on the enlightened path, he was baffled by my question and hadn’t a clue.

So, what is the punchline to the question – How sick are you?

Well, here’s the honest answer and sobering truth: Not nearly as sick as the systems we so impulsively and blindly support.

What wisdom can be gleaned from this “Hypno-Reality Check?”

Here it is:

  • A “diagnosis” never uncovers the root cause of disease, nor will the treatment protocol(s) heal the origin of disease.
  • YOU are the expert in your own healing journey, which means both the origin of your issues or “root cause,” as well as the answers or formula for recovery are within YOU.
  • Stop turning to others to “fix” you, but rather enlist others’ assistance to learn the tools, strategies, practices that connect you to the intuitive mind and the Higher Self.
  • Any practitioner with whom you work should be an ethical ambassador of your time, money, and resources and a fierce supporter of your strengths, intuitive wisdom, and inner healer.
  • Buyer Beware of any practitioner – Western or non-Western – who is not willing or able to phase you out in a reasonable time frame – and refer you out to other complementary practitioners. It takes a village to support your healing journey, quest for truth, path toward enlightenment and/or healthy lifestyle integrations.
  • Sustainable change is contingent upon the things you do between sessions or therapy and after you have phased out – including integrating healthy activities into your lifestyle.
  • Any practitioner who encourages you to be an inactive or passive recipient of services is likely more interested in helping themselves and keeping you dependent, than empowering you to be self-sufficient, self-sustaining, and self-healing.

I will leave you with this – when a person comes from a childhood of trauma, recurrent issues and themes can pop-up periodically throughout one’s life much like weeds in an unruly garden. This does not necessarily represent poor mental health, but rather signs or signals that life has fallen out of harmony and balance. And THIS is the value of hypnosis. It is a brief, targeted and outcome-oriented modality that helps you reclaim your power, release unwanted patterns and uncover your own Inner Healer.

There are many pathways to healing in your quest for spiritual grounding and quietude, but you may consider one that gives you self-healing tools and reinforces your strengths, intuitive wisdom and independence.

Do you have more questions about hypnosis? Click here: Most Frequently Asked Questions about Hypnosis – Sensorium Hypnosis, LLC

Click here to follow Women’s Trauma and Relationship Expert on YouTube: (1) Amy the Hypnotist – Trauma & Relationship Expert – YouTube

Click here for free healing and self-help meditations: (1) Meditation to Soothe Exhaustion and Feelings of Being Overwhelmed – YouTube

 

Amy Marohn
Join Me
Latest posts by Amy Marohn (see all)