Emotional Freedom Starts Here

Dr. John J. Murphy Psychologist and Hypnotherapist

8730 Wilshire Blvd., Suite 418 Beverly Hills, CA

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Part 5: Conclusion

In essence, hypnosis serves as a bridge between our conscious self (the third hand) and the sub-conscious self (the second hand). In the sub-conscious we have the basic, day-to-day programs such as the program to regulate blood pressure, use the restroom, and remember that the adjective proceeds the noun. There are also a few programs for creativity and memory. Hypnotherapy relates to the special program named here, the Secret Service Agent, the one who protects us from harm by shooting up large amounts of stress and anxiety whenever it gets excited.

Usually, this Secret Service Agent does an excellent job keeping us safe. Unfortunately, since this sub-conscious program evolved when we were out hunting woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers, the Secret Service Agent program is rather ill prepared to deal with modern life. Our Secret Service Agent seems to think that it's more important to fear snakes than guns, that flying is dangerous but smoking is a-okay, and that if someone hurts us in our past, we better hold on to those feelings for the rest of our lives and never trust men/women ever again.

But the good news is that there are ways to access this Secret Service Agent program. And once we reason with him, he's willing to change how he acts and what he protects us from. Hypnotherapy is, in my humble opinion, one of the best ways to go about this process. By keeping our body in the relaxed state of the sub-conscious while keeping our mind in the more conscious, reasoning state, we can access the sub-conscious and not fall asleep in the process.

Once there, we can either imagine the change that we'd like the Secret Service Agent to make, or point out his inconsistencies. Above all, he's interested in our survival, so making it known that eliminating a phobia, painful memory, or addiction will help keep us healthy and alive is exactly the type of message that should be sent. The job of the hypnotherapist is, then, to guide you in your communication with this agent. To help determine what exactly this agent is protecting you from. To show the agent what it needs to know in order to accept the goals you may have in your life. You may have all sorts of goals in life but your Secret Service Agent only has one: to ensure that you survive. The agent program doesn't want to hurt you and will comply with your ambitions but first it has to know that you won't be killed or hurt in the process of reaching your goals. Once there is that understanding, the anxieties, phobias, addictions, negative memories, and negative thoughts naturally dissipate.

Hypnosis can be considered quite a powerful tool for personal change. Unfortunately, the public perception of hypnosis is of being in a state where you lose control. Quite the contrary, it is a remarkably easy method towards gaining control, control over the ancient programs that seem to run our lives.

When I work with clients or in a group, the first concept I make clear is that the cravings, fears, and anxieties we feel are not from some part of our mind bent on harming us or betraying our goals in life. Indeed, it is simply the product of a confused element in our psyche, stuck in the stone age. Knowing that it is there and can be reasoned with is the important first step in resolving these emotions, through the art and science of hypnotherapy.

The End, for now...

Hope you enjoyed this little article/essay here. It was intended as a large blog entry that apparently got out of hand. The blog itself has become a victim of my ongoing doctoral thesis, so I'm placing this essay here, in its own little section. To learn more about hypnosis, you may want to get this book. To learn more about socio-biology and evolution, consider this very readable classic. Feel free to get in contact with me by clicking here.

Back to the Table of Contents. Reference notes below.

Reference Notes

[1] To learn more about this topic, I highly recomend Richard Dawkins' The Selfish Gene

[2] Mineka S., Davidson M., Cook M. & Weir R. (1984) Observational conditioning of snake fear in rhesus monkeys. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 93, p. 355-372.

[3] John Gray's book can be found here

[4] Buss, David M. The Evolution of Desire: Strategies of Human Mating. New York: Basic Books, 1994.

[5] This is all hypothetical; I have no idea about the relative safety of countries in Africa.

[6] In the interest of self-disclosure, I am a hypnotherapist now but am in training to become a psychologist (who will then use hypnotherapy) and my orientation in psychology will invariably be Cognitive-Behavioral therapy. To learn more about Cognitive-Behavioral therapy, considering this, this, or this book.

[7] I also use the Queen of England, because, in this day and age, some (most) of my clientele would not be fond of protecting the president; everyone seems to be fond of the Queen.

[8] This is my own take of cognitive-behavioral therapy, which I've developed through my own practice and my own understanding. Individual concepts of CBT may vary, depending upon ones experience with hypnosis.

[9] Von Bergen, C. W., Soper, B., Rosenthal, G. T. & Wilkinson, L. V. (1997). Selected alternative training techniques in HRD. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 8(4), p. 281-294.

[10] It also, apparently, handles car purchases.