Using Hypnosis with Central Core Disease

by Jane Nash, BEd, MEd, CHt, NLP Master

I met Anne at a community Weight Management program I was delivering. She learned and practiced Neuro Linguistic Programming techniques following a mixture of Paul McKenna, John Plester and my own techniques rolled into a four week program. During this time it became apparent that she really needed relief from the intense physical pain she experienced on a daily basis. Following a short discussion, we agreed to work together to relieve the symptoms in her body caused by emotional isAnnes which she believed were holding onto the body and adding to her pain levels.

In the first session, I took time to profile Anne carefully using an NLP & Hypnosis hitlist I work from - NLP Profiling skills from Dynamic Mind Works, Sydney and E & P Behaviour Profiling from HMI, California gave me a really thorough plan for language and structure needed for quick understanding and clear communication.

NLP Profiling includes the representational system, motivation direction, reason for doing, how the person checks information, what convincer they need, the convincer duration, which affiliation they have , what/who they prefer to work with, their primary interest, how they chunk information, how they view relationships and their personal focus.

E & P Behaviour is also known as emotional and physical behaviour. Emotional Behaviour is generally speaking typical of the more introverted type, needing inferred instruction and a more maternal approach and the physical behaviour needs literal instruction and can take a more paternal approach in hypnosis. (This is a vast topic.. please accept this summary)

Understanding the disabling context of the disease but also knowing that locked emotion can act as a barrier for relief, I used time based techniques with Anne focusing on shifting some of the shame and grief and loss that had been in emotional state since her childhood.

The session was kept to an hour as it was emotionally and physically draining for her but through perseverance and teaching her how to go through these techniques when alone, several isAnnes were relieved on the first session. She was able to unlock many other isAnnes herself subsequently. She tells me that this is a continuous process - where she focuses on an event, finds emotion linked to it and then works through the time based formula in her own visualisation.

I finished the session with Kappasinian induction into trance to establish suggestion for entering into hypnotic state on future visits. Nice and easy... 58% Phys Sugg 70% Emo Sex.

Kappasinian Induction is taken from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, from the late John Kappas PhD. It comprises of a specific overload, leading into an arm raise converting directly to hypnosis.

The suggestible score is based on John Kappas' suggestibility scale and the sexual score is from a sliding scale, focused on the behaviour of the client, reflecting their processing

Anne was then able to place the emotion, which is linked to an event, on a tv screen so she probably ends up using the same mechanism as Richard Bandler's phobia cure - and it's working!

The second visit - (Kappasinian self-hypnosis rules)....we developed skills to enter self-hypnosis. This is a similar state to her own meditations so it was relatively easy for her to take herself to a trance state reasonably quickly. John Kappas clearly laid out a step by step training process for self-hypnosis which consists of linking a visual stimulation to a sensory trigger which leads into a word trigger which leads into an internal command (in this instance is 'deep sleep')

Anne works well in medium to light trance. During self hypnosis techniques we worked on the 'yard stick' visualisation for pain relief and then also used the 'control room' visualisation for her to isolate pain and turn it down.

(I introduced the 'control room' in anticipation of using this with guided metaphor for specific symptomatic relief with regard to the Central Core Disease in the future. )

We discussed the development of a subconscious other personality (alter ego) who has both spiritual and physical integrity with whom we could work, in the future, through trance.

After only two days of practicing the pain relief techniques, Anne reported that she managed to get her pain down from a 9/10 intensity to a 2/10 intensity. This was achieved by moving her eyes upwards into trance position (as practiced), ready to go into a pain relief visualisation. The subconscious responded with pain reduction immediately on the activation of the eye movement trigger* establishing a resourceful state of pain management and relief.

*this trigger was anchored not only as a precursor to trance induction but also as it is v. easy to perform and remember when the body experiences pain and limbs may hurt to move.

Over subsequent visits, a pending hip replacement was on the agenda and hypnosis was focused on preparation for surgery. An alter-ego (internal controller) was sought under hypnosis. Initially, the controller was placed on a seat in a special safe area and was handed a manual on the internal workings and functions of Anne's body. Then during the following visit, the thin controller (angelic controller as Anne informs me) has a fully working knowledge of all vital signs and functions of the body and by calling upon the thin controller who has physical integrity, Anne can maintain an even body temperature (getting hot is a problem for Central Core Disease). Focussing on this internal controller helps control pain levels and vital functions, keeping blood pressure normal, temperature stable, moods positive etc.

After a month of hypnosis training with Anne, now by just by moving her eyes upwards, as if entering a trance, her pain reduces.

She does EFT three times a day to help stabilise her pain and moods too. (2 rounds of each)

Central Core Disease can be looked at from all different aspects, so I started with the Limbic system. Knowing that both striated and smooth muscle systems are controlled by the limbic system, I wanted to work on the voluntary and involuntary control of functions during hypnotic behaviour. If functions can be influenced using certain conditioning, why not take into consideration the limbic system controlling the body holistically and in that, the hypnosis be a holistic tool for bodily reactions, both in a waking state or eventually under anaesthetic. Feindel , W & Gloor, P in Comparison of electrographic effects of stimulation of the amygdala and brain stem reticular formation in cats (1955) wrote that the "amygdaloid complex, an important structure of the limbic system , together with the reticular formal and the intralaminar systems, is capable or exerting a diffuse regulatory influence on the cortex" I thought to myself- why not with humans?

Using both direct instruction and a more inferred pattern of imagery as well as plenty of pre-talk – this is the aim.

Central Core Disease brings with it the possibility of (when under anaesthetic) developing malignant hyperpyrexia – which for those who don't know about it can cause a hypermetabolic state of skeletal muscle which produces amongst other things, hyperthermia, muscle rigidity, and multi-organ failure, in other words, death.. Anne has flat-lined on previous surgery attempt so the hypnosis is primarily set to facilitate normal function by the internal controller thus avoiding this possible outcome. Her next surgery is scheduled in July 2009; I'll let you know what happens next...

For more information visit: www.JaneNash.com.