If asked by a colleague, “What is your professional orientation?” I would respond that it is basically psychodynamic, with alternates of cognitive-behavioral and eclectic thinking. And, in so responding, I would be forcing a clear line of thought into the professional mold.

Expressed in non-professional jargon, the essence of my understanding of the human experience, and the basis for my approach to helping people, is that we are conditioned creatures. We are conditioned by our life’s experiences in which we learn what is right and what is wrong, what is good and what is bad. We learn skills and we learn limitations. We learn to believe “this” and not to believe “that.” We are the products of life’s conditioning and we cannot change who we are just by willing it to be so. All of the characteristics and limitations we have embraced are ours, unless and until we find a way to change that conditioning.

One blessing of this life is that, under the right conditions, we can change that conditioning and so change it’s results. The right conditions require that: 1) We know that it is possible to change, 2) We know how to change and, 3) We are motivated to do so. Unless all three are present, I do not believe we have choice at all and, even if we have all three, there is choice only for the future, not for this moment.

My role as a Psychotherapist

My first task in helping people lies in convincing them of the first of the three items, the possibility of change, and then to teach them “how.” However, unless there is motivation – not just desire, but motivation – to change in the way they wish to change, I will not likely succeed in helping them. It is true that a counselor or therapist may be able to assist in the development of motivation by guiding the person to evaluate consequences and values; however, he/she will be limited in that ability. Real motivation comes from conditioning derived from life’s experiences.

Teaching people “how” to change is basically a process of education. A process that involves teaching some theory and life facts they already really know, followed by guided experience to uncover and identify the roots of the problem/limitation/behavior/belief; then to objectively evaluate that information from the perspective of present, more mature knowledge and judgment; and finally to integrate the conclusion reached; that is, to program the desired change into unconscious thought and behavior.

My approach to helping others is based on my understanding of how we function as human beings. I have become convinced beyond question that the human mind is capable of healing illness, as well as capable of causing such illness, and this applies to both psychological and physical illness. Properly used, hypnosis can be a powerful tool to influence mental processes to promote healing. Moreover, as I understand the phenomena, hypnosis is the vehicle through which the illness was probably introduced into the life of the patient, probably happening without conscious awareness. As I understand this phenomena called hypnosis, we all spontaneously enter trance states many thousands of times in the course of life without conscious awareness that it is happening. As an example, in the case of a child, frightened in a dark place, he of she would quite logically learn to associate fear and dark, and thereafter be afraid of the dark, a consequence that would later be diagnosed as a phobia. That we can employ hypnosis to reverse the influence that is causing the current problem should not be surprising.

My role as a Life Counselor

Just as life’s conditioning may result in a mental illness, it may also result in a limitation in our ability to do something, a limitation that is not based in reality, but perhaps based on the expressed, false opinion of another person, or a misinterpretation of perceived information. Examples of this kind of conditioning abound and include academic problems, personal relations problems, performance limitations, over-reaction problems and hyper- and hypo-sensitivity problems. Such influence from the past can prevent happiness, limit professional performance and advancement, or interfere with relationships with others.

My understanding of how we became who we are, as expressed above, opens the door to how to change what we don’t like about ourselves. This may involve learning how to recognize self-limits that are false, and then to set them aside, or learning how to improve our presentation to others, or how to improve our standing in the world.

In the hands of a competent clinician, hypnosis is simply a tool. A tool that can be effectively and efficiently employed to accomplish desired change.