my t has, the last two sessions, taken me, mentally, away. i forgot what she called it, but maybe transe-like or meditative 'state'...'experientially away' i think she said (wish i could recall the words). when she does it, i sense and feel i am quite easily disassociated from my body, but i think she was a bit surprised at how easily i 'went away', but how hard i fought 'coming back'.

early on, she said she wouldn't really do hypnosis, but would do some 'experiental time travel' metaphor type stuff to rewire those misfires from childhood. she didn't 'believe' in doing therapy when i am not present.

i told her yesterday i wished she would just hypnotise me and rework all that stuff, she claimed she would if she could, but it wasn't a one session type 'fixing'. perhaps i noted a bit of alarm in her at the resistance i put up emotionally in coming back to the present, even though intellectually i was trying SO HARD to mind her command. she finally did the 'one, two' then talked to me for awhile as i remember just groaning, she told me to breathe, then said "mumble, mumble something something, then THREE and clapped her hand" and i kindof staggered out.

really really really weird. she kept me there thirty minutes later than scheduled to, i think, make sure i was 'sound' and although i didn't talk much after that, i feel like she somewhat hypnotised me. i went deeper, i think, than she anticipated. she seemed ever so slightly alarmed at how this all worked out, how quickly and easily i went out and how reluctantly i came back. i don't really know if that is good or bad or neither, but i am really curious if y'all have or do hypnosis??? if so, do you find it healing??? (which is my take on what she is doing this for)

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jill,

Hi Jill:

What an interesting experience you have had...I haven't been involved with hypnosis...but I see a Reiki practitioner....I have had several experiences just like yours with her....I was kinda spooked by it at first...at one session, I could literally feel my spirit/soul hover over top of my body in a place of peacefulness....she had asked me at the onset what I wanted out of the session and I stated "inner peace"...I too, did not want to come back to reality....I quite liked that place of peace....Thank you for your sharings Jill!!

come on, NOBODY?? just me and sarah??? (interesting, sarah, i don't know that i felt like a fly on the wall, i just felt like i was hiding and didn't want to come back, and maybe an inkling of a hope that no one could see me, that i could escape the present and zip on out of my reality))

no one else ever 'go under' in a session?? and have to be walked back to reality, your therapist asking 'where are you'??? you not being there enough to answer?? altho the intellectual side want to mouth 'i am here', the 'other' side of you in MIA????

disassociating?? come on??? can't just be me, can it????? ((PLEASE??))

Well i am the queen of dissociation and i use meditation in my daily life jill.We use a lot of
visualization in our sessions which really helps me.I guess because i am so dissociative, that is why i am so good at being able to do these things.I guess i would be easily suggestible to hypnosis as well.
I too find it hard to 'come back' as you described it sometimes.Basically because
its such a nice feeling being mentally away from my body and away from all the pain and stress.
I have had loads of OBE's as i like to call them....they are harder to induce than them actually happening when i was being abused.Then i would sit on ceilings and watch what was happening to me sometimes.........ive also felt 'not in my body', as if slightly outside it, but these i think are varying degrees of dissociation.
sorry my answer isnt really helpful is it?

DF

I'm sorry, Jill...I don't really have any expereince with this type of thing. I hope your T knows what she is doing...it would really scare me, personally, but, of course, I am different and in different situation than you, so I can't really say for sure.

Just wanted to shime in and say, sorry I don't get it.

BB

If DF is the queen of dissociation, then I will not challenge the throne, but might be a very good heir!!

I don't think I have many sessions with my T when I don't dissociate to some extent...minimally or majorly. But I have never felt an a trance like or medative state as a result of my T 'talking me away' - I think, maybe like BB was inferring, that might not be a good thing to do with someone who easily dissociates, my T usually is more keen to ground me in the here and now than to talk me away from reality....I think I do that too much myself anyway!

As for the coming back bit - oh yes, that's odd....don't want to come back to the real world and face it all, in my case I would much rather escape and sleep until it passes.

starfish

thanks all, i just couldn't imagine it was too foriegn of an experience. and, like you df, my t says since i learned how at such a young age, that is why it is so easy for me. and i, like you starfish, just wish i could stay 'out there'...yes, she spends alot of time grounding me in the here and now....i hate that part.

i think i can also get myself there in meditative prayer (in my closet, dark, alone, peaceful) and i will find that i have been in there two hours, not praying aloud as much as listening for the Holy Spirit to speak to me, and often, i find, not aloud, but thoughts and ideas come to me, and i realize i am in a trancelike state.

bb, thanks for chiming in!! and yes, i think she does know what she is doing. she is very gentle with me when i am 'there', and gave me time to catch my breathe and relax in that state and enjoy it for another minute or so before she said 'three' and brought me back.

really, i enjoyed it and have read on-line about a hypnotic therapy using rational emotive therapy. i am bring her the article as i think she could do this. i am so easily hypnotised, i believe, and she has a PhD in psychology...surely she has learned about hypnosis and i trust what she would do with me there.

Jill, I dissociate often in sessions. T is always asking - where are you going and I have to make an effort to come back at times.

I can also relate to the feeling of watching the abuse happen - from above. I suspect I spent a lot of time dissociated as a child. I was very often accused of daydreaming and even had my hearing tested several times in elementary school.

We have done some hypnosis/guided imagery - I am unsure if there is and what the difference is really. We have talked about doing some imaginal nurturing. We haven't gotten to it yet, but I am intrigued.

I find the experiences with hypnosis/guided imagery to be helpful, but I actually feel guilty when we do it because it's not hard and actually feels good - so I don't ask to do it much. I know that it doesn't have to be painful all the time, but you that guilt monster!