Returning to Therapy

I was fortunate enough to receive a massage this week. The masseuse started on my back, which was tight. Once it loosened, I noticed pain in my neck which was later rubbed out.

When clients come to therapy, they often know what needs to be done, where they want to start, where it is tight, so to speak. Once we massage that area and the original item is loosened, sometimes there is a noticing of a pain elsewhere. Removing one problem does not create any other, but allows us to see where it was tight, but not as necessary to fix as something else.

Often, clients will come back to therapy in some months or a year because that new tight spot becomes uncomfortable. Or, there has been some new issue that causes inflammation to be massaged out.

If there is pain, there is a cause. Physical pain is a signal from the body that something needs to be changed. Emotional pain is a signal from the mind that something needs to be changed.

Autumn Hahn is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist practicing at Clear Mind Group in Florida, Georgia, Nevada, and Virginia. Call 954-612-9553 for a consultation. Follow Autumn on Twitter & Facebook.

Changing Personality?

Sometimes people wonder if the process of therapy will change their personality, if they will be someone other than themselves once they fix the troubling pieces. Good therapy is meant to change the parts you want changed, on your agenda, not the therapist’s. If Oscar the Grouch wanted to process the death of Mr. Cooper, he would still leave therapy a grouch. If Oscar ever wanted to be less grouchy, that would be his choice. Therapy is never meant to make you anything that you are not, except a better version of yourself, fixing what you want changed.

“I’d rather be myself,” he said. “Myself and nasty. Not somebody else, however jolly.” Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

Autumn Hahn is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor and Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist practicing at Clear Mind Group in Weston, Florida. Call 954-612-9553 for a consultation. Follow Autumn on Twitter & Facebook.

Tying Balloons to a House

bigstock-Dice-30659876When one of your jobs is board-game design, you spend a lot of time thinking about Win Conditions. Win conditions are those things you need to do to win the game, such as collect a number of victory points. In life, we erroneously focus more on the Goal. Continue reading “Tying Balloons to a House”

The Worst Thing About Being a Therapist

0drownFor me, the worst thing about being a therapist is seeing people in pain who are not  yet willing or ready to make a change. This includes people who resonate with the following statements:

  • I don’t think change is possible.
  • I’ve had these symptoms so long, they must be permanent.
  • Therapy can only take me so far.
  • Therapy hasn’t fixed it before, so it can’t.
  • I am my diagnosis.
  • If I’m not sick/mentally ill/in pain, who am I?

These statements are all arguable because the right therapy, the right techniques and therapist for an individual can overcome all of that. Continue reading “The Worst Thing About Being a Therapist”

Changing Habits: From I CAN’T to I DON’T

Diet. Dieting concept. Healthy Food. Beautiful Young Woman choosIf you are ready to make a change in your eating habits, workout routine, motivation, substance abuse, smoking habits, parenting habits, or any other thing, hypnotherapy can move your item into the Not Box.

I read an article on changing habits that discussed change as moving an item from “I can’t” to “I don’t.” Continue reading “Changing Habits: From I CAN’T to I DON’T”