Age Regression Hypnotherapy

One of the more extreme ways to use hypnosis in therapy is called age regression. This is not a time machine or any kind of science fiction fantasy but it may be the next best thing to it. The therapist uses hypnosis to get the patient to recall the very first time they experienced the problem or bad experience they are trying to correct. Under hypnosis, the patient will experience all the emotion, pain and pleasure exactly the way they did the first time the psychological problem showed up.

It is generally acknowledged that most psychological problems in adults were first formed when the person was at a very early age. Usually this happens before the age of 5. Almost always there is some false understanding or unjustified fear that caused the bad psychological situation back when the patient was 3 or 4 years old. Hypnosis intensifies both the memory of that first bad experience and also the emotion involved. So the therapist has the opportunity to straighten out what went wrong emotionally. This does not work for all psychological problems but it is very useful in dealing with trauma repression, bad habits, and unjustified fears. Off course, age regression can also be used if the client requests it.

The hypnosis method most often used for age regression is called the Affect Bridge Technique. This method requires a very deep hypnosis trance state called somnambulism. During somnambulism the patient will experience extremely intense memories and emotions. From an emotional point of view the patient will literally be right there when the bad experience happened. Very few hypnotists are capable of both getting a patient into somnambulism and also healing the raw intense emotions uncovered.

The next step in the Affect Bridge Technique after reaching somnambulism is to get the patient to have the bad feeling very intensely without going back into the past. Once the patient feels intense emotion about the bad feeling the therapist uses this as a bridge back to a previous time when the patient experienced the same bad situation or feeling. This may be something that happened a week ago or 10 years ago. But the therapist keeps going back in time further and further like peeling an onion. Eventually the patient remembers the very first time they experienced the bad habit or feeling. This very first time is called the Initial Sensitizing Event (ISE). Every remembrance of the bad feeling from the ISE to today is called a Subsequent Sensitizing Event (SSE).

By taking the patient back to a time before the first ISE he hopes to unravel the causes and heal the damage done by the bad event. It is much easier for a patient to see things rationally before the bad habit first happened. And with understanding and patience healing can begin.

Using hypnosis to go back in time like this is fraught with all kinds of potential dangers. Special safeguards are almost always required. If extremely traumatic and harmful emotions are uncovered the therapist might have to pull the patient out of hypnosis early. If this is not done properly something called False Memory Syndrome (FMS) may occur. This means the patient will have new memories about past events but they will be false and make everything worse.

It is usually a good idea to schedule a follow up hypnosis session after the age regression. This is to make sure no damage was done and to verify that the memories of the Initial Sensitizing Event were correct.

Correcting bad habits and old traumas is not easy but hypnosis can help get to the bottom of the problem and ease the journey back to a better life.