Increase Success by Using A Five-Phase Approach

Note: 5-PATH® was developed as a result of thousands of hours of work with hypnosis clients and the integration of techniques taught by some of the master teachers in the profession of hypnotism, including but not limited to Harry Arons, Charles Tebbetts, Gerald F. Kein, Gil Boyne and others. In addition, the field of psychology and some of its greats influenced the development of the 5-PATH® process, including Franz Anton Mesmer's Animal Magnetism, Dr. Ivan Petrovich Pavlov's Classical Conditioning, Dr. Fritz Perls' Gestalt Therapy, Aaron Beck's Cognitive Therapy and others. This systematic process has been used by the many hypnosis professionals who have worked at the Banyan Hypnosis Center, as well as other 5-PATH® certified professionals around the world. 5-PATH® continues to evolve as a system with the continued experience and input of these hypnosis professionals around the world.

Calvin D. Banyan, MA, BCH, CI

Every hypnotist wants to provide consistent high quality service. I would like you to consider a five-phase approach. We have used it to help thousands of clients at our Center and have adopted it as a universal approach to working with our clients.

By using a five-phase system you can help virtually every client:

Reach somnambulism,
Know that they were hypnotized,
Experience true age regression,
Remove anger and guilt,
Accept suggestions more powerfully,
Overcome secondary gain issues.

This approach is called 5-PATH® which is the acronym for Five-Phase Abreactive Therapeutic Hypnosis.

Here is an overview of the process:

Phase I: Direct Suggestion (DS) Update: This is now called "Preparation, Testing and Convincing (PTC)" as of about 2006
Phase II: Age Regression (AR)
Phase III: Forgiveness of Others (FOO)
Phase IV: Forgiveness of Self (FOS)
Phase V: Parts Mediation Work (PMW)

We have found this to be the combination to use for maximum success. This is because the techniques in each phase prepares the hypnotist and client for success in the next phase. Notice that this process consists of five phases not five sessions. On average the experienced 5-PATH® hypnotist will complete each phase in one session, given that each session consist of about 20 minutes (typical of a DS session) to 40 minutes of hypnosis (typical of an AR, FOO, FOS or PMW session). But, sometimes two or even three sessions may be required to complete a phase.

Phase I: Direct Suggestions with Convincers

Phase I: Direct Suggestion (DS) consists of:

Preparing your client for hypnosis, including your pre-talk and pre-hypnosis interview (or other intake process)
Assessing client's readiness for the session,
The hypnosis session, which should include an effective induction (usually an instant or rapid induction) with a covert test for depth of hypnosis, preferably somnambulism, and a couple of convincers, such as eye catalepsy and time distortion. And, of course hypnotic suggestions are given for the client's issue.

Structuring your sessions this way allows your client to become the ideal hypnotic subject. The ideal client feels comfortable with you and hypnosis. She is confident that she can be hypnotized because of the convincers. And, she received the suggestions that she came in to receive. When she comes in to see you again the probability that she will go deeply into hypnotic somnambulism is very high, even if she was not able to do so in the first session.

As hypnotists we know that the main reason some people will not go into hypnosis deeply, or not at all, is fear. It could be fear of hypnosis, fear of the hypnotist or fear of what they might do in hypnosis. A good pre-talk is designed to remove these fears, but there is one fear that no pre-talk can remove, the fear that the some clients have that they may fail to go into hypnosis. Phase I takes care of all of these issues.

Phase II: Age Regression

Phase II: Age Regression (AR), as a minimum consists of:

Re-induction and deepening of hypnosis,
Age Regression, usually using the Affect Bridge Technique,
The Informed Child Technique, and
Direct Suggestion related to success for the issue that brought your client in.

In my view, AR is the Royal High Road of All Hypnosis! It is certainly one of the most powerful tools available to the hypnotist. However, I have talked with many hypnotists who have given up on its use because they could not reliably get their clients to experience true age regression (revivification). Good technique and use of Phase I to prepare clients will overcome this problem and greatly increase success in using AR.

With 5-PATH® your client comes in for Phase II, (usually the second session) looking forward to it. She is comfortable and in a positive frame of mind, expecting to do well. This positive mental state is best for achieving the deep hypnosis required for the coming phases of work.

The well-trained hypnotists understands that her client may have many false beliefs about how the problem started, or have no conscious awareness of when or how it started. This is why the Affect Bridge Age Regression Technique is the technique of choice when doing AR. You can use the affect or emotion associated with the problem as a "bridge" back to when it started.

AR is an uncovering and insight hypnosis. It brings knowledge and understanding about the issue into the conscious mind. This insight also does something else which is profound; it causes the subconscious and unconscious levels of the mind to go into a state of reorganization, making your client highly receptive to suggestions that are consistent to the insights just experienced.

This is why insight hypnosis such as AR, FOO and FOS are so powerful. As children we are highly suggestible; our minds are not yet made up about the world, and it is much like soft clay. But by the time we reach our teenage years our view of the world and ourselves sets into place, the clay hardens, our beliefs and personality become set. Insight hypnosis open our minds to suggestion for a short period of time increasing our suggestibility. We want to utilize this highly suggestible state by inserting important suggestions at the end of each session. The mind will quickly return to its more solid state. We want it to reorganize around these experiences and suggestions.

For example, a weight loss client experiences an AR session and finds that she was eating to comfort herself, using food to cope with uncomfortable feelings from her past. This insight causes her to look at food differently, and is now readily able to accept suggestions consistent with her experience. The session is completed by giving her suggestions that "From now on food is only fuel and you only eat when you are hungry." The suggestions given at the end of the session work to develop new beliefs and behaviors based on the insights gained.

Phase III: Forgiveness of Others

Phase III: Forgiveness of Others (FOO) consists of having your client:

Hallucinate being with the person who hurt her,
Express how she feels about what was done to her,
Hallucinate being the person who hurt her and asks for forgiveness,
Forgives the person who hurt her, and
Then receives suggestions for change.

Looking at the above outline shows why FOO is Phase III. The AR process uncovers who needs to be forgiven. AR also provides both you and your client with a great deal of insight about the events that are associated with the problem (the Initial Sensitizing Even and Subsequent Sensitizing Events, which also aids in the forgiveness process). (See, The Ten Keys To Forgiveness, for more on forgiveness).

In this phase of treatment the hypnotist works as a mediator/counselor between the two (client and offender) so that the offender can come to a point of asking for forgiveness and helping the client to forgive the offender. This releases feelings of anger and attachment to the old behaviors generated by it (i.e., habits, addictions and anger issues).

Phase IV: Forgiveness of Self

Phase IV: Forgiveness of Self (FOS) consists of a very similar process as was done in the previous phase, but with some important differences. In this process your client:

Is divided into two different parts or selves, one called the Self and the other called the Mistake-Making Part, who represents her contribution to the pain in her life,
Is encouraged to express her feelings about what the Mistake-Making Part has done,
Is then encouraged to speak from the Mistake-Making Parts perspective so that insights can be gained about the cause of such painful behavior,
The Mistake-Making Part is better understood and renamed as a result of this new information as the Protective Part,
The two Parts are encouraged to forgive each other in the light of their new understanding, and finally,
Receives suggestions for reinforcing the new behaviors that will help her reach her goals.

FOS follows FOO because forgiving other people, especially the ones that contributed to your client's problem creates a better mental environment for your client to truly forgive herself. Some clients will even ask you, after forgiving others (FOO), "What about me? I need to be forgiven too." Also FOS comes after FOO because it is more difficult to forgive yourself when you are still harboring ill feelings such as anger toward others.

Phase V: Parts Mediation Work

Phase V: Parts Mediation Work (PMW) is a phase that often goes unused because the previous four phases, when done correctly are so powerful and complete that it is unusual to have to go any further. However there is a special situation where additional work may be needed. This is when Secondary Gain is an issue. The term "Secondary"Gain? describes situations in which a behavior or issue continues because there is something going on in the client's present environment that either reinforces it or demands it, even though the cause of the problem no longer exists.

Some examples of Secondary Gain are psychogenic pain (where a client may experience pain after the cause has been eliminated) and alcohol or drug addiction (where an individual goes back to using the drug or alcohol because of her desire to continue to associate with her old friends).

PMT is based on a couple of influences such as the Parts Work taught by Charles Tebbetts and Gerald Kein as well as the techniques used in conflict resolution where mediators work with parties in conflict to reach win-win agreements.

Basically PMT consist of:

The hypnotist taking on the role of mediator,
The client being divided into the parts that are in conflict,
The need, wants or desires being fulfilled by the old behavior are uncovered,
New solutions are generated and agreed upon that will fulfill those needs, wants and desires,
The parts are reintegrated, and
Suggestions are given to reinforce the win-win behaviors that were agreed upon.

Since the reasons for continuing in the old behavior are uncovered, this too is an insight hypnosis, which causes your client to become very suggestible, so direct suggestion is used to end the session.

This has been a very brief discussion of a process that has proved itself time and time again. It is designed to give you an approach that you can use for most if not all of your client's issues. It is especially effective in dealing with motivation, habits, psychogenic illness, anxiety, compulsions, fears and phobias, relationship issues and more.

5-PATH® is currently being used by hypnotists in 22 countries.

5-PATH® was inspired by the work of, Dave Elman, Gerald Kein, Charles Tebbetts and Richard Harte. Dave Elman's book, Hypnosis, encouraged me to utilize instant and rapids inductions so that I can work with our clients in somnambulism and to use hypnotic age regression. Gerald Kein continues to encourage us to do so in his videos, courses and in the book we co-authored together. It was Mr. Kein who introduced me to a system he calls Universal Hypnosis, consisting of using age regression and forgiveness together, which is the foundation of 5-PATH®. Dr. Richard Harte convinced me to test clients to establish their level of hypnosis, and then I began to use those tests as "convincers." (See, Use Hidden Tests and Convincers To Improve Success and Receive More Referrals, in the Hypno-Gram for more on convincers.) Charles Tibbetts work along with my own study of mediation theory contributed to the development of Parts Mediation Work.

References

Banyan, C. D., & G. F. Kein (2001). Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy: Basic To Advanced Techniques for the Professional. St. Paul, MN: Abbot Publishing House.

Elman, D. (1964). Hypnotherapy. Glandale, CA: Westwood Publishing Company.

Harte, Richard. Train the Trainer Program Certification. Course conducted by the National Guild of Hypnotists, (1999).

Kein, G. F. (Speaker). (1992). Regression and Parts Therapy [Video]. Deland, FL: Omni Hypnosis Training Center.

Tebbetts, C. (Speaker). (Date Unknown). Live Therapy by Chales Tebbetts [Video]. Federal Way, WA: Alliance Hypnotherapy