About Satir Model Counselling for Individuals, Couples and Families
Virginia Satir (1916 – 1988)
What happens when a human being appears on the professional radar and, without directly challenging the prevailing system, provides new possibilities and opportunities for growth and human wholeness? Virginia Satir (1916 – 1988) was one such person when she became one of the founders of the family therapy movement. She saw her first family in 1951 which was, at that time, against the therapeutic “rules” of the day. She taught her first family therapy courses at the Mental Research Institute in California, U.S.A., in 1959. By 1964, her ground breaking book, Conjoint Family Therapy, was published, establishing her as a pioneer in new ways of helping people in need.
Satir was an ardent learner. As she learned, she continuously added to her approach, trying new things, discarding old things and developing her system of becoming more fully human. Yet, her basic underlying philosophy and the essence of her change process remained intact. Some of her basic beliefs that are the pre-supposition to her therapeutic model are listed here in point form.
These beliefs provided her with an unshakable confidence that human growth is natural and are moving in a positive direction. Some of what she believed and practiced is:
1. Human beings are all unique manifestations of the same Universal Life Force. Through this universal Life Energy, we can connect in a positive, accepting, loving way.
2. Human processes are universal; all human beings experience themselves through doing, thinking, feeling, expecting, yearning and spiritual connection. Therefore, these human processes can be accessed and changed regardless of different environments, cultures, and circumstances.
3. People are basically good. At their core, essential level of Life Energy, people are naturally positive. They need to find this internal treasure to connect with and validate their own self-worth.
4. People all have the internal resources they need in order to cope successfully with whatever situations life provides and to grow through them. All necessary internal resources reside within, even those that people may have learned to judge in a negative way or those that are as yet undiscovered.
5. The “problem” is not the problem; how people cope with their problem is the problem. How seriously the person experiences the problem through the meanings they make, their worries and their copings, impacts on how great a problem it becomes for them.
6. The symptom is the subconscious solution to the problem, even if it creates dysfunctional patterns. It is the result of the person’s attempt to survive the pain of their problem. Although the person’s perceived problem needs to be heard and validated, therapeutic change needs to work on wholesome solutions from the person’s Life Energy and yearnings.
7. Therapy needs to focus on health and possibilities instead of problems and pathology. Life Energy is naturally positively directional and therapy needs to tap into the natural process of human growth in a positive direction.
8. Change is always possible. Even if external change is limited, internal change is still possible. We can learn to be consciously responsible for and decide how we will live on our insides, even when the outside cannot change.
9. We cannot change past events; we can only change the impact that the past events have had on us. It is possible to resolve impacts from the past in order to live with more positive energy and be free of old hurts, angers, fears and negative messages in the present.
10. People do the best they can at any moment in time. Even when they have done very negative or destructive things, it is the best coping that they were capable of at that moment in time and is a reflection of their level of self-worth. Therefore, there is no reason to blame them for their past failures. Helping them experience their positively directional Life Energy will help them make new choices for the present and future.
11. Feelings belong to us. We all have them and can learn to be in charge of them. We can be responsible for them and make choices about them. We can listen to the positive life message from our feelings and give ourselves the validation we need. We can choose to let go of feelings that create negative energies and events and replace them with acceptance, appreciation, forgiveness, love and peace.
12. Wholeness, growth and evolution are natural human processes and, therefore, need to be the focus of any therapeutic change. Transformational change comes from the level of Life Energy and is a part of natural human growth and evolution. It means that people are becoming more of their true, spiritual Selves rather than their reactive, survival systems.
13. The therapist’s use of Self is the greatest therapeutic tool that the therapist has to create the conditions to facilitate positively directional, transformational change. Therapists who experience their own positively directional Life Energy are able to provide clients with therapeutic relationships based on care, acceptance and new possibilities. The therapist often experiences the positive nature of the client’s Life Energy even before the client does and connects with the client at that level.
14. Hope is a significant component or ingredient for change to take place. When the therapist experiences the positive nature of the client’s true Self, hope becomes a tangible aspect of the therapeutic process and guides the way towards change.
“We are spiritual beings in human form. How we apply our spiritual essence shows how we value life”
( Virginia Satir)
“My spirituality equals my respect for the life force in myself and all living things. Bringing each of us to the awareness that we are part of the Life Force energy and we are unique opens the door to wholeness, freedom and health" ( Virginia Satir)
About Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)
Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is an approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy created by Richard Bandler and John Grinder in California, United States in the 1970s. NLP's creators claim there is a connection between neurological processes (neuro-), language (linguistic) and behavioral patterns learned through experience (programming), and that these can be changed to achieve specific goals in life.
Bandler and Grinder also claim that NLP methodology can "model" the skills of exceptional people, allowing anyone to acquire those skills. They claim as well that, often in a single session, NLP can treat problems such as phobias, depression, tic disorders, psychosomatic illnesses, near-sightedness) and behavioural patterns learned through experience.
Scientific reviews state that NLP is based on outdated metaphors of how the brain works that are inconsistent with current neurological theory and contain numerous factual errors.
Reviews also found that all of the supportive research on NLP contained significant methodological flaws and that there were three times as many studies of a much higher quality that failed to reproduce the "extraordinary claims" made by Bandler, Grinder, and other NLP practitioners.
Even so, NLP has been adopted by some hypnotherapists and also by companies that run seminars marketed as leadership training to businesses and government agencies.
About Clinical Hypnotherapy psychotherapy and counselling
Hypnosis FAQ: Frequently Asked Questions
There are many great FAQ pages for hypnosis on the Internet, some are better than others.
Roy Hunter, author and master hypnotherapist inducted into the Hypnosis Hall of Fame for his significant contributions to the hypnotherapy industry, has a very extensive (and long) set of
http://www.aaph.org/hypnosis-FAQ
QUESTIONS Regarding Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy:
1. What IS hypnosis?
2. What are the benefits of hypnosis?
3. Does a hypnotized person give up control?
4. How does hypnosis feel?
--- BACKGROUND of FAQ Author ---
My name is Roy Hunter, and I am the published author of several hypnosis texts used in a number of hypnosis schools around the globe. My hypnosis career began in 1983, and I first started teaching professional hypnotherapy in a college in 1987. My course is based on the teachings of my teacher and mentor, the late Charles Tebbetts, who believed that all hypnosis is really guided self-hypnosis. I concur with this, as explained in FAQ Question #1. Additionally, I believe in a self-Empowerment approach.
* * * QUESTIONS Regarding Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy
1. What IS hypnosis?
Even as we enter the 21st Century, opinions still vary on the exact definition of this natural state of mind. First of all, contrary to what many commonly believe, hypnosis is NOT a "sleep" state even though a person in hypnosis may appear to be sleeping. James Braid, a 19th Century English physician, gave us the name "hypnotism" because the people he mesmerized appeared to be asleep. Within a few months he tried to change the name that he coined, but instead found that hypnotism is here to stay.
Some people assume that a hypnotized person is asleep, especially because one who goes into a very deep trance can sometimes have partial amnesia. I prefer the way my late mentor, Charles Tebbetts, defined hypnosis, so let me quote his exact words as written in MIRACLES ON DEMAND (which is out of print): "There is no legal definition of hypnosis. Webster's dictionary describes it incorrectly as an artificially induced sleep, but it is actually a natural state of mind and induced normally in everyday living much more often than it is induced artificially. Every time we become engrossed in a novel or a motion picture, we are in a natural hypnotic trance (p. 211-212)." He also taught that all hypnosis is self-hypnosis, and many in the hypnotherapy profession believe likewise.
I totally agree with the above, and I also believe that THE POWER IS IN THE MIND OF THE PERSON BEING HYPNOTIZED. So, in reality, the hypnotherapist acts like a guide who facilitates the hypnotic process.
In my opinion, the most accurate way of defining hypnosis is to simply call it "guided meditation." The brain waves slow down to a rhythm called the “alpha” state. Since many of us enter a meditative (alpha state) or "trance" while listening to music, watching TV, listening to a good speaker or a good sermon at church, or even while reading, you could say that the hypnotist does not even have to be a live person.
Do we lose control? While the answer is “no” to that question, many of us are more susceptible to suggestions when entering the “alpha” state of mind.
Some claim that hypnosis can become mind control by tricking someone into trance without their knowledge or consent. The fact that music can induce hypnosis without one's knowledge does NOT prove hypnosis to be mind control any more than the act of tricking someone into a trance without his or her knowing what is happening.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS: The common belief evidenced by research is that a person experiencing hypnosis slows down his or her brain waves from BETA into ALPHA - although some people believe that we may actually enter THETA during deep trance states. (THETA is normally the "dream" state we pass through on the way to and from DELTA - or deep sleep.) Be aware that since we must all pass through ALPHA on the way to and from sleep, we could easily say that all of us experience hypnosis at least twice daily. While working with clients, I keep the explanation as simple as possible. That being said, some professionals believe that a person in a very deep state of hypnosis can actually attain THETA.
2. What are the benefits of hypnosis?
Have you ever tried to change a habit, only to find your subconscious resisting? Hypnosis has an excellent track record in empowering people to get the subconscious to accept their conscious decisions, especially when facilitated by someone who is competently trained in the art of hypnosis.
Diets work on the body, but not on the mind. Most people who lose weight end up finding the pounds they lose within two years or less, because of subconscious resistance to change. Also, many smokers who make New Years Resolutions to quit smoking find their resolutions literally going up in smoke.
Hypnosis can be helpful in overcoming undesired habits (such as quitting smoking or reducing), managing stress, enhancing job performance, improving at sports, increasing self-motivation and self-confidence, reducing anxieties (such as fear of flying), and with appropriate medical referral and/or supervision, hypnosis can often be helpful in reducing pain and/or in helping cancer patients or patients of other major diseases.
While there are many websites available for a hypnosis professional near you, be sure to check out several prospective hypnotherapists before choosing one.
3. Does a hypnotized person give up control?
Even NOW this question is still debated; but consider...
If this were true, then all hypnotherapists would have a 100% success rate after only one session for every client who enters hypnosis. While countless thousands of ex-smokers have successfully used hypnosis to quit, there are thousands more who still smoke, even after being successfully hypnotized several times. (The same can be said for people wishing to use hypnosis to overcome improper eating habits and/or other undesirable habits.)
Do we give up control of our minds during a movie? When is the last time you got so involved during a movie or TV show that you actually felt emotion? You were literally in a hypnotic trance, although you retained the power to emerge from that state if desired. Your mind may be guided by a movie, TV show, self-hypnosis tape, or hypnotherapist, but YOU still have the power to resist. Even though there are some people who seem to at least partially give up control of their minds, that is because of misunderstanding who has the power. Certainly one can be TRICKED into believing that he/she has "given up control" in some forms of stage hypnosis or other experiments, but does that make it right? I am part of the NEW ETHICS of hypnotherapy, perpetuating what Tebbetts taught me to disclose: "ALL HYPNOSIS IS SELF-HYPNOSIS."
While stage hypnotists often create the illusion of having their participants be under their control, I believe it is just what I said: an illusion.
I believe that hypnotherapists should start informing people where the real power is - within THEIR OWN MINDS! This will empower them to protect themselves against being tricked into giving up control. My ultimate goal is to help clients attain their ideal self-empowerment; and we can begin by no longer referring to people in hypnosis as "subjects." I ask my own students to use the following definitions for people in hypnosis:
CLIENTS = People hypnotized for self-improvement, etc.
PARTICIPANTS = People hypnotized for practice, demonstration, stage hypnosis, etc.
PATIENTS = People hypnotized for medical applications of hypnosis.
SUBJECTS = Those who are the subjects of someone experimenting with hypnosis (whether for scientific research, or parlor games done by untrained hypnotists), or someone who has been tricked into giving up control. I ask professionals to please AVOID using this word to refer to clients or patients experiencing hypnosis for a beneficial purpose!
Are YOU seeking hypnosis for self-improvement or therapy? If so, you decide which of the above words would best describe what you desire to be called when receiving hypnotherapy. Perhaps you might wish to find out how your prospective therapist describes someone experiencing hypnosis, and whether he/she wishes to try to take control. The ethical hypnotherapist will seek to help you become more empowered, and not less empowered.
Benjamin Franklin proved over two centuries ago that Anton Mesmer had no power over his patients; but rather, that his patients enjoyed their cures because of their own beliefs and what was taking place inside their imaginations. Yet for over 200 years, trance researchers have been attempting to use hypnosis to find ways to gain control over other people. Had all of our researchers over the years used hypnosis to EMPOWER others rather than trying to disempower their subjects, perhaps hypnosis might have a totally different history and widespread acceptance today.
4. How does hypnosis feel?
Since hypnosis is a natural state of mind, clients are often surprised that they hear every word. Unless one enters a deeper state, or at least a medium state, he or she may not "feel" any different than when relaxing in the favorite easy chair with a good book or some beautiful music. One may feel quite mellow, and may feel light (or weightless), or very heavy as if sinking into the chair. The feeling may be euphoric for some who enter a very deep state, almost like being intoxicated without the side effects. In a light state, it is entirely possible for a client to believe that he or she was not hypnotized; so I consider it important for a hypnotherapist to know how to competently handle the pre-induction discussion as well as the discussion after hypnosis. Amazingly, however, many of my clients have successfully achieved their goals without ever getting deeper than light trance. Yet deeper states tend to INCREASE hypnotic abilities...
The actual hypnotic process itself enhances certain abilities: (a) the ability to IMAGINE, (b) the ability to REMEMBER, (c) the CREATIVE abilities, and (d) RESPONSIVENESS TO SUGGESTIONS. Naturally, this last ability creates the most appeal of hypnosis to some and the fear of hypnosis to others; but before you go experimenting with hypnosis, be advised to seek competent "hands-on" training (or at the very least, invest in a quality Home Study course). Simply reading alone may not provide sufficient education if you plan on trying to hypnotize other people.