PBP CONSULTING is continuing to develop individual and group treatment options for these often treatment resistant populations.

	Acceptance and Commitment Therapy		Bio-feedback
	Cognitive Behavior Therapy		Debriefing and Defusing
	EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization		Hypnosis
	Coaching: Life and Personal		Mindfulness
	What is Neuro-feedback?		Pain and its Management
	BREATHING TRAINING and RELAXATION		MEDITATION
	Hypnosis		Bio-feedback
	A Solution Oriented Approach		Stop Smoking
	Stress: in its various forms		Thought Field Therapy
	Voice Dialogue

1. Acceptance and Commitment Therapy

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, ACT (pronounced "act" not "ay see tee"), is an empirically based psychological intervention that uses acceptance and mindfulness strategies, together with commitment and behavior change strategies, to increase psychological flexibility.

Basics

While the following explanation can sound complex, the practice is quite simple and logical with some coaching.

ACT is developed within on a pragmatic philosophy called functional contextualism. ACT is based on Relational Frame Theory (RFT), a comprehensive theory of language and cognition that has emerged within behavior analysis. ACT differs from traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) in that rather than trying to teach people to better control their thoughts, feelings, sensations, memories and other private events, ACT focuses on what they can control more directly: their arms, legs and mouth.

ACT teaches them to "just notice", accept, and embrace their private events, especially previously unwanted ones.

ACT helps the individual get in contact with a transcendent sense of self known as "self-as-context" — the you that is always there observing and experiencing and yet distinct from one's thoughts, feelings, sensations, and memories. ACT aims to help the individual to clarify their personal values and to take action on them, bringing more vitality and meaning to their life in the process.

Suffering and Avoidance

The core conception of ACT is that psychological suffering is usually caused by experiential avoidance, cognitive entanglement, and resulting psychological rigidity that leads to a failure to take needed behavioral steps in accord with core values. As a simple way to summarize the model, you can say that ACT views the core of many problems to be FEAR:

	Fusion with your thoughts
	Evaluation of experience
	Avoidance of your experience
	Reason giving for your behavior

	Accept your reactions and be present
	Choose a valued direction
	Take action

As of 2006, ACT is still relatively new in the development of its research base. Nevertheless, ACT has shown preliminary research evidence of effectiveness for a variety of problems including chronic pain, addictions, smoking cessation, depression, anxiety, psychosis, workplace stress, diabetes management.

Mediational analyses have provided evidence for the possible causal role of key ACT processes, including acceptance, defusion, and values, in producing beneficial clinical outcomes. Correlational evidence has also found that absence of these process predicts many forms of psychopathology. A recent meta-analysis showed that ACT processes account for about 25% of the variance in psychopathology at baseline, using correlational methods – not only for psychological problems, but for enhanced fulfillment in life.

ACT has also been adapted to create a non-therapy version of the same processes called Acceptance and Commitment Training. This training process, oriented towards the development of mindfulness, acceptance, and values skills in non-clinical settings such as businesses or schools, has also been investigated in a handful of research studies with good preliminary results.

With Bio-feedback we use highly sensitive sensors connected to a computer to monitor a person’s heart rate, breathing, temperature, perspiration rate or muscular activity.

These measures are seen and heard as feedback to a person in such a way that they can learn how to gain control over these autonomic functions.

Combined with breath training, mindfulness practice and other skills and strategies, a person can make lasting and significant reductions to their stress levels and break the vicious cycle between physical, emotional and mental stress.

Research shows that stress is a primary and secondary cause in many physical diseases.




4. Cognitive Behavior Therapy

Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) is a kind of psychotherapy used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, phobias, delusional disorder, eating disorders and other forms of mental illness. It has been clinically demonstrated in over 400 studies to be effective for many psychiatric disorders and medical problems for both children and adolescents.

CBT is, in fact, an umbrella term for many different therapies that share some common elements. Two of the earliest forms of Cognitive Behavior Therapy were Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), developed by Albert Ellis in the 1950s, and Cognitive Therapy, developed by Aaron T. Beck in the 1960s. Other types of Cognitive Behavior Therapy include Dialectical Behavior Therapy, Self-Instructional Training, Schema-Focused Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), and many others.

CBT is based on the idea that how we think (cognition), how we feel (emotion) and how we act (behavior) all interact together. Specifically, our thoughts determine our feelings and our behavior. Therefore, if an individual is experiencing negative and unrealistic thoughts, this may result in distress and can result in problems.

With thoughts stipulated as being the cause of emotions rather than the outcome or by-product, cognitive therapists reverse the causal order more generally used by psychotherapists.

Therefore, the therapy is to identify those irrational or maladaptive thoughts that lead to negative emotion and identify what it is about them that is irrational or just not helpful; this is done in an effort to reject the distorted thoughts and replace them with more realistic alternative thoughts.
CBT is not an overnight process. Even after patients have learned to recognize when and where their thought processes go awry, it can take months of concerted effort to replace an irrational thought process or habit with a more reasonable, salutary one.


CBT is one of the treatment approaches used by PBP CONSULTANCY’s Psychologists.

Cognitive behavioral group therapy (CBGT) is a similar approach in treating mental illnesses. In this case, clients participate in a group and recognize they are not alone in suffering from their problems and can share their own understanding of the CBT process with others.

Further information on this approach. CBT has a good evidence base in terms of its effectiveness in reducing symptoms and preventing relapse and is an integrative, interactive approach that involves recognizing unhelpful or destructive patterns of thinking and reacting, evaluating whether or not these patterns are realistic or accurate, learning to see the causal connections between one's thoughts, feelings, actions and physiological responses, and learning how to address and change all of the above through a variety of techniques.

One of the most well known Cognitive Therapy techniques is to modify or replace dysfunctional thoughts with more realistic or helpful ones. Cognitive Therapists work from the cognitive model, which says that a person's core beliefs (often formed in childhood) contribute to 'automatic thoughts' that pop up in every day life in response to situations.

Cognitive Therapy practitioners hold that clinical depression is typically associated with negatively biased thinking and irrational thoughts. Cognitive Therapy is often used in conjunction with mood stabilizing medications to treat rapidly changing moods.




5. Debriefing and Defusing

Debriefing and Defusing are terms referring to therapeutic processes that are employed following a severely traumatic event, or what is often called a “Critical Incident”.

The major purpose of Debriefing is to bring together a group of people who have shared a traumatic experience, where they can openly discuss their reactions and derive mutual support from the process.

Defusing refers to a less formal process of support. It may simply involve “checking in” with a colleague as one passes in the corridor, or offering to get a friend a coffee or snack. The act of Defusing, as the name suggests, will generally involve helping another feel supported, and perhaps even allow for informal situations to arise that offer opportunity for them to release thoughts and feelings.

Listening is a key to effective Debriefing and Defusing.

Debriefing is usually a single session crisis intervention that is designed to reduce and prevent debilitating psychological symptoms by: promoting the processing of emotions; the ventilation, acknowledgement and validation of reactions; the design of any therapeutic actions that may be important for participants in the immediate future; and the preparation and planning for possible future experiences.

Debriefing can often circumvent common attempts to be helpful that may in fact prove otherwise. Too often in our attempts to help friends or colleagues we can feel pressured to offer suggestions, make explanations, or “fix” their discomfort. Such comments as “you’ll get over it” or “just don’t think about it” can be offered with the best of intentions, yet can often contribute to the person feeling unheard and not understood, thus even more alone.

Effective Debriefing requires a deal of skill. The process typically occurs when high levels of emotion, vulnerability, uncertainty and confusion can readily cloud the progress and judgment of those who have experienced the trauma. For this reason, research findings as to the effectiveness of the process have tended to be variable.

In our experience, we have found that the effectiveness of any Debriefing process can be greatly enhanced when:

	intervention is prompt and occurs as soon as possible following the incident;
	the participants are given ample opportunity to express their reactions and support each other in an open and permissive atmosphere;
	attention is given to any immediate steps that may be useful for participants to take to assist in their recovery;
	any further steps that may be useful for the group to consider and put into action.

6. EMDR - Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing

Much has written and debated about EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) over the past two decades. At PBP CONSULTANCY we have been trained in both Introductory and Advanced courses of EMDR with Dr. Francine Shapiro, a Psychologist and Senior Research Fellow at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, USA., who created the treatment in 1987. Since our training, we have been offering and using the treatment of EMDR since the mid 1990’s.

We have incorporated here some research and descriptive information from the EMDR Institute, the European EMDR Association , and the EMDR International Association, and would recommend an inspection of these sites as a starting point for those wishing to learn more about the history, efficacy and research base of the treatment.

EMDR is an innovative clinical treatment, which has successfully helped over one million people who have experienced psychological difficulties which originate from some kind of traumatic experience, such as sexual abuse, childhood neglect, road traffic accidents and violence. EMDR is also successful in treating other complaints such as performance anxiety, self-esteem issues, phobias, and other trauma related anxiety disorders.

EMDR is a complex method of psychotherapy which integrates many of the successful elements of a range of therapeutic approaches, and combines them with eye movements or other forms of bilateral stimulation in ways which stimulate the brain's information processing system.
Under most circumstances, we have natural ways of processing problematic and mildly traumatic experiences.

We tend to “process” the experience through conversations with others (and ourselves) and make adjustments over time. However, when a person is severely traumatized, either by an overwhelming event or by being repeatedly subjected to distress, this healing process may become overloaded, leaving the original disturbing experiences unprocessed. These unprocessed memories can be stored in the brain in a form where they can be continually re-evoked when experiencing events that are similar to the original experience.

EMDR utilizes the body's natural healing ability and allows the brain to heal psychological problems at the same rate as the rest of the body heals physical ailments. Because EMDR provides for a parallel healing of the mind and body, treatment can be rapid. The number of sessions required for EMDR treatment, however, will vary according to the complexity of the issues at hand. In general, the more isolated the traumatic memory being treated, the shorter the treatment tends to be.

There have been many controlled studies supporting the efficacy of EMDR (you might try these sites for example, www.emdr. making it the one of the most thoroughly researched methods in the treatment of trauma. A recent series of studies with people suffering from a range of events such as rape, combat, bereavement, accidents, natural disasters etc. have found that 84 - 90% of the participants had significantly reduced symptoms of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder following EMDR treatment (see research sites above). Given its wide application, EMDR promises to be a widely utilized therapy of the future.




7. Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a topic that has attracted a lot of interest and misunderstanding since its more formal therapeutic usage over the last century or more. The mystique surrounding the experience and effects of a trance state continue to draw debate and curiosity, both from those who seek - as well as those who deliver hypnotic therapy.
Traditionally, hypnosis has been a process that was considered to be highly dependent upon the direct suggestion of a therapist or “hypnotist”, and the “degree of hypnotizability” of the subject or client. Under this assumption, the “subject” would in general be told what to do and have their experience prescribed by the therapist (e.g. “your eyes are getting heavy”, “you are feeling very sleepy and will fall into a deep state of rest when …”, “you will never ….. again”, etc), and it was found that some people would respond very readily to such suggestions, whilst others would not.

It was this variable effect among “subjects” that lead many theorists to conclude that: some people were very “hypnotizable”; whilst others would respond to suggestions to a moderate degree; and of course there were some people who displayed little if any cooperation with such suggestions. Some theorists have even devised “scales of hypnotizability” that purport to measure the degree to which an individual may be susceptible to direct hypnotic suggestion.

Milton Erickson and Solution Oriented Hypnosis.

Modern day hypnosis operates from a quite different set of ideas, and has been very largely influenced by the work of Milton Erickson, who began to gain notoriety and influence in the mid 1900’s until (and beyond) his death in 1980. He has left an enormous and enduring legacy of ideas and knowledge to our field, and highlighted the importance of identifying, awakening and using the power that we all bring to our life situations.
Those who practice the more modern hypnotic techniques will tend to emphasize and work with the resources, strengths and values of the person they are working with.

Erickson was a therapist who emphasized strategies that empowered his clients. In a prelude to a recent publication compiling “The letters of Milton Erickson”, Jeffery Zeig and Brent Geary noted that: "simply put, Milton Erickson (1901 - 1980) was the foremost authority on the use of clinical hypnosis in the twentieth century. And there are many who contend that he was the century's premiere hypnotherapist. What Erickson added to the practice of therapy can be compared to Sigmund Freud's contribution to its theory" (p. ix).

Of the many revolutionary ideas that Milton Erickson offered, perhaps his most pervasive was that the experience of trance or hypnosis is a natural, everyday experience, what one might call a symptom of being human. Most of us would recall the experience of driving a car and discovering at some point that we were further progressed on our journey than we may have realized. We may have actually gone through a town that "we had not noticed" at the time, or missed the street that we intended turning into, perhaps on occasion even missed our own street.

Sometimes the trip back home can seem to take less or more time than it took to get there, even though we traversed the same geography and the clock showed little or no difference in "real" time taken. Waiting and watching for that bus can seemingly stretch five ("real time") minutes into what appears to be a much longer period.

Effects associated with time distortion and even amnesia are common in our everyday lives. Frequently, conversation around a memory of an event can seem to evoke more of the mood and detail of that occurrence - in a way, like an experience of regressing in time or age. For example, if a friend has forgotten where they placed their car keys, we might assist by asking them to retrace their movements, and “climb back into the experience” involving their actions and thoughts relevant to when they may have placed their keys.

These ideas and realizations about hypnosis, dissociation or trance have pointed to our experience of it as being more a natural part of our everyday living. Our regular experience of being “entranced” or engrossed in thought begins to demonstrate to us all the frequency with which our attention is removed from the “here and now”. Clients who feel that they may not be capable of experiencing hypnosis are often pleasantly surprised to learn how they can generate the experience and intentionally use it for their own purposes.

Therapists practicing a more modern approach to hypnosis tend to take the view that everyone experiences trance or hypnosis quite naturally and frequently. With this in mind, it then becomes part of the task of the therapist to assist the client to discover and use their own skills and style to develop the experience, rather than “do hypnosis to them” or tell them what to do and what they should or will experience.

In a similar way, clients are assisted to evolve their own solutions and directions for their own issues, which can often be more potently, delightfully and enduringly achieved in a more focused and comfortable state, largely chosen and evolved by the client themselves. Importantly, this process can proceed with the client “in the driver’s seat”, moving at their own pace, making their own decisions and thus in a way that is clearly relevant to them. The therapist’s skill is in guiding, supporting and generally assisting the client to achieve this.

These methods tend to reduce the necessary time in therapy, as the client can quickly learn to become more self sufficient and to even use some of the techniques themselves.

In our clinic, we use hypnosis to assist with many issues, not the least of which is teaching our clients self hypnotic techniques that they can take and use whenever a need might arise. Additionally, we will often provide our clients with hypnotic aids such as tapes and CD’s for relaxation and habit cessation. We can also design and provide CD’s specifically for individual clients that are targeted to particular needs.

Whilst hypnosis can be used to assist a broad range of problems, it can perhaps most relevantly be used in situations where a client can be assisted to stop doing something that they no longer wish to do – something which may seem to be beyond their choice or understanding. Stopping smoking, teeth grinding, hair pulling, anxious thinking, thought avoidance and nail biting are a few examples of common presenting issues.

In our experience, many problems that we treat tend to involve a sense by the client of having little or no choice. We believe that useful therapy will frequently involve the discovery of existing possibilities (that may not have been evident to the client) or the generation of new possibilities (choices).

8. Coaching: Life and Personal

The coach was designed to get the traveler to their destination as comfortably as possible. They further propose that whilst our desire for comfort is still relevant, these days, we want to reach our destination quickly and effectively as well.

In this way, they extend the metaphor by suggesting that - it is the focus of the modern day coach to assist clientele to go from point A to point B with comfort and speed.

Personal or Life Coaching has a deal in common with Solution based counselling.

	tending to be a brief intervention;
	focusing on the generation of a future via change through action;
	assisting clients to discover/clarify their goals and their relevant resources;
	assisting clients to discover what they are doing that they want to do differently;
	assisting clients to discover what they are already doing that is useful; and
	assisting clients to discover what they could be doing more of that would assist the goals of the process and their personal agenda.

9. Mindfulness

Mindfulness is applied to both bodily actions and the mind's own thoughts and feelings.

In Buddhism, the second kind of mindfulness is considered a prerequisite for developing insight and wisdom.

Mindfulness skills might realistically be considered essential for happiness and success in this ever more complex and demanding world. It is the basis of the emotional intelligence required for personal effectiveness and successful relationships. It certainly contributes to lower levels of stress related illness and to good and restful sleep.

There are many, many forms of mindfulness and meditation. One example of mindfulness is to mentally give a verbal label to each in breath and out breath during sitting meditation. So, each time one breathes in, one thinks (e.g.) "rising", and each time one breathes out, one thinks "falling". In this type of meditation, the breath serves as a tether that the practitioner uses to bring his or her awareness back to the present moment.

By residing more frequently in the present moment, practitioners begin to see both the inner and outer aspects of reality. Inner reality may unfold as one sees that the mind continually chattering with commentary or judgment. By noticing that the mind is continually making commentary, one has the ability to carefully notice those thoughts - and decide if those thought have value. Most often, mindful people realize that "thoughts are just thoughts" - the thoughts themselves have no weight. People are free to release a thought ("let it go") when they realize that the thought is not concrete reality. They are free to observe life without getting caught in the commentary.

As one more closely observes inner reality, one finds that happiness is not a quality brought about by a change in outer circumstances, but rather by realizing happiness starts with releasing attachment to thoughts; therefore releasing "automatic" reactions toward pleasant and unpleasant situations or feelings.

However, mindfulness does not have to be constrained to a formal meditation session. Mindfulness is an activity that can be done at any time; it does not require sitting, or even focusing on the breath, but rather is done by bringing the mind to focus on what is happening in the present moment, while simply noticing the mind's usual "commentary". One can be mindful of the sensations in one's feet while walking, of the sound of the wind in the trees, or the feeling of soapy water while doing dishes.

One can also be mindful of the mind's commentary: "I wish I didn't have to walk any further, I like the sound of the leaves rustling, I wish washing dishes wasn't so boring and the soap wasn't drying out my skin", etc. When one notices the mind's running commentary, he or she has the freedom to release those judgments: " washing dishes: boring" may become "washing

dishes: washing dishes". In this example, one may see that washing does not have to be judged "boring"; washing dishes is only a process of coordinating dishes with soap and water. Any activity done mindfully is a form of meditation, as watching the mind can be done during any time.

In addition to various forms of meditation, there are mindfulness training exercises that develop awareness throughout the day using designated environmental cues. Individuals are encouraged to select cues that then become triggers for awareness of the present moment, essentially making mindfulness a habit. Those who find it difficult to practice sitting meditation may consider trying a mindfulness training approach that focuses on establishing the habit of mindfulness through daily cues.

Mindfulness skills and the awareness that comes from this practice forms an important part of the following approaches that we find most useful in our clinic. These approaches both promote mindfulness as a skill and eventually a habit, and utilize mindfulness to help reveal the ways of thinking and acting that interfere with peace of mind and happiness.

Solution Oriented Counselling AND Positive Psychology
Personal Coaching
Hypnosis
Be Set Free Fast (BSFF)
Meditation
Mindfulness based CBT

Largely associated with Buddhism, the practice of mindfulness is also advocated by such people as medical researcher and author Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn who developed the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. MBSR is a form of complementary medicine offered in over 200 U.S. hospitals and is currently the focus of a number of research studies funded by The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

	The Power of Now by author Eckhart Tolle is very easy to read and a good place to start as it is so inspirational.
	The Miracle of Mindfulness by the Vietnamese Buddhist Monk Thich Nhat Hanh is a simple manual on Mindfulness Meditation
	Mindfulness in Plain English by Ven Henepola Gunaratana lives up to its title.
	Wherever You Go There You Are ; Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life by Jon Kabat-Zin is a great remedy for when you get stuck in the kind of thinking that believes happiness is to be found somewhere other than where we are right now.
	The Quite by Australian “Guru of Calm” Paul Wilson is a fail safe way to start meditating if you have tried before and found it too hard or if you have stopped your practice and don’t know how to get going again

Yet in another way we see it as quite unavoidable, "un fait accompli" in the face of injury, or the sight of blood, or just living our life. After all, pain is a part of life. The meeting place of these views presents us with the dilemma of "having" to experience something that we "must get rid of" at all costs, whether that be through medication, surgery or some other form of external intervention. However, many a parent will be familiar with the immediate relief that a "Band Aid" can bring to the pain and suffering of an injured child - whether the injury be a bruise or abrasion.

In a related way, many of the clients we assist in rehabilitating from a serious injury will report that the experience of pain came long after the actual occurrence of the injury. Additionally, when invited, these clients may also notice the experience of the pain or discomfort fluctuating throughout the day, where periods of the pain may be less bothersome at times, and perhaps even "unnoticed" at other times (often reported as periods of "distraction").

These discoveries can often surprise a client who can be "caught in the thought" that their experience of pain is unalterable and ever-present. These noticings can also point to natural, recurring and often unconscious ways that we use to modify, alleviate, dissociate from, lessen, soften, distort and even accept the discomforts we are all dealt.

12. BREATHING TRAINING and RELAXATION

This kind of biofeedback training has a powerful effect on people as they learn how their breathing affects the heart rate and blood pressure. In fact, when the EEG is also connected, an amazing synchrony of the Theta waves appears after a very short time.

Under this condition, relaxation deepens dramatically. Heart rate and heart arrhythmia can benefit from training on our Heart Math biofeedback equipment or our more sophisticated CardioPro RSA biofeedback program. There have been many good research publications demonstrating the usefulness of biofeedback to different kinds of stress related health problems including heart health.

Other kinds of biofeedback we can employ includes an infrared pulse monitor (BVP) worn on a finger for blood pressure management, or over the forehead secured by a headband to help train blood flow to the frontal lobes. This assists concentration, relaxation and is used for non migraine type headache control.

A temperature feedback monitor can be held in the hand and concentration with visualization can produce a rise in hand temperature. This has been shown to reduce the incidence of some types of migraine. (You might like to try this with a finely graded mercury thermometer at home.)

Some systems known to benefit from relaxation training include immune, hormonal, nervous, cardiovascular, bronchial, as well as all aspects of physical, mental and emotional health. It is also important for academic and professional success, athletic performance and good relationships. Almost as useful as oxygen don’t you think?




13. MEDITATION

Meditation is the natural process of withdrawing attention from externals, including from physical and mental processes, and consciously directing it inward to a chosen focus of concentration.

The beneficial side-benefits of regular meditation practice have been widely reported in a variety of excellent books and magazines,( some of which are listed below).

These benefits can include stress reduction, strengthening of the body's immune system, better organized thought processes, improved powers of concentration, enhanced powers of memory, refinement and enlivening of the nervous system, awakening of regenerative energies, slowing of biologic aging processes, and orderly functioning of the body's organs, glands, and systems.

For these reasons, regular meditation practice is now increasingly recommended by many physicians and representatives of health research centers as a pleasant way for patient-clients to be more responsible for their own total well-being.

We recommend learning from a trained teacher. It has been said that many “cushion sitting hours” have been wasted due to improper technique.

The most important thing is to begin, and to practice well for 5 minutes twice a day at regular times. This is far more beneficial than longer stretches at irregular intervals practiced with impatience.

The habit of practice sets you up for eventual success. A short, regular session eventually becomes a longer regular session because it is immensely satisfying and rewarding. Inconsistent practice can begin to be associated with boredom and frustration, leading to aversion to practice.

RECOMMENDED READING

“The Quiet” is a book on meditation practice by author and popular speaker on calm techniques Paul Wilson. He has written a book which is perfect for the doubtful beginner as well as the lapsed meditator. His book is simple, clear and inspiring. The Quiet practices are based on four simple fail safe steps that take you from a single 13 minute a day quiet sitting all the way through to more complex insight practices.

14. Hypnosis

Hypnosis is a topic that has attracted a lot of interest and misunderstanding since its more formal therapeutic usage over the last century or more. The mystique surrounding the experience and effects of a trance state continue to draw debate and curiosity, both from those who seek - as well as those who deliver hypnotic therapy.

Traditionally, hypnosis has been a process that was considered to be highly dependent upon the direct suggestion of a therapist or “hypnotist”, and the “degree of hypnotizability” of the subject or client. Under this assumption, the “subject” would in general be told what to do and have their experience prescribed by the therapist (eg. “your eyes are getting heavy”, “you are etc), and it was found that some people would respond very readily to such suggestions, whilst others would not.

It was this variable effect among “subjects” that lead many theorists to conclude that: some people were very “hypnotizable”; whilst others would respond to suggestions to a moderate degree; and of course there were some people who displayed little if any cooperation with such suggestions. Some theorists have even devised “scales of hypnotizability” that purport to measure the degree to which an individual may be susceptible to direct hypnotic suggestion.

Milton Erickson and Solution Oriented Hypnosis.

Modern day hypnosis operates from a quite different set of ideas, and has been very largely influenced by the work of Milton Erickson, who began to gain notoriety and influence in the mid 1900’s until (and beyond) his death in 1980. He has left an enormous and enduring legacy of ideas and knowledge to our field, and highlighted the importance of identifying, awakening and using the power that we all bring to our life situations.
Those who practice the more modern hypnotic techniques will tend to emphasize and work with the resources, strengths and values of the person they are working with.

Erickson was a therapist who emphasized strategies that empowered his clients. In a prelude to a recent publication compiling “The letters of Milton Erickson”, Jeffery Zeig and Brent Geary noted that: "simply put, Milton Erickson (1901 - 1980) was the foremost authority on the use of clinical hypnosis in the twentieth century. And there are many who contend that he was the century's premiere hypnotherapist. What Erickson added to the practice of therapy can be compared to Sigmund Freud's contribution to its theory" (p. ix).

Of the many revolutionary ideas that Milton Erickson offered, perhaps his most pervasive was that the experience of trance or hypnosis is a natural, everyday experience, what one might call a symptom of being human. Most of us would recall the experience of driving a car and discovering at some point that we were further progressed on our journey than we may have realized. We may have actually gone through a town that "we had not noticed" at the time, or missed the street that we intended turning into, perhaps on occasion even missed our own street.

Sometimes the trip back home can seem to take less or more time than it took to get there, even though we traversed the same geography and the clock showed little or no difference in "real" time taken. Waiting and watching for that bus can seemingly stretch five ("real time") minutes into what appears to be a much longer period.

Effects associated with time distortion and even amnesia are common in our everyday lives. Frequently, conversation around a memory of an event can seem to evoke more of the mood and detail of that occurrence - in a way, like an experience of regressing in time or age. For example, if a friend has forgotten where they placed their car keys, we might assist by asking them to retrace their movements, and “climb back into the experience” involving their actions and thoughts relevant to when they may have placed their keys.

These ideas and realizations about hypnosis, dissociation or trance have pointed to our experience of it as being more a natural part of our everyday living. Our regular experience of being “entranced” or engrossed in thought begins to demonstrate to us all the frequency with which our attention is removed from the “here and now”. Clients who feel that they may not be capable of experiencing hypnosis are often pleasantly surprised to learn how they can generate the experience and intentionally use it for their own purposes.

Therapists practicing a more modern approach to hypnosis tend to take the view that everyone experiences trance or hypnosis quite naturally and frequently. With this in mind, it then becomes part of the task of the therapist to assist the client to discover and use their own skills and style to develop the experience, rather than “do hypnosis to them” or tell them what to do and what they should or will experience.

In a similar way, clients are assisted to evolve their own solutions and directions for their own issues, which can often be more potently, delightfully and enduringly achieved in a more focused and comfortable state, largely chosen and evolved by the client themselves. Importantly, this process can proceed with the client “in the driver’s seat”, moving at their own pace, making their own decisions and thus in a way that is clearly relevant to them. The therapist’s skill is in guiding, supporting and generally assisting the client to achieve this.
These methods tend to reduce the necessary time in therapy, as the client can quickly learn to become more self sufficient and to even use some of the techniques themselves.

In our clinic, we use hypnosis to assist with many issues, not the least of which is teaching our clients self hypnotic techniques that they can take and use whenever a need might arise. Additionally, we will often provide our clients with hypnotic aids such as tapes and CD’s for relaxation and habit cessation. We can also design and provide CD’s specifically for individual clients that are targeted to particular needs.

Whilst hypnosis can be used to assist a broad range of problems, it can perhaps most relevantly be used in situations where a client can be assisted to stop doing something that they no longer wish to do – something which may seem to be beyond their choice or understanding. Stopping smoking, teeth grinding, hair pulling, anxious thinking, thought avoidance and nail biting are a few examples of common presenting issues.

In our experience, many problems that we treat tend to involve a sense by the client of having little or no choice. We believe that useful therapy will frequently involve the discovery of existing possibilities (that may not have been evident to the client) or the generation of new possibilities (choices).





15. Bio-feedback

When your heart is racing you can feel easily overwhelmed by your physical response to stress, anxiety and panic.

With Bio-feedback we use highly sensitive sensors connected to a computer to monitor a persons heart rate, breathing, temperature, perspiration rate or muscular activity.

These measures are seen and heard as feedback to a person in such a way that they can learn how to gain control over these autonomic functions.

Combined with breath training, mindfulness practice and other skills and strategies, a person can make lasting and significant reductions to their stress levels and break the vicious cycle between physical, emotional and mental stress.

Research shows that stress is a primary and secondary cause in many physical diseases.

What is Neuro-feedback?
Biofeedback is a way of achieving voluntary control of functions such as heart rate, blood pressure, muscle control and temperature, normally regulated without conscious awareness.

Neuro-feedback is the voluntary regulation of brain wave activity.

Neurotherapy has been successfully used to treat seizures for more than 30 years and ADD and alcoholism for more than 12 years. So this is not a new form of treatment. What is new is the ability of computers to provide fast feedback. Also new is the knowledge that a number of other disorders are caused through some kind of disturbance to the brain’s ability to regulate itself efficiently, thus creating symptoms of brain imbalance. In fact what is now referred to as ADHD was once known as Minimal Brain Dysfunction. Neuro-feedback training challenges the brain out of its ineffective patterns and reinforces its innate and natural ability to self regulate.
Training and Therapy use sophisticated computer generated feedback of brain waves to improve the brain's ability to produce specific brain waves in a balanced way.

How does Neuro-feedback work?

Neuro-feedback Training is similar to training other skills. In sport you assess and develop general fitness as well as the skills, which are specific to your sport or training regime. Through assessment, the therapist identifies the appropriate brain activity associated with your desired outcome. The feedback provided through an EEG driven computer reinforces that pattern through a conditioned visual, audio or feeling response. The client experiences the training as if playing a computer game, with the graphics, sound and scoring dependent on the “appropriateness” of their EEG response.

What is Neuro-feedback Training and Therapy used for?

Neuro-feedback has been successfully used for treating most conditions that have good brain regulation as an important condition for good treatment outcome. It is ideal for those who are reluctant to take medication or where medication has provided only partial or no relief or is not appropriate and where the side effects of drugs are unacceptable. We always advise our clients to never stop taking prescribed medications without first consulting with their treating health professional.

Addictive Behaviour and Addictions; ADD and ADHD and other childhood behavioural problems; Anxiety, Panic Attacks; OCD or obsessional type behaviour; Depression and other types of mood problems such as Bipolar

developmental issues; Consequences of head injury; Autoimmune problems and other disorders involving poor regulation of the immune response including MS and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or CFS, Eating Disorders and other poorly regulated Eating behaviour including compulsive over eating or Bulimia; PMS , Menopause and other symptoms arising from poor brain regulation of hormonal balance; Major assaults to brain integrity including the overwhelming effects of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD; recurrent and persistent patterns of poor regulation like some types of Epilepsy, Migraine, Headaches and Chronic Pain, Motor and vocal tics, Sleep disorders and some types of sleep Apnoea known to be associated with chronic brain under arousal, Specific Learning Difficulties associated with brain organization problems. In fact almost any health problem usually associated with chronic under or over or unstable arousal of the brain.

And

For helping athletes, musicians, students, CEO's, middle managers, salespeople, trainers, and other business people to develop Peak Mental Performance. It is also a powerful way to enhance your meditation practice and develop mindfulness, as feedback promotes mind awareness and control simultaneously.

How long does it take?

Length of time varies greatly depending on the condition being treated. There should be some evidence of change within the first five to ten sessions. Whilst some clients will only need five or so treatments, more complex cases may take 20 or more sessions before therapy is completed.

For example for ADD, more than twenty sessions may be required, and longer for ADHD. PMS and some types of depression will usually respond within 10 sessions. Teeth grinding, restless sleep, fatigue, chronic pain and some other symptoms tend to respond in about 20 sessions.

This is a rapidly developing area of knowledge. Treatment will vary as the results of new information are applied. For example, until recently, sometimes over 40 treatments was the norm to deal with ADD. We have found that teaching our clients some self regulation techniques combined with dietary changes have profound, quick acting and lasting effects on symptom expression for many conditions. For example we routinely find treatment is more rapid for both depression and ADHD when diet is optimised.

How often are treatments given?


Depending on the treatment protocol, Neuro-feedback sessions can range in frequency from five or more sessions per week for long distance clients requiring intensive treatment, to weekly or twice weekly (more commonly), or fortnightly visits. Often, either towards the end of therapy or for “tune-up” sessions, appointments may even be spaced several months apart. For all but a rare few, usually chronic or degenerative conditions, the treatment results from completed treatment are permanent and do not require further visits.

How much does it cost?

Presently, treatment costs vary between $100.00 and $115.00 per one-hour session. The actual time training will vary from 20 minutes for small children or compromised adults at the beginning of their training to 40 minutes as treatment gets underway. Reduced rates are available to clients paying for a block of ten sessions in advance. Initial consultations incorporating assessment protocols are booked as a one and a half hour appointment, and cost $150.00.

Health cover rebates apply for treatment provided by a psychologist or recognised health care provider.

Brain maps, parent training, family therapy, psychotherapy and other work aspects of the total therapy are billed at our standard clinical rates.




16. A Solution Oriented Approach

We find that most people who seek our help are more interested in “feeling better” and “moving on” from their presenting issue(s) than spending a considerable amount of time (and money) focussing on their problem(s).

A Solution Orientated Approach (SOA) is our preferred approach with such clients as it enhances conversations that develop and explore future possibilities and the development of solutions rather than seeking explanations anchored in the past.

A SOA could be described as being apart of the third generation of therapeutic approaches. The first wave or traditional therapies (eg. psychoanalysis and psychodynamic approaches) that emerged during the late 19th century and the early 1900’s are strongly anchored in the developing an understanding of the clients past, where the therapist assumes the role of “the expert” in the relationship.

In the 1960’s alternate approaches emerged including behaviour therapy, ego psychology, client centred therapy, family therapy, gestalt therapy, where emphasis is placed on the clients “present” experience. These approaches are often referred to as here and now therapies. With these approaches, the therapist works with the client through processes of self discovery, enhancing their options through the development of greater personal awareness.

A further shift occurred during the 19S80’s and continues to evolve, in which focus is placed on the future. The SOA is such an approach and enhances conversations that develop and explore present and future possibilities. A SOA is one that fosters the development of solutions rather than seeking explanations.

17. Stop Smoking

Since our beginning in 1988, the approach at Davellen has been guided by a “solution oriented” or “strategic” orientation to our work with clients. This resourceful way of assisting our clients to generate effective methods of achieving their goals has formed the basis of our powerful one session (two hours) approach to stop smoking.
We have found that people express a wide variety of reasons behind their commitment to stop smoking.

Reasons, for example, which may involve: concerns about present and future health; the ongoing and increasing financial cost of the habit; the experience of increasing restrictions of smoking in public places; the “social leper” effect of rapidly changing community attitudes; and a sense of frustration and “powerlessness” that can come with continuing to do something that they don’t want to be doing.

Apart from the sense of achievement and pride that comes from addressing or resolving an unpleasant habit, many of our clients are relieved and sometimes pleasantly surprised to discover feelings of freedom, satisfaction and confidence associated with the “automatic” and natural healing of their bodies.

The absence of the “mental battle” and ongoing rewards that can come from being regularly reminded that they no longer have to do something that they once thought they must, serve for many clients as powerful ongoing “reinforcers”.

An increasing sense of confidence, joy and harmony is another frequently reported “side-effect”.
Others report simply enjoying the experience of getting on with their lives without the need or urge to smoke.

About Hypnosis for Stopping Smoking

As a society, we still harbour many traditional, inaccurate and unhelpful ideas about hypnosis.
It needs to be clear that clinical hypnosis is a tool of medicine and psychology. It is a “natural” relaxing method of treatment designed to suit the needs of each individual client.

Hypnotherapy involves a process which helps people clear their minds of distracting and confusing ideas, beliefs and internal conversations which have previously gotten in the way.

It allows for a clarity of perspective by sharpening and focusing awareness on the matter at hand. Things that have seemed impossible can begin to appear more possible, and energy and confidence can be revived.
Despite ideas to the contrary and the sleight of hand of some stage magicians, hypnosis cannot make a person do something he or she does not want to do; and likewise, hypnosis cannot make a person want to do something.

What you can expect from an hypnotic session with a properly trained professional hypnotherapist is the comfort and freedom to do something you wish to do that you may have previously found difficult.
Hypnotherapy provides you with more options than you once had. Choosing not to smoke and discovering that your comfort level settles quickly, or that you feel a sense of relief upon being reminded of what you used to do, are common side-effects of treatment.

Everybody responds differently to hypnosis - some people feel the response is so dramatic, it can seem to them like a miracle. For others, the solution may be more subtle, gradual or incremental.

Hypnotherapy is a combination of both hypnosis and therapy.

To get useful and lasting results, you need to continue to be committed to your goal and be willing to modify your daily habits to support the new, healthier and more productive direction that your decision offers.
More on Hypnosis? see Hypnosis

18. Stress: in its various forms

Stress management can be complicated and confusing because there are different types of stress--acute stress, episodic acute stress, and chronic stress -- each with its own characteristics, symptoms, duration, and treatment approaches. Let's look at each one.

Acute Stress

Acute stress is the most common form of stress. It comes from demands and pressures of the recent past and anticipated demands and pressures of the near future. Acute stress is thrilling and exciting in small doses, but too much is exhausting. A fast run down a challenging ski slope, for example, is exhilarating early in the day. That same ski run late in the day is taxing and wearing. Skiing beyond your limits can lead to falls and broken bones. By the same token, overdoing on short-term stress can lead to psychological distress, tension headaches, upset stomach, and other symptoms.

auto accident that crumpled the car fender, the loss of an important contract, a deadline they're rushing to meet, their child's occasional problems at school, and so on.

Because it is short term, acute stress doesn't have enough time to do the extensive damage associated with long-term stress. The most common symptoms are:

	emotional distress - some combination of “the three emotions of stress” ;anger or irritability
	muscular problems including tension headache, back pain, jaw pain, and the muscular tensions that lead to pulled muscles and tendon and ligament problems;
	stomach, gut and bowel problems such as heartburn, acid stomach, flatulence, diarrhea, constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome;.
	transient over arousal leads to elevation in blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, heart palpitations, dizziness, migraine headaches, cold hands or feet, shortness of breath, and chest pain.

stress can and does crop up in anyone's life, and it is highly treatable and manageable. Most of us manage its existence on a day to basis. It can be useful at times to take a look at what you do to manage these episodes in your life. Your will likely have your own techniques. Identifying these can make them more available and adaptable to additional situations.

Episodic Acute Stress

There are those, however, who suffer acute stress frequently, whose lives are so disordered that they are studies in chaos and crisis. They're always in a rush, but always late. If something can go wrong, it does. They take on too much, have too many irons in the fire, and can't organize the array of self-inflicted demands and pressures vying for their attention. They seem perpetually in the clutches of acute stress.

It is common for people with acute stress reactions to be over aroused, short-tempered, irritable, anxious, and tense. Often, they describe themselves as having "a lot of nervous energy." Always in a hurry, they tend to be abrupt, and sometimes their irritability comes across as hostility. Interpersonal relationships deteriorate rapidly when others respond with real hostility. The work becomes a very stressful place for them.

The cardiac prone, "Type A" personality described by cardiologists, Meter Friedman and Ray Rosenman, is similar to an extreme case of episodic acute stress. Type A's have an "excessive competitive drive, aggressiveness, impatience, and a harrying sense of time urgency." In addition there is a "free-floating, but well-rationalized form of hostility, and almost always a

deep-seated insecurity." Such personality characteristics would seem to create frequent episodes of acute stress for the Type A individual. Friedman and Rosenman found Type A's to be much more likely to develop coronary heat disease than Type B's, who show an opposite pattern of behavior.

Another form of episodic acute stress comes from ceaseless worry. "Worry warts" see disaster around every corner and pessimistically forecast catastrophe in every situation. The world is a dangerous, unrewarding, punitive place where something awful is always about to happen. These "awfulizers" also tend to be over aroused and tense, but are more anxious and depressed than angry and hostile.

The symptoms of episodic acute stress are the symptoms of extended over arousal: persistent tension headaches, migraines, hypertension, chest pain, and heart disease. Treating episodic acute stress requires intervention on a number of levels, generally requiring professional help, which may take many months.

Often, lifestyle and personality issues are so ingrained and habitual with these individuals that they see nothing wrong with the way they conduct their lives. They blame their woes on other people and external events. Frequently, they see their lifestyle, their patterns of interacting with others, and their ways of perceiving the world as part and parcel of who and what they are.

Sufferers can be fiercely resistant to change. Often, only the promise of relief from pain and discomfort of their symptoms can keep them in treatment and on track in their recovery program.

Chronic Stress

While acute stress can be thrilling and exciting, chronic stress is not. This is the grinding stress that wears people away day after day, year after year. Chronic stress destroys bodies, minds and lives. It wreaks havoc through long-term attrition. It's the stress of poverty, of dysfunctional families, of being trapped in an unhappy marriage or in a despised job or career. It is the stress that the never-ending "troubles" have brought to the people of Northern Ireland, the tensions of the Middle East have brought to the Arab and Jew, and the endless ethnic rivalries that have been brought to the people of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Chronic stress comes when a person never sees a way out of a miserable situation. It's the stress of unrelenting demands and pressures for seemingly interminable periods of time. With no hope, the individual gives up searching for solutions.

Some chronic stresses stem from traumatic, early childhood experiences that become internalized and remain forever painful and present. Some experiences profoundly affect personality. A view of the world, or a belief system, is created that causes

unending stress for the individual (e.g., the world is a threatening place, people will find out you are a pretender, you must be perfect at all times). When personality or deep-seated convictions and beliefs must be reformulated, recovery requires active self-examination, often with professional help.

The worst aspect of chronic stress is that people get used to it. They forget it's there. People are immediately aware of acute stress because it is new; they ignore chronic stress because it is old, familiar, and sometimes, almost comfortable. We can get to see the experience of it as simply “who we are”.

Chronic stress kills through suicide, violence, heart attack, stroke, and perhaps, even cancer. People wear down to a final, fatal breakdown. Because physical and mental resources are depleted through long-term attrition, the symptoms of chronic stress are difficult to treat and may require extended medical as well as behavioral treatment and stress management.

Six Myths About Stress

Six myths surround stress. Dispelling them enables us to understand our problems and then take action against them. Let's look at these myths.

Myth 1: Stress is the same for everybody.
Completely wrong. Stress is different for each of us. What is stressful for one person may or may not be stressful for another; each of us responds to stress in an entirely different way.

Myth 2: Stress is always bad for you.
According to this view, zero stress makes us happy and healthy. Wrong. Stress is to the human condition what tension is to the violin string: too little and the music is dull and raspy; too much and the music is shrill or the string snaps. Stress can be the kiss of death or the spice of life. The issue, really, is how to manage it. Managed stress makes us productive and happy; mismanaged stress hurts and even kills us.

Myth 3: Stress is everywhere, so you can't do anything about it.
Not so. You can plan your life so that stress does not overwhelm you. Effective planning involves setting priorities and working on simple problems first, solving them, and then going on to more complex difficulties. When stress is mismanaged, it's difficult to prioritize. All your problems seem to be equal and stress seems to be everywhere.

Myth 4: The most popular techniques for reducing stress are the best ones.
Again, not so. No universally effective stress reduction techniques exist. We are all different, our lives are different, our situations are different, and our reactions are different. Only a comprehensive program tailored to the individual works.

Myth 5: No symptoms, no stress.
Absence of symptoms does not mean the absence of stress. In fact, camouflaging symptoms with medication may deprive you of the signals you need for reducing the strain on your physiological and psychological systems.

Myth 6: Only major symptoms of stress require attention.
This myth assumes that the "minor" symptoms, such as headaches or stomach acid, may be safely ignored. Minor symptoms of stress are the early warnings that your life is getting out of hand and that you need to do a better job of managing stress.

Exercise and Stress

Exercise may improve mental health by helping the brain cope better with stress, according to research into the effect of exercise on neurochemicals involved in the body's stress response.

Preliminary evidence suggests that physically active people have lower rates of anxiety and depression than sedentary people. But little work has focused on why that should be. So to determine how exercise might bring about its mental health benefits, some researchers are looking at possible links between exercise and brain chemicals associated with stress, anxiety, and depression.

So far there's little evidence for the popular theory that exercise causes a rush of endorphins. Rather, one line of research points to the less familiar neuromodulator norepinephrine, which may help the brain deal with stress more efficiently.

Work in animals since the late 1980s has found that exercise increases brain concentrations of norepinephrine in brain regions involved in the body's stress response.

Norepinephrine is particularly interesting to researchers because 50 percent of the brain's supply is produced in the locus coeruleus, a brain area that connects most of the brain regions involved in emotional and stress responses. The chemical is thought to play a major role in modulating the action of other, more prevalent neurotransmitters that play a direct role in the stress response. And although researchers are unsure of exactly how most antidepressants work, they know that some increase brain concentrations of norepinephrine.

But some psychologists don't think it's a simple matter of more norepinephrine equals less stress and anxiety and therefore less depression. Instead, they think exercise thwarts depression and anxiety by enhancing the body's ability to respond to stress.

Biologically, exercise seems to give the body a chance to practice dealing with stress. It forces the body's physiological systems, all of which are involved in the stress response to communicate much more closely than usual: The cardiovascular system communicates with the renal system, which communicates with the muscular system. And all of these are controlled by the central and sympathetic nervous systems, which also must communicate with each other. This workout of the body's communication system may be the true value of exercise; the more sedentary we get, the less efficient our bodies in responding to stress.

Stress: When and How to Get Help

In the workplace and at home, stress and other difficult situations are at an all-time high for many of us. Being constantly worried about being laid off, or doing the job of two people, can cause serious problems for workers. On the home front, going through a divorce, caring for elderly parents, managing children in a rapidly changing world, or dealing with a life-threatening illness are some of the difficult situations that can test a family's coping abilities.

When is it time to ask for help? Here are a few indicators:
- You feel trapped, like there's nowhere to turn
- You worry excessively and can't concentrate
- The way you feel affects your sleep, your eating habits, your job, your relationships, your everyday life

Registered Psychologists can help people address the causes of their distress and teach them effective ways to deal with those causes. Early detection and treatment can head off serious consequences. See our section on Choosing a Psychologist.

Major Treatments we offer include: All of the above, including: Counselling; CBT; Hypnosis; EMDR; TFT; BSFF; Neuro-feedback; Bio-feedback; Relaxation; Meditation; Breath Training; Voice Dialogue; Mindfulness and ACT as well as a lot of encouragement to exercise regularly.




19. Thought Field Therapy

Like EMDR, and perhaps even more so, Thought Field Therapy (TFT) has attracted a deal of attention and debate in both therapeutic and academic circles in recent years. It has taken its place in the evolving movement of the energy therapies over the past several decades.

Some of these therapies include: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR), Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT); and more recently, Be Set Free Fast (BSFF) techniques. At Davellen Consulting, we have been researching, teaching and evolving Thought Field Therapy techniques as part of our treatment bank since the late 1990’s.

The development of Thought Field Therapy as a treatment has largely been credited to the work of Dr. Roger Callahan (www.tftrx.com), who’s research and ideas emerged in the early 1980’s. Since then, the strategies and treatment protocols for TFT have evolved in many directions, and have been used in the treatment of many symptoms associated with Traumatic and Post Traumatic responses, as well as debilitating emotions involving anxiety, grief, anger, guilt, addictive urges and depression.

Susan Connolly (www.thoughtfieldtherapy.net), a Clinical SocialWorker and Family Therapist, and specialist in Post Traumatic work, has trained over 1000 professionals around the world in the use of TFT, and presented the technique as an invited presenter at a Master Therapists Program at the University of Connecticut. She describes TFT as “a revolutionary, safe, non-invasive brief therapy technique that has been developed and refined over the last twenty-five years…. In Thought Field Therapy, the client is asked to think about a specific issue that is troublesome. This is commonly an anxiety, a phobia, past trauma, loss, grief, or feelings of anger, depression or physical pain. (Typically, the client has been stuck in these feelings for a months or years.

Whilst much of the use and research into TFT has been through first hand clinical observation and the positive reports from therapists and clients, Susan Connelly cites a 1995 study that compared various Post Trauma treatments conducted by Charles Figley, PhD and Joyce Carbonell., PhD. She reports that the study examined four new (in 1995) Post Traumatic treatment approaches, which were selected on the basis of their evidenced merit. The treatment methods were: Traumatic Incident Reduction (TRI); Visual Kinesthetic Dissociation (NLP); Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Thought Field Therapy ( TFT). Figley reported that: TFT stood out from all other approaches

	It is extraordinarily powerful, in that clients receive nearly immediate relief from their suffering and treatment appears to be permanent.
	It can be taught to nearly anyone so that clients learn how to treat themselves.
	It appears to do no harm.
	It does not require the client to talk about their troubles, something that often causes more emotional pain and discourages many from seeking treatment.
	It is extremely efficient (fast and long lasting).

Of interest, Susan Connelly (www.thoughtfieldtherapy.net) has also noted that “In October 2001 The Journal of Clinical Psychology (Volume 57. No. 10) published a special issue "Thought Field Therapy: Initial Research. This special issue contains 5 initial pilot studies using Thought Field Therapy to treat a variety of psychological problems. It also contains reviews of the research methods and a "Response to Critics" by Dr. Roger Callahan. Probably the most important research article published in this issue of The Journal of Clinical Psychology is an article written by Dr. Carl Johnson, et. al. "Soothing the Bad Moments of Kosovo." The author reports that of 249 traumas treated in Kosovo, 247 were treated successfully in a short period of time. After several visits to Kosovo, Dr. Skkelzen Syla, the equivalent to the surgeon general of Kosovo has made TFT the official therapy of Kosovo”.





20. Voice Dialogue

Based on the well-respected life work of Doctors Hal and Sidra Stone, the voice dialogue process is a delightful and uplifting way to “give a voice” to the different parts of yourself which may be in conflict. When you say something like “one part of me agrees and the other part of me is scared”, then voice dialogue is an ideal method to tease out the different views and give each “aspect” a legitimate say or “voice”. This respects all aspects of yourself and allows for the less powerful or less popular parts of ourselves to feel heard, understood and to participate in dialogue with other held values and points of view.

Voice dialogue can be beneficial for personal growth and enhancing relationships. It is a powerful tool to assist in meditation and mindfulness practice. It would suit those who like the work of Carl Jung and is appreciated by those who value self-reliance and self-direction in therapy. Couples who want to make their relationship a place for personal growth and desire to strengthen their love for and understanding of each other without losing themselves in the process.

Voice dialogue is an excellent process to develop and enhance workplace relationships especially in dynamic highly functioning organizations.