Our Weekly Tip: Try Hypnosis For Complicated or Chronic Grief

Credit: web.wellness-institute

Our Tip of the Week:  Grief is the natural emotional response to loss, and the temporary painful emotional states that typically arise while you’re grieving are actually your psychological tools for processing the loss. Though the anxiety, helplessness, anger, and sadness can be excruciatingly painful while they are happening, allowing yourself to go through them helps you adjust.

Generally, the pain of grief subsides over time. As the intensity lessens, you become less preoccupied with the loss. Although you may still hurt, you are able to return to your life and resume normal functioning.  However, this is not always the case. If your loss becomes the central focus of your life and you find yourself in a prolonged state of intense mourning, it may be time to seek outside help.

Credit: accph.org.uk

How-To Suggestion: Through grief hypnosis, your memories will remain intact, but the painful emotions that accompany them may become less acute.  Hypnotherapy works with the subconscious mind to constructively change destructive thoughts that may be interfering with a client’s healthy engagement in their current life. Creative visualizations while in a state of hypnosis can help provide closure for clients focused on unfinished business with a person who has passed away. For example, a therapist may have the client visualize a conversation during which the client has the opportunity to say everything they feel needs to be said. 

Sometimes, loss can trigger unresolved feelings around prior losses dating back to early childhood. In a state of hypnosis, a therapist can guide the client with a technique called age regression to resolve these old losses, allowing them to come to consciousness and be addressed.