“Change will lead to insight more often than insight will lead to change.”

 

― Milton Erickson

 

Once you begin to study to hypnosis, you will frequently hear reference to the bypassing of the conscious critical faculty (CCF) and its importance to successful change work in hypnotherapy.Hypnotherapy Dartford

For a client to fully engage in the process, Roy Hunter (1994), explains that the client needs to have a good understanding of what is about to happen and what hypnotherapy is

. Part of this discussion is to explain the importance of the CCF. Once a client has a good understanding of what hypnotherapy is and what the role of the CCF is, then therapy is usually more effective.Call Me or Book Appointment

Milton H Erickson is quoted to of said by Battino and South (1999), “Patients are patients because they are out of rapport with their own unconscious”.  This is where the work of a hypnotherapist is fundamental in realigning this problem.

 

What is Hypnosis?

 

Kevin Hogan (2001), explains that hypnotherapy is ‘an interpersonal relationship marked by a significant degree of dissociation and focus on the part of the subject’.About

As to exactly why this happens in hypnosis is partly unknown and partly due to the different brain waves elicited as the client drops deeper into trance and occasionally this should be explained to a patient, if it will help with hypnosis.

 

Within the hypnotic state, most people’s ability to be suggestable is increased, they are very much more susceptible to the ideas that are suggested to them than they would be in ‘normal’ levels of consciousness.

The reason for this is the by-passing of the CCF.Hypnotherapy Dartford

It is this by-passing effect (Hunter 1994) which allows hypnotherapy to be effective and without it. It is doubtful whether there would actually be any particular use for the phenomena, other than to provide a state of deep relaxation.nhs

 

The Critical Conscious Faculty (CCF)

 

The by-passing of the CCF allows ideas and suggestions to be accepted by the non-critical, non-logical, subconscious– and once accepted, they will be acted upon.

According to Freud (1915), the unconscious mind is the primary source of human behavior. Like an iceberg, the most important part of the mind is the part you cannot see.

Our feelings, motives and decisions are actually powerfully influenced by our past experiences, and stored in the unconscious. The part we cannot see, makes up around 10/11ths of our total mind and is far more powerful than the small conscious part we are aware of.podcast- Hall of mirrors

 

In between these two minds is the CCF, often thought of as a ‘filter’, or a ‘guardian’ to our internal beliefs stored deep within the unconscious mind.

This can be a good effective description to give to a client. That the CCF is the filter between the conscious and the subconscious.

To make effective changes we need to get into the subconscious (Allen 1997) and to do this hypnosis is most effective, as it temporarily turns off the CCF.

Thus allowing for helpful suggestions to go into the subconscious, the place where our beliefs are stored.

To illustrate how effective this CCF actually is, consider this statement: “The sky outside is green in colour”. This is instantly refuted, but why?

It is because you know that it is blue. You were not born knowing that – you learnt that it was so, you believed that it was so, and now your CCF filters out all information that does not fit in with your belief system.wiki

The mechanism is simple. Everything we encounter and every situation we meet, is compared with our existing knowledge-base (Battino and South 1999), which includes all our previous limitations and awareness of things that we cannot do.

If it does not find a match, that is, if it opposes what we already have learnt, then it is likely to be rejected as inaccurate or worthless.

 

 

 

It is part of the built-in survival kit in the human mind, only trust and act upon that which you know to be tested and true.

This system, designed to protect us, is precisely why we might need therapy and why hypnotherapy can be so helpful, as it bypass’s this.article

False or incorrect beliefs will cause the CCF to reject ideas that could actually be beneficial to us, but that do not fit in with the ‘tried and tested’ criteria.

 

The Human Psyche

 

The human psyche will not act upon a rejected idea, according to Hogan (2001), even though it may be exactly what we need for beneficial change.

Of course, there will have to be a rationalization of the reason for the rejection, possibly stating that it doesn’t feel right, or something else quite vague.

This brings us nicely onto the workings of the human belief system.

If somebody already believes they cannot do something, then any suggestions that they can will tend to be disbelieved and distrusted in the normal way, whoever it is that tells them so (Hunter 1994).directory

The CCF sees to that. It goes further, actually; the individual may well appear to attempt to act upon the suggestion, but they will do so with the expectation of failure –

Failure is what they are likely to find, of course, probably because of a ‘half-hearted’ approach. And then their doubts have been soundly confirmed, along with the creation of a destructive new belief that even if they do what others suggest, ‘it’ does not work for them.

Henry Ford summed it up beautifully when he said, “Whether you think you can or think you can’t, you’re probably right.”

Our beliefs are stored in our subconscious and are based on nothing more credible than the teachings you have received since the moment you were born. Up to about the age of seven the CCF is fluid (Allen 1997), accepting without critical analysis.

We all have learned beliefs and acquired behavior patterns, many of which will have come about from a most inappropriate source, somebody else’s belief system.

 

Our fundamental belief system is what makes Henry Ford’s statement so true.

And the CCF is a part of this belief system, seeking to maintain its integrity by rejecting out of hand anything which does not ‘fit’, whether it is good or bad.

The great thing about hypnosis (Hunter 1994) is that it often allows us to change one or more of those limiting beliefs.

Hypnosis works by by-passing the CCF so that the subconscious mind can accept a more useful idea, which it will only do if it is an idea that is distinctly beneficial to, required by, and accepted by, the individual.

Explaining this succinctly to the client will greatly help them go into hypnosis and make the necessary changes agreed beforehand (Allen 1997).

In conclusion, this essay has looked at the importance of the initial consultation and detailed just how this can be utilized to structure future treatment sessions.

The second half of this essay has gone on to understand why the CCF should be explained to a client and exactly what the CCF’s function is, thus allowing for hypnotherapy to be successful.