The Apex Problem in Hypnotherapy

"I just don't know if I believe in all this stuff, you know!"

I sit back and look at my client in fascination.

"I mean, hypnosis is just a load of mumbo jumbo, isn't it?" he continues.

My client had three sessions with me about 5 months ago, making awesome progress to eradicate an irrational fear and panic attacks. And now he's booked in again with me because he says there are other areas of his life that he wants to examine. How can he NOT believe in "this stuff"?

"`Is it?" I query.

My client goes on to tell me that since his last session he has made some major changes in his life. He ended a relationship that he knew wasn't working for him. He also has freed up some time in his busy work schedule to take two weeks leave - something he has never done before as a business owner.

"I do feel different though," he confesses, after considering things for a while. "And I thought the sessions were brilliant. So there must be something in it, right?"

I agree there must. "And here you are, back for more!" I point out.

It's amazing how often I hear this kind of reaction from clients. There is often a reluctance to attribute their success to hypnotherapy. They might attempt to explain their new life changes by saying "it's just that the time was right" or "I just felt like making a change." Bizarrely, some clients even deny they ever had a problem in the first place, or that they were ever hypnotised!

Before commencing sessions I always explain to clients that they are unlikely to feel 'changed' in any big way when they open their eyes at the end of a session. That's not really how this works.

Change can happen quickly in the days following a session or it might take a bit longer and require further work - it's different for everyone because we all have different life experiences, beliefs and coping mechanisms - things that layer up and hold us back form living life the way we want to.

After hypnotherapy change initially tends to seeps into your life as an almost imperceptible difference. You just find yourself doing things differently or reacting differently. And, just like toppling the first domino in a row, everything else has a habit of rapidly following suit, and you find yourself experiencing change in areas of your life that you weren't even actively trying to change! This is because hypnotherapy causes new neural pathways to be created, and once your brain gets the hang of positive change it will deliver you more and more of the good stuff.

This phenomenon of client denial is known as 'The Apex Problem' in hypnotherapy.

Sometimes a client's problems can resolve so completely or integrate so seamlessly into their life that it's almost as if they can't even recall ever having had that problem. They settle into their 'new normal' as if it's always been that way.

It can be frustrating for us hypnotherapists, but at the same time it's very validating to know so obviously that our work has been successful!

One way of providing clients with irrefutable proof of their change is to take SUDS (Subjective Units of Distress) at the start and end of a course of sessions. This is where you ask the client to tell you, on a scale of 0 to 10, how bad their feelings or symptoms are and notice how they change by the time you finish working together. Once faced with this evidence of progress it's very hard for them to argue that hypnotherapy hasn't been responsible for all the wonderful things that are now happening in their life!